Analysis

Beijing’s public companies lead revenue generation among APAC cities

Beijing has emerged as the top city in the Asia–Pacific (APAC) region in revenue analysis of the top 10 cities by GDP, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. GlobalData analysed 10 cities with the highest GDP in the APAC region, which are then ranked based on total revenue generated by the public companies headquartered in each city in 2019. The sample size considered for the research included about 24,800 public companies in the region. The top 10 list was dominated by China with six cities. According to GlobalData’s economic research, Tokyo’s nominal GDP including metropolitan area was US$1,795.8bn, followed by Shanghai (US$518.2bn), Beijing (US$478.4bn), Shenzhen (US$438.6bn), Guangzhou (US$371.5bn), Hong Kong (US$366bn), Singapore (US$364.5bn), Chongqing (US$345.2bn), Seoul (US$328.1bn) and Tianjin (US$299.2bn). The sample size included 1,470 cities of the APAC, of which the top 10 were home to about 7,000 companies (about 28% of the sample size). About 30% of these 7,000 were based out of Tokyo, followed by Hong Kong (21%), Seoul (12%), Beijing (10%), Singapore (9%), Shanghai (7%), Shenzhen (6%), Guangzhou (3%), Chongqing (1%), and Tianjin (1%). The companies headquartered in the top 10 cities accounted for 58.5% of the aggregate revenue of the total sample size. The combined revenue of these companies increased 5.6% in 2019, as compared to that in the previous year. Parth Vala, Company Profiles Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Though Beijing was not the leader in terms of GDP and the number of companies, it led the table in terms of average revenue per company in 2019, which stood at US$8.3bn, followed by Shenzhen (US$2.8bn), Shanghai (US$2.7bn), Tokyo (US$2.4bn), Tianjin (US$1.8bn), Seoul (US$1.7bn), Chongqing (US$1.4bn), Guangzhou (US$1.3bn), Hong Kong (US$0.8bn), and Singapore (US$0.6bn).” Except Seoul which witnessed marginal aggregate revenue decline, all the cities reported growth in their aggregate revenues from the […]

Electric vehicle development for world markets

Mahindra & Mahindra, part of USD 19.4 billion Mahindra Group, and REE Automotive have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore development and manufacturing of electric commercial vehicles for global markets. Such a strategic collaboration will leverage REE’s revolutionary electric vehicle corner module and platform technology of integrating powertrain, suspension and steering components in the arch of a vehicle wheel. This coupled with Mahindra’s well-established vehicle design, engineering, sourcing capability and manufacturing assets, is set to be a win-win strategic partnership for both companies. The partnership will support REE’s global customer need for 200,000-250,000 electric commercial vehicle units over a few years, including potential Mahindra’s domestic and international volumes. Production would be scaled further to support additional volume in the global as well as Indian market. “Our collaboration with REE has the potential to bring a disruptive approach to a new age of vehicles capitalising on our respective strengths,” said Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director (Auto and Farm Sectors), Mahindra & Mahindra. “The competitive advantages of REE’s corner modular architecture with our experience in conventional vehicle system design, engineering, sourcing ecosystem and significant production capacity, provides a perfect match to deliver exciting zero emission vehicles, including autonomous vehicles, that can meet customer needs as never before.” REE’s architecture will enhance Mahindra’s capabilities in the electric vehicle sector. REE will leverage Mahindra’s global presence and its unique volume flexibility capability as well as its engineering and product development expertise. REE’s transformational technology is designed for current and future e-mobility applications, including autonomous vehicles, and offers significant benefits in terms of weight, space and total body design flexibility. The scalability of the platform makes it ideal for any form of electric vehicle such as commercial vehicles, mid-duty delivery trucks, last mile delivery, passenger cars, taxis and shuttles. About Mahindra The Mahindra Group is […]

South Korea’s Green New Deal shows the world what a smart economic recovery looks like

As the Covid-19 pandemic devastates the global economy, there’s an opportunity for governments to support a green-led recovery. This involves spending fiscal stimulus on renewable energy and other clean technologies to create jobs while addressing climate change. The chorus calling for such a move is strong and diverse: banks, investors, academics, energy companies, climate advocates and politicians. Unfortunately, some national governments have not heeded the calls. This includes Australia, where the Morrison government is spruiking a “gas-led recovery” and talking up fossil fuel-derived hydrogen. At the same time, our government is refusing to extend the renewable energy target beyond 2020, and there are strong signs it wants to change the investment mandates of Australia’s clean energy agencies to encourage funding of gas projects. However some countries, such as South Korea, are using the crisis to kickstart environmentally sustainable economic growth. Australia can learn a lot from the smart strategy of our Asian neighbour. Rising from a COVID battering South Korea’s economy, like those across the world, has been hit hard by the pandemic. In particular, its export industries dropped by 24% in May as demand for the nation’s mainstay products, such as cars, semiconductors, machinery, petrochemicals and steel, fell away. In April, 26.93 million Koreans were reportedly employed – 392,000 fewer than a year earlier. Job losses were highest in the wholesale and retail sectors, accommodation and food services. In response, Korean President Moon Jae-in in July launched the Korean New Deal or “K-New Deal”. The US$135 billion investment in green and digital technology comprises: US$96.3 billion from Treasury US$21.2 billion from local governments US$17.3 billion from the private sector. The “green” part of the plan is known as the Green New Deal (not to be confused with the US’ proposed package of climate policies, of the same name). The Korean green plan involves US$61.9 billion targeting the creation of 319,000 jobs by 2022 and 659,000 by […]

MHI Thermal Systems opens testing facility

MHI Thermal Systems, Ltd., a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, has completed construction of a new development and testing facility for commercial-use air conditioning & refrigeration systems at its Biwajima Works (Kiyosu City, Aichi Prefecture), the core research and development facility among centers throughout the world. The establishment of this new facility, together with its existing development and testing center, will accelerate the development and commercialisation of commercial-use air conditioning & refrigeration systems in global markets. MHI Thermal Systems is also expanding its development and testing facilities in Thailand, enhancing its development capabilities worldwide. The new development and testing facility at the Biwajima Works is a two-story building with 2,155m2 of total floor area. It is equipped with various types of testing rooms for commercial-use, high-capacity systems able to handle different weather conditions, environmental regulations, and other variables in countries around the world. These facilities will allow MHI Thermal Systems to accelerate the development of large-scale, commercial-use air conditioning & refrigeration systems, including high-efficient Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) type multi-system air conditioners, industrial-use packaged air conditioners, commercial-use refrigeration systems, and commercial-use heat pump water heaters. The worldwide market for air conditioners is expected to expand considerably going forward as a result of the growth in the global population, acceleration of urbanisation, tighter environmental regulations, and changes in weather conditions due to global warming. The development of products suitable for each region will be essential to more accurately meet the varied needs of countries. In addition to strengthening development capabilities at its Biwajima Works, MHI Thermal Systems is expanding and upgrading its development and testing facilities throughout the world such as at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-Mahajak Air Conditioners Co., Ltd. in Thailand. Strengthening its development structure worldwide will allow MHI Thermal Systems to respond to a wide range of […]

India’s GDP contraction continue to persist another quarter

Following the news that Indian economy has nosedived by 23.9% YoY in the April-June 2020 quarter, the acutest historical decline; Kausani Basak, Economic Research Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view on the dip: “India imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in the world which in turn has led to a wipe out of almost one-fourth of its GDP during April-June 2020. GlobalData’s forecast suggests the economy to contract less intensively by 7.5% YoY in July-September 2020 quarter, as relaxations allowed since June 2020 have revived some employment opportunities and resulted in a deceleration in contraction of production. “GDP contraction is expected to lose pace further to 0.5% YoY decline in October-December 2020 quarter and finally register a marginal recovery of 1.6% in January-March 2021, given the COVID-19 curve flattens successfully. “Closed factories and construction activities during the April-June 2020 quarter had pulled down rural and urban consumption activity alike, aggravating the plight of the millions of poor in India. Even among the urban upper and middle-class population consumption trends are cautious with many postponing purchases due to restrictions and hoping for times of better economic clarity. As a result, the private fixed consumption expenditure has declined by 26.7% YoY in the April-June 2020 quarter. “At the same time, small and medium businesses have suffered tremendous loss and many are relying on the loan moratorium and collateral free loans offered by the government to stay afloat. The dire situation is reflected in the 47.1% decline in gross fixed capital formation in April-June 2020 quarter. Sales of commercial vehicles also declined by 84.8% in the same quarter due to reduced movement of goods in the country. “Exports, which is one of the major contributors to GDP, has recorded a double-digit contraction of 19.8% due to domestic […]

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Faro acquires ATS

Faro has acquired Advanced Technical Solutions in Scandinavia AB (“ATS”), a Swedish-based leader in 3D digital twin solution technology. This strategic action will enable customers and their clients with differentiated accuracy and speed, which we believe will accelerate market adoption of digital twin technology. High accuracy 3D digital twin simulations allow capital intensive industries to dramatically reduce their time to market and cost. Founded in 1990, ATS has had particular success in the automotive space where the firm has agreements in place with several well-known global automotive manufacturers. The acquisition will integrate ATS software and its proprietary Traceable 3D system, which enable highly accurate and repeatable 3D scans, into the Faro Webshare Cloud platform. The ATS system will bolster Faro’s ability to improve customers’ time to decision with 10x faster 3D imaging at up to 1mm accuracy and thus has significant implications for all the industries we serve. The ATS facility in Sweden will also serve as a new Faro sales and customer support center in the Nordic region. You can expect to hear more details soon about the integration of ATS from your sales partners.

Using AI to predict new materials with desired properties

An artificial intelligence approach extracts how an aluminium alloy’s contents and manufacturing process are related to specific mechanical properties. Scientists in Japan have developed a machine learning approach that can predict the elements and manufacturing processes needed to obtain an aluminium alloy with specific, desired mechanical properties. The approach, published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, could facilitate the discovery of new materials.Aluminium alloys are lightweight, energy-saving materials made predominantly from aluminium, but also contain other elements, such as magnesium, manganese, silicon, zinc and copper. The combination of elements and manufacturing process determines how resilient the alloys are to various stresses. For example, 5000 series aluminium alloys contain magnesium and several other elements and are used as a welding material in buildings, cars, and pressurized vessels. 7000 series aluminium alloys contain zinc, and usually magnesium and copper, and are most commonly used in bicycle frames. Experimenting with various combinations of elements and manufacturing processes to fabricate aluminium alloys is time-consuming and expensive. To overcome this, Ryo Tamura and colleagues at Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science and Toyota Motor Corporation developed a materials informatics technique that feeds known data from aluminium alloy databases into a machine learning model. This trains the model to understand relationships between alloys’ mechanical properties and the different elements they are made of, as well as the type of heat treatment applied during manufacturing. Once the model is provided enough data, it can then predict what is required to manufacture a new alloy with specific mechanical properties. All this without the need for input or supervision from a human. The model found, for example, 5000 series aluminium alloys that are highly resistant to stress and deformation can be made by increasing the manganese and magnesium content and reducing the aluminium content. “This sort […]

Exiting China not easy for Japanese companies

In the wake of the supply chain disruptions due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Japan has earmarked over US$2bn to encourage its companies under FY2020 Primary Supplementary Budget to move operations out of China and relocate production bases across a number of countries, including those of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). However, completely decoupling from China is not going to be easy for Japanese companies, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in severe supply chain disruptions in early 2020 for Japanese companies. For instance, Nissan had to temporarily stop production at one of its domestic plants because of the delay in parts supply from China. The new national security law of Hong Kong passed by China in June 2020 coupled with recent territorial disputes in the South China Sea has reignited the demand in Japan for the country’s companies to lower dependency in China. As a result, Japan is concerned as more than 1,400 Japanese companies operate out of Hong Kong. The city accounts for about 2.5% of Japan’s total trade in 2019, making it one of top 10 trading partners. Japan is also closely monitoring the China-United States trade war, as possible higher import tariffs from their Chinese production units into US could also exert pressure on Japanese companies to shift production base. Gracio Benher, Practice Head at GlobalData, comments: “Even before the current geopolitical stand-off between China and Japan, some Japanese companies in China have been mulling about cutting down their Chinese presence, following the increased labor costs and unfavorable exchange rate between Japanese Yen and Chinese Yuan.” For Japanese companies, a total pullout from China has its own set of challenges. Japanese companies have over US$100bn investments in China, and one of the prerequisites to gain access to […]

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EU Automation launches resource centre for manufacturing professionals

In response to the industry’s hunger for information on technology that can pull them out of the post-pandemic productivity lull, automation equipment supplier EU Automation, has pooled all its resources into a new, free, online Knowledge Hub. At the click of a button, visitors can download a wealth of resources on additive manufacturing (AM), artificial intelligence (AI), Industry 4.0, cyber security, obsolescence, sustainability and the circular economy. The company has also made its two chart-topping books available to download free of charge. EU Automation has been publishing its industry magazine, AUTOMATED, since 2016. In the last four years, it has gathered insight from trade bodies, innovative start ups and created a content bank. The Knowledge Hub takes this several steps further, by providing industry an easy way to download a range of resources on an industry trend of their choice. The company has also made its two manufacturing chart-topping books available for free download. The books were previously available on Amazon for a small cost, but the authors felt that enabling free download would best aid manufacturing professionals in their online learning. The first book, The Book of Obsolescence Management (BoOM) explains how manufacturers can use obsolescence to their advantage, giving practical advice from industry experts at COPA-DATA, Renishaw, the International Institute of Obsolescence Management and more. The book has been downloaded more than 17,000 times and sat at the top of the Amazon manufacturing chart for several weeks. The second book, 4.0 Sight, is a global look at the fourth industrial revolution, covering initiatives like Japan’s Society 5.0 and Made in China 2025. Similar to BoOM, it is packed with insight from big industry players, including ABB, GE and Toshiba Machine. “Google Trends data suggests that the search term “free online learning” increased dramatically during the Covid-19 outbreak,” explained […]

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