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Tanaka begins shipments of SJeva, a high-quality Au deposition material

Tanaka Holdings Co. Ltd. announces the start of sample shipments of SJeva, a newly-developed, high-quality Au deposition material, by Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo. The new deposition material has higher purity than earlier products, making it possible to reduce the amount of precious metals used, increase productivity and cut costs by reducing processing, and raise recoverability and recyclability. By improving manufacturing methods, Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo successfully reduced the amount of non-metallic inclusions in the deposition material compared to conventional materials. Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo previously handled Au deposition materials with a purity of 4N (99.99% gold content) to 5N (99.999% gold content), and the new deposition material enhances the lineup of high-quality products. By using a deposition material with extremely low non-metallic inclusions, contaminants that collect on the surface during melting of the deposition material are reduced, eliminating the need for cleaning. The high-purity deposition material also makes it possible to shorten the preheating time before film formation, decreasing consumption of deposition material that does not contribute to film formation and reducing costs. In addition, the new deposition material contains low levels of gas, and as a result, a reduction in splash phenomenon from the deposition source during film formation can be expected, and it is possible to reduce the number of particles[4] that form on substrates, even during high-rate deposition. As a result of the above properties and benefits of the new deposition material, it is expected to contribute to higher end-user productivity and lower costs when manufacturing final products that use deposition materials such as micro-wiring and MEMS in the semiconductor fields as well as optical devices, LEDs, and medical equipment. Benefits of the New Deposition Material – Reduced number of cleaning processes Usually, various shapes of deposition materials including pellet, plate, ribbon, wire, and grain shapes are used depending on […]

Business books 2017

The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone by Brian Merchant This examination of the iPhone includes analysis of both the enormous cultural impact of the device and a history of its manufacturing process. It was on the shortlist of finalists for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year. “‘The One Device’ is a road map for design and engineering genius, an anthropology of the modern age and an unprecedented view into one of the most secretive companies in history. This is the untold account, ten years in the making, of the device that changed everything,” the Financial Times says. The Captain Class: The Hidden Force That Creates the World’s Greatest Teams, by Sam Walker The deputy editor for enterprise at the Wall Street Journal and a former sports columnist, Walker identified the preeminent sports teams throughout history and determined they all had an influential captain at the time they reigned supreme. He then analyses the seven commonalities of those captains. Reset, by Ellen Pao This is Pao’s story of suing the esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers for discrimination. She lost the suit, but the litigation brought attention to the overwhelmingly white, male culture of Silicon Valley. It was a finalist for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year. Principles: Life and Work, by Ray Dalio Business and life coach Tony Robbins preaches the importance of constantly educating yourself. The book is Dalio’s explanation of the highly unique leadership strategy he employs at his wildly successful hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson The authors from MIT’s Sloan School of Management explain how businesses can best use artificial intelligence and crowd wisdom and how leaders should manage amid these massive technological changes. “Beneath all the concrete problems it raises, an intriguing question lies at the heart […]

Virtual Reality Scene 7.1 for construction, design and forensics

Faro Scene 7.1 enables an immersive VR experience with integration of detailed photographic textures, i.e., surface details of an object and rendering of 3D scan data so quickly that it appears to be generated in real time. While Scene 7.1 is optimised for the Faro laser scanning product portfolio, e.g. FocusS or Freestyle, it is also device agnostic, so it can seamlessly accept and manage 3D scan data from other, non-FARO laser scanner products. Immersive Virtual Reality Scene 7.1 enables users to view an entire project, i.e., the full range of related scans in full 3D virtual reality through a compatible VR headset from the comfort of the user’s office or workstation chair. This significantly elevates the beneficial use and reduces project cycle time by enabling architecture, engineering and construction professionals, public safety forensics experts and product designers to quickly simulate and compare reality for such tasks as evaluating as-built documentation, reconstructing crime or accident scenes, or optimising design plans. Productivity Enhancements in Virtual Reality Scene 7.1 advances well beyond the “see it better to understand it better” concept common in most industrial VR solutions. It enhances productivity by enabling users to take/capture screenshots, tag comments or notes specific to images and navigate the system overview map in real time, all without needing to exit the Virtual Reality environment. Merging of Faro Terrestrial and Handheld Scanning Data Historically, Faro Focus and Freestyle products have had their own unique, coded targets (markers that identify scan areas/specific targets), which could not be shared by the other scanning device. With Scene 7.1 enhanced functionality, not only can both devices share coded targets, but they can also now verify registration of scans from both devices in a single, real time registration report. This ensures not only a more cohesive workflow between these devices but […]

These 5 industries will be first to do business in space

Companies around the world – in transportation, exploration, energy, construction or hospitality – are all looking upwards for the next growth opportunity. Space is quickly becoming a place where the industries that power our global economy will conduct business. What do we call an economic area like this, that is not limited to a single planet, and no longer has physical boundaries? We can’t call it an industry, when private industrial groups can generate revenue and profit not only from the Earth but from near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), the Moon and Mars and beyond. It is simply a medium in which humanity conducts commerce. Let’s take a look at the industry sectors that will be the first to take advantage of our expanded economic sphere, and some of the specific opportunities for growth. Energy Valued at over $8.4 trillion and growing at a 4.1% compound annual growth rate, energy is the largest industry on Earth. Humans are prolific energy consumers, and soon there will be more humans in space. Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon, anticipates “millions of people living and working in space” in the coming decades. Bezos is so confident of this outcome that he is investing more than $1 billion per year into his space transportation firm, Blue Origin. An in-space population of this magnitude will require enormous amounts of energy to live, work, and transit. This energy will come from solar power, which is more effective when gathered in space due to the lack of a filtering atmosphere; and chemical rockets, which will be the primary transportation mechanism for the foreseeable future. The most efficient chemical rocket propellants are composed of cryogenic liquid oxygen combined with liquid hydrogen or methane. Initially, the propellant needed to fuel the space economy will be launched from Earth, as both […]

Innovative Visual Inspect for inspection and design

FARO, for 3D measurement and imaging solutions for factory metrology, construction BIM/CIM, product design, public safety forensics, and 3D solutions applications, announces the availability of the FARO Visual Inspect product family. This innovative platform enables large, complex 3D CAD (computer-aided design) data to be transferred to an iPad and then used for mobile visualisation and comparison to real world conditions. This enables real time, actionable manufacturing insight through earlier stage error detection in the production, construction or design processes. Visual Inspect is a true next generation solution as it moves 3D CAD viewing away from the traditional desktop PC to a mobile “in hand, on demand” solution. 3D CAD data is stored locally on the iPad through an innovative, compressed, mobile format which provides an exceptional degree of flexibility and mobility that together drive increased productivity. The end user is able to document problems and errors with text and images and then easily export both into a Microsoft Excel office document. The Visual Inspect product family offers two exceptional value options:  Visual Inspect: enables intuitive mobile viewing, verification and documentation of complex 3D data  Visual Inspect AR: enables complex 3D data to be overlaid and compared to actual data in real time The integrated iPad camera supports Visual Inspect AR as a more cost-effective alternative to other Augmented Reality (AR) products that require expensive cameras. The Visual Inspect product family can be ready for use via a simple three step process that includes first downloading the iPad application from the Apple Apps store, calibrating the iPad and then activating the application with the calibration file.

AI needs to create jobs for all, not the few

Stephane Kasriel CEO, Upwork ‘For the majority of us, AI will take away the most repetitive and boring tasks’ Whenever I talk to people about the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, it’s clear there is a lot of anxiety surrounding these developments. And no wonder: these technologies already have a huge impact on the world of work, from AI-powered algorithms that recommend optimal routes to maximise Lyft and Uber drivers’ earnings; to machine learning systems that help optimize lists of customer leads so salespeople can be more effective. We’re on the verge of tremendous transformations to work. Millions of jobs will be affected and the nature of work itself may change profoundly. We have an obligation to shape this future — the good news is that we can. It’s easier to see the jobs that will disappear than to imagine the jobs that will be created in the future but are as yet unknown. If, as The Wall Street Journal suggests, we think of AI as a technology that predicts, it’s much easier to map its impact. We must push ourselves to do that and understand the future of work. Here are six principles to keep in mind as we imagine how the world of work will evolve. 1. Expect massive disruption As Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains, we’re in the midst of a “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, after steam power (the first), electric power (the second) and digitisation (the third). The fourth, which incorporates AI and robotics as well as other technologies, will have an even greater impact. Of course, most new technologies create new opportunities at the same time as they eliminate old jobs, but there is rarely a perfect correspondence between these two forces. The people whose jobs […]

Continuing success for Konecranes mobile harbor cranes in South Korea

South Korean Terminal Operator Pyeongtaek Dangjin Central Terminal Co. Ltd. (PDCT) has put a Konecranes Gottwald Model 4 Mobile Harbor Crane into operation. The new diesel-electric crane handles bulk and general cargo in the terminal, situated around 80km south of Seoul on the west coast of South Korea. For particularly eco-efficient operation, it is equipped with an external power supply to hook up to the terminal’s mains. With this machine, PDCT, a joint venture of the two leading South Korean logistic groups KCTC Co., Ltd (KCTC) and Sebang Co., Ltd. (Sebang), has taken the next step in its long-term business relationship with Konecranes. J. H. Park, Executive Director, PDCT said: “PDCT ordered its first Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor Crane in 1989, and a second one in 1996. KCTC now operates three cranes, and Sebang operates two. “The cranes have significantly contributed to the sustainable growth of the companies’ handling rates. It was logical to also rely on technology from Konecranes in our terminal in Pyeongtaek, where the new machine replaced the first crane that was almost thirty years old.” Giuseppe Di Lisa, Sales & Marketing Director, Mobile Harbor Cranes, Konecranes, is pleased with the positive market development for Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor Cranes in South Korea: “Since summer 2016, three Konecranes Gottwald Quaymate M50 Mobile Harbor Cranes were delivered to South Korea, and we are now proud to continue our recent success with a Model 4 machine. “With this crane, we further strengthen our market leading position in the country. This success is also due to the excellent relationship between PDCT and our local organisation. The service that we have provided has satisfied the customer and, as a consequence, the recent order will also include a tailor-made service package.” The new crane is a Model 4 Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor […]

Move Fast and Break Things

-Jonathan Taplin (Jonathan Taplin is Director of the Annenberg Innovation Lab and a former tour manager for Bob Dylan and The Band, as well as a film producer for Martin Scorsese. An expert in digital media entertainment, Taplin is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and sits on the California Broadband Taskforce and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Council on Technology and Innovation. Fake news. Digital monopolies. Stealth Marketing. This is the story of how the internet, which began as a dream, has become a nightmare and the people that did it. The modern world is defined by vast digital monopolies turning ever-larger profits. Those of us who consume the content that feeds them are farmed for the purposes of being sold ever more products and advertising. Those that create the content – the artists, writers and musicians – are finding they can no longer survive in this unforgiving economic landscape. But it didn’t have to be this way. In Move Fast and Break Things, Jonathan Taplin offers a succinct and powerful history of how online life began to be shaped around the values of the entrepreneurs like Peter Thiel and Larry Page who founded these all-powerful companies. Their unprecedented growth came at the heavy cost of tolerating piracy of books, music and film, while at the same time promoting opaque business practices and subordinating the privacy of individual users to create the surveillance marketing monoculture in which we now live. It is the story of a massive reallocation of revenue in which $50 billion a year has moved from the creators and owners of content to the monopoly platforms. With this reallocation of money comes a shift in power. Google, Facebook and Amazon now enjoy political power on par with Big Oil and Big […]

Vitafoods Asia 2017: Meeting the Region’s Nutraceutical Needs

Singapore – As the final preparations for Vitafoods Asia round off, Informa Exhibitions looks forward to welcoming trade professionals to discover, learn, and network at Asia’s only dedicated event for the nutraceutical, functional food and beverages, and dietary supplement industries. From 5 – 6 September, uncover the latest innovations and key developments that will impact industry and product development at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. “At each edition of Vitafoods Asia, our various partners and industry experts actively contribute by sharing their in-depth insights with us and the industry at large – both leading up to and at the show,” said Chris Lee, Managing Director of Global Health & Nutrition Network, Europe, Informa Exhibitions. “Their extensive knowledge of global industry trends and broad exposure to the cutting-edge innovations have helped many companies in shaping their business development plans. We are delighted to have some of the best minds from both the commercial industry and academia share more about the hottest trends across the region at Vitafoods Asia, whether in the Conference or on and around the show floor.” Healthy Ageing: A Pressing Concern for Asia According to United Nations’ Economic & Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)[1], about 60% of the world’s population of older persons, defined as people at 60 years or older, live in the Asia Pacific region. Population ageing is happening at an unprecedented pace because fertility rates have been declining rapidly, while life expectancy has improved tremendously. In fact, the number of older persons in Asia Pacific is expected to more than double from 547 million in 2016 to nearly 1.3 billion by 2050. Clearly, the notion of healthy ageing is a pressing concern for Asia Pacific countries and its people, and this presents opportunities for the nutraceutical […]

How to make robots that we can trust

Can we trust a robot that makes decisions with real-world consequences? Michael Winikoff, Professor in Information Science, University of Otago. Self-driving cars, personal assistants, cleaning robots, smart homes – these are just some examples of autonomous systems. With many such systems already in use or under development, a key question concerns trust. My central argument is that having trustworthy, well-working systems is not enough. To enable trust, the design of autonomous systems also needs to consider other requirements, including a capacity to explain decisions and to have recourse options when things go wrong. When doing a good job is not enough The past few years have seen dramatic advances in the deployment of autonomous systems. These are essentially software systems that make decisions and act on them, with real-world consequences. Examples include physical systems such as self-driving cars and robots, and software-only applications such as personal assistants. However, it is not enough to engineer autonomous systems that function well. We also need to consider what additional features people need to trust such systems. For example, consider a personal assistant. Suppose the personal assistant functions well. Would you trust it, even if it could not explain its decisions? To make a system trustable we need to identify the key prerequisites to trust. Then, we need to ensure that the system is designed to incorporate these features. A trustworthy robot may need to be able to explain its decisions. What makes us trust? Ideally, we would answer this question using experiments. We could ask people whether they would be willing to trust an autonomous system. And we could explore how this depends on various factors. For instance, is providing guarantees about the system’s behaviour important? Is providing explanations important? Suppose the system makes decisions that are critical to get right, for example, […]

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