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Singapore Airshow 2014 nets deals worth US$32 Billion

Singapore Airshow 2014 wrapped up the trade segment of the six-day event with deals announced worth US$32 billion, surpassing the value of deals announced in 2012. Major announcements include contracts for Airbus, Embraer, Boeing and Rolls-Royce. This reinforces Singapore Airshow’s standing as one of the most important aerospace and defence exhibitions in the world. Singapore Airshow 2014 played host to over 1,000 exhibitors from 47 countries and 279 delegations from 72 countries. In all, over 40,000 trade visitors from 125 countries visited the show during the first three trade days, compared to some 38,000 in 2012. Of these, 33% were from overseas. 72% of exhibitors from this year’s Airshow have already reaffirmed their plans to exhibit at the next Airshow in 2016, underscoring the relevance of Singapore Airshow as an essential platform to network and seize opportunities in key markets in the Asia-Pacific and beyond. The U.S. was the feature country at Singapore Airshow 2014, marking its largest presence at the show with 163 U.S. companies, including 111 in the U.S. Pavilion. U.S. Ambassador to Singapore, Kirk Wagar, said: “The U.S. was delighted to be Feature Country, the first-ever such designation, at the Singapore Airshow. We would like to thank the Government of Singapore, Experia Events, Kallman Worldwide and all of those involved in the Feature Country effort. The largest number of U.S. companies exhibited this year, 163, and they are reporting a very successful Airshow. A large delegation of high level U.S. officials had numerous productive bilateral meetings with our counterparts throughout the region. Last but not least, U.S. military and commercial aircraft provided for the show, including the V-22 Osprey, C-17, P-8, Boeing 787, Gulfstream 650 and many others received enormous interest from Airshow visitors.” Tom Kallman, president and CEO of Kallman Worldwide, the U.S. representative of the Singapore Airshow coordinating the U.S. […]

Auckland to host major gathering of Asia Pacific business leaders

Leading New Zealand businesses are joining with the New Zealand Government to welcome over 250 business leaders from the Asia Pacific region when Auckland hosts a meeting of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) 11-14 February. “We intend to give our guests a warm kiwi welcome and use this meeting to advance New Zealand’s critical interests in the region,” said Phil O’Reilly, Chief Executive of BusinessNZ, which is host organisation for the meeting. Major sponsors of the gathering are Fonterra and ANZ. ATEED/Auckland Council, Air New Zealand and the Meat Industry Association are all sponsoring social events and a range of other business organisations are joining in support. “This is an opportunity to showcase New Zealand’s highly innovative and sustainable production systems to an influential audience. Key customers from China and around the Asia Pacific region are attending along with a number of high worth individuals,” said John Wilson, Chairman of Fonterra. ABAC brings together three members appointed by the Heads of Government of APEC’s 21 member economies. New Zealand’s members are Tony Nowell, Maxine Simmons and Wayne Boyd. ABAC’s task is to provide advice to APEC Economic Leaders on APEC’s trade and investment agenda. China is hosting APEC in 2014 and a delegation of senior Chinese business leaders is also attending the Auckland meeting. “China is assuming the chair of APEC as the region accelerates its economic growth. The ABAC meeting occurs as New Zealand emerges as a star performer on the world economic stage. This gives New Zealand an important opportunity to influence APEC’s direction in a critical year,” said David Green, Managing Director (Institutional), ANZ. ABAC’s agenda takes in trade and investment, sustainable development, financial issues, SME and entrepreneurship, infrastructure and connectivity. “ABAC’s first meeting for 2014 is the chance to set the agenda for the year […]

Catalytic converter to cut car manufacturing costs

A new catalytic converter that could cut fuel consumption and manufacturing costs has been designed by a scientist from Imperial College London. A catalytic converter is the component in a vehicle’s exhaust system that eliminates some harmful emissions. Tests suggest that the new prototype could reduce fuel consumption in a standard vehicle by up to three per cent. It could also deliver environmental benefits by reducing the amount of CO? that each vehicle emits. The new design uses up to 80 per cent less rare metal, a development that could significantly reduce costs for vehicle manufacturers. Catalytic converters are expensive to manufacture because they use precious metals such as platinum to eliminate emissions. These metals currently account for up to 60 to 70 per cent of the cost of the component. The prototype is also predicted to perform better than existing models because the rare metal degrades less over the lifetime of the component. Laboratory tests suggest that it deteriorates by only four per cent over a distance of 100,000 kilometres, compared to 35 per cent for a standard catalytic converter. The inventor of the prototype device is Dr Benjamin Kingsbury. He is also a Research Associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. He says: “Catalytic converters are the most important component in a vehicle for controlling exhaust emissions. Yet their design has not changed since they were first developed in the 1940s. ÒThe prototype I have developed could make cars cheaper to run because they use less fuel. It could potentially help manufacturers to reduce their costs. Drivers could also be a major beneficiary of this device, which could save on fuel costs and ultimately lead to reduced CO? emissions.” A conventional catalytic converter is a ceramic block, which is honeycombed with microscopic channels that […]

3D printer microfactory

Microfactory combines additive and subtractive manufacturing, integrating machining and 3D printing into a safe, self-cleaning, networkable unit. The Microfactory 3D printer contains four printing heads on two separate heaters, plus a milling head. This allows it to print in four colors of the same material, or two colors of two different materials, on the same part. The milling component is capable of cutting and etching wood, plastic and some metals (with optional upgrade). Its user-friendly features are designed to bring more industrial capability to smaller workshops. They include a vacuum port to remove all the debris created by cutting, an air filter, prominent emergency-stop button, covered belts and motors (to keep clothing from getting caught by moving parts) and a noise-reducing housing. The Microfactory 3D printer contains a full on-board computer, which gives it many unique capabilities. With its Internet connectivity, the Microfactory will allow users to watch the progress of jobs in real-time from a phone or tablet, start and stop jobs remotely, or network machines together for more efficient production. All of the software components of the Microfactory are open-source, and the hardware is designed to be upgraded and modified by more intrepid users: The gantry is intended to support the attachment of different heads, and the entire left wall of the machine is removable to support alternate modules.

The Interview: Soo Kam Tatt, Director, Hypertherm Asia

What were some of the significant milestones of Hypertherm in the past year? At the start of the year, Hypertherm acquired AccuStream, a Minnesota-based manufacturer of water jet cutting products. With this acquisition, we have expanded the range and type of cutting systems available, further solidifying Hypertherm’s position as a multi-cutting technological company. The waterjet application will enable Hypertherm’s cutting solutions to extend to other materials beyond metals, which is a first for us. At the 200-amp range of conventional plasma cutting, we introduced the MaxPro200 in replacement of the Max200 workhorse that has served the industry and us well over the last 20+ years. The MaxPro200 outperforms the Max 200 in terms of cut quality, speed and consumable life with enhanced reliability. Since the launch, this system has received positive reception from our end-users once again. Recently, we launched the Powermax125, a 125-amp air plasma system with 100% duty cycle. Having an air plasma system with a new and enhanced amperage level is an achievement for Hypertherm, enabling the cutting performance of Hypertherm PMX air plasma system to reach new heights in terms of metal thickness for both hand-held and mechanised cutting. With Fiber Laser cutting, we have added a 3kW HyIntensity¨ HFL030 laser unit to the product range. The addition of this system will broaden the range of HyperthermÕs fiber laser system offerings and offer more diverse cutting solutions to the end-users. How do you see 2014 for Hypertherm? 2014 will continue to be a challenging year for Hypertherm, however, there is some optimism of a potential recovery in the US economy and this will be a plus for all. In the Asian environment, the developments and the continued progress in the China recovery, while not at the same pace as before, will be an added boost to […]

GMP makes significant contribution to New Zealand’s organic programme

GMP Dairy Limited has launched ‘Ogni’ organic dairy product range and announced that they have gained a significant organic export order to China. GMP is a leading manufacturing company specialising in a wide range of natural health and dairy products of Australian and New Zealand origin. In the Picture from the left: Ravinesh Kumaran – Acting General Manager – GMP Dairy Limited; Mr. Chen Feihua – Vice General Manager of Salt Bureau of Guangdong Province; Mr. Peng Haibin – Chairman of Guangdong Salt Bureau of Guangdong Province; Minesh Patel – General Manager – GMP Pharmaceuticals Limited;Stuart Gray – General Manager, Fonterra Global Sales New Zealand; Jami-Lee Ross – National MP for Botany and Eion Jansen – National Sales Manager – Fonterra New Zealand The company is playing a pioneer role in New Zealand’s organic dairy programme utilising their expertise to realise high value, market ready products for export, especially into Asia. The potential for high quality organic products is huge as nations around the world look to enhance dairy products for their consumers. Organic products are highly sought after and fast becoming more the market standard than is necessarily realised. Fonterra is also an important player in this development, supplying to GMP a substantial quantity of their organic milk powder since 2012. And it gets better…GMP has reached an agreement with a significant State Owned Enterprise as its exclusive distributor in China. GMP is the recipient of significant business and export awards both in Australia and New Zealand for its successful business model and innovative solutions to international trade. The company’s business model is based on identifying, processing and transforming food and nutritional ingredients into high value finished products, especially for the Asia markets, where there is high demand for those products for cultural or nutritional benefits. The company started […]

Save power with new app

Picture: Team Project M Another innovative idea from the UNIST ‘Project M’ team was awarded the Gold Prize in the 2014 KEPCO Electricity Technology Idea Contest. This is an idea about developing a smartphone application that monitors the usage of household electricity and helps to save it. A junior at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of UNIST, Kyung In Baek suggested this idea. “I got the idea by watching my mother keeping track of the household account,” said Baek. This application will help users become aware of their electricity usage in real-time, and assist in cutting down on the waste of electricity. The application allows one to set the limit of monthly power usage, and notifies that person of daily or weekly expected, electricity usage. Users are able to verify their real time electricity bill and control the amount of power used. The App is also able to tell the last month’s or last week’s power usage. It provides various other kinds of useful data: – comparable power spent of other households with same family size and similar house size, – Power spent in each time zone, as well as the electric bill. “Power shortage is a national crisis that we all have to try to solve,” said CEO of Project M Dong-Hwan Song. “We have to lead people voluntarily to use only necessary electricity without any waste rather than insist on cutting their power usage.” Project M is a venture team, consisting of ten UNIST students. This team is getting closer to opening their own business by receiving three awards. One award from the DB Mash-up Contest, one from the 2013 U (University)-Startup Contest, and the most recent from the KEPCO Electricity Technology Idea Contest, all since last October. “We are all so delighted that we have won […]

What’s missing from your Lean initiative?

Most business owners and general managers recognise just how critically important proper equipment maintenance is, particularly in an asset-oriented work environment. Simply put, poorly maintained equipment leads to production downtime, lost revenue, dissatisfied customers, and low morale. Yet, in the context of lean initiatives, debates crop up regarding the role of preventive and predictive maintenance versus Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). Are preventive and predictive maintenance tactics sufficient? Isn’t TPM a separate initiative, a secondary consideration, or just plain extraneous to a primary lean implementation? Or, should lean and TPM be interconnected? In too many companies, equipment initiatives stop with preventive and predictive maintenance. TPM is a capability built on total asset reliability – and total employee involvement. More than traditional preventive maintenance, it is a systematic, data-driven process that fosters an efficient partnership between production, maintenance, and engineering, and that engages those closest to the work. It results in an organization’s ability to transition from reactive to proactive maintenance and to create low cost, even free capacity. More importantly, TPM has a dramatic impact on your organisational culture, overall operations – and your bottom line. It frees up valuable production capacity without the drain of capital investment. The direct and measureable results are better performance, increased capacity, improved quality, decreased scrap and waste, and increased reliability and efficiency. Without TPM, achieving lean flow is not possible; therefore TPM should be an integral part of any lean transformation. TPM in a Nutshell In essence, TPM is a strategy that empowers employees by enlisting equipment operators to participate actively in the design, selection, correction, and maintenance of equipment. The objective: to ensure that every machine or production process is always able to perform its required tasks without interrupting or slowing down defect-free production. Operators share. ‘Ownership’ for the equipment with which they work. TPM is viewed as ‘beginning-to-end maintenance’ that is critically important to business success. Downtime […]

New laser scanner for 3D documentation

FARO Technologies has released the new Laser Scanner Focus3D X 330. Building on the success of the Laser Scanner Focus3D, the new Focus3D X 330 surpasses previous models in functionality and performance. With a range almost three times greater than previous models, the Focus3D X 330 can scan objects up to 330 meters away and in direct sunlight. With its integrated GPS receiver, the laser scanner is able to correlate individual scans in post-processing making it ideal for surveying based applications. In addition, the Focus3D X 330 measurement accuracy has been increased and noise has been reduced, providing precise three dimensional models in a photo-realistic style. These advances in performance did not come at the expense of safety as the Focus3D X 330 includes a Class 1 ‘eye safe’ laser. “Its minimal weight, small size, touch-screen, SD-card and a battery life of 4.5 hours make the Focus3D X 330 unbeatable and easy-to-use,” said Dr. Bernd Becker, Chief Technology Strategist for the new Focus3D X 330. “No other provider can offer such a technical achievement.” With its increased range and scan accuracy, the Focus3D X 330 considerably reduces the effort involved in measuring and post-processing. The 3D scan data can easily be imported into all commonly used software solutions for accident reconstruction, architecture, civil engineering, construction, forensics, industrial manufacturing and land surveying. Distance dimensions, area and volume calculations, analysis and inspection tasks and documentation can thus be carried out quickly, precisely and reliably.

ANALYSIS: Reverse Engineering with 3D Measurement

Reverse engineering is the process of duplicating an existing product without the aid of drawings, documentation, or computer models. In ordinary engineering, the product designer creates a drawing showing how an object is to be built, and then the object is manufactured by following the design drawing. In reverse engineering, the steps are inverted. First, engineers identify the system components and their interrelationships. The object is taken apart to discover its structure, function, and operation. Duplication of the part is enabled by capturing physical dimensions, features, and material properties. Next, a CAD drawing or other representation of the system is created. Then a reproduction of the original system is accurately created based on that drawing. Why reverse engineering is needed A common scenario in which reverse engineering is needed is as follows: a company has a machine. A part fails and a replacement part is needed. But the manufacturer has discontinued the machine and no longer makes parts for it. The machine owner can reverse engineer a replacement part from the failed part, preventing the machine from going out of service. Reverse engineering can shortcut product development time. It quickly captures a product in 3D digital form and exports the data for rapid prototyping, tooling, or manufacturing. There are many other situations in which reverse engineering can be used: *Substituting an original part design that has inadequate or no documentation available. *Redesigning a part to eliminate a bad feature or to reinforce good features. *Analysing competitor products. *Supporting new modifications where original CAD models cannot. *Updating obsolete products with current technology. *Updating or creating as-built documentation. *Supplying a part with little downtime that is mission-critical to a system, reproduced in large quantities, or reflects a big investment. *Performing fine element analysis or computational fluid dynamics on parts for which no design […]

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