I was told that before the day of the rotor installation at the Son La National Project, when the crane was in commissioning, it suddenly stopped working and the mechanics on the construction site could not restart, when People had to ask for help, to know that he was sitting at the factory in Quang Ninh and pressed the control button for this crane to stop working to "warn" again in the payment of the contract to buy the crane from the party. A?

Portrait of General Director of Quang Trung Industry Group - Mr. Nguyen Tang Cuong

Yes. It is difficult for us to make products to sell, but it is even more difficult to get money, we have to run all kinds of money to pay workers' wages, buy materials, factory costs, ...

Since we built the first 80-ton crane in 2001, a series of cranes products have been launched in 10 years: from 80 tons to 180 tons; cranes from 30 tons to 700 tons with a "terrible" aperture - 180m; Crane from 50 tons to 320 tons, 560 tons respectively (doubled 1,120 tons)

All of these products are mostly made by us, we can figure it out by ourselves, some of them dissect a little from each other, each place a little to form our products, it's okay. Whose copy is original. The support of the mechanical research institutes for us is negligible

Most recently in the design and manufacture of a 100-ton crawler crane, a crane that no other country has produced in Southeast Asia. This is the cooperation of Hanoi University of Technology, University of Civil Engineering

Why can't they cooperate with you?

Due to many reasons. First of all, they do not believe in the daring ideas, goals and ambitions that we workers dare to think dare to do, they are afraid of losing their effort and power in vain; And more importantly, to say many people are not satisfied. There is an institute with dozens of professors and doctors who have done a state-level scientific project to manufacture 5-ton cranes, spending a lot of money from the State, but up to now, the crane shape has not been seen yet, in When we built the 80-ton base crane, we did not get any money from the State. With such "lame" knowledge, "dwarf" knowledge, even if we wanted to, it did not help us much ... Not to mention, some of them were envious of our successes.

I hope the next time the cooperation between us and scientists will be more and more effective

What is special about Quang Trung's products compared to foreign similar products?

Our cranes have their own industrial design, unlike any other in the world. In terms of features, something is a bit inferior to foreign products, but the price is much cheaper. However, with a low starting point, poor facilities, little capital, and short experience, we have to compete fiercely with imported products because we are not protected by the State. Our products should have localized up to 85-90%, then 10-15% of the details that need to be imported must be tax-free, the State imposes a very high tax, while the crane import tax is currently now is 0

Korea wants to have Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung ... Park Chung Hee has set out a very drastic policy to develop and manufacture machines, investing a huge amount of capital with almost zero interest, along with a lot of tax, land preferences ...

Could you tell us a few high-tech products that your business is in the stage of completion?

We research and design and manufacture many different products at the same time, in which the focus is the 100-ton crawler crane and the piling equipment in the basic construction.

So far, in Vietnam, there are many mechanical research institutes, many scientists, but no one dares to think of building a 100-ton crawler crane because it has thousands of details, every detail is important. also cannot be produced in Vietnam. Exaggeratedly, with the current business style, all mechanical research institutes in Vietnam cannot make that crane. And the pile driving equipment with its features will create a breakthrough in cost reduction and shorten construction time.

Do you have to register as research topics in manufacturing these products to receive financial support from the State?

In recent years, the Ministry of Science and Technology has paid much attention to the development of high-tech enterprises. Minister Hoang Van Phong has several times come to find out about the enterprise's business. With the encouragement and support of the Ministry, we have registered the design and manufacture of the crane into a key scientific topic at the State level. This topic has been accepted at the grassroots level, is considered to have created a breakthrough in the design and manufacture of cranes with larger tonnage. Currently, we are finalizing documents to organize the state-level acceptance

Some scientist asked me why did not you divide this topic into many small topics to get more money? I replied, it can be true that it can be divided into many topics: chain building is a topic, making a star cake, a wheel system, a differential planetary box, a chip tray, a crane - each is one. topic. But I applied the topic to affirm the position of the capacity and the brainpower of the enterprise, not to take money from the State. We live and live a decent life mainly by selling our products, being accepted by the domestic market, and even exporting.

In fact, has he exported yet?

Currently officially exported yet. First, our large-sized products themselves have only started to be successful for about ten years now, taking more time to listen to customer feedback in evaluating its quality. Secondly, our country's trade deficit is very large, how the State does not have to spend money to buy foreign cranes is our success.

What is your business's long-term goal in the field of mechanical engineering?

As mentioned above, I want to manufacture many high-quality mechanical products to help the country reduce foreign currency imports; When going abroad, no one dares to underestimate the way of doing business in Vietnam. When meeting me, they must respectfully bow and shake hands in a friendly way. I also really want to contribute to the development of mechanical engineering because without it, the country's industry cannot develop.

To achieve such ambitious goals, what support do you need on the part of the State and scientific institutions?

We need most is to have the right policies, in effect for at least a few decades of the State. In order to do so, the advisory agencies need to gather widely opinions of scientists and enterprises, to really listen to enthusiastic and honest opinions, for the common benefit of the country. Otherwise, there will only be policies that move away from reality, causing immeasurable harm. For example, currently, borrowing from banks to invest in production and business with loans for real estate business must pay the same interest rates, so people are only encouraged to trade land. Or, for mechanical fabrication, there are six stages: Mold design, casting, cutting, thermoelectricity, and assembly. But now our policy is only concerned with the final stage of assembly. Therefore, although there is an ambitious strategy for the development of the automobile industry, but the enacted policies only encourage foreign enterprises to disassemble cars and bring them back to Vietnam, and add screws. After all, there is almost no localization rate in Vietnam. Thus, that strategy failed miserably

As for the support of the research institutes, I mentioned above, with the current manner, if not fully reformed, nothing can be expected of them.

So according to you how to reform?

I know for many years that the Ministry of Science and Technology has issued many guidelines and policies to reorganize the structure and operation of research institutes in the direction of autonomy and self-responsibility. But through working with a number of research institutes I do not seem to have much change. They still prefer to spend their money on their own, and are responsible for drawing up research topics to put in a drawer ... not. In my opinion, the State should have a mechanism forcing scientists to take responsibility for the amount of money that the State invests for them like our enterprises, if they can do it, they must pay debts, go bankrupt ...

Currently in the field of mechanics, there are too many cases scattered in the ministries and branches, the potential is very limited, no one accepts anyone, likes to do not have an orientation, a common voice, so for many years now contributed very little to the development of industry. Therefore, it is necessary to reorganize the mechanical research departments and institutes of the ministries and branches into a National Technology Research, Design and Transfer Center with the machinery and materials research labs. and industrial intelligence. This department has a very important task of getting high technology by all means, including stealing, but if purchased by the way of technology transfer, they are very much bound by many unfavorable conditions. don't sell me new technology. I know that this is mainly based on the attendant, so it is difficult to have the technology I want

That center will be responsible for the State to carry out key research programs according to the following objectives: What products can be made? How much money is invested? And to direct and organize the implementation of those programs, the center should have the title of general engineer

To develop the mold manufacturing industry, by first forming from 3 to 5 centers in three regions invested by the State, and assigning an enterprise capable of managing, exploiting, paying taxes and depreciation. Next is the establishment of high-tech casting centers in three regions. These centers spread mechanical engineering technology to small and medium enterprises in those regions and regions

It is known that he had a project to submit to the Ministry of Science and Technology to assist in building a Research Center of the Enterprise. How far has this project been implemented?

In order to actively serve the production and research and development of a number of new products, for the past few years, we have spent many billion VND to buy equipment for CNC centers. But to meet the development needs in the coming time, we need to form a large-scale research center with modern equipment. Therefore, under the direction of the Ministry of Science and Technology, we have completed the construction of the project of that research center, but up to now, the funding has not been approved by the Ministry of Finance. I think the State should have a re-evaluation of the financial allocation for investment in science. Those who really do effectively, have the potential to develop and especially have new ideas need to invest, not just rely on the names of the institutes. I see in the press that there are key laboratories invested hundreds of billions of VND by the State, but many equipments are still covered.

Can you generalize the factors that lead to the success of Quang Trung?

Our success is firstly due to our passion for the job, great ambition, great ambition, unified will, centralized direction, very drastic implementation like the execution of military orders. When the director issues the order, the receiver signs to confirm whether or not he agrees to accept the job. When you have accepted the job, you will be given all the most favorable conditions to do. If you have done your best but you are not done, someone will help if you still can't, everyone will stay up all night to make it happen.

Although the academic degree does not exist, but with passion, rolling in practice in production, I have accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge in the fields of electricity, automation, materials, modular systems. gear ..., even some of the stern engineers could not overtake me, so I could direct and organize the implementation to the smallest detail of the equipment, minimizing the unwarranted errors

The principle of mechanical manufacturing is that design drawings must be approved before production can be put into production. If it fails, the signer is responsible. Therefore, there are good design drawings, they have to be put in a drawer because many people in the departments are afraid of responsibility and dare not sign for approval. As for me, from the idea that we make small models, experiment, fix and repair, when we succeed, we will design and I am the person responsible for signing the drawings. Therefore, maximize the creativity of everyone. All successfully completed products are the merits and the joy of everyone. It is mentally about the material, the profits made, in addition to the investment in the development of the factory, I spend a large part to be able to pay an attractive salary and bonus, depending on the capacity and results of the public. work of each person

How do you run the day?

Sticking up, getting up at 4:00 am, not going to the ground, at that time very alert, thinking about my work today, what to do first, what to do later, what is the benefit of doing so? deployment. During the day, I mainly run the work directly at the facility, rarely sit in the office and rarely use documents and papers, so I do not need assistants and secretaries.

With the experience gained, surely you can contribute to building a highly feasible mechanical development policy?

Right. If I can participate in that, with both enthusiasm and knowledge gained from the practical production work, I believe that my opinion will contribute to make the policy more feasible. The problem is that no one asks me, and sometimes people even think I'm patting

Most deplorable is that some leaders and experts at the strategic research institute of a number of ministries and agencies assigned to the policy work by the Party and State are weak in qualifications, lack of behavior, lack of assignments. save market demand should advise superiors to issue policies that are not close to reality. There are many people who say the policy of dreaming, clawing the tail, cannot come to life.