A Look back at the success of “Vietnam Woodworking Enhancement” project

With the cooperation of German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Ho Chi Minh Handicraft and Woodworking Association (HAWA), Häfele Vietnam  organized sucessfully on project “Vietnam Woodworking Enhancement” with great achievements over the 3 years from 2012 to 2015.

In fact, Vietnam wood industry has grown significantly in recent years. However, the lack of product development and production efficiency qualifications at small and medium-sized Vietnamese furniture companies limits their competitiveness with rivals from China and elsewhere. In order to improve local companies’ position of on the domestic market and reduce their dependence on price-oriented buyers, Häfele and partners provided multilevel training that enhanced the capacities of workers to produce more customised furniture that meets European quality and design standards.

There were two training locations in Ho Chi Minh City & Hanoi and a mobile training unit providing trainings with three levels of expertise (basic, advanced, master), giving in-depth knowledge on the work with different materials, advanced machinery, modern fittings and design tools. After 3 years carrying the project, we are proud to present the impacts and results listed as follows

  • 71 training courses, 3,093 training days have been implemented with1,403 days of in-house trainings.
  • 89 Basic certificates and 44 Advanced certificates were issued to the trainees at the 2 training centers.
  • 2 Master courses in November in Hanoi and Saigon with total of 35 selected trainees from the previous Advanced Courses.
  • Selected local furniture producers were supported to apply modern product development and the application of fittings.
  • 2 visits to INTERZUM in 2013 and 2015 to support with latest industry knowledge. After these tours, the joined enterprises had positive changes in: knowledge awareness, attitude, skills and practices. They also applied 5S and the Europe standard fittings in their new products.
 

 
Following the success of this project, from 2016, Häfele Vietnam has planned to form some new training programs on architectural hardware, furniture fittings, decorative materials and design softwares for university students, carpenters, interior designers that aims at contributing to the development of wood industry in Vietnam.