The opening up of Viet Nam’s economy in the 1990s, the economic growth together with the increasing demand for real estate in the 2000s have boosted the development of the ceramic industry. The annual demand for frit (the main material for ceramic tiles production) of the domestic ceramic tile factories was huge. However, there was no frit factory in Viet Nam by 1998. All the frit used in ceramic tile factories was imported.
As a result, Frit Hue was established and officially produced frit in August 2000. In Viet Nam, it was the first company to invest in an industrial-scale frit factory. The production technology was transferred from Reimbold & Strick from the Federal Republic of Germany, with the designed capacity of only 3,000 tons of frit/year.
To meet the need of domestic and export markets, Frit Hue has constantly improved and invested in technology. After over 20 years of operation, Frit Hue now has its technology for enamel frit production, its products are highly recognized for its prestige, quality and stability.
Participating in the Circular Economy Capacity Building Bootcamp for enterprises, Frit Hue desires to learn more about the circular business model, which helps protect the environment while still maintaining the company’s output. The representative of Frit Hue said that “During the development of Frit Hue, like any other industrial firms, we are under environmental pressure. We are always concerned about how to avoid the negative effect on the surrounding households or their complaints about the environmental pollution caused by the emission from our factory.”
From the concern of finding ways to minimize the impact on the environment, the thinking of environment protection and sustainable development was formed.
Mr. Thuong shared that “When the enterprise was small-scale, we strictly complied with the government regulations on environmental protection to ensure everyone’s safety. When the business grows, we gradually change our minds and pay more attention to creating a better life and a safer working environment for our employees. Therefore, for our employees, Frit Hue creates a mechanism for everyone to propose their ideas so we can together raise the awareness of regulatory compliance, pay attention to equipment maintenance to minimize environmental issues, etc. Thanks to this change, the employees are happier and more excited because they are the ones who are responsible for protecting the green environment.”
In addition, Frit Hue is also planning on optimizing the amount of water used, changing the process to reuse water because this is significant in the economic aspect, they might be able to pay salaries to more employees with the amount of money they spend on the water.
“Sustainable development is one of the approaches. If enterprises follow a sustainable economic model, they may not meet their expectations in the short term, but if they are patient enough and keep following economic or social sustainability, they can achieve sustainability in the environment in the future as well” – Dr. Nguyen Thi Xuan Thang – an expert on Sustainable Development, Sustainable Production and Consumption shared at the Circular Economy Capacity Building Bootcamp for enterprises in the Central region.
