People in the industry call him “ Melamine Magnate”. However, not many people know  that the startup of Mr. Le Van Thanh, Chairman of the Board of Phat Thanh Trading Manufacture Co., Ltd (FATACO), started from a lunch. Mr. Thanh said before 1991 he had a rubber manufacturing base, motorcycle tires, bicycles and elastic belts. But because many businesses jointly produce the commodity so the market is somewhat saturated, fierce competition, so he decided to divert. Mr. Thanh said before 1991 he had an operation manufacture rubber, motorcycle tires, bicycles and elastic belts. But because many businesses jointly manufacturing the same commodities so the market is somewhat saturated, fierce competition, so he decided to shift.

In mid-1992, FATACO was established, originally intended for trading in plastic materials. In 1993, Mr. Thanh and a Ho Chi Minh City business group visited and took a market survey at Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand. During the visit to a large restaurant in Thailand for lunch, when the waiter brought food to the group was slipping, the entire tray of food spilled, but none of the small bolws or dishes broken. Curious, he picked it up and found out that it was made from melamine. On his return, Mr. Thanh decided to conduct a market survey and found that melamine products in Vietnam was mostly imported from Thailand and China. This led him to think of producing these products.

Bringing that thought to Taiwan, through some acquaintances introduced, he visited several workshops specializing in manufacturing machinery and supplies of melamine products. Recognizing the technology of producing this item is quite simple, the product is popular with many consumers, because of the durability, easy to change models ... has urged him to decide to spend all his savings (about 200,000 US dollars at that time) to buy five presses and some molds brought back to Vietnam. After a few trial production, Melancholen's melamine bowls, dishes and dishes also appeared on the market in 1993 and were quickly accepted by consumers. Good run, competitive with the goods of Thailand and China.

However, at the time, it was not a simple thing to get a new model, there was no business in the domestic molding industry was able to meet the requirements of the company. Therefore, whenever FATACO want to produce a new product, they must send the design to Taiwan to order the mould, sometimes it takes 3-4 months to complete. This limitation caused revenue slow down of the company after nearly three years bringing products to market despite the company's products are good quality, competitive price, but modest model compared with the product of Thailand, China. Since then, he decided to invest more machinery, production lines, and offset printers and zinc plate machine to actively design the product. From 200-300 samples initially, less than two years later, the company has produced more than 1,000 samples. And currently FATACO has more than 5,000 specimens circulating on the market.

Besides, the company also boosts the development of domestic and foreign markets, helping the company stabilize its production and annual growth. Mr. Thanh said that FATACO’s products were mainly exported to America, Australia, New Zealand, England, France, Germany ... The annual growth rate was negligible. The company moved into neighboring countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and achieved a lot of success. During the economic crisis, FATACO’s exports to Europe and the United States fell sharply, from $ 2 million to about $ 500,000 in 2008. But in return, thanks to rising neighboring markets, the export turnover of the company remained stable at 30% of total output.

Despite the economic crisis, many businesses reduced their labor force, but in FATACO, the number of workers increased. The salary of new employees from 1.5-2 million per month, and the longtime workers receive a salary of 3-4 million per month. To anticipate when new production lines go into manufacture, the number of workers will increase from 800 now to about 1,000 workers.

In order to improve the quality, design, lower cost, improve competitiveness and expand market share, FATACO continues to invest in machinery and equipment in the economic downturn. The company has invested more than US $ 4 million to buy a range of machinery and equipment for modern production lines. Of which there are 60 melamine machines, bringing the total to 220 machines. The company also purchased 14 lathes, CNC milling machines, 15 modern plastic injection molding machines for the production of motorcycle parts, precision molding machines, offset printing machines, zinc plates machines for printing.

Mr. Thanh said that in early 2008, when some dairy products on the market were contaminated with melamine, many consumers worried about melamine products, which severely affected FATACO. Manufactured products unmarketable, inventory at up to more than 40%. Many solutions have been proposed. In addition to sending samples for testing at the Center for Standards, Metrology and Quality III, the company sent samples to the US and Taiwan for testing. As a result, consumers are more reassured about the quality of their products, helping the company regain market share.

In the first six months of 2009, the company achieved a growth rate of over 30% compared to the same period of 2018, with production increasing by over 40% corresponding to the same period. In addition to developing the melamine production line, Mr. Thanh decided to spend more than $ 600,000 to import a line of food cans from cornstarch, wheat flour which could break down completely after three months in natural environment. Although there are no orders for these products yet, Mr. Thanh still believes in the success of the package of self-destruction when consumer awareness of the environment is improved. According to him, businesses that want to survive and develop in no way other than to always invest in production.

Khoi Nguyen.