Rang Dong strikes cooperation deals with Vietnam's top telecoms, tech firms

By Ho Binh Minh

HANOI, April 28 (Rang Dong) - Rang Dong Light Source and Vacuum Flask Company (Rang Dong) has signed two deals with Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), Vietnam's top telecoms firm, and with FPT, the country's leading technology company, to expand the applications of Rang Dong's smart lighting products.

The signing with VNPT and FPT is a major step forward in the Hanoi-based company's digital transformation initiated in 2019, a major campaign proactively promoted by the Vietnamese government in recent years.

The signing is part of a Digital Transformation Forum on Wednesday in Hanoi hosted by Rang Dong, Vietnam's leading manufacturer of LED products and provider of smart lighting solutions, as the company marks its 60th anniversary. 

Deputy General Director Nguyen Doan Ket (Sitting, left) of Rang Dong Light Source and Vacuum Flask Company, signs a cooperation agreement with Director Ngo Dien Hy of VNPT's Information Technology Company in Hanoi on April 28, 2021.

Under the deal with VNPT's Information Technology Company aimed at developing smart cities, Rang Dong's street lights will be integrated in VNPT's Intelligent Operation Center (IOC), an active assistant dubbed as "the digital brain" to help Vietnam build an efficient e-government.

VNPT has planned to build an IOC in each of Vietnam's 63 provinces and cities and has so far completed around half of its roadmap.

Officials from Rang Dong (Left) and FPT hold copies of a cooperation agreement signed at Rang Dong's Digital Transformation Forum in Hanoi on April 28, 2021.

Under the pact with FPT Telecom, a FPT affiliate, Rang Dong's smart home devices such as LED lights, switches and sensors will be integrated with FPT's Play Rogo, a platform launched in 2019 to help control home smart devices by voice, using Bluetooth, ZigBee and Wi-Fi connections.

The pact finalised a bilateral memorandum of agreement signed in late November 2019.

In near future, Rang Dong would produce motors for smart curtains which will be controlled by FPT Play Box, Director Le Trong Duc of the FPT project developing the box told the forum.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Rang Dong has begun the company's digital transformation since July 2019.

Even though having faced the fear of failure and the hesitation in having to make a decision in changing the product strategy and business model, Rang Dong has made its first steps forward in digital information and achieved initial positive results, General Director Nguyen Doan Thang told the forum.

In 2020 the company established a Research and Development Center for Digital Technologies in charge of taking technology transfers and applying the achievements in production and business. In the same year Rang Dong formed a center and a venture capital fund to support the creation and implementation of new ideas.

Rang Dong has now entered the second year in implementing its strategy on digital transformation for the 2020-2025 period, with the vision until 2030. The digital transformation targets all the key areas, namely corporate management, production and business expansion at home and abroad.

The company aims to become a high-tech firm by 2025, when the annual revenue would rise quadruple from that in 2019, and employee's monthly income would reach USD 2,000.

Rang Dong also aims to complete building smart production with up to 80 percent of data hooked into the system for processing and analyzing in a synchronized way.

In order to attain the targets, Rang Dong has been investing 20 percent of its after-tax profit for the application of scientific and technological achievements, which is a rare practice among Vietnamese enterprises, Chairman Nguyen Quan of the Vietnam Automation Association noted.

Reporting the first positive results of the digital transformation, Rang Dong's January-April revenue jumped 47.2 percent from a year ago, Mr. Nguyen Doan Thang told delegates attending the forum on Wednesday.

In the first quarter, Rang Dong reported revenues rising 38.4 percent from a year ago to 1.53 billion dong (USD 66.7 million), of which the export revenue surged 70 percent, while profit before tax increased 45.7 percent to 139 billion dong, he said.

The company has yet to publish its 2021 revenue target, subject to shareholders' approval at a general meeting scheduled for May 15, 2021. But as a sign of robust business expansion, Rang Dong has projected its export turnover this year to triple that in 2020 to 1.2 trillion dong.

“Given lighting has a wide application in many areas, Rang Dong has a giant space to develop lighting devices and solutions,” Director Ngo Dien Hy of VNPT's Information Technology Company said at the forum.

(USD 1= 22,930 dong)