Mr. Le Thanh Tri, Director of Thanh Tri Science and Technology Co., Ltd. (Lien Nghia, Duc Trong, Lam Dong), has won numerous awards for his innovative machinery designed to serve farmers, yet he still doesn't own a plot of land and lives in rented accommodation.
A Dream from Youth
Mr. Le Thanh Tri has been passionate about mechanics and machinery since his high school days. To pursue that passion, he attended Nguyen Truong To Technical High School and then Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, but dropped out of both. Although he couldn't fulfill his dream of becoming a mechanic, his passion for invention remains strong.
Mr. Le Thanh Tri (second from the left) is discussing the seed-planting machine with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a conference held in Da Lat.
In 2009, Mr. Tri moved from Ben Tre to Lam Dong to work for a company specializing in agricultural products. After two years, he decided to quit and wander around looking for new work. "I went to many plant nurseries to ask for work, and I saw that they were doing everything manually without any machinery. From that, I came up with the idea of inventing agricultural machinery," Mr. Tri recalled.
He put his thoughts into action, investing all his savings into inventing a machine for sowing seeds into styrofoam trays. Having basic mechanical knowledge, after months of trial and error, learning from experience, he finally succeeded in creating the seed sowing machine.
The cost to build the first machine was over 50 million dong, but Mr. Tri only sold it for just over 30 million dong. The reason was that the first machine was still under development and testing, and many components broke down, driving up the cost.
Mr. Tri's invention of the seed sowing machine quickly spread far and wide. Dozens of nurseries in Lam Dong rushed to place orders for his machines. He worked day and night, unable to keep up with customer demand.
With the capital from selling the machines, he continued his research to create other agricultural machines to serve the production process of nurseries, as a way of showing his gratitude to his friend. Subsequently, a series of machines were developed, including: machines for filling foam trays, washing trays, grinding growing media, and conveyor belt screening machines… ensuring a completely technologically advanced nursery production process.
"Good wine needs no bush," he continuously received orders for nursery production machines. In 2012, Mr. Le Thanh Tri's seed sowing machine was exported to Malaysia, and later to Thailand and Singapore. To date, he has supplied the market with around 400 seed planters, averaging 40 million VND per unit, which is only one-quarter the price of imported seed planters on the market (8,000 USD).
The outstanding advantage of his company's products is their low cost, overcoming limitations in the production process, and suitability to the conditions and farming practices of the local people.
Ready to Train Young Learners
Not only is he dedicated to farmers, but he also wholeheartedly guides anyone with a passion for creating machinery who comes to him, sharing his experience, knowledge, and passion.
Since establishing his business here, he has trained approximately 200 apprentices, many of whom have opened their own workshops and achieved success in the mechanical engineering field. In addition, he supervises an average of 6 students on their graduation projects each year. He also mentioned that Thanh Tri Science and Technology Co., Ltd. currently has over 50 agricultural machinery products focusing on 5 main lines: serving nursery cultivation, microbial fertilizers, animal feed, fruit processing; and machines for washing various types of tubers...
At 63 years old, his creativity remains abundant. He revealed that he has successfully researched 17 types of machines that have not yet been put into production due to time and financial constraints. "I've always hoped to find someone who could manage the business for me, from design support and workshop management to financial calculations, so I could fully concentrate on researching and manufacturing machinery. Currently, my immediate aspiration is to find a piece of land to open my own factory, as I'm still renting," he shared.
Source: baogialai.com.vn
