Engineering

Beckhoff in Asia

Beckhoff Automation is widely represented across Asia with offices in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, South Korea, and amongst other places, Japan. Founded in 1980, by Hans Beckoff as a one-man operation, Beckhoff implements open automation systems using proven PC-based control technology. The primary areas their product range covers include industrial PCs, I/O and fieldbus components, drive technology, automation software as well as control cabinet-free automation. Products that can be used as separate components or integrated into a complete and mutually compatible control system are available for all sectors. The company’s new automation technology stands for universal and industry-independent control and automation solutions that are used worldwide in a large variety of different applications, ranging from CNC-controlled machine tools to intelligent building control. Development of innovative products and solutions based on PC-based control technology is key to the company’s continued success. The company has recognised many standards in automation technology that are taken for granted and introduced to the market as innovations. Beckhoff’s philosophy of PC-based control as well as the invention of the Lightbus system and TwinCAT automation software are milestones in automation technology and have proven themselves as powerful alternatives to traditional control technology. EtherCAT, the real-time Ethernet solution, provides a powerful and future-oriented technology for a new generation of control concepts. Beckhoff is headquartered in Verl, Germany and there are 4,500 employees worldwide and 1,900 engineers. The company has 39 representative offices worldwide from an overall total of 75 representatives worldwide. The corporate headquarters of Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG in Verl, Germany, is the site of the central departments such as development, production, administration, sales, marketing, support and service.

Superior lifting safety for South African mining powerhouse

Verton has announced that Welgro has become their first distributor in South Africa. The partnership means that Welgro’s clients will be able to safely improve their productivity and bottom line by using the world’s first remote-controlled load-management system. Welgro was founded in 1986 with the purpose of providing impeccable quality products alongside superior service delivery to the mining, engineering, industrial and agricultural sectors. They specialise in supporting large Tier 1 companies, and partner with reputable national and international companies to offer comprehensive tooling and lifting equipment to their clients. Verton is proud to join this list of quality companies as it further cements them as the world’s leading experts in safe lifting technology. Verton’s load orientation products have transformed expectations of what’s possible in lifting safety and productivity. Their lifting beams and modular SpinPod technology use gyroscopes and sophisticated control systems that orientate suspended loads remotely without the need for human-held taglines. The technology removes personnel near and under loads and keeps them away from the drop zone. Welgro Director, Kyle Handley, says that partnering with Verton will fundamentally change how their customers plan their lifting operations. “One of Welgro’s primary goals is to assist our customers to make their operations safer and more efficient. This partnership is driven by these mutual goals shared by Verton and Welgro, he said. “It comes at a time where I believe the desire around improvements to workforce safety on site is on a steep rise and a major investment area for companies. Alongside Verton and The Crosby Group, we are looking forward to providing our customers with smart technology solutions they can trust to improve safety.” Chief Executive Officer of Verton, Tim Ekert, said, “The impact our product range will be able to have across Welgro’s wide-reaching clientele is exciting. “We want to […]

Siemens extends mechanical performance with Simcenter 3D

Siemens’ Simcenter 3D software, part of Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio of software and services, enables engineers to tackle the complexity of product development and innovation with advanced simulation. Among the new capabilities, Simcenter 3D offers increased support for turbomachinery modeling, a dedicated drop test application for handheld devices, tightly integrated topology optimisation with the NX Design environment, and a new acoustic solution method that is up to 10 times faster than standard methods. Simcenter 3D brings together combined expertise and experience across a wide range of industry sectors, capabilities and physics. Customers are finding bold new ways to make use of complex physics simulation to drive innovation across industries. Siemens’ Simcenter 3D 2022.1 release focuses on helping engineers overcome challenges in four key areas: Model the complexity: The ability to model and understand complex physical phenomena is at the forefront of this Simcenter 3D release. Simcenter 3D’s industry-leading solution for the turbomachinery industry has been extended with additional thermal multiphysics, rotordynamics and thermal fatigue capabilities to more accurately capture the complex physics happening within these machines. A new dedicated set of tools to simulate spiral bevel gears, as often found in automotive differentials, enables accurate, system-level NVH analysis on these mechanisms to reduce gear whine. Additionally, a new dedicated application simplifies and streamlines the drop-test simulation process for electronic and other handheld devices for engineers who are not simulation experts. Explore the possibilities: Acoustics auralisation capabilities allow engineers to not only simulate but also listen to the acoustics/sound within the context of the end-user’s experience. Engineers can now mix all contributing sounds and listen to the combined acoustics results to answer questions such as “What will a loudspeaker sound like when you put it in a car and combine it with background noise from the engine, HVAC, wind and road?” In […]

Flexicon opens Malaysia office

Flexicon Singapore Pte Ltd have opened a new office in Malaysia to provide factory-direct sales and applications engineering services throughout Southeast Asia, it was announced by Greg Slack, Vice President Global Sales, Flexicon Corporation. The new location will be headed by Shien Chong Ong, Regional Sales Manager, who holds a degree in Materials Science from National Cheng Kung University and has served in technical engineering positions since 2013, in the steel, plastics and filtration technology industries. He will be responsible for building relationships with plant managers, engineers and other decision-makers in facilities that handle bulk solid materials across the food, pharmaceutical, mineral and general chemical industries. “Ong will be undertaking a pivotal role in our continuous efforts to grow market share in Southeast Asia. The local Malaysia staff will have full access to Flexicon’s engineering resources and experience of over 25,000 installations worldwide. Together with our Lifetime Performance Guarantee, this can enable local processing plants to purchase bulk handling equipment and systems free of risk,” explains Mr. Slack. Flexicon Corporation (USA), have manufactured, marketed and supported the entire Flexicon equipment line in the region since 2005 through their wholly-owned subsidiary, Flexicon Corporation (Australia) Pty Ltd. In 2013, the company expanded, adding Flexicon Singapore Pte Ltd, and in 2019 added a factory-direct sales office in Indonesia. “The demand for Flexicon equipment in the greater Australasia region has continued to grow. We tripled our manufacturing capacity here in 2008, and have doubled it again in 2021,” says Tim Greene, Managing Director for the region. Flexicon manufacture flexible screw conveyors, tubular cable conveyors, pneumatic conveying systems, bulk bag conditioners, bulk bag dischargers, bulk bag fillers, drum/box/container tippers, manual dumping stations, weigh batching systems and engineered plant-wide systems integrated with the new or existing equipment or processes. The company own and operate manufacturing […]

Korea’s Hanho distributor of Verton safe lifting technology

Hanho International has always put safety and efficiency at the forefront of its crane operations, and its new distribution agreement with Verton will also secure its reputation as an industry innovator. Effective immediately, Hanho is distributing Verton’s lifting and load orientation technology across South Korea/Korea. Verton’s remote-controlled load orientation products, rotate suspended loads without the need for taglines, using gyroscopes and sophisticated control systems, removing the need for personnel near or under loads. Since 1989, Hanho International has been a leading exporter and importer of used cranes in Korea. They have earned the trust of their customers by consistently supplying high-standard cranes of excellent condition across a wide range of industries. They specialise in crawler cranes, all-terrain cranes, and rough-terrain cranes, while also accommodating the diverse needs of their customers. Hanho International CEO, Jim Park, says that partnering with Verton will be of significant benefit to their customers. “To put it simply, there is no-one else doing what Verton is doing to improve the safety of workers on the job site,” he said. “There is no other technology that delivers this significant level of risk removal while providing a cost-effective solution that also provides more efficient operations. “Our market research shows that our target market for Verton solutions will include management and planning installation companies, and crane rental companies to begin with. “We are eager and proud to offer the Verton range of products to our customers.” CEO of Verton, Tim Ekert, said that this distribution agreement with Hanho International will mean safer and faster turnarounds for countless projects. “It’s exciting to witness new audiences benefiting from Verton’s technology in their lifting operations,” he said. “Verton’s range of lifting solutions uses gyroscopes and sophisticated control systems that make even the most difficult job safer, without the need for taglines or […]

‘Chipageddon’: How Taiwan is battling the global chip shortage

Semiconductors are the lifeblood of the modern world, but now there is a critical shortage worldwide and Taiwan is at the center of it. In May, Japanese automobile giant Nissan was forced to put the brakes on its vehicle production and cut its manufacturing output for 2021 by 500,000 units. The reason: a severe shortfall of a coin-sized computer chip needed to power its vehicles. This chip shortage, which has crippled the global automobile industry for the past 18 months, has now spilled over to other sectors. But effort and flexibility among logistics partners are helping to mitigate the crisis and offer ideas for how processes might be improved in the future. Chips, also known as semiconductors, power the modern world. Almost anything electronic, from phones, cars to even an alarm clock, relies on these nano-sized silicon wafers to function. Last year, Taiwan dominated the global market share for semiconductor contract manufacturing, accounting for more than 60 percent of global revenue. “We’re the world’s chipmaking factory. Semiconductor manufacturing is one of the most important industries for Taiwan,” said DJ Shieh, Managing Director of DHL Supply Chain Taiwan. But in the past year, a global pandemic and one of the worst droughts in half a century has severely disrupted production there. Taiwan is also caught in a global tech war between the United States and China. The triple threat has led to a semiconductor shortage crisis so severe that it has been dubbed “Chipaggedon”. “The global chip shortage is affecting every industry. I think very few players expected the sharp fall in supply,” said Shieh. “We’re doing our best to ensure the seamless flow of goods for our semiconductor customers to minimize the fallout, and hopefully resolve, this supply chain crisis.” A perfect storm The Covid-19 pandemic was the catalyst for this […]

SafeAI launches in Japan and India

SafeAI, a global leader in autonomous heavy equipment is expanding into Japan and India. With new offices and growing local teams in both markets, the company is poised to significantly accelerate the rollout of autonomous equipment across heavy industry, worldwide. Both Japan and India represent tremendous opportunities for growth with large heavy equipment markets. Japan, in particular, boasts a massive construction sector, recently estimated at a value of more than 530 billion U.S. dollars. Already, SafeAI has a successful year-long partnership with Japanese construction giant Obayashi. The two companies are currently retrofitting an autonomous Caterpillar 725 to complete load-haul-dump cycles, a vital function on any mining or construction site. India, meanwhile, has a construction industry worth more than 35 billion U.S. dollars and a significant mining sector that produces 95 minerals and has an export value of approximately $4 billion U.S. dollars. To support continued global growth, SafeAI also announced that four new leaders have joined the team: Dr. Ryo Hiratsuka, SafeAI’s Japan Country Head, will oversee initiatives from the new office in Tokyo. Hiratsuka brings over 20 years of experience developing Japanese markets for start-up companies, including Cisco, HP (former Colubris Networks) which deployed Wi-Fi on airplanes, trains and cruiser ships, and Hexagon (former Romax Technology) focused on the electrification of cars and trucks. Prior to joining SafeAI, he served as the Japan sales manager of Quectel for V2X, telematics and location tracking technology across a number of industries. Sudarshan Singh joins the team as the India Country Head to oversee operations at the new office in New Delhi. Singh brings over 30 years of executive leadership experience to the role, including 14 years at Caterpillar, where he launched the company’s India operations, expanded product offerings and the used machinery business and ultimately led the Asia-Pacific region. Singh also […]

Exel Composites, Kineco Group announce joint venture in Goa

A joint venture between the Kineco Group and Exel Composites creates a new composites design, engineering, and production company focused on serving the Indian market with pultruded composite solutions. The joint venture brings together two well-known names in the composites industries, Exel Composites and The Kineco Group, creating a new company called Kineco Exel Composites India (kinecoexel.com). The company and its manufacturing facility are based in Goa, India and will offer pultruded composites for markets as diverse as transportation, wind power, infrastructure, telecommunications, aerospace and defense. The Kineco Group, also headquartered in Goa, was founded in 1995 and offers a range of advanced composite products and integrated systems, and is known for its capabilities and quality, as well as its composite design know-how. Exel, founded in 1960 in Finland, is today the world’s largest pultruder; the joint venture is the latest step in the company’s global growth strategy. “Kineco has excellent brand recognition in India, and together with our pultrusion expertise we are starting from a very strong position,” says Olli Tevä, SVP Sales and Marketing at Exel Composites. “This joint venture provides immediate access into the Indian market which shows clear growth potential and demand. India has been a focus of ours for a while, and now with this ‘in India, with India, for India’ capability the team at Kineco Exel Composites India can begin to reach out to prospective customers in the joint venture’s focus market segments.” “Kineco is happy to be the partner of choice for a leading global company such as Exel, who has decided to invest in India,” says Shekhar Sardessai, Founder and Managing Director of Kineco Group and Managing Director of Kineco Exel Composites India. “Exel’s technological expertise and composites know-how, particularly in pultrusion, will enable us to bring our own, more recent pultrusion […]

Xinhua Silk Road: China Zoomlion speeds up development

The “smart industry city” project by Hunan-based Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. on Friday took off in full swing with the headquarters building, the engineering crane machinery manufacturing park, the concrete pumping machinery park, and the aerial-work machinery park kicking off construction. China Zoomlion held a ceremony on September 17, kicking off construction on the headquarters building, the hoisting machinery park, the concrete pumping machinery park, and the aerial-work machinery park of its “smart industry city” project. Eyeing for a global construction machinery cluster, the smart industry city project is expected to generate some 100 billion yuan of output value annually when put into function. The project will gear Changsha City with a high-end smart manufacturing namecard and a highland for advanced manufacturing base, said Changsha mayor Zheng Jianxin. Looking ahead, Zoomlion will accelerate intelligent and green transformation and cluster development to further contribute to building Changsha City a “capital for construction machinery”, said Zoomlion chairman Zhan Chunxin. The project mainly consists of four parks with the excavating machinery park already in operation. Annual output value of the four parks is planned to range 20-30 billion yuan each, according to Zoomlion vice president Fu Ling, noting that the project is expected to become the world’s largest construction machinery intelligent manufacturing park when completed. It is noted that more than 260 robots, 57 intelligent production lines and four “dark factories” are planned for the engineering crane machinery park. For the concrete pumping machinery park, visual recognition, AI decision-making, laser scanning, and 3D modeling will be in place to gear 32 intelligent production lines for welding, machining, painting, and assembly. For aerial-work machinery manufacturing park, 620 sets of automation equipments are planned with 27 intelligent production lines. Efficiency is another keyword, with the project expected to witness […]

Metallography and Failure Analysis

By George Vander Voort, Metallurgist & Exclusive Consultant to Buehler Tuesday, September 28, 9:30am CST Buehler is sponsoring a webinar “Metallography and Failure Analysis” on September, 28, 2021, 9:30am CST (China Standard Time or 8.30 pm CDT). George Vander Voort, exclusive consultant to Buehler, will present this educational webinar. Failure analysis consists of studies to determine why a component failed in service. Registration is complimentary and recordings will be available. The 9-11 attack of the World Trade Center buildings 1, 2 and 7, and the 1979 failure of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear reactor are classic examples of failures that required an analysis on what happened to the materials during very serious failures. Metallographers are brought in to analyse and identify what caused the problems and how they can be dealt with to stop the problem and any potential further damage and also to determine what can be done to prevent future problems. With more than 50 years of experience in metallography and failure analysis, George will discuss fundamental principles of performing a failure analysis, as well as utilising metallographic techniques to investigate failures and determine why they occurred and how they can be prevented. Practical examples of the use of light optical and electron microscopy will be demonstrated through examples of failed specimens with a variety of case histories and studies, including: Ductile and brittle fracture surfaces and how to recognize them Fatigue fracture types Failure due to corrosion Failures caused by microstructural changes Failures due to embrittlement Highlight common problems Discuss key techniques to ensure success A live question and answer session will follow the presentation. The webinar is ideal for metallurgists, metallographers and specimen preparation technicians, new engineers, quality control and laboratory personnel in any metallography facility new to the area or looking for […]

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