Doug Green

Konecranes safety-oriented technology in the maintenance facility of the Ben Cat district of Binh Duong province, Vietnam. Konecranes technology is also vital to the changing of heavy injection moulds in its production areas. Global personal care products leader Procter and Gamble has partnered with crane safety and efficiency authority Konecranes to optimise workplace safety and efficiency at its new $US100 million Gillette plant in Vietnam. Operating under the corporate signature “Your Safety, your Health, your Family,” the plant operates safety-equipped CXT overhead cranes to lift heavy injection moulds in its production areas and to efficiently manoeuvre heavy workpieces in its maintenance areas. The P&G Gillette Ben Cat Manufacturing Centre – which now employs more than 200 people following its construction to celebrate Procter and Gambles 20th year in Vietnam in 2015 – uses remote control technology to swiftly and safely handle heavy maintenance workpieces which it can lift, turn, manoeuvre and position using an eight ton CXT crane incorporating dual 3-ton and 5-ton hoists to provide the balance and precision required. The same proven reliability is built into the 10-ton CXT crane used to lift, shift and precisely place the nine injection moulding machines in the plant’s production area, where the company and has fused safety, ergonomic and reliability technologies into its CXT crane and wire rope hoist used to change in and change out moulds weighing 1.5 – 6.0 tons. Procter and Gamble – which has worldwide sales exceeding $US 65 billion – has employed state-of-the-art manufacturing technology throughout its latest investment in Vietnam, where it has committed more than $360 million total investment building three plants and strengthening the company’s reputation for spearheading innovation in the region. The Ben Cat plant’s CXT cranes incorporate Konecranes’ most advanced family of remote service technologies, its TRUCONNECT Remote Services for enhanced […]

  AR is set to be the next step in the evolution of computing. Image: Meta Augmented Reality                         For the past 50 years, computers have been add-ons to our lives, evolving from complex, room-sized machines to simplified, but powerful, pocket-sized assistants embedded in every facet of our lives. Augmented reality (AR) is set to be the next step in the evolution of computing, and will arguably be the most intuitive and collaborative computing experience. In fact, much ink has been spilled on AR’s limitless potential, while countless hours of screen time have been dedicated to imagining how AR can better our lives. Even among our customers, we’ve noticed that both application developers and business decision-makers see AR as a tool for enhancing productivity. However, there’s no need to continue imagining AR’s potential for improving the way we work – AR is already enhancing productivity at the workplace. Here are some of the ways AR is being used today: Maintenance and Assembly Like most solutions, AR’s entrance into the workplace was conceived out of a challenge a company faced. In 1990, factory workers at Boeing had to rely on painstakingly complex airplane wiring instructions that were displayed on large plywood boards. At each step of the manufacturing process, workers had to manually rewire each board – no easy task given the deadlines, complexities, and inefficiencies. Two Boeing researchers, Tom Caudell and David Mizell, introduced AR and AR headsets to the factory floor (and subsequently coined the term “augmented reality”). Factory floors arguably became the first places where AR was used daily to enhance worker productivity and streamline supply chains. Fast forward to today, companies like General Electric (GE) have increasingly incorporated AR(through both mobile devices and headsets) as part of their […]

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. (MHPS) has completed construction of a coal gasification furnace plant at its Nagasaki site. The facility will supply core facilities for integrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plants. With the completion of the new plant, MHPS now has the ability to create a fully integrated production system for IGCC, a next-generation technology in high-efficiency coal-fired power generation. Production of furnaces is now underway, with a furnace now being produced for use in a 540 megawatt (MW) IGCC plant in Iwaki, Fukushima. The Iwaki Plant is currently under construction by Nakoso IGCC Power GK(Note) and delivery is scheduled for June 2018. Coal gasification furnaces provide a high-temperature, high-pressure environment required for efficient gasification of coal. They utilize gasification equipment capable of withstanding high temperatures and a pressure container that can raise pressure levels. In order to produce furnaces that can accommodate these conditions, a production system was adopted that utilizes both conventional underlying technologies, including welding, and newly developed proprietary technologies such as automated welding machines and ICT systems. To shorten construction time, furnaces produced at the new plant will be modularized (integrating gasification equipment and pressure containers), and will then be transported to the construction site for installation. In IGCC systems, coal is gasified in the gasification furnace and power is generated through a high-efficiency combined cycle that integrates gas and steam turbines. The system is groundbreaking, offering significantly higher efficiency and lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than conventional coal-fired plants. MHPS will continue to promote the adoption of cutting edge IGCC power generation technologies, thereby contributing to the efficient use of resources and protection of the environment.  

Shanghai – Sealed Air Corporation, a global provider of protective packaging solutions, has opened a production line at its Qingpu manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China for one of its most innovative solutions: Korrvu retention and suspension packaging. At a total investment of more than US$1 million, the line is capable of producing up to several million pieces of Korrvu . This brings the total production lines to nine, making the facility Sealed Air’s largest and most technologically advanced manufacturing plant in Asia. The investment in the new line is part of an expansion which will increase the plant’s capacity by 2018 to serve growing markets in China and the region. Korrvu suspension and retention packaging provides product protection, presentation, versatility, and space savings and is used by global manufacturers including those in the electronics industry. Korrvu is a patented solution for shipping products when presentation and customer experience are key. The unique design uses a low-slip film that positions and secures products to a corrugated backing, which guarantees that customers are presented with a retail experience directly out of the box. While material and storage reduction are key benefits of Korrvu, ease of use and versatility are also notable. The simplicity of the Korrvu design makes it easy for warehouse associates to assemble. Korrvu packaging is used by e-commerce retailers and companies in other industries including electronics. China is already the world’s largest retail e-commerce market, with sales expected to top $460 billion in 2017 and a growth rate of over 15% per year (source: Statista.com). Packaging will play a bigger role than ever in ensuring product integrity from the production floor to the customer’s door. China’s electronics industry is among the top ten fastest growing industries in the country and is set to reach over US$17 billion in 2017 […]