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Satisfactory financial performance despite the Covid-19 pandemic

Grundfos reports half-year result for 2020. Organic Sales declined 8.3% Net turnover of DKK 12.3 billion Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of DKK 1,067 million, a decrease of 9.3% compared to 2019 The pandemic has had a significant impact on markets globally in the first half of 2020. Grundfos has seen lower activity in all markets globally. However, there are positive trends emerging in important market areas such as China, the US and a number of countries in Western Europe. “In light of the global crisis, we are satisfied with our financial performance. We and most of our customers are impacted by COVID-19. Our main priority is the health and well-being of our employees and partners, and ensuring our ability to supply our customers,” says Mads Nipper, Group President & CEO of Grundfos. “Our colleagues across the globe have done a fantastic job under difficult circumstances. I am very pleased to see the dedication to keep our business running and in ensuring our customers are supplied with the water solutions they need. I am particularly proud to see many cases of fast and effective supply of critical equipment to emergency hospitals and other places where our products and solutions have been essential,” continues Mads Nipper. Persistent uncertainty in all markets influence the business outlook for the second half of 2020 and for the full-year outlook. Grundfos expects the global markets to remain negatively affected by COVID-19, and expects a full-year decline in sales compared to 2019. “The Covid-19 pandemic and following crisis are impacting us and will continue to do so. We have managed to stay agile, disciplined and diligent in all areas of our business to navigate through these challenging times and we will continue our efforts and diligently work to ensure that our business remains sound,” says […]

Fujitsu Philippines selects NetFoundry’s SASE Platform

Two tech companies help businesses address key challenges amid COVID-19 World-leading technology provider NetFoundry, has been selected by Fujitsu Philippines Inc. to provide powerful cloud-native zero-trust security-based networking technology (SASE Platform) to help businesses across the Philippines to address key challenges resulting from the current global health crisis. With the sudden changes brought by the pandemic, the alliance between Fujitsu and NetFoundry aims to enable businesses to respond effectively to the disruptions and achieve organisational resilience often referred to as Business Continuity Management (BCM). Amid the pandemic, organisations need to embrace flexible working arrangements, which brought challenges, such as poor and/or highly unstable internet connectivity, lack of suitable personal devices, unacceptable quality for voice services, and the need to provide secured access to applications. The work-from-home VPN replacement solutions, formulated by the two tech companies, will help organisations to continue “business-as-usual operations” with minimal loss of productivity by supporting work from home operations with highly secure network connectivity. The solutions will also provide on-demand networking, as agile as the applications and IT functions it serves and, deliver unmatched control and security with software-defined perimeter and zero trusts—this means that organizations can now have secure remote access to workplace tools, software applications, and resources from any location over any connection, on-demand, and in just a matter of days. It will also help them become much more resilient around business processes, workforce productivity, customer service, and supply chain/logistics. NetFoundry’s is a global leader in cloud-native, software-defined, and zero-trust networking-based SASE (Secure access service edge) platform. It empowers developers and partners to create and bring applications to the world on more powerful, more secure networks they can control, enabling them to make lives better. Gartner recognises NetFoundry as one of the key players in zero-trust networking as well as interconnecting public cloud providers […]

Hitachi to supply 300 lifts in Singapore

Hitachi Elevator Asia Pte. Ltd. has successfully clinched another large contract for the supply and installation of lifts from the Housing & Development Board (HDB) of the Republic of Singapore (Singapore). Hitachi Elevator Asia has been awarded the 30th term contract to supply and install another 300 lifts at HDB blocks in Singapore. This is the largest single contract for Hitachi group for the second time; the first was the 28th term contract. Hitachi Elevator Asia aims to maintain their position among the top 3 in the new installation market of Singapore with the contribution of this contract in FY2020. Hitachi Elevator Asia was awarded the 28th term contract in 2019, which was the largest single order for the Hitachi group’s lifts and escalators business in Singapore at the time. Apart from HDB blocks, Hitachi Elevator Asia has also provided lifts, escalators and moving sidewalks for major facilities and buildings like the National University of Singapore, Changi International Airport and Guoco Tower, the tallest building in Singapore. In 2019, an advanced lift remote monitoring and maintenance service was introduced in Singapore, where real-time operational data about the lifts and implementation of preventive maintenance are provided. Moving forward, Hitachi will continue to broadly use cutting-edge digital technology, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and globally provide safe, secure and comfortable elevators and escalators as well as services that help resolve customers’ issues in urban spaces to contribute to the realisation of a sustainable society.

India’s GDP contraction continue to persist another quarter

Following the news that Indian economy has nosedived by 23.9% YoY in the April-June 2020 quarter, the acutest historical decline; Kausani Basak, Economic Research Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view on the dip: “India imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in the world which in turn has led to a wipe out of almost one-fourth of its GDP during April-June 2020. GlobalData’s forecast suggests the economy to contract less intensively by 7.5% YoY in July-September 2020 quarter, as relaxations allowed since June 2020 have revived some employment opportunities and resulted in a deceleration in contraction of production. “GDP contraction is expected to lose pace further to 0.5% YoY decline in October-December 2020 quarter and finally register a marginal recovery of 1.6% in January-March 2021, given the COVID-19 curve flattens successfully. “Closed factories and construction activities during the April-June 2020 quarter had pulled down rural and urban consumption activity alike, aggravating the plight of the millions of poor in India. Even among the urban upper and middle-class population consumption trends are cautious with many postponing purchases due to restrictions and hoping for times of better economic clarity. As a result, the private fixed consumption expenditure has declined by 26.7% YoY in the April-June 2020 quarter. “At the same time, small and medium businesses have suffered tremendous loss and many are relying on the loan moratorium and collateral free loans offered by the government to stay afloat. The dire situation is reflected in the 47.1% decline in gross fixed capital formation in April-June 2020 quarter. Sales of commercial vehicles also declined by 84.8% in the same quarter due to reduced movement of goods in the country. “Exports, which is one of the major contributors to GDP, has recorded a double-digit contraction of 19.8% due to domestic […]

Ideagen launches first cloud version of Q-Pulse software

Ideagen Plc, has announced the first cloud version of its industry leading quality, health & safety and environmental (QHSE) product, Q-Pulse. Q-Pulse is already used by more than 2,000 companies around the world to effectively manage and mitigate their QHSE risks. This update ensures existing and future customers will have access to one fast, simple system, backed by 25 years of innovation, from an established and trusted vendor. Although there is a wide range of benefits available from the new product, there are enhancements specifically aimed at the manufacturing sector. Firstly, Q-Pulse can provide the insight needed to transform production processes, strengthen supply chains and deliver top quality products. Secondly, Q-Pulse helps businesses to quickly and confidently exploit opportunities, grow, unlock new markets and secure new quality standards, with the confidence that comes from data-driven decision-making. Q-Pulse also makes it easier to align an entire business around world class processes that satisfy customers and regulators by making compliance, safety and quality the responsibility of everyone in the business.

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Faro acquires ATS

Faro has acquired Advanced Technical Solutions in Scandinavia AB (“ATS”), a Swedish-based leader in 3D digital twin solution technology. This strategic action will enable customers and their clients with differentiated accuracy and speed, which we believe will accelerate market adoption of digital twin technology. High accuracy 3D digital twin simulations allow capital intensive industries to dramatically reduce their time to market and cost. Founded in 1990, ATS has had particular success in the automotive space where the firm has agreements in place with several well-known global automotive manufacturers. The acquisition will integrate ATS software and its proprietary Traceable 3D system, which enable highly accurate and repeatable 3D scans, into the Faro Webshare Cloud platform. The ATS system will bolster Faro’s ability to improve customers’ time to decision with 10x faster 3D imaging at up to 1mm accuracy and thus has significant implications for all the industries we serve. The ATS facility in Sweden will also serve as a new Faro sales and customer support center in the Nordic region. You can expect to hear more details soon about the integration of ATS from your sales partners.

Seequent keeps world at work on major projects

High-growth geoscience software company Seequent is accelerating the development of its cloud-based solution Seequent Central, enabling organisations to continue work on critical, large-scale, earth, environment and renewable energy projects in the COVID-19 impacted environment. Central works alongside Seequent’s other geoscience analysis, modelling and collaborative technologies, to contribute understanding to subsurface geoscience and engineering design solutions. The cloud-based solution allows people in any location to visualise, track and manage geological models created for infrastructure and critical services projects, in a centralised, auditable environment. A wide range of stakeholders can readily access highly visual up-to-date information to manage risk and make better environmental and investment decisions, to progress projects. Seequent CEO, Shaun Maloney, says: “We’re working alongside customers to do everything we can to make it possible to meet the demands and operational challenges they may be facing in the current environment. Seequent’s software is being used on hundreds of diverse projects across the globe, ranging from infrastructure projects including large-scale rail, road and tunnel projects across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific; renewable energy projects in the US, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia, Philippines and New Zealand; mining and exploration projects in North and South America, Africa and Australia; and environmental projects such as groundwater management in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Projects include:The Water Replenishment District – Groundwater management in Los Angeles The Water Replenishment District (WRD), the largest groundwater agency in the State of California, has the important job of managing and protecting local groundwater resources for over four million residents. WRD’s service area covers a 420 square mile region of southern Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The 43 cities in the service area, including a portion of the City of Los Angeles, use about 250,000 acre‐feet (82 billion gallons) of groundwater annually which accounts for approximately half of the […]

Using AI to predict new materials with desired properties

An artificial intelligence approach extracts how an aluminium alloy’s contents and manufacturing process are related to specific mechanical properties. Scientists in Japan have developed a machine learning approach that can predict the elements and manufacturing processes needed to obtain an aluminium alloy with specific, desired mechanical properties. The approach, published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, could facilitate the discovery of new materials.Aluminium alloys are lightweight, energy-saving materials made predominantly from aluminium, but also contain other elements, such as magnesium, manganese, silicon, zinc and copper. The combination of elements and manufacturing process determines how resilient the alloys are to various stresses. For example, 5000 series aluminium alloys contain magnesium and several other elements and are used as a welding material in buildings, cars, and pressurized vessels. 7000 series aluminium alloys contain zinc, and usually magnesium and copper, and are most commonly used in bicycle frames. Experimenting with various combinations of elements and manufacturing processes to fabricate aluminium alloys is time-consuming and expensive. To overcome this, Ryo Tamura and colleagues at Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science and Toyota Motor Corporation developed a materials informatics technique that feeds known data from aluminium alloy databases into a machine learning model. This trains the model to understand relationships between alloys’ mechanical properties and the different elements they are made of, as well as the type of heat treatment applied during manufacturing. Once the model is provided enough data, it can then predict what is required to manufacture a new alloy with specific mechanical properties. All this without the need for input or supervision from a human. The model found, for example, 5000 series aluminium alloys that are highly resistant to stress and deformation can be made by increasing the manganese and magnesium content and reducing the aluminium content. “This sort […]

SESTO Magnus autonomous mobile robot for materials handling

SESTO Robotics has launched SESTO Magnus – a bi-directional, compact autonomous mobile robot able to carry loads up to 300kg. Having the highest payload rating in the compact class, SESTO Magnus is designed to automate material handling processes in manufacturing, commercial and healthcare industries. Specially built for tight navigation in space-scarce facilities, SESTO Magnus is able to autonomously travel through spaces as narrow as 0.9 metres wide while avoiding obstacles in its path. Its bi-directional same-speed capability means the autonomous mobile robot can reverse out of dead ends without doing a spot turn. With the world easing into the Covid-19 new normal, there is an accelerated urgency for manufacturers and non-manufacturing industries to quickly automate their processes while ensuring safe management measures such as staggered workforce or spilt team arrangements. SESTO Magnus’ small and low profile is designed with manufacturing, healthcare and commercial facilities in mind. Its intelligent software controls enable it to operate safely in narrow passageways and amongst people. Using a single mobile platform, SESTO Magnus is highly versatile and can be configured with limitless applications of autonomous material transportation. From components and parts in manufacturing, to laundry and meal services in hospitality and care facilities, to central sterile services and dispensaries in hospitals, the autonomous mobile robot can be fitted with various top module configurations, customisable to requirements. Current manual handling and transportation processes are often time-consuming and error-prone. In addition, repeated manual handling of heavy loads may lead to labour injuries and accidents. With SESTO Magnus, it reduces the dependency on manual labour which has become a priority for many companies in recent months, as COVID-19 caused major disruptions to the availability of on-premise employees. Powered by SESTO’s proprietary user-friendly interface, operators can easily deploy the robot for material transportation using a tablet or laptop. The […]

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