How VinFast turned a muddy field into a modern production complex

The “VinFast” name was not designed to denote the speed for which electric vehicles romp off the line, rather it’s an acronym formed by the company’s four pillars in Vietnamese — Style (F), Safety (A), Creativity (S), and Pioneering (T). However, “fast” does speak to the speed at which the company operates — in a business that lumbers, VinFast sprints!

This aspect is best demonstrated by the way the vast manufacturing complex, in Hai Phong, Vietnam, sprouted out of a muddy field in just 21 months. That, by way of reference, is roughly half the time it normally takes to complete such a large undertaking. More impressive is the fact the buildings took just over a year to erect; the rest of the time was spent installing the presses, robotics, and final assembly line needed to build a modern vehicle. It’s all part of a master plan that, says VinFast, will make the company one of the top EV players within 10 years.

Pilot production started in March 2019, with a trio of vehicles including the Lux SA2.0 — it was a mid-sized crossover styled by Pininfarina and based on the BMW X5. Full production came six months later. The switch to an all-electric portfolio came in January 2021.

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VinFast Factory Photo by VinFast

Battery shop Photo by Graeme Fletcher

Today, the complex builds the VF 8 coming to Canada and the smaller VF e34 crossover. It will also start assembling the VF 9. As an aside, the VF e34 will not come to Canada and that’s the right decision — it has a 42 kilowatt-hour battery, a 147-horsepower electric motor and a driving range of 285 kilometres. These numbers are shy by current Canadian standards.

At this point, the production capacity is 250,000 units a year; however, VinFast is set to build a second manufacturing complex in Chatham County, North Carolina. By 2026, the company will have the capacity to build 950,000 vehicles a year — this number will include the VF 5, VF 6, and VF 7 models that will eventually complete the portfolio.

The Vietnamese complex consists of a 50,000-square-metre press shop, a 100,000-square-metre body shop, a 25,000-square-metre paint shop and a 200,000-square-metre assembly area along with electric motor and battery assembly shops. All are state-of-the-art with a high degree of automation — 98 per cent in the body shop. This is one side of the complex. The other side builds electric scooters and electric buses.

VF e34 Photo by Graeme Fletcher

What’s interesting is the approach taken in planning the complex. In many cases, a given manufacturer will go to a supplier and ask for recommendations. The recommendations are then studied and the back-and-forth begins. This takes time. In VinFast’s case, the company went to a supplier and asked for their best technology — those in charge then took the recommendations at face value and green-lighted them straight away, which dispensed with the haggle time. This helps to explain how the plant went from field to full-on production facility in such a short time.

Driving’s tour of the complex started in the press and body shops. The press shop punches out 16 parts per minute. These parts are gathered and passed onto the body shop where they are welded together to form the body-in-white. Here 1,200 robots do everything from transferring the stamped parts to the jigs to the 6,000 welds needed to complete the body. It is an intricate dance that sees sparks fly with every spot-weld. The two shops turn out 28 bodies every hour.

The next stop was the all-important battery assembly area. Here thousands of Samsung cells (they look like a D-cells!) are assembled into modules, the modules are loaded into the battery case, and the lot is hooked up so it’s now just a matter of plugging it in when it’s finally installed into the vehicle.

The process is automated with about the only task left to man being bolting down the lid to finish the battery pack. Moving forward, VinFast wants to develop and produce its own battery cells. The goal is to reduce its reliance on outside suppliers.

VinFast Assembly line Photo by Graeme Fletcher

Photo by Graeme Fletcher

VinFast Assembly line Photo by Graeme Fletcher

VinFast body stamping Photo by Graeme Fletcher

VinFast body welding Photo by Graeme Fletcher

VinFast stamping dies Photo by Graeme Fletcher

The final stop was the assembly line. Here it’s very much like any other — the painted body arrives at one end of the line, the finished vehicle rolls off the other. In this case, the setup is flexible and builds different models on the same line using just-in-time delivery of the parts needed for each of the units. From start to finish around 3,000 components and sub-assemblies like the doors and instrument panel are fitted together to complete the build.

At the end of the line, each vehicle is subjected to a water test and the final dynamic test. Here the newbies are subjected a test drive over eight different road surfaces to ensure there are no rattles, squeaks or glitches. At this point, the line produces 38 new vehicles an hour, however, this will increase when the North Carolina complex comes online.

Inspecting the finished product proved it to be as good as anything being produced anywhere. The panel gaps are uniform, the paint finish is rich, and the interior has the right level of fit-and-finish and overall quality. It was an interesting insight into modern vehicle production, and it is one of the most modern plants in the world.

Keyword: How VinFast turned a muddy field into a modern production complex

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