Boeing wants to expand Vietnam operations

At the Boeing Aerospace Industry Forum held in Hanoi Thursday, Michael Nguyen, general director of Boeing Vietnam, said that in the next 30 years, experts believe Southeast Asia would need 4,000 planes. Vietnam is in a leading position to be part of satisfying such a demand, he said.

Boeing would like to become a strategic supplier for Vietnam, he added.

The aircraft maker currently has seven suppliers based in Vietnam, but there is only one Vietnamese company among them. In the long run, Boeing would like to directly work with Vietnamese suppliers as it is currently working with mainly South Korean or Japanese partners, Nguyen said.

“We really want to directly work with Vietnamese companies, but domestic businesses need to learn to walk before they can run. We really want to help Vietnamese businesses to walk fast and run fast,” Nguyen said, adding that Boeing would like to cooperate with universities to train their personnel in the sciences.

Craig Abler, Boeing director of supply chain Asia, said he had introduced to Vietnamese partners the Boeing’s criteria, including product quality and delivery time, to become a supplier for Boeing. The firm would also visit potential factories and have teams develop suppliers in Vietnam, he said.

Nguyen said all Boeing planes have parts made in Vietnam, such as doors or door handlers. But the American giant believes Vietnamese workers and experts can grow even more and produce other components with the right guidance, so it would like to expand its operations in Vietnam.

Do Nhat Hoang, head of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, requested Boeing and other U.S. companies to continue with cooperation initiatives, investments and technological transfer with Vietnam regarding fields like infrastructure and production, among other areas.

He also wished that Boeing looks into developing a training center for pilots, experts and engineers in aerospace, not to mention aircraft production facilities in Vietnam.

Boeing has been operating in Vietnam since 1995. Since then, the firm has made several contributions to Vietnamese aviation, including technical assistance in defense and commercial aviation.