'Village Engineer' Invents Industrial Dishwasher

Starting with a household dishwasher, a self-taught engineer in Thai Binh province developed it into an industrial-scale product that has been well-received by many.

Having been exposed to the mechanical repair and installation environment at a young age, Nguyen Van Ngoc (36 years old, from Tu Tan, Vu Thu, Thai Binh) had already aspired to have a long-term career in this field while still in school.

Ngoc's father was a former automotive mechanic in the army. After retiring, he opened a motorcycle repair shop at home, so Ngoc often helped out in his free time and gradually accumulated quite a lot of experience.After finishing high school, Ngoc attended a vocational college for pharmacy, fulfilling his family's wishes. Upon graduation, he didn't pursue a career in pharmacy but instead worked at a national defense electrical and mechanical factory; then he applied to attend the National Defense Industrial High School, specializing in mechanical engineering.

Graduating with good grades in 2004, armed with his academic knowledge and experience, he harbored the intention of starting his own mechanical workshop with a few friends. "If I continued working for someone else, I don't know when I would ever have a career," he said.

His aspirations met with fierce opposition from his family. Unwilling to see their son risk his life and money only to have it all go to waste, his parents found him a stable job at the Thai Binh Provincial Military Command. He resolutely refused, staying home and insisting he wanted to pursue his passion for mechanics. Ultimately, his parents had no choice but to turn a blind eye.".

Working for someone else to raise capital for a startup.

Starting his own business, Ngoc didn't ask or borrow money from his family to raise capital, but instead worked as a hired hand in many places. In 2007, he opened a mechanical equipment installation workshop in his hometown.This winter, after dinner, he saw his mother come back into the house with her hands turning purple, wincing as she walked. He guessed she had just washed the whole family's pile of dishes.

The idea of ​​building a dishwasher to ease his mother's burden was sparked here. But it wasn't until two years later, when he had the financial means, that he was able to realize it.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ngoc next to his automatic dishwasher. Photo: Provided by the interviewee.

At this time, families in Vietnam were using dishwashers, but mostly imported ones, which were expensive and in high demand.electricityTo overcome that limitation, Ngoc spent day and night searching for the right equipment everywhere, and after many failed attempts, he finally succeeded. The main material of the machine is stainless steel, which prevents the device from rusting. The product won third prize in the Thai Binh Provincial Technical Innovation Competition in 2009.

Manufacturing industrial dishwashers

Realizing that the machine had an unattractive and rather crude design, making it unsuitable as a decorative item in the home and therefore uncompetitive with imported products, Ngoc began developing an industrial-grade automatic dishwasher for restaurants and food establishments. "Industrial machines don't require sophisticated designs, so I changed my development direction based on the principles of a mini household dishwasher," Ngoc explained.

In mid-2015, Ngoc began building his first industrial dishwasher and completed it in early 2016. It weighed 360 kg.Washing capacity of 3,600 dishes and 120 trays per hour.Users simply rinse the dishes briefly with water to remove food scraps, then arrange the dishes in their designated trays, push the trays into the machine through the internal spray system, and finally remove them.

Dishes are fed into the machine through two rows of high-pressure spray nozzles: one from above and one from below, combined with 65°C hot water for washing and 70°C hot water for rinsing. The high-pressure water nozzles rotate in four directions to spray water onto all surfaces of the dishes. The machine uses a recirculating water supply, making it very water-efficient.

The product has become well-known to many food establishments nationwide. Currently, he is manufacturing several machines on order from various places such as Quang Ninh and Nha Trang.

According to VNE