Asia Manufacturing News Media Kit 2016
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Featured
Smart chip tells you how healthy your battery is
In the picture: NTU Prof Rachid Yazami (left) holding his smart battery chip with research fellow Sohaib El Outmani holding a prototype testing device. Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) have developed a smart chip which can tell you how healthy is your battery and if it is safe for use. If the battery in your smartphone or electric vehicle is faulty and is at risk of catching fire, this smart chip will warn you. Current warning systems only alert users when the battery is already overheating which may be too late for any remedial action. Developed by Professor Rachid Yazami of the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N), this smart chip is small enough to be embedded in almost all batteries, from the small batteries in mobile devices to the huge power packs found in electric vehicles and advanced aeroplanes. A pioneer in battery research, Prof Yazami won the 2014 Draper Prize for Engineering awarded by the Washington-based National Academy of Engineering for being one of the three founders of lithium-ion battery. The prestigious award recognised his discovery in the 1980s in making lithium-ion batteries safely rechargeable, paving the way for its universal use today. “Although the risk of a battery failing and catching fire is very low, with the billions of lithium-ion batteries being produced yearly, even a one-in-a-million chance would mean over a thousand failures,” explained Prof Yazami, who holds more than 50 patents and has authored more than 200 scientific papers, book chapters and reports on batteries. “This poses a serious risk for electric vehicles and even in advanced aeroplanes as usually big battery packs have hundreds of cells or more bundled together to power the vehicle or aircraft. If there is a chemical fire caused by a single failed battery, it could cause […]
The development of smart manufacturing
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a sub-sector of the higher-level concept of the Internet of Everything (IoE) which connects people, processes, data and things, with the aim of bringing maximum value to the global economy. Technologies that have made IoE a reality include short range communications, embedded intelligence, cloud computing, next-generation networks, sensor technology, Big Data, and data analytics. The popularity of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in Asia-Pacific is largely attributable to informed manufacturing, which leads to a transparent and streamlined manufacturing process. Ivan Fernandez Industry Director, Industry Practice, Australia & New Zealand said “The top concern for discrete or process-manufacturing firms is the continuous effort to stay competitive. However, manufacturing competitiveness is not achieved by focusing on one parameter, but on a group of pertinent issues. Resource areas pertaining to people and process innovation are where manufacturing competitiveness is extensively pursued.” “Although Europe is seen to hold a major edge in terms of industries embracing IoT, several countries in Asia Pacific such as Australia, China, India, Japan and Singapore, will adopt these technologies to improve their global standing and become more competitive. Competition will force manufacturers to innovate and adapt various aspects of their manufacturing systems. Smart factories, considered to be the 4th industrial revolution or Industrie 4.0, will create a notable convergence of business models in manufacturing units. Embedded systems, combined with Internet connectivity and online data services, will kick-start the new era of cyber-physical systems, to enable smart factories. Smart factories A manufacturing plant is typically located over a large area and operates multiple machines which are difficult to manage without automation. The smooth functioning of a manufacturing plant, therefore, requires the development of an automated plant-floor with connected machines that receive and respond to orders from central control systems and human machine interfaces. […]
How IIoT Is Impacting Design Engineers
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is furthering its reach into engineering and design. Connected machines will give plant engineering operations the opportunity to identify points of inefficiency, improve upon those points, and in turn, improve profitability. To further discuss how IIoT is impacting work for design engineers, Mark Duncan, segment manager of material handling and packaging machinery for Schneider Electric’s industry business. In the future, Duncan believes engineers will have to focus on existing machine designs and their communications standards, and monitor those standards as they progress. Some examples of this include Internet protocols such as Ethernet, which promote machine-to-machine connectivity, more plug-and play-use, and a smoother transition into a plant environment. Duncan also believes that, as they look to the future, design engineers must be cognizant of the developing standards in machine-to-machine communication. “We have a customer that makes a machine for the coffee industry, and that machine is really built to be modular, connected, and is also built to be self-aware of its own capability and how it’s performing,” he said. “It’s also a safe machine, designed with safety built in. It communicates with other machines in a production line.” It’s Time To Look at Projects Differently- Strategies for Integrated Project Execution An example of this would be the material and product that comes into the machine, such as the one Duncan describes. That product would be processed by the machine, put into a package, and then moved to another machine, with the product cartons eventually taken to a palletizer. Using communication standards, this complete process is simpler than previous practices, where end users would have to reprogram each machine, allowing the machines to work together. Duncan expects that because of machine language standards (such as those for packaging machines using a language called PACKML) machines will […]
Who’s the master?
A robot’s role in a shared task could be continuously adjusted during the activity, thanks to a new adaptive robot control system developed by researchers at Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, that can sense whether a human operator wants to lead or follow. The innovation takes human–robot interactions to a new level of sophistication and opens a range of applications for robots that were previously too difficult to achieve. Humans are assisted by robots in everything from automotive manufacturing through to delicate surgical procedures and even search and rescue operations, but there remains much room for improvement and expansion of their roles. “Robots are still not as intelligent as we expect and this is particularly clear when it comes to human–robot interactions,” says Li Yanan from the A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R). Though extremely useful for performing repetitive or high-precision tasks and for bearing heavy loads, in many applications robots can only be engaged when guided by a human operator to the start location or object. Once engaged, the robot often takes autonomous control of the task. However, as the role of a robot for any task is usually preset and difficult to change during operations, robots are difficult to manage in tasks where its function might switch frequently, such as in high-mix, low-volume applications like welding, polishing and painting. To extend the utility of robots to improve such nuanced human–robot collaborations, Li and colleagues from the I2R set out to develop a control code that sensed the intent of the human operator, based on the force they exerted on the robot, and adjusted the role of the robot automatically. “In the code, to estimate the human operator’s motion intention so that the robot control strategy could be changed, we used game theory, which provides useful […]
South Korea:Bolt tensioning device at power station improves safety and usability
Two major power stations in South Korea have installed Technofast’s innovative hydraulic CamNut EziJac bolting system with outstanding results in both reducing production downtime and improving safety levels for their maintenance engineers. Park Jong Geun, General Manager of the Technical Solutions Team at Korea’s East-West Power (EWP) Company based in Seoul, said Technofast’s CamNut EziJac system had been successfully utilised on the steam turbine casings at both the company’s Dangjin and Donghae power stations with outstanding results. In a letter to Technofast, Mr Park explained that by installing the CamNut EziJac system, his maintenance team had been able to dramatically shorten the maintenance and upgrade times, reduce downtime, as well as increasing production at both locations. He went on to say that by changing from the previous out-dated heating method of loosening and tightening the bolting on the turbine casings they have also improved the safety of their maintenance engineers. With the old heating method the company couldn’t carry out simultaneous operations and needed many hours to heat up and cool down the bolts as well as measurement of the elongation. Mr Park explained that this method can also cause serious damage to the components due to their exposure to excessive heat. But by adopting the CamNut EziJac system, the maintenance engineers were able to loosen and tighten the nuts simultaneously and avoid thermal stress and heat deterioration of the bolts. He said that by installing the Technofast system, the power company has drastically reduced the number of downtime days lost, plus increased the reliability, production, safety and usability of the power plants. At the number one unit at the Dangjin steam turbine power station, Mr Park said the company was able to reduce downtime by two days, equating to 840 million Won (US$700,000 approx.) per year. On top of […]
Warehouse Maintenance: The ‘Smooth Operator’ Factor
By Pedro Furtado, Projects Director at Efacec In today’s context, purchasing a brand new car can be a costly affair as newer cars are equipped with more capabilities, fuel-efficiency enhancements, and safety features that can meet international regulations. With the inclusion of taxes and insurance fees, the cost of ownership increases even more considerably, so any new car owner would be motivated to look after their vehicle so as to minimise incurring additional costs. The same can also be said about warehouses. Warehouses today play a pivotal role within supply chains, and the importance of warehousing in this competitive trading environment cannot be ignored. The storage ability of the warehouse enables manufacturers to achieve time utility, facilitates continued production even during less favourable seasons, and ensures safe custody of inventory. For these reasons and many more, it is imperative that warehouses remain in tip-top condition at all times to operate efficiently. Why Not Maintenance for Automated Warehouses? In general, warehouses are either manually operated or automated, and some are additionally equipped with climate-control features. The exact type of warehouse to be implemented depends on the nature of the industry. Given external factors such as rising labour costs, rapid technological advancements, and increasing global market demand, manufacturers are now more open to adopting warehouse automation technologies to drive a company toward greater productivity and profitability. However, with automated warehouses, there are also additional considerations such as operation delays, rising cost of production (e.g. breakdown of older equipment), and inaccurate data. Going back to the car analogy, what can an owner do to ensure that his car continues to deliver high driving performance in years to come? The unanimous answer that any experienced technician would give is regular maintenance. It is every driver’s best defence against mechanical failure, prolonging driving performance and […]
“Automotive suppliers must embrace faster innovation to adapt to new realities”
– Zhao Jizheng, Siemens PLM Software The automotive industry faces stricter fuel economy and emissions standards around the world, with varying deadlines for achievement through 2025. These fuel economy and emissions standards, along with improvements to safety, growth of intelligent mobility and customer desires for integrating their lifestyle into the vehicle, have automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) relying more on electronics and embedded software to keep up with an ever growing industry. These trends are causing a fundamental change in vehicle technologies which requires more innovation from automakers and suppliers in alternative propulsion, lighter vehicles and energy optimization. A 2014 Center for Automotive Research report, entitled Advanced Information Technology Solutions: An Engine of Innovation, summarizes this sentiment by saying: “The industry is transitioning from a primarily mechanical-based industry to a software-based industry. In fact, some would argue that the industry is transitioning from a transportation focus to a technology focus.” Adopting these new technologies and product innovations drives more interaction across vehicle systems and components. As the complexity of vehicle systems increases with new types of technology, these innovations demand a fundamental increase in the sophistication of automotive systems. Suppliers must integrate mechanical, electronics and software capabilities as well as system development knowledge to deliver more complex systems. That, coupled with the global growth of the industry, increases the pressure on automotive suppliers to expand their own engineering, manufacturing and supply chain networks around the world, which adds to program and operational complexity. Staying in Front In Asia, suppliers are facing pressure on two fronts – the need to respond to their local market and OEM quickly, because Asia continues to be the growth engine for the automotive industry, and, as the part of the supply chain, they need to collaborate with global OEMs more efficiently and contribute more actively […]
Fujitsu launches new VPS
TOKYO, Dec 15, 2015 – Fujitsu Limited and Digital Process Ltd. today announced two additional products and an overall new version of the Digital Process-developed software package, Fujitsu Manufacturing Industry Solution Virtual Product Simulator (VPS). This digital production-preparation tool for the discrete manufacturing industry uses 3D modeling to help analyze product-assembly processes. The software’s tracking functionality has now been enhanced so that changes to the original 3D CAD design data are reflected to the parts affected in VPS, which enables improved response to design changes and manufacturing process development. Viewing functions have also been enhanced, such as with the ability to use iOS devices to display process-flow diagrams for assembly verification. These enhancements make it easier to further utilize 3D data in production-preparation processes, thereby contributing to improvements in product quality, shorter development times, and cost cutting. VPS is packaged software that uses a product’s 3D model data created in CAD to provide cohesive support for production-preparation tasks and processes, including product reviews in assembly production planning, process reviews when assembling products, studies of production line layouts, and document creation for use in manufacturing. In on-site preparation for production, it has been a challenge to reduce the amount of work needed to reflect CAD data revisions, frequently occurring at the design stage, to VPS data that has already been generated with production information attached. In addition, there was a growing need to view VPS data at work sites in order to improve the efficiency of assembly operations. This new VPS version provides agility in responding to changes in design and manufacturing processes, as well as enhanced viewing functions. Product Features 1. Less editing time required with improved support for design changes and manufacturing-process development 1) Enhanced design-change tracking functionality that greatly reduces the work needed to reflect differences when changes […]
Mitsubishi Corporation announces new elevator plant for Korea
TOKYO, Dec 15, 2015 – Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation have reached an agreement to set up a new elevator plant in Korea. The plant, to be run by Mitsubishi Elevator Korea Co., Ltd. (KMEC), a Mitsubishi Electric subsidiary, will be located in the Incheon Free Economic Zone. KMEC will relocate its development and manufacturing base from the present Incheon factory to a new facility and will start manufacturing elevators for both the Korean and overseas markets, expanding its annual production capacity by 2.5 times to 4,000 units. MC’s elevator business in Korea dates back to 2001 when KMEC, its elevator distribution joint venture with Mitsubishi Electric, was established. KMEC has since been expanding its business steadily. The elevator and escalator market in Korea is expected to reach 24,000 units for newly constructed buildings in 2015, with demand in Korea remaining stable at about 25,000 units. KMEC began exporting high-quality, price-competitive high-speed elevators in 2008 and since then, it has served as Mitsubishi Electric’s global supply base for such models. The facility’s R&D center will absorb selected development functions currently based in Mitsubishi Electric Inazawa Works in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, and this will enable KMEC to strengthen its development and supply functions as well as its business base for sales, engineering, development, manufacturing, installation and maintenance, thereby bolstering its business in Korea and its capacity to respond to global market needs. MC and Mitsubishi Electric will supply high-quality, price-competitive high-speed elevators utilizing KMEC’s advanced engineering capabilities and access to global markets, especially in the ASEAN and Middle Eastern regions. KMEC is also planning to construct a 80-meter high elevator test tower and a field training center for installation and maintenance in an effort to enhance the capacity of engineers, all with the aim of improving the quality and […]