The story of a 'conductor' in innovation and production creation

Scientific research with passion

Graduated from the Faculty of Food Technology of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, engineer Nguyen Dinh Doan (born in 1980) spent a long time working in the dairy industry in big cities before returning to Nghe An. The accumulated experience helped him quickly assert his ability in 7 years working at TH Milk Joint Stock Company. From the position of Production Team Leader, to Shift Leader and then becoming Head of Production - Processing Department, he had dozens of ideas that brought the company billions of dong in benefits.

Engineer Nguyen Dinh Doan (right) is one of the outstanding individuals receiving the Creative Labor Certificate awarded by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor in 2021. Photo: Thanh Quynh

Notably, the research project "Activating yeast and propagating yeast to reduce the amount of yeast used as input" was highly appreciated by the company's board of directors and applied in practice. In 2020, consumer demand for yogurt products increased sharply, while the company only had 5 fermentation tanks, each fermentation time lasted more than 5 hours. Along with that, yeast was imported from abroad, so the cost was very high, and the time to activate yeast to adapt to the environment was not really ideal. The above situation made him worry a lot, the question of how to shorten the fermentation time but still ensure the quality of the product was always in his mind. After researching research documents, he began to implement methods to promote the yeast activation process and propagate yeast from imported yeast sources.

Engineer Nguyen Dinh Doan is the pioneer in building 3 levels of innovation initiatives to apply to the working process at the Production - Processing Department in 2018. From here, production efficiency has been improved, spreading the spirit of creative work in every practical situation. Photo: Dinh Tuyen

This process lasted nearly a year with many complicated steps. Many analysis samples could not be deployed at the company because they required more modern specialized machinery systems, so he had to send them directly to Hanoi. Having to ensure professional duties and conduct scientific research, Mr. Doan often stayed up all night working. After getting the results, he had to directly debate and defend his work before the Innovation Council and the company's leadership.

Engineer Nguyen Dinh Doan (6th from left) was honored by the Nghia Dan District Labor Federation as an outstanding worker in 2021. Photo provided by the character.

And then, his work was successfully defended and applied in practice. Thanks to that, the fermentation time was shortened by 1/3, the quality of yeast was increasingly improved and the amount of yeast propagated by the company itself could be used. This improvement saved and benefited the company more than 640 million VND per year. This is also a scientific research topic that was commended by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and awarded the Creative Labor Certificate in 2021.

In addition to this initiative, recently, he has also successfully implemented the project "Reducing chemical waste discharge", which has brought the company more than 680 million VND in benefits each year. After his achievements, he has been awarded the excellent employee award many times, received the Certificate of Merit for the innovation initiative of the year from the General Director and was commended and rewarded by the Labor Federation of Nghia Dan district.

After many innovative initiatives that have brought high efficiency in practical applications, engineer Nguyen Dinh Doan (second from left) and the Production - Processing Department have been honored many times by TH Milk Joint Stock Company. Photo provided by the character

Sharing about the motivation to maintain his passion for creativity every day, Nguyen Dinh Doan confided that, right from the time he was still sitting in the lecture hall of the University of Science and Technology, his teacher always reminded him that every day that passes, he needs to answer the question: "What do I notice that is good and not so good today? Do I see any opportunities when facing this obstacle? Those are the questions to start the habit of observation. Because creativity always starts from the smallest observations to discover things that can be changed and improved."

“Awakening” creative potential in employees

In recent times, the Production - Processing Department has been one of the bright spots in implementing emulation movements for good workers and creative workers. From 2018 to now, the department has had more than 500 innovative initiatives recognized and highly appreciated by the company. Among them, many initiatives have been applied in practice, benefiting the company billions of dong. For example, in 2021, his Production - Processing Department won second prize for the initiative of Reusing waste into useful items and initiatives related to environmental protection.

Behind that achievement, engineer Nguyen Dinh Doan is considered the driving factor, leading everyone to maintain the goal of innovation when pioneering the construction of 3 levels of innovation initiatives to apply to the working process. These 3 levels not only focus on material efficiency but also on spiritual factors, on creating corporate culture or environmental improvement criteria. This has also gradually become one of the criteria for evaluating the performance of employees that has been enthusiastically responded to by everyone in recent times.

As the head of the Production - Processing Department (TH Milk Joint Stock Company), food technology engineer Nguyen Dinh Doan is considered the "conductor" who effectively promotes the innovation and creativity of employees and workers. Photo: Dinh Tuyen

He always kept in mind that innovation must never be about big ideas. Because only when small ideas are realized will workers have the confidence and inspiration to implement bigger ideas. Help people implement small ideas that bring practical benefits. It could be the idea of ​​creating moving routes for workers and employees before and after work, the idea of ​​optimizing clothing to ensure both aesthetics and create the most convenience in work and communication.

Those ideas may be very simple, even few people pay attention to them, but they contribute to building a better corporate culture, creating a comfortable mindset for employees to meet the daily requirements of reality.

Certificate of Creative Labor in 2022 awarded by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor to engineer Nguyen Dinh Doan. Photo: Thanh Quynh

As someone who always inspires and accompanies workers in production and business, Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung - Chairman of the Trade Union of TH Milk Joint Stock Company said: "In recent times, workers at the company have always effectively responded to the emulation movement "Good workers, creative workers" launched by the Labor Federation at all levels.

Engineer Nguyen Dinh Doan is one of the pioneers in this field. Although scientific research is characterized by spending a lot of time without necessarily giving the desired results, with true passion, he dared to invest his time, intelligence, and effort wholeheartedly. In particular, as a department head, he paid attention to training to encourage employees to develop their capacity, focusing on collective interests to work better every day"./.