Analysis

Does hybrid manufacturing offer the best of both worlds?

In the wild, zebra and ostriches may appear to be unlikely allies. Here, John Young, country manager for the APAC region at industrial equipment supplier, EU Automation, explains how sometimes a seemingly polarising combination can be very effective, particularly in the realm of additive and subtractive machining. While zebra have excellent eyesight and a poor sense of smell, ostriches have weak eyesight and a much better sense of smell. By working together, they have a greater chance at identifying threats and evading predators. In much the same way, additive and subtractive manufacturing may seem like competitors, but by combining them, it is possible to overcome their respective deficiencies. The additive manufacturing market is growing exponentially, and Asia-Pacific is expected to be at the forefront of this multi-billion-dollar market. Japan, China, Australia, and South Korea are among the key global players, while countries such as Singapore are seeing increased government funding in this area. Despite additive manufacturing being widely heralded as revolutionary, it does have its own set of drawbacks to contend with. Does hybrid manufacturing offer a solution, and could it have even greater potential than its predecessors? Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing as it is commonly referred to, denotes the production of a part by adding, or “printing”, layers of a material on top of one another. Additive manufacturing results in less waste material, lighter and more complex designs, and reduced lead times, ideal for rapid prototyping. However, there are drawbacks too; the printing process takes a long time, and finished parts often have an uneven, stepped surface. Subtractive manufacturing, on the other hand, means creating a product by gradually removing material using techniques including drilling, cutting, and grinding. This method is precise, has a high productivity, and can achieve a range of surface finishes. However, it results in […]

Covid-19 opportunities for APAC manufacturers to leverage nutrient-rich Yuzu extracts for a healthy halo

East Asian citrus fruit Yuzu has claimed its place among the ‘superfruits’ for its flavor, nutritional value and potential health attributes. Additionally, it has also become a star ingredient in the food, beverages and beauty formulations across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. Against this backdrop, manufacturers can exploit the floral and citrus fragrance of Yuzu for products designed to appeal to the consumers looking for a calming and relaxing fragrance in their food and non-food products, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. Yuzu, being a citrus fruit native to northeast Asia, can be found in Korea, China, and Japan. Citrus fruits contain dietary components such as hesperidin, naringin, luteolein, limonene and vitamin C, which confer health benefits that include preventing cardiovascular diseases and improving blood circulation. According to GlobalData Covid-19 week 7 (5-10 May) survey, almost 73% Indians, 61% Chinese and 53% Australians are always/often influenced by how product impacts their health and wellbeing. The survey also reveals 31% Indians and 43% Chinese buy more of vitamins and health supplements since the outbreak of Covid-19. The growing popularity of Japanese cuisine and Asian beauty concepts such as J-beauty, K-beauty and C-beauty is driving global awareness about ingredients from the region such as Yuzu. Modern scientific studies are unravelling the food’s value and potential health, and beauty benefits, and paving the way for the application of the fruit in food, beverage and beauty formulations. Shagun Sachdeva, Consumer Insights Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Yuzu seems to be a promising ingredient in premium, clean-label, personalized health food and drinks. Beyond food and beverages, it will also find its application in personal care sector, given its anti-aging qualities and its floral aroma making it the right ingredient for skincare, make-up as well as bath and shower products.” With the ever-increasing internet penetration, growing health […]

Overcoming Cambodia’s reliance on few trade partners: An analysis by The Asian Vision Institute

The economy of Cambodia is to suffer the effects of two hard blows in the coming months and years. The first is the European Commission’s announced intention to scale back its “Everything But Arms” (EBA) preferential trade arrangement with Cambodia and the second is the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These events are laying bare the structural weaknesses of Cambodia’s economy, which is over-reliant on the European Union for market access and on China for production capacity, investment and tourist inflow. Cambodia’s most vulnerable citizens, particularly women who work in the garment industry, low-skilled workers and those who have just been lifted from poverty, will feel the brunt of the fallout. The Asian Development Bank and the World Bank have each warned policymakers of the precarious state of the “near poor” in Cambodia. According to official estimates, the current poverty rate is below 10 percent (compared to 47.8 percent in 2007). Although the nation has achieved great success in its fight against extreme poverty, more than 70% of Cambodians still live on less than US$3.20 a day. The Royal Government introduced short-term measures in late February of 2020 to help employers sustain their operations, to help workers who have lost their jobs or whose work has been suspended and to support small and medium enterprises which are the backbone of the economy. The Royal Government is to be commended for this. The protection of livelihoods is tantamount to the protection of human rights. The measures include tax holidays, direct support, training programs, customs facilitation and the reduction of government expenditures. For example, owners of factories that suspend production due to a shortage of raw materials will be expected to pay 40% of wages while the government will pay an additional 20%. An enhanced set of reforms and mid to long term […]

Millions lost in APAC carve-out deals

Third of global carve-outs fail to go to plan, with APAC most likely to experience deal delays, TMF Group research shows. The number of carve-out acquisitions is expected to rise as businesses in Asia-Pacific (APAC) look to restructure because of the COVID-19 turmoil. Those that do should approach with a note of caution after research revealed around a fifth of carve-outs result in millions of dollars wasted because of inefficiencies. While the deal economics of carve-outs can be very attractive, an independent survey, commissioned by TMF Group, found that 34% of senior executives from private equity firms with buy-side experience and 27% from corporations said their most recent cross-border carve-out failed to deliver on expectations, with 24% and 19%, respectively, saying costly overruns significantly impacted the deal. The survey also revealed that businesses in APAC were much more likely than those in other regions to experience deal delays (33%), against just 18% of those in the Americas and 16% in EMEA. Where a delay resulted in increased cost, a clear majority of those from private equity firms (92%) said it added 10% or more of the original value of the deal, with 30% saying more than 16%. The figure for corporates was equally high, with 85% claiming it increased add-on costs by 10% or more, and 38% at 16% or more – all considerable sums given that most of the carve-outs were valued at over US$ 50 million, and some more than US$1 billion. The research comes at a time when the market has seen a three-fold increase in the annual volume of spin-offs and carve-outs since 2016. The onset of COVID-19 will dampen deal volumes in the immediate period, but will create special situations for cash rich buyers as affected companies in the region look to restructure their […]

Global financial markets to use China’s recovery as a critical gauge

Global financial markets will use China’s recovery as a sentiment tracker, affirms the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory and services organisations. The comments from Nigel Green come as European and Asian-Pacific markets and U.S. futures fell after a stream of stark headlines over the weekend. His observations also follow Chen Yulu, a vice governor at the People’s Bank of China, giving a press conference on Sunday at which he noted that two ways the country is contributing to global financial recovery is by maintaining domestic financial markets’ stability and by being involved in international talks on macroeconomic policy collaboration. Mr Green says: “Since the World Health Organisation upped its rhetoric on Covid-19 due to the rapid spread, financial markets – including stocks, oil, government bonds and gold – have experienced wild bouts of volatility and major sell-offs. “Investors are now not only monitoring the habitual markers like the price of gold and oil and international fiscal and monetary policies, but they’re also tracking the global health policies and Coronavirus-death tolls.” He continues: “The epicentre of Coronavirus has shifted from China to Europe. Europe has now registered more Coronavirus cases and fatalities than China. “Almost immediately, the Chinese authorities launched intense lockdown measures to try and halt the outbreak. It appears to have been successful, with cases having fallen considerably. “However, the adverse impact on the world’s second-largest economy – which drives in a large part – the global economy – has been significant.” Mr Green goes on to say: “As such investors around the world will now be looking at how China gets back on its feet economically. Did the extreme lockdown work? Were the public health facilities adequate? Will there be another outbreak as activity resumes? How will the authorities now kickstart the economy? […]

Bridging the skills gap

In the 2019 Aon Global Risk Management Survey, the failure to attract and retain top talent remained in the top 15 of managerial concerns for the year ahead, as it has been since the inaugural survey in 2007. It’s clear that organisations deem securing the right talent with appropriate skills as crucial to ongoing prosperity. However, how do these results fare in the APAC region and what can organisations do to help bridge the ever-growing skills gap? Here John Young, APAC director at industrial automation parts supplier, EU Automation explains more. Respondents to the Global Risk Management Survey from around the world said that issues of securing and retaining top talent were firmly in their top 15 of concerns. In Asia Pacific (APAC), however, managers indicated these risks were a higher concern, positioning them at number ten in their list. As a new generation of graduates from across APAC find the world’s multinationals and fast-growing start-ups at their fingertips, competition is high among businesses to attract skilled staff. Technology is the key The increase of technology in our daily lives could be one of the secrets to regaining control of the skills gap in APAC. There is an increasing need to encourage students to study science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) as core subjects in higher education. If students, regardless of their age, begin to associate the technologies they use on a daily basis with potential career opportunities, then there’s an increased likelihood that they might consider a STEM career pathway. Many students don’t realise that a number of skills they develop socially can be transferable into a potential career. These skills might stem from the use of problem-solving apps, the creativity of curating social media content, or using pocket-sized coding computers and simple HTML coding for websites. The changing […]

Up-skilling workforce crucial to arrest job losses due to automation across ASEAN

In the high growth ASEAN countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) more than 50% jobs are vulnerable due to automation in the long run. As a result, up-skilling the workforce becomes a pre-requisite for strong, sustained and balanced growth of the economy, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The traditional educational and training institutes are yet to adopt according to the changing times, leading to a huge skill mismatch in these countries. Consequently, the structural unemployment in countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam has been rising. Kausani Basak, Economic Research Analyst at GlobalData, says: “The labor market in countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam are already facing heat from high unemployment among people with basic education. On the other hand, these countries also have a huge working age population, thus further adding to the issues.” Hotels and restaurants; wholesale and retail trade; and construction and manufacturing are the sectors which are particularly staring at the risk of job losses due to automation. More specifically, hundreds of thousands of sowing machine operators in Cambodia’s garment manufacturing, millions of shop sales assistants and office clerks in Thailand and Indonesia, respectively, are expected to experience high volume of job losses. The emerging new occupations that are replacing the old ones require up-graded skills that will deepen their competencies and enhance career prospects. In the recent years, there has been a rising concern among the governments to reduce the skills mismatch and as a result they have taken some preliminary steps towards increasing the technological education penetration and re-designing the existing curriculum. Countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia have been substantially emphasizing on the skill development of workers. However, these measures are not providing enough support so as to integrate the workers into the labor force seamlessly. Nevertheless, […]

Hagai-Zyss-CEO-of-Autotalks-Asia-MN-website

Autotalks’ Chipset selected for mass production C-V2X program in China

Autotalks, a world leader in V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) communication solutions, has had its chipset was selected for a mass production C-V2X program in China, one of the first to be deployed in the huge Chinese market. This is the first mass-production C-V2X program for Autotalks, which consists of a Telematics Control Unit (TCU) with C-V2X powered by Autotalks’ chipset, built by a top Tier1 automotive provider. The selection of Autotalks’ chipset for the project followed rigorous testing and evaluation that proved the leading radio performance and greater level of security of its C-V2X solution, as well as the chipset’s thermal resiliency and true transmit diversity. Additionally, Autotalks’ ability to meet the strict schedule was instrumental. The company’s production grade C-V2X solution meets all Chinese performance, configuration, throughput and security requirements and is now ready for deployment there as well as in other markets. This follows extensive testing in China over the past year. According to the research firm IHS Markit, China is expected to lead the global V2X market, with an estimated 629,000 light vehicles produced in the region equipped with C-V2X technology in 2020, and the country is expected to stay in the lead through to 2024. In October 2019, Autotalks successfully showcased its chipset’s conformance to the Chinese C-V2X standard and its OSCCA-compliant security in the first-ever large-scale interoperability demonstration of multi-brand C-V2X communication. “We are proud to be part of this pioneering production program to deploy our mature C-V2X solution in the near future on the streets of China,” said Hagai Zyss, CEO of Autotalks. He stressed that “this important win is a clear testimony to the trust that leading OEMs and Tiers put in Autotalks and to our differentiation as a standalone global V2X chipset provider setting the benchmark on performance and security.” Autotalks will be showcasing its […]

5G is about to change the world in ways we can’t even imagine yet

Blue sky thinking: We don’t yet know what wave of change 5G will create 5G networks were rolled out in 2019 and will expand rapidly in 2020. 5G will connect everything and everyone. 5G will underpin remote surgery, self-driving cars – and movies you can download in seconds. We live in a time when words meant to represent significant or unique ideas are so overused, they have been trivialised. “Revolutionary” is such a word, a victim of hyperbolic marketing that has rendered meaningless a term meant to evoke profound change to our world. When everything is “revolutionary,” nothing is. Yet here I am, unable to find an alternative as comprehensively descriptive of 5G and the infinite number of ways the newest generation of wireless technology will change our world. In fact, the revolution has already begun. The global deployment of 5G networks got a running start in 2019 and is set to rapidly expand beyond anything we expected a year ago. But the public understanding of 5G hasn’t caught up. While 3G put the mobile Internet in your hand and 4G gave us mobile broadband – redefining how we interact with our world – 5G will connect everything and everyone. The technologies within 5G were and continue to be designed to vastly expand network capacity so cars, utility grids, appliances, medical devices, industrial machinery, homes, cities, farms and more can all be connected. And 5G will reduce delays and improve reliability, thereby enabling mission-critical tasks such as remote surgery, self-driving cars and enhanced public safety, to make possible secure connections so lightning-fast that an entire movie can be downloaded in seconds. The faster smartphones and always-connected personal computers that consumers are already using on the initial 5G networks are just a hint of the transformations to come. While 3G and 4G technology were designed to put […]

Malaysias-business-transformation-PIC-Asia-Man-News-Website

Malaysia’s business transformation programme helps raise productivity by up to 30 per cent

United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd (UOB Malaysia) and The FinLab announced that the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have completed the Jom Transform Programme[1] are expected to see productivity rise by up to 30 per cent through digitalisation. The Jom Transform Programme is the first business transformation programme in Malaysia to help local businesses digitalise their operations to drive productivity and revenue growth. During the three-month programme, the 16 participating SMEs gained digital transformation skills and know-how such as business re-engineering and digital marketing. As part of their skills development, they learnt industry secrets from experts at a series of workshops and were matched with specially-chosen technology partners to pilot relevant solutions and to assess the effectiveness of these solutions. Out of the 16 participating SMEs, 12 piloted solutions to enhance their core business processes such as payroll, human resources and accounting. The automation of these processes is expected to help employees reduce the time they spend on manual, administrative processes by as much as 30 per cent[2]. This will free up their time to do more value-added work and in turn contribute to the company’s overall productivity and efficiency. The SMEs also piloted solutions in digital marketing, lead generation, content creation and e-commerce solutions. These solutions are expected to boost the SMEs’ sales and customer acquisition by up to 10 per cent[3]. Mr. Wong Kim Choong, Chief Executive Officer, UOB Malaysia, said the Jom Transform Programme affirms the Bank’s commitment to help Malaysian SMEs digitalise their business for continued growth and productivity. “The Jom Transform Programme is designed to help Malaysian SMEs digitally transform their operations and we are pleased to announce that it has met this objective. Having completed the three-month programme, our 16 selected SMEs are now able to apply digital solutions to optimise their workflow […]

«‹ 13 14 15 16 ›»

News Ticker

Analysis