Smart Manufacturing

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 […]

Huge market potentials for prefabricated buildings

Recently, frequent implementation of affordable housing support policies has created huge market potentials for prefabricated and green buildings. Market analysis pointed out that PC component manufacturers in the prefabricated construction supply chain will be key beneficiaries from these new policies. As the most preferred brand in the prefabricated construction industry for three consecutive years, Broad Homes (02163.HK) will likely benefit from the recent policy catalysts. To highlight, the Company operates in both to-B and to-C business under its dual mode business model, which gives the Company potential to grasp onto a larger market share in this industry uptrend. First and second tier cities are actively responding to affordable housing policies. According to market data, since the beginning of December 2021, the Prefabricated Building Index (931020) rose nearly 10%, driven by discussions during the Politburo meeting in December to further promote construction of affordable housing. Similar discussions also took place during the Central Economic Work Conference, indicating growing interest from high-level officials. In the past year, affordable housing support policies have been frequently issued. The Politburo meeting mentioned the promotion of affordable housing construction for the first time in April and again in December. In addition, in July, the Politburo discussed the need to accelerate rental housing development and implemented supporting policies surrounding land usage and taxation. During the Central Economic Work Conference in December, discussions surrounding the need to “accelerate the development of the long-term rental housing market, promote the construction of indemnificatory housing, support the commercial housing market and better meet reasonable housing needs of buyers” were highlighted. Huachuang Securities pointed out that both the Politburo meeting and the Central Economic Work Conference have prioritised affordable housing before commercial housing, reiterating high-level officials’ focus on affordable housing. In terms of specific development goals, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural […]

Recycling plant in Jakarta steps into the future of dairy and meat processing

The GWE wastewater recycling plant engineered to achieve compact high efficiency with proven processes. One of the world’s largest dairy companies is installing a high efficiency wastewater treatment and water reuse facility at its new dairy plant in Jakarta to achieve 99 per cent organic content removal to meet outstanding recycling and sustainability standards. The new facility of PT Frisian Flag – a subsidiary of the Royal FrieslandCampina multinational – is scheduled for startup in 2022 and is using proven state-of-the-art technologies to produce potable recycled water from the plant wastewater. The Global Water & Energy (GW&E) technologies employed include a COHRAL™ (Covered High Rate Anaerobic Lagoon) system of a type already proven in one of Australia’s largest meat processing facilities, at Oakey in Queensland, where it significantly improves water quality, reduces odour, while producing biogas to reduce fossil fuel demands and saving the company more than AUD $800,000 (approx. US $585,000) per year in natural gas. The Jakarta facility will not only achieve outstanding quality potable water outputs for recycling, but also the biogas generated there during treatment can later be used in the factory to decrease fossil fuel dependency. The plant is engineered to produce up to 6,000 Nm3 of biogas a day. The facility will also benefit from minimal waste disposal costs, thanks to application of the anaerobic process and sludge dewatering units. “The GWE technology employed here is a huge step into the future of sustainability and recycling for livestock industries and agribusiness producing waste with high organic content, says Michael Bambridge, Managing Director of CST Wastewater Solutions. Mr Bambridge – whose company installed the GWE COHRAL plant at Oakey – says the technology being used in Indonesia is widely applicable to dairy and meat applications, including beef, lamb, pork and poultry, throughout major livestock […]

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 […]

Robot-assisted assembly of high-voltage connectors for electric vehicles

Masterpiece for Mexico Assembling high-voltage connectors for electric and hybrid vehicles at a rate of five million per year calls for sophisticated automation solutions. Especially when regular retooling for new models and variants is the norm. Against this background, a pioneering system with six Stäubli robots, 13 image processing systems and inline quality control at every stage is now ensuring highly flexible production. Electro-mobility is the buzzword of our times, and the market for vehicles with electric drives is steadily gaining momentum worldwide. For some time now, this trend has also been spurring demand for the type of assembly solutions for electric components offered by specialized machine builders such as Eberhard AG. The company, based in Schlierbach near Stuttgart, Germany, was recently asked by a multinational automotive supplier to implement a complex project. Specifically, it involved the planning and realisation of an assembly line for high-voltage connectors. The system would have to not only perform the actual assembly work, but also the visual inspection at each stage, the testing of every single connector for leak-proofing, and finally the packing of the finished high-voltage connectors in trays. As Abdullah Kotan, Project Planning and Application Team Leader at Eberhard describes, “The special features of the project included the target output of 5,000,0000 units per year, a short cycle time of no more than three seconds per connector, and a future-proof system design to accommodate a large number of possible connector variants. “Given these requirements, it quickly became clear that the only possible solution would include robots, an image processing system and a highly flexible feed system.” Founded in 1964 and now employing 320 people, Eberhard has extensive experience in the field of PCB assembly and connector production. Because customized automation and assembly solutions are among the company’s core competencies, management was firmly […]

Grundfos partners with Singapore Polytechnic to develop smart sustainable solutions for industries

From L to R: Eric Lai, Regional Managing Director for Industry APAC and Country Director, Singapore, Grundfos; Humphrey Lau, Group Senior Vice President of Global Industry Sales, Grundfos; Georgina Phua, Deputy Principal (Development), Singapore Polytechnic; Loh Yew Chiong, Senior Director, Computing, Chemical & Life Sciences Cluster, Singapore Polytechnic. Grundfos, a global leader in advanced pump solutions and watertechnology, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore Polytechnic (SP) to co-develop energy and water efficient smart solutions that support industries in Singapore in their efforts to be sustainable, through collaboration, talent development, and sustainability education. In alignment with the Singapore Green Plan 2030, Grundfos and SP will be jointly exploring and developing smart sustainable solutions for industries, as well as driving initiatives focused on UN Sustainability Development Goals such as SDG6 (clean water and sanitation) and SDG13 (sustainableconsumption and production patterns) for climate action. The partnership will see both parties contributing complementary expertise, knowledge, and talent that will advance sustainability efforts for industries. SP will facilitate the various touchpoints between academia and industry, while Grundfos will tap into its extensive network and industry knowledge to provide staff and students with the necessary resources and industry opportunities to successfully codevelop innovative sustainable solutions. These solutions will be subsequently implemented with industry manufacturers in Singapore through pilot projects. To achieve this, the 3-year partnership will focus on sustainability education and talent development. Grundfos and SP will look to roll out a comprehensive range of solution packages, projects, events, courses, and trainings to proactively promote sustainability and smart sustainability to the industry, which includes webinar sharing sessions, seminars, and conferences. To build talent pipelines and foster talent development, Grundfos will also be working closely with SP across various programs such as mentorship programmes, book prizes, student projects, and internships. One such initiative includes […]

JD.com to build China’s first carbon-neutral logistics industrial park in Xi’an

JD.com is making progress in its construction of the first carbon-neutral intelligent industrial park for China’s logistics industry, with the Xi’an Asia No.1 logistics park expected to be carbon-neutral on the operations level by early 2022. At nearly 300,000 square meters, JD’s Asia No.1 logistics park in Xi’an has deployed 100,000 square meters of rooftop solar PV with a capacity of 9 MW, which generated a total amount of about 8,500 MWh of electricity from January to October in 2021 — equivalent to providing electricity for about 3,900 Chinese households for a year, and reducing carbon emissions by approximately 5,670 tons when compared to purchasing electricity from local power plants. In addition, Xi’an Asia No.1 can meet heating needs through distributed air conditioning instead of a conventional boiler room in certain areas. New energy is widely used in forklifts and other special equipment, including 22 sets of charging terminals that can support charging 44 vehicles at a time. Streetlights in the park will also gradually be replaced by solar lights. With the support of advanced technologies including 5G, blockchain and AI, JD is also researching an industry solution for carbon neutral parks by further improving operating efficiency and lowering energy consumption. Green warehousing: Automation enabling warehouses to operate without lighting JD.com pioneered a rooftop-distributed solar PV system in its Shanghai Asia No.1 location in 2017, which now generates 3.11 million kWh per year, supplying the energy for warehouse lighting, automatic sorting, packaging, picking and other activities. Currently, JD has completed installation of PV systems at 12 logistics parks, while automation systems and robots also enable warehouses to operate without lighting. Such “dark operations” help save an average of 2,283 kWh per minute at JD’s logistics parks, which is equivalent to the electric consumption of a normal household for one and […]

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 […]

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