Developments

AMIC, MTA2015 exhibitor, says national education programmes and collaboration with industry has paid off and helped boost manufacturing industry One of the key drivers of the Singapore economy, the manufacturing industry, contributes about 20 to 25 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Precision Engineering (PE) – the backbone of the industry – is applied in sectors from aerospace to medical, equipment building to oil & gas. From simple contract manufacturing in the early days, the Singapore precision engineering sector now provides integrated solutions from design to prototyping to production and even supply chain management. The sector recorded a growth of about four per cent in 2014. To further boost the PE industry, the Singapore government has collaborated with industry and academic partners to develop fresh talent, as well as enhance the knowledge and deep skillsets of the current work force. The Additive Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC) and Centre for Digital & Precision Engineering (CDPE) at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) are two such academic partnerships with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Through government support and funding in the Continuing Education and Training (CET) and Pre-Employment Training (PET) national programmes – cumulatively S$128 million – NYP offers the Precision Engineering Mastercraftsman (PeMC) and National Precision Engineering Scholarship (NPES) programmes for both students and working professionals. These programmes involve hands-on work at the AMIC and CDPE across every stage of the precision engineering process, from design to production. With the advent of new technologies, students now have the opportunity to enhance their skills and knowledge of the latest precision engineering and manufacturing technology such as additive manufacturing or 3D printing, robotics and Industrie 4.0 applications. The AMIC and CDPE unveiled these advanced manufacturing technologies at an exclusive media tour today. “Advanced manufacturing technologies such as 3D printing or even the Industrial […]

We all know that the current linear economic model is not sustainable. Materials are extracted, manufactured into products and then discarded into landfill – it’s a system that wastes valuable resources, causes environmental damage and will make it near impossible to satisfy the demands of the 3 billion new consumers in developing nations, who are expected to join the middle class by 2030. The concept of the circular economy is about decoupling growth from resource consumption – and maximising the positive environmental, economic and social effects. It’s about designing products so that they are easier to reuse or recycle, like Timberland’s Earthkeeper shoes. It’s about making sure that every product ingredient is biodegradable or fully recyclable, like the chemicals company that has replaced fossil-fuel feedstocks in their production methods. It’s about maximising useful product life by repairing or remanufacturing, like Caterpillar’s parts-refurbishing programme. The circular economy is about new business models that have shifted from selling products to selling services, such as the tyre company that offers a per-km tyre-leasing service. It is about eliminating waste from production, and making sure any waste is recovered as a valuable resource, whether it’s heat, slurry, nutrients, organic material, metal, salt – whatever. It’s about engaging your customers throughout the life cycle of the product, instead of the few minutes during which they make a purchase; and, ultimately, it’s about gaining competitive advantage. The scale of the competitive advantage is startling. Against a backdrop of resource prices that have more than doubled over the past 10-12 years, erasing the commodity-price decline of the 20th century, our material-saving potential is expected to reach around $1 trillion per year by 2025. The opportunity presented by the circular economy in Europe and the US pales into insignificance compared with what is at stake in developing nations, […]

Picture: Doug Green, Publisher, Asia Manufacturing News www.asiamanufacturingnewstoday.com If Peter Thiel, co- founder of PayPal and Palantir has it right the future needs to change. It’s easier to copy a model than to make something new. Doing what we already know how to do keeps on adding more of something familiar. And it is easier to do. Peter Thiel has a book out with Blake Masters, Zero to One. How about we just don’t keep on being a computer manufacturer amongst lots of other computer manufacturers and make something new? Because if we keep on being moderate and doing what we know amongst other similar companies – our competition – then sooner or later we, the competition, may not be around much longer because competition amongst equals brings with it company takeovers. Three computer manufacturers become two. Why not make something brand new instead of copying what others are doing? Can we think of something that hasn’t been made before and not have to bother having competition. Get it? In golf, we talk about our own authentic swing. That may be a swing not based on our golfing buddies, not copying anyone else to drive the ball down the fairway. Because 2014 is rapidly coming to an end I think this is a good subject for all of us to look at for 2015. A great opportunity to dream and plan what might be next for our company that no one else is doing. Imagine that! Get your company geniuses  together and ask the question “How can our company make something new and not take the easy way by continuing to do just what we know?” One upon a time someone invented the paper clip. Then someone else made another model, round, not silver, but in colours. It was still […]

Delcam’s South Korean joint venture, Hankook Delcam, held its 25th User Group Conference at the Hyundai Hotel in Kyeong-Ju on 26th and 27th September. The theme for this year’s meeting was ‘Big Jump Up’, a reference to the large increases in productivity being seen by companies adopting software and services from Hankook Delcam. Over 1,300 attendees set a new record number for the event, reinforcing its position as the world’s largest meeting for CAM users. The meeting was the first major event to be held for Korean users since the acquisition of Delcam by Autodesk in February. The audience was, therefore, especially interested in the presentations from Delcam President, Clive Martell, and Buzz Kross, senior vice president for Design, Lifecycle and Simulation products at Autodesk. Mr. Martell said that the acquisition represented Delcam’s own ‘Big Jump Up’. “Autodesk brings to Delcam increased financial strength, unparalleled expertise in design, and a long history of making technology accessible to broad audiences. Through sharing our technology and expertise, this transaction will transform industries and improve how the world is designed and made,” he commented. The significance of the deal was also emphasised by Mr. Kross. “The acquisition of Delcam is an important step in Autodesk’s continued expansion into manufacturing and fabrication and beyond our roots in design,” he stated. “Together with Delcam, we look forward to accelerating the development of a more comprehensive Digital Prototyping solution and delivering a better manufacturing experience to our customers.” The other presentations during the meeting covered the latest developments across the range of Delcam software for design, modelling for manufacture, machining and inspection. New technology was also described from Hankook Delcam, in particular developments in the Hankook Delcam Automation Solution (HDAS) that enables innovation across the entire manufacturing process. This novel technology is attracting great interest from […]