Chapter 7 History of DENSO Vietnam

1.1 DENSO Vietnam Establishment and Business Expansion

Vietnam’s economic transformation

Since 1991, the process of opening-up the Vietnam economy had taken place thoroughly, introducing new waves of foreign investment pouring into Vietnam. This economic transformation closely associated with the integration process of Vietnam into the world economy.
At this time, Vietnam had participated in negotiating various trade agreements, creating a driving force for a faster connection with the global economy. Domestically, industrial parks and export processing zones were built to welcome FDI inflows. Through trade agreements, tariff barriers as well as regulations for export, import were loosened and removed, stimulating foreign capital towards Vietnam.
Corresponding to the process of economic integration, the Law on Foreign Investment of Vietnam was issued in 1990 & time by time revised to adapt to the new situations. Thanks to Government’s policy and effort in building stable politics & business environment, young and cheap labor source, many foreign companies invested and expanded their business in the Vietnamese market.

2001 DENSO Vietnam’s Establishment

Joining the wave of FDI in Vietnam, as a global export base whose competitive labor costs and hard-working national character are the source of Vietnam competitiveness, DENSO Vietnam Co., Ltd. was established on October 4, 2001, in Thang Long Industrial Park, Dong Anh, Hanoi, Vietnam with a total investment capital up to 07 million US dollars. In the meantime, Toyota’s IMV Project was implemented (IMV: Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle project). IMV series vehicles, which are "Made by Toyota" rather than "Made in Thailand" or "Made in Japan", are supplied to more than 140 countries around the world. DENSO also contributed to expand its global strategic vehicle lineup by providing cost-competitive products for the project. As a global leader in automotive industry listed in the Global Fortune 500 and a trusted supplier, DENSO delivered numerous benefits to Vietnam in this era of innovation.

2003 Start production

In 2003, the factory construction was completed to start operation.
DENSO's first production line officially opened with Variable Induction-air Control (VIC) product. In the same year, the inauguration ceremony was held.
DMVN is an EPE (Enterprise Processing Export) Company, so all our products are exported, and biggest Company at that time was TMV (Toyota Manufacturing Vietnam) then we succeeded in expanding our sales to customers other than Toyota and steadily expanded our business with internal combustion products as a global export company.

2006 Establishment of Design Center

This year also marked the birth of Design Center (DC).
The Design Center was first established, with the utmost purpose to assist the product development at our holding company. In addition to product development, this center elevated the strength of digital technology especially for CAD, CAE.
Holding a strong specialty in CAE, the Design Center provided CAE covering various categories from endurance, movement, MBD, etc., and acquired a vast majority of CAE analyzing software, ranking as the second most various software holder after DENSO Japan.
In recent years, the Design Center has expanded its scope from product design assistance to production technique assistance and enlarged its assistance scale upon the entire corporation.

1.2 Human resources development (source of competitiveness)

2013 DENSO Training Academy Vietnam Establishment

With the help of Vietnamese Government and DENSO Corporation Japan, in September 2013, DENSO Training Academy Vietnam (DTAVN) was officially opened. The purpose was to advance the skills of young workforce to contribute both to company & society. The training focused on 2 courses: ① Wide & multi-skills to become Future Keyman in Manufacturing (Kosen Course) & ② High level & Specific Skills (World Skill Course).
The policy of comprehensive development of Mind-Skill-Physique and improvement of “key people” problem-solving ability: After 9 years of　operation, DTAVN successfully trained and developed many generations of key associates (78 persons) who were not only skillful at crafting, but also had good physical strength and upstanding way of thinking, which enhanced the ability to solve problems and meet high requirements of the job.

2019/2022 World Skills Achievements

Thanks to the right investment, DENSO Training Academy Vietnam has got fruition with achievements at the World Skills Competition 2019 (Kazan, Russian). Contestant Truong The Dieu of DENSO　Vietnam excellently won the Silver Medal with CNC Milling skills. This was the first time Vietnam won the medal. Vietnam Prime Minister presented honorably Second Class & Third-Class Labor Medal to DENSO Vietnam & Mr. Dieu. Following the success, in 2022, the Vietnam team competed in the special edition of the World Skills Competition and achieved excellent results. For the 8th time competing at the World Skill, the Vietnamese representatives left impressive achievements with two silver medals Nguyen Thanh Tung (CNC milling) and Nguyen Xuan Thai (CNC turning). These achievements demonstrate DENSO Vietnam's active contribution to the development of vocational skills for the young generation. This is　the right strategy, demonstrating the long-term vision of DENSO leadership. Not only being a pioneer in vocational training, DENSO Training Academy Vietnam also succeeded in calling for the participation of prestigious partners thereby further improving the quality of training and opening up many career opportunities for students.
Coming back from World Skill 2022, both candidates Nguyen Thanh Tung and Nguyen Xuan Thai were very young and talented. Sharing about the reason for choosing CNC turning, Xuan Thai said that during the internship at DENSO, he witnessed the enthusiasm of the older generation, and the fire passed on to him. In the future, he expressed his desire to contribute more to DENSO Vietnam, hone the skills and share experiences for the next generations.
The strength of excellent skills training has helped DENSO Vietnam to raise the country's position on the world skills map, creating a positive spread and hope for the career development of Vietnamese young generation.

1.3　Overcome the Covid-19 Pandemic

In 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the world and spread throughout Vietnam. Since March 2019, the North of Vietnam had entered COVID-19 and social distance. Due to the complicated nature of the epidemic, by August 2021, the Vietnamese Government was forced to tighten the social distancing policy with limited transportation in Hanoi capital and many provinces.
At that time, Company implemented the 3-pillar policy to protect employees and company’s financial situation ① Protecting the health of employees and their families (For you), ② Control Expenditure (With Covid19), ③ Preparing for a brighter future (After Covid19). For the 1st time since the establishment, company implemented Telework (office) & “3 on-site” (production). About 1800 employees left their family behind to stay at the Company for working during 40 days. With the unity of all members in Company, we could overcome the challenge of the pandemic to meet customer’s orders & keep all employees healthy during those hard time.
From the Board of Directors to the staff, employees were proud of our achievements because it was evidence for the strength of solidarity as well as the ability to cope with difficult situations of the DENSO Vietnam.

1.4 Towards the bright Future

The Business Environment has changed with one in a hundred years of paradigm shift, DENSO Vietnam - after nearly 20 years of our presence in Vietnam, declared our mission was to contribute to global development of new products by generating profit of the existing product as well as to the sustainability of global environment, safety, security and human happiness.
Until now, the source of DMVN's competitiveness has been low labor costs, but in order to maintain our competitiveness in the future, we believe that the source of our competitiveness will be the education of multi-talented person who combine the Monozukuri capabilities that we have cultivated with the diverse workforce and digital skills of Z Generation. In addition, it is also necessary to strengthen cooperation with companies and the government as strategic partners in educating multi-talented　human resources. Those key factors will be the base to create DENSO Monozukuri Innovation & Social Contribution & New business and realize the target of sales 600 million USD in FY2030.
In Monozukuri Innovation, we would make our Dream Factory become reality in which we could achieve Lean & Clean production with high competitiveness by Real CIM0.8 activities & exciting production environment by digital cross. Besides Monozukuri, the solution business not only in industry but also in new fields such as in agriculture has been defined as a new development pillar. In this area, we are tightening up the cooperation with customers – partners - government in Open innovation and together solved Vietnam’s social issues to contribute to human happiness as our mission.
The future is still ahead, and all DENSO Vietnam realize our mission and vision with Passion- Smile and Ownership.