German plant engineering group Dürr has built a highly automated paint shop with integrated Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions for Vinfast – a subsidiary of Vietnam’s largest non-state owned listed business VinGroup with ambitious goals for advancement in the country’s booming automotive segment.

 

VinFast is the first volume automotive manufacturer from Vietnam with a particular ambition: to operate a smart factory where 250,000 cars per year in the first phase – initially with conventional drives and in the future also with electric drives – will roll off the production line. 

 

The paint shop, in the factory in Haiphong, is currently being installed by Dürr – one of the world's leading mechanical and plant engineering firms with extensive expertise in automation and digitization/Industry 4.0. The new plant is highly automated and features integrated IIoT technology. In addition, an innovative layout concept permits a building design that dramatically reduces the space required and costs involved. 

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Booming regional demand for vehicles

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VinFast is a start-up of the VinGroup, the largest non-state owned listed company in Vietnam with a market capitalisation of approximately VND 340 trillion (US$14.6bn). The strategy of VinGroup is to become the leading technology-industry company in Vietnam and the wider region. The VinFast brand is the Group’s first foray into the mobility market, which offers enormous growth potential due to the strong increase in demand for vehicles in South East Asia. 



 

VinFast intends to establish itself with various models delivering best-in-class quality and produced in a factory equipped with state-of-the-art technology that enables transparent, lean processes. In order to achieve this ambitious investment objective in the area of the paint shop, VinFast commissioned Dürr to handle this project. “Our paint shop will be the biggest in Vietnam, and highly automated through the integration of numerous IIoT applications. This makes it the benchmark for outstanding quality combined with the lowest operating costs, the highest ecological standards, and a high level of occupational safety,” explains James Deluca, CEO of VinFast Trading and Production Company.

 

Patented layout concept for a lean building

 

The VinGroup constructed the building for the paint shop based on the patented layout concept developed by Dürr in a record time of just short of eight months. The layout minimises the investment and operating costs – not least since it only needs two levels and no so-called penthouse. The compact design enabled the concreted area to be reduced by around 15,000m2. This corresponds to a saving of more than 20 per cent compared with a conventional concept.  

VinFast’s requirement of maximum automation of production processes and logistics is met with IIoT-capable machines from end to end. They are comprehensively controlled, monitored, and supervised in real time using control technology from Dürr. This makes it possible to test and optimise the overall equipment efficiency (OEE), for example.  

 

Flexible technology for future targets

 

Regarding the paint shop system’s oven, the EcoInCure oven achieves the best possible quality when it comes to the top coat appearance thanks its heating process from the inside out and optimized air flow. Each body gets a digital quality certificate for the drying process. The data from the IIoT-capable oven is collected and evaluated by the control technology for this. In addition, EcoInCure’s innovative, space-saving transverse mode of operation in combination with a central high-bay warehouse makes it ideal for the compact building concept. 

 

The principle of heating from the inside is particularly beneficial for bodies with different material thicknesses (a perfect example being electric vehicles with their reinforced frame on the underbody). The innovative EcoInCure drying method significantly reduces thermal component stresses compared with conventional ovens. VinFast is therefore well prepared technically for the future expansion of the model range to include electric vehicles with such technology in place.

 

The new VinFast paint shop will also be equipped with the latest generation, fully-automatic Ecopaint robot. This includes the extremely mobile painting robots with seven-axis kinematics, which do not need a rail, thus saving space and investment costs. Equipped with a whole range of sensors, they are prepared for the requirements of an Industry 4.0 environment, and supply real-time data that is analysed and evaluated using the latest software products from Dürr.

 

Geared up for VinFast’s goals

 

In addition to the EcoInCure innovations and seven-axis robots described, Dürr will also be installing further technical highlights in the VinFast paint shop, including RoDip® rotational dip process throughout the PT/EC (pre-treatment and electro coating) area. The rotational movement of the bodies does away with the need for entry and exit inclines at the immersion tank, thereby making the tanks more compact. This reduces the unit costs, because the smaller tank capacity means that RoDip uses less energy, less water, and fewer chemicals than other technical solutions.

 

Meanwhile EcoDry X for dry paint overspray separation is a multi-stage, easy-to-handle filter system that comprises filter trolleys with six filter boxes each and downstream pocket filters as the second filter stage. The semi-automatic separation system sets the standard for high separation capacity and low filter costs.

 

With all of these state-of-the-art technologies, the new paint shop for VinFast is geared towards the strategic goals of the start-up: that is, providing the highest quality standards at the lowest operating costs, low environmental impact, and high health protection and occupational safety with high future security.