Xuan Hoa was famous for bikes which were a dream of many people. However, according to Nguyen Van Hoa, the deputy director of the Xuan Hoa Furniture  Company, when the economy changed to the market economy, the company had to face numerous difficulties, especially fierce competition from imported products. The company decided to sign cooperation contracts with two Japanese companies of Mitshui and Takanichi to produce car chairs for the Toyota Motor Vietnam. However, more severe competition from competitors and stringent requirements from clients asked the company to produce high quality eco-friendly products at low price.

After researching cleaner production methods in the Vietnam Cleaner Production Center (VNCPC) under the Hanoi University of Technology, the company decided to take part in some projects on cleaner production. The projects produced encouraging economic achievements and reduced the environmental pollution. The projects included energy efficiency, industrial maintenance, assessment of cleaner production efficiency in the field of processing metal surface and assessment of technological distance.

The company organized a team responsible for the projects. The team included key members of the company. Tran Quoc Lap, the company general director was the team leader. After researching, the team chose equipment maintenance, electricity, water, gas and chemical use and product painting and plating as the center for assessment. Nguyen Van Thang, a consultant from VNCPC said: "We find that there are many problems in raw material and energy use and working condition. Waste water has high quality but is not recycled. Rain water is not withdrawn. Electricity and water are being wasted. Equipment is not regularly maintained. We proposed some methods for the team who are responsible for the projects to determine."

According to the VNCPC experts' consultancy and analysis, the company implemented 20 methods including rearranging water pipe system, removing broken or unnecessary pipes, saving water, separating painting stage's waste water from plating stage's waste water, having tools to catch rain water from roofs, having reward and punishment methods for workers to obey regulations, adjusting boiler's parameter to save oil and supervising input material consumption.

According to assessment, these methods did not cost much, but produced positive results. Catching rainwater tools cost VND7.7 million which was paid back just two months after. The company invested VND168 million to build new cistern to reduce water wastage of 3,945cu.m per month and it helped the company save VND19.7 million per month thanks to saving water. Especially, thanks to the method of supervising input material consumption, the company gained encouraging achievements such as reducing 25 percent of Sodium Chloride (NaCl), 20 percent of water, 30 percent of electricity used in plating stage, 25 percent of flour paint, 10 percent of water and 23 percent of electricity in painting stage. Therefore, the company saves VND607 million annually. In addition, these methods help the company protect the environment, strengthen its prestige, save money spent on waste treatment and reduce using natural resources.

Following the successes, the company's leaders considers sustainable production as their long-term target. Each workshop has one unit which is responsible for implementing sustainable production methods. The company has clear reward and punishment regulations on implementation of sustainable production methods. Workers in the sustainable production units are equipped with labor safety tools and have good working conditions. The company organizes annual meetings on assessing achievements and learning from experiences, therefore, improving workers' awareness on sustainable production and product quality. The company encourages worker to take part in sustainable production units.

Being active in applying cleaner production methods to protect the environment not only bring benefits to businesses but also contributes to build a green industry./.