Over the years, TNG Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company has continuously innovated technology, implemented the use of materials in the direction of circular economy, and enhanced high-efficiency energy consumption measures to reverse the goals of sustainable development. 

Materials control

To ensure green and environmentally friendly production criteria, TNG always strictly controls input materials. Accordingly, enterprises choose reputable suppliers, use advanced production technologies, and are safe for the environment as well as users. Three criteria for TNG to choose suppliers are: price, social responsibility and environmental friendliness. 

The operation process was built to make full use of raw materials to avoid waste. It is known that materials and accessories account for a large proportion of production costs in the apparel industry. For TNG, a 12-factories-owners with nearly 170 sewing lines, well managed means saving a great deal.

Accordingly, unusable materials such as crop cotton, unfinished fabric… will be collected as input materials for other products. Materials such as nylon, coil core will be collected and transferred to units for recycling into plastic. These are for promoting circular economy model application into production, which the company is pursuing. 

Statistics on the amount of scrap and discarded productions collected, treasted, reused as raw materials for other products. Photo: TNG.

In addition, TNG also actively applied digital technology in management to avoid waste and reduce material consumption. Inventory management software is used to measure the time taken by each material from warehouses to production line. 

The efficiency shows that the volume of scrap and waste products collected and treated for reuse as raw materials for other products increase year by year. The material wear rate per product is reduced. 

Energy efficiency in operation and production 

Energy efficiency is one of the pillars of sustainable production. TNG has developed various measures to improve energy efficiency in many stages of the production process. 

First, modern machinery systems have been applied to ensure international standards in the apparel industry as well as energy efficiency.

Second, firms were designed to take advantage of natural light, create air convection to effectively regulate the interior microclimate, and reduce the intensity of electricity use. 

Hence, roofs and walls have been reinforced by plastic panels to take more sunlight. Skylight doors, roof doors have also been installed. All these are to help regulate the air, make the firms cooler, and save more energy for cooling in the summer. 

Skylight doors, roof doors have been installed to enhance air conditioning, and save energy consumption for cooling. Photo: TNG.

Besides, the company invested about VND 100 million to replace current indoor light systems with 28W T5 energy-saving LED lights. According to a preliminary calculation, with 164 production lines, this solution has been helping TNG save about 1,574 kW per day, equivalent to 30% of electricity use. This means cutting by VND 831 million of energy bills per year.

TNG factories also have been applying monitoring software. Monthly data is reported directly to the manager to help make plans and/or make appropriate adjustments of electricity consumption. 

Inverters and speed controllers have been applied to adjust the operation speed of the ventilation fan and the pump flexibly to reduce power loss. 

The boilers, an energy-consuming device, also have been applied to a number of measures to reduce energy loss and electricity consumption of auxiliary equipment and improve energy efficiency in the combustion process. 

In addition, the company has made efforts in raising employees’ awareness and changing electricity usage habits towards more efficiency. Accordingly, regulations of electricity use have been applied, which include the limited use of air conditioners, turning off the cooling system 60 minutes before leaving the company, etc. At the same time, regularly propagate energy-effective use measures through the system of announcement boards, radio, and collective activities. 

From all the above efforts, materials, fuels and energy usage per product have been significantly reduced. Specifically, in 2019, gas was cut by 4,6%, equivalent to 0.0003 kg per product, DO oil was cut by 3%, equivalent to 0.00003 litres per product, coal was reduced by 5%, equivalent to 0.00001 ton per product. The amount of electricity consumed per unit of product saved in 2019 and 2018 compared to the previous year was 6% and 8.33% respectively. 

Setting higher sustainable goals

In the context that the global economy was dramatically affected by COVID-19, ensuring production stability is such a difficult task. TNG has done more than that. In the most difficult time, the company even received more orders from big customers such as Decathlon, Nike. 

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TNG invested VND 300 billion for the new LEED-standard factory, which will be finished and fully operational in 2022. Photo: TNG.  

Mr. Nguyen Van Thoi, Chairman of TNG, announced that the incredible results were based on the sustainable development strategy which the company is pursuing. “TNG continuously innovates to meet new standards of the industry, and to ensure the ESG criteria”, Mr. Nguyen Van Thoi said.

The representative of the company declared that TNG insists on pursuing circular economy thinking, plastic waste reduction, hi-tech application towards a digitalised company that will endure long-lasting benefits for stakeholders, customers, employees and society. 

To implement this strategy, TNG has invested VND 300 billion to build a new 19ha-LEED standard factory in Vo Nhai, Thai Nguyen province. This is the company’s affirmation in pursuing sustainable growth. 

Giang Nguyen