Fish fat dredger, fish blood collection system
In 2001, after studying intermediate mechanical engineering, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Ngon started working at Nam Viet Joint Stock Company. From a worker, after many years of being attached to machinery and production lines, he was assigned to be the Head of the Mechanical Team, directly participating in repairing and renovating equipment and researching solutions to serve production.
Mr. Ngon always has a habit of observing and discovering unreasonable points to find ways to improve. A detail that is often damaged, a stage that takes a lot of time, or a laborious operation can all become the starting point of an initiative. "Seeing something unusual, you must report it, seeing something unreasonable, you must think of ways to do it better," Mr. Ngon shared.
His initiatives also started from that simple way of thinking. With the fish fat picking machine, from the reality that workers have to perform manually, he takes advantage of available materials and equipment to manufacture the machine, helping the amount of fat recovered to increase by 1,424kg, equivalent to 31.7%, making a profit of about 98.28 million VND/year.
More notably is the fish blood recovery system. Realizing that a large amount of fish blood is wasted during processing, he thought about recovering this raw material instead of letting it be lost. After completion, the system helps recover about 87.5% of fish blood waste, averaging about 1,050kg of fresh blood per day, bringing a profit value of about 468 million VND/year. The recovered raw material is also used to produce protein for processing aquaculture feed.
Improvements help workers reduce hardship
For Mr. Ngon, improvements are not only aimed at creating economic value but also to reduce the hardship of workers. From that thought, he continued to research and improve the rolling machine at the Packaging Factory. After the packaging sheets are removed from the machine, workers still have to manually arrange them according to the size and then transport them to the warehouse. The work is repetitive, time-consuming and requires a lot of labor.
He and his colleagues in the Mechanical Team joined hands to research. Not only giving ideas, he directly worked with colleagues to design, process, assemble and test the system. During operation, each operation of workers was observed, and any inconveniences were recorded for further adjustment. As a result, the system helped reduce 2 direct workers in the arrangement stage, saving time, making transportation and storage more convenient, with a profit value of about 570 million VND/year.
I believe in designing a production line to help workers operate easily, bringing machinery and equipment to replace humans in heavy and dangerous positions," Mr. Ngon expressed.
Mr. Le Tien Dung, Chairman of the grassroots Trade Union of Nam Viet Joint Stock Company, said: "Mr. Ngon is one of the typical workers, with a high sense of responsibility, always actively promoting initiatives and technical improvements. His initiatives not only bring economic efficiency but also contribute to improving working conditions for workers.
Not stopping at existing initiatives, he continued to look for new problems. For Mr. Ngon, improved machines are not to completely replace humans, but to make people work lighter, safer and more efficiently.
These efforts were recognized with Creative Labor Certificates in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and have been commended and rewarded many times by An Giang province, trade union organizations and businesses. Recently, at the Conference to Commend typical union members and workers in the emulation movement "Good labor, high productivity, good income", Mr. Nguyen Thanh Ngon was one of 75 typical union members and workers selected for commendation by the An Giang Provincial Labor Federation.
