Naturally inclined to turn towards the United States, Quebec companies sometimes look much further afield, including as far as Vietnam. Fourth article in a series of five.
No need to be a large multinational obsessed with profits to have “your” factory in Asia. At the last count, the MOS company in Quebec had six permanent employees, who come to lend a hand, if necessary, to around ten “sporadic” collaborators. And yet its vehicle roof racks are manufactured just under 14,000 kilometers away, in Giang Dien, northeast of Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam.
“We did our homework,” explains the young president and founder of the small business, Joey Hébert. Forced to admit that they would not find a company in Quebec — nor elsewhere in Canada or in the surrounding area — that could manufacture their new type of articulated supports for bicycles, kayaks or trunks at a commercially viable volume and cost, This 31-year-old business administration graduate and his associates sought alternative solutions that would meet their criteria, not only technical and economic, but also environmental and social.
Do like everyone else and turn to China? Not with the 25% trade tariffs imposed by the United States nor with the “horrendous” working conditions observed in the more than half a dozen factories visited on site.
So, Mexico? No more. Surprisingly, the carbon footprint would then be higher than with Asia, in particular because transport by train and truck is more polluting than by ship.
MOS ultimately chose to do business with VPIC (for Vietnam Precision Industrial Joint Stock Company), a company created in Vietnam in 1994 by Taiwanese capital, which has three factories and more than 3,000 employees and whose turnover has exceeded US$120 million in 2022. The company has large clients in Canada (BRP), the United States (Harley-Davidson), Japan (Suzuki) and Vietnam (VinFast), but also smaller ones, such as MOS.
More than performers
Obviously, this is also due to manufacturing prices, which are three or four times lower, says Joey Hébert. Also, Canada and Vietnam are signatories to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). But that’s not all.
“They are not simple performers for us. They advise us on the manufacturing, assembly and logistics stages, says Joey Hébert. We were pleasantly surprised to see the quality of the working environment and the health and safety standards of the company and its suppliers. I can tell you that I saw things, in certain places in Quebec, that made me cringe much more than in Vietnam. »
For VPIC, working with smaller clients allows it to stay in touch with the latest trends and innovations, in addition to continuing to stimulate its team of engineers and technicians. “And you never know. Some of these small companies can, one day, become big,” says a company manager who, to respect hierarchical precedence and Vietnamese cultural codes, preferred not to be named.
The factory where we are located covers an area equivalent to around thirty football fields. As is often the case in the area, it is mainly made up of huge buildings whose concrete walls end and are covered by corrugated iron, in which large openings can be made to aid ventilation and reduce the heat of the day.
Wearing gray work clothes and caps, workers there control huge machines and robots that press, fold, melt and cut all kinds of shapes that others, further away, assemble, paint and package. At the end of the chain, we manage to fill around fifty containers each week, ready to be shipped to the four corners of the planet in a movement of bodies and machines that is rather calm and less noisy than one might have imagined. .
“You can’t take photos here, because it’s their next model,” our guide warns about bicycle frames that workers are working on and which must then head to the United States.
Import to be able to export
Unlike products made in China, which may have acquired a bad reputation in recent years, those that come from Vietnam are well accepted by public opinion in North America, thinks Joey Hébert. Blocked from the start in its launch by the upheavals in supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, his young company must now deal with the collapse in demand for outdoor equipment, consumers having already filled their cupboards and sheds during the years of sanitary confinement in addition to now taking the hit from rising inflation and the economic slowdown. “We weren’t lucky. We are looking at what we could also do in the Western provinces and the United States, where the context remains more favorable. »
The young entrepreneur is not the type to complain, but he is still surprised to see how public support for businesses often stops as soon as it is no longer just a question of selling products and services. abroad, but also to buy them. ” I find it a pity. When we talk about encouraging trade, it is usually only in terms of exports, whereas we often need to know how to import in order to export. We put a lot of emphasis on promoting local businesses, and only local businesses. But sometimes, the only way to sustain a local business is for it to incorporate elements from overseas into its operations. »
Witness and actor in History
Aged 35, our host at VPIC has the feeling of being both witness and actor in a period of significant transformation in his country. This is done in particular at the cost of the development of transport, economic and energy infrastructures which has difficulty keeping up with the pace of economic growth, he notes. “Our roads are sometimes damaged by heavy rains and are probably not as beautiful as in Canada,” he ventures to guess.
“It’s a chance to live in this period of turmoil for our country. On a personal basis, all kinds of possibilities are available to us and to the generations that follow us. But we also have the feeling of being able to participate in an important stage in the construction of our country. »
This report was financed with the support of the Transat-International Journalism Fund.The duty.