In the digital age, automation is an inevitable trend to promote the market economy. The application of automation not only helps businesses improve work processes, increase labor productivity, improve product quality and competitiveness, but also avoid risks in the work process for workers. Currently, many manufacturing enterprises in the province have made efforts to improve their technology and machinery systems to create products with the best quality and the most competitive prices.

Implementing digital transformation, especially applying 4.0 technology, in recent times, Vietnam National Coal - Mineral Industries Group (TKV) has strengthened the direction of units to focus on promoting the application of mechanization, automation, and computerization in production and management to improve production and business efficiency. Up to now, TKV has applied 3 technologies (mechanization, automation, computerization) in most areas of production, business and management to improve working conditions for workers, increase labor productivity, ensure safety, save resources and contribute to environmental protection... In particular, TKV has built many projects, topics, and proposed solutions to improve the level of mechanization and modernization of mine technology in 5 areas, including: Underground mining, open-pit mining, coal selection, mine safety management, and environmental protection.

Notably, some mines in the Group, such as Mao Khe, Nam Mau, Vang Danh, Khe Cham II-IV... are effectively applying the level of mechanization and modernization of underground coal mining. Under the same conditions, in the drilling and blasting longwall, the average number of workers is 120-180 people/workshop, the output reaches 120,000-180,000 tons/year, while in the mechanized longwall, it is 90 people/workshop and the output reaches 230,000-400,000 tons/year, labor productivity increases by 1.5-2.5 times, reducing the number of workers working directly at the longwall by 1.5-2 times. Particularly for coal screening and processing enterprises, TKV maximizes the automation of the monitoring of key technological parameters; automatically controls the working mode of electromechanical equipment in the chain. In the field of mechanical engineering, TKV also shifted from simple equipment repair to focusing on the field of mechanical engineering serving production such as manufacturing columns, hydraulic rigs, steel rolling furnaces, manufacturing excavators, explosion-proof equipment, machine parts with modern, fully autonomous robots.

The Dat Viet Ceramic Joint Stock Company is also a bright spot in research and application of science and technology in production. This enterprise has researched and improved the production line of machinery and equipment for glazed bricks and tiles from one-time fired wooden products in tunnel kilns; produced fired clay bricks and tiles using dry grinding technology fired in tunnel kilns... These researches and improvements have helped the enterprise win many Vietnamese records in the field of science and technology.

As a private enterprise in the field of mechanical engineering, thanks to bold investment, creativity and technological innovation, Le Hoang Long Joint Stock Company (Uong Bi City) has established a prominent position in the industry with sophisticated, highly precise mechanical products. From the end of 2020 to now, the Company has operated more than 20 of the most modern machines today, such as: Panasonic automatic welding robot; Mori Seiki MT-25 machining center; SL25MC, SL65MC; CNC plasma cutting machine, electromagnetic pulse machine... The quality of the machines is guaranteed when imported from developed countries such as the US and Japan. After the investment, the Company has reduced the cost by 10% compared to imported products of the same type; reduced by 20% compared to state-owned enterprises, while still ensuring quality. This is a prerequisite for the Company to improve quality and reputation with customers.

It can be said that the application of automation in production and business is a flexible and innovative way of thinking that helps businesses proactively respond to many different impacts, providing a long-term, sustainable investment strategy and creating changes, making the production activities of the business effective in both revenue and human resources. In short, this solution is a smart solution at the present time to help businesses break through successfully, overcoming objective factors that are difficult to control.

To continue promoting the role of automation in production, in the coming time, businesses in the province need to continue to accelerate the speed of digital transformation to more clearly and specifically recognize the importance of automation in production and business. This is considered a driving force that urges businesses to constantly research and develop high technology to provide partners and the national economy in general with solutions that increase sustainability. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the core requirements in terms of models, including automation based on data-oriented software; designing and building a truly open system; developing a strong partner ecosystem. These factors allow businesses to collect data from many different sources, support analysis and decision making, save electricity, operating costs and especially flexibly update and integrate new technologies from partners.