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Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
MANUFACTURING NEWS Success Through Innovation $4
August 2018
Vitafoods Asia 2018, Singapore Smart cities in South East Asia A circular future Resisting the rise of the robots
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EDITORIAL ASIA
MANUFACTURING NEWS
LET’S SHARE THE SPOILS All the ra ra ra about technology in the future and how the future is going to be can make a person misty eyed, seeing either a million opportunities or doom and gloom.
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Managing Editor Doug Green Art Direction Kim Alves Advertising Enquiries Please visit
Doug Green
Technology is not all about the latest gadget being made by a robot or via 3D manufacturing. Technology has the important role of also making our lives better; of giving us more time to do the things we enjoy, be creative at…and find thoroughly enjoyable. The problem is that we are caught on the wheel of more, faster, better. That the company we work for is going to do well, meaning that the money is there to pay salaries, that its management will look after the (productive) workers that they are rewarded with shares and bonuses. Get the picture? I am all for progress, I am all for innovation and development which makes our life more meaningful…not just putting more money into the pockets of the shareholders. How about the news that Apple is a three trillion-dollar American company? What does that even mean? Are you excited about that for Apple? If they weren’t a three trillion-dollar company it would not diminish some of their great technological developments. If it is real money, who gets it? It’s not even a figure to envy because it is not a realistic amount to envy.
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Subscriptions publisher@xtra.co.nz Subscription Rate $24 p.a. Digital Single Copies $4 Asia Manufacturing News is published bi-monthly and offers the reader the latest in business and manufacturing news across ASEAN region. Asia Manufacturing News welcomes articles and contributions and encourages readers to share their development stories and opinions with fellow readers. Asia Manufacturing News uses information in good faith. We give no guarantee of the accuracy of information
We need to focus on the reward for effort. Of doing a great job in helping a company get ahead by working collegially and boosting the bottom line so all can benefit.
provided. No liability is accepted for the
Across Asia – as elsewhere – we have the insurmountable hurdle that keeps the barrier in place for company owners and not necessarily for the staff…the actual workers.
the basis of this information. Those acting
result of any actions taken or not taken on on the information do so entirely at their own risk.
Society can falter in a big way when there is indifference to effort and creative endeavours are not rewarded. ASIA
MANUFACTURING NEWS For a copy of the Media Kit 2018 please email publisher@xtra.co.nz Smart Manufacturing SM✓ Information, Technology and Human Ingenuity
CONTENTS 5 | ANALYSIS Smart cities in South East Asia.
6 | VITAFOODS ASIA Discover the Nutraceuticals Industry at Vitafoods Asia. Helping probiotics to help you.
9 | TECHNOLOGY UPDATE A massive productivity boost from the Fourth Industrial Revolution. First demonstration of drone-based deliveries along power lines.
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11 | SAFETY Boosting your bottom line with a safer workplace.
12 | THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY A circular future with stewardship at the centre.
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14 | DEVELOPMENTS
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Epson doubles precision core production. Veit Group chooses ERP to support growth. Tanaka expands production capacity.
16 | ANALYSIS Faster big-data analysis. What is your data telling you?
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18 | PRODUCT NEWS Keysight recently in Singapore. NUM in machining centre development.
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20 | COMMENT Asia can resist the rise of the robots.
22 | MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
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What do field service workers have to do with manufacturing? University in race to build first super battery. 3d Printing aircraft parts using new laser technology.
26 | BUSINESS NEWS
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Technological progress the key to Asia’s development. Trintech opens office in Singapore. MHIEC to build waste to energy plant in Kawasaki.
ANALYSIS
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
SMART CITIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA By Jonathan Woetzel, Diaan-Yi Lin, Mukund Sridhar, and Su-E Yap
Cities are the engines of economic growth in Southeast Asia. But the breakneck pace of urbanisation has left many cities struggling to provide adequate housing, infrastructure, and services to meet the needs of a surging population. Now smart technologies that could tackle some of these issues have reached maturity. Recent research from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) highlighted the fact that smart cities worldwide are incorporating data and digital technologies into infrastructure and services—and they are delivering tangible quality-of-life improvements as a result. Building on that work, Smart cities in Southeast Asia (PDF–4MB) takes a more focused look at how cities across the region can make better use of data, digital tools, and smart solutions to solve specific public problems and make the urban environment more livable, sustainable, and productive. MGI finds that smart cities could have substantial impact for the region as a whole. Among its findings: • Smart solutions could eliminate up to some 270,000 kilotons of greenhouse-gas emissions annually. • Some 5,000 lives lost each year to traffic accidents, fires, and homicides could be saved through mobility solutions, crime prevention, and better emergency response. • Intelligent traffic and transit solutions could save up to eight million man-years in annual commuting time. • Deploying smart healthcare solutions for the urban population could reduce the region’s disease burden by 12 million disability-adjusted life years—not only extending overall life expectancy but adding years of good health. • By creating more efficient and productive environments for business and hiring, Southeast Asia could add almost 1.5 million jobs. • Residents could also save as much as $16 billion annually as smart solutions contribute to better housing options and lower
energy bills. There is already a wave of activity and innovation across Southeast Asia. It includes digital citizen apps, homegrown ride-hailing apps, data-driven transit planning, intelligent traffic systems, data-driven disaster-risk assessment, advanced construction techniques, automation systems to manage energy consumption, and many more. Low-income cities may be able to jump-start progress by creating open data portals, which make raw information available for private-sector innovation. Cities facing tough budgetary choices will have to prioritize the practical over the flashiest new technologies. Smart cities are changing the parameters of how cities across Southeast Asia approach public–private partnerships. The report notes that private-sector companies that find ways to contribute to the public good and expand choices for urban residents can find substantial market opportunities across Southeast Asia. MGI estimates that smart-mobility applications could create up to $70 billion in value, while opportunities to make the built environment smarter could be worth more than $25 billion. If Southeast Asia succeeds in using these new tools to manage growth and make the urban environment operate more efficiently, it can deliver a better quality of life to hundreds of millions of people. This discussion paper was prepared for the World Cities Summit 2018, in collaboration with the Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore. About the author(s) Jonathan Woetzel is a director of the McKinsey Global Institute; Diaan-Yi Lin is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Singapore office, where Mukund Sridhar is a partner. Su-E Yap is an engagement manager based in Singapore.
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VITAFOODS ASIA
DISCOVER THE NUTRACEUTICALS INDUSTRY AT VITAFOODS ASIA
Visitors to the upcoming Vitafoods Asia Exhibition and Conference in Singapore, 11-12 September 2018, will discover a rich learning environment to discover all aspects of the development and application of nutraceuticals, through to product positioning, branding and marketing, inclusive of how to overcome regulatory challenges in various markets. Health care spending in the Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to double by 2050, opening opportunities to market alternative remedies and fortified foods. Across Asia, and especially in China and India, increased disposable income, coupled with ageing populations, are impacting the prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases, along with blood pressure, diabetes, or cardiac diseases. Inadequate nutrition, due to busy lifestyles, and the high cost of healthcare are also factors. Joint health, gut health, bone health and weight management are expected to be future demand drivers.
Functional Foods Asia Pacific is now the largest regional market for dietary supplements and vitamins. Malaysia and India for instance, are grappling with the impact of rapid urbanisation on the diet. Demand functional, hearty-healthy foods, for example, is rising. Aside from products developed in Western societies, across the region, consumers are buying products that are enriched with locally-sourced compounds and functional ingredients like probiotics, fibre, calcium or vitamin E; herbs such as tongkat ali and ginseng; along with cultured milk drinks; probiotic yogurts; and cereals that are fortified with fibre; plus, Omega-3 fortified eggs. Vitafoods Asia showcases key suppliers of such ingredients and raw materials that are used in functional foods. Functional Beverages To tackle alertness and reduce calorie consumption, as well as hydrate with performance additives, athletes and gym enthusiasts in countries like China and India are driving demand for nutrition through functional beverages. Drinks ingredients include vitamins, amino acids and omega-3 fatty acids. Amino acids are used to slow fatigue and vitamins are added to boost the metabolism and generate energy in functional beverages. Prebiotics and probiotics are also used to ensure proper functioning of the digestive system. Another ingredient, Omega-3, is forecast to grow in the functional beverages market as it controls inflammation. At Vitafoods Asia, there’s an Omega-3 Resource Centre where visitors can witness the latest innovations and product development initiatives around Omega-3.
Addressing Malnutrition In countries like Japan and Thailand, where despite relatively healthy diets, there are mineral and vitamin deficiencies in the population. In Thailand, Calcium and Vitamin D are issues, and doctors are prescribing supplements. The Japanese lack calcium and iron, so there is a corresponding seeing rise in demand for probiotic yogurts and energy drinks. At the Global Health Theatre at Vitafoods Asia, the impact of the modern lifestyle on nutrition and diseases, and how food fortification is addressing these issues, will be discussed industry experts.
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Responsible nutrition, importance of fortification and fortified foods, impact on the glycaemic index, as well as the packaging of nutraceuticals into functional foods, will be discussed, among other topics. Food fortification As scientific research evolves around issues such as obesity and disease, as the impact of nutrition on pre-natal and maternal life stages, sports and aging evolves, the way we approach these issues is changing. You can stay abreast of the latest research by attending the Life Stages Theatre at Vitafoods Asia, where you will hear from researchers and functional food developers alike. Processing food to protect bioactive ingredients At the exhibition, visitors will learn how processes such as microencapsulation, enzyme technology, and nanoencapsulation of ingredients are being used to produce functional foods. Of late, microencapsulation technology has been developed to replace cyclodextrin (CD) molecules to protect the bioactive elements in food processing through to the storage and delivery of functional foods. Notably, product formulation for the delivery of nutraceuticals is changing. For example, Indian consumers are driving change from traditional tablets, or chewable tablets, to capsules, particularly liquid-filled capsules, which are easier to swallow and are believed to work faster and better. Obtaining the right advice A dedicated area, the Industry Advice Zone, is available for visitors to meet with industry experts in one to one consultation sessions, for regulatory advice, market access information and strategies, and marketing and innovation profiling. The Vitafoods Asia Conference is another chance to learn from academia, government and industry leaders. Structured to help participants maximise their learning in line with their career interests, dedicated conference tracks will guide participants towards talks on research and development, business and marketing strategies, and digestive health.
11-12 September 2018 Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
The nutraceutical event for Asia Source innovative products & ingredients Do business with 300+ global suppliers Discover product development solutions Meet technical experts
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VITAFOODS ASIA
HELPING PROBIOTICS TO HELP YOU The positive health effects of probiotics are why Associate Professor Liu Shao Quan, who is part of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Food Science and Technology Programme, has dedicated part of his research to developing new probiotic foods and drinks that could appeal to more people and expand the options for a healthier diet. Over the past few years, he and his students have created probiotic beer – a first in the market – and two other probiotic beverages made with durian pulp and okara respectively. Okara is soy pulp that is leftover from the production of soy products such as soy milk and tofu.
The probiotics problem At this year’s Vitafoods Asia 2018 conference, which will take place on Sept 11 and 12 at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Prof Liu will speak about the difficulties of keeping probiotics alive in foods and drinks, and his research to improve their survival chances. Prof Liu’s talk is titled “Improving the Viability of Probiotics in Food”. He explained: “Many foods and beverages are acidic, and acids inhibit probiotics’ survival and activity. Besides, when foods and beverages are stored at elevated temperatures, probiotics can grow and produce more acids. This will lead to the probiotics’ death and decrease the health benefits of the foods and beverages.” He noted that some microorganisms can help to protect probiotics and improve their odds of survival, but the mechanisms of the process are not well-understood. He and his students experimented with different probiotic strains, yeasts and cultures in creating their beverages. “Beers contain hop acids that prevent the growth and survival of probiotics, but we successfully developed a beer with live
Improving the Viability of Probiotics in Food.
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probiotics. Our probiotic durian beverage and probiotic okara beverage also have high cell counts of live probiotics,” he said.
Breakthroughs in probiotics To create the beer, the team experimented with six probiotic strains and varied factors such as the temperature and amount of ingredients during the brewing process. They eventually succeeded with the Lactobacillus paracasei L26 probiotic strain. The beer is also unfiltered and unpasteurised to maintain the live probiotic counts. Every 100 millilitre of the drink contains 1 billion probiotic organisms, which is the minimum number per serving recommended by the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics to unlock maximum health benefits. Prof Liu’s research also found that a type of yeast called Williopsis saturnus can be used to significantly improve the survival of the Lactobacillus casei probiotic strain during the fermentation of durian pulp to create durian-based probiotic beverages. “Using the yeast also produces much higher levels of volatile compounds, including alcohols and acetate esters, which positively contributes to the flavour notes,” he added. Furthermore, both the probiotic beer and durian beverage are non-dairy products, unlike most probiotic drinks on the market. This means that the NUS scientists’ creations can be consumed safely by people who are lactose-intolerant. Such flavours are important in the region, where durian is a very popular fruit, and where such ingredients appeal to populations that don’t typically consume milk, such as Thailand and Japan. Prof Liu said: “When you look at the health benefits that some probiotic strains can confer to humans, mainly in the area of gut health and immunity enhancement, we should try to develop new foods and drinks that can deliver them to people.” The Asia-Pacific region is now the largest regional market for dietary supplements and vitamins. Across the region, consumers are buying products that are enriched with locally-sourced compounds and functional ingredients.
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
WILL BRING A MASSIVE PRODUCTIVITY BOOM What good is technology? I believe technology serves us best when it gives us more time to do things that are uniquely human. This includes activities that are enjoyable, creative, and productive. For nations and societies, the “good” or benefit of technology is often expressed in economic terms, in measures such as workplace productivity and business growth. As we move into the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the digital transformation of life as we know it, the potential benefits and risks of this new era are in ongoing discussion, in Davos and elsewhere. Will the Fourth Industrial Revolution deliver on its promises? Is it simply hype, or will it be a massive engine driving productivity gains, economic growth, and business success?
Lessons of the past Nokia Bell Labs researchers have analysed historical data from previous industrial revolutions to model and forecast the potential impact of the next one. During both the First Industrial Revolution (which was fuelled by iron and steam engines) and the Second (which was powered by electricity, steel, chemicals, and telecommunications), productivity boomed. Starting around 1870, these two revolutions sustained a Golden Century of progress. The 1940s and 1950s brought massive gains in the United States and elsewhere. Then what happened? The Third Industrial Revolution arrived, ushering in the Information Age. Massive, world-changing innovations emerged in computing, the internet, mobile communications, and much more. Yet instead of revving up again, the productivity engine sputtered. In fact, since 1970, productivity growth has fallen to roughly one-third the rate of the previous 100 years. If all the hard work, innovation, and investments in technology over the past half century have failed to pay off in productivity, what does this mean for the huge investments already taking place in the Fourth Industrial Revolution infrastructure? A pessimist would say we should skip it and put our money elsewhere. But I am an optimist. I absolutely believe that we are on the cusp of not just a technological revolution, but a productivity revolution.
It will bring benefits for people everywhere, make our planet more sustainable, and provide new opportunities for businesses of all kinds. Fortunately, Nokia Bell Labs’ research concurs with this view.
The causes of revolution In analysing what made the Golden Century of 1870 to 1970 possible, it becomes clear that four physical infrastructure technologies provided the underlying foundation for growth: energy, transportation, health and sanitation, and communication. These fundamental technologies were important on their own, but two other factors were essential for accelerating growth. The first was when the diffusion – or adoption – of each technology was widespread enough to reach a tipping point. The second was a network effect: the technologies needed to work in tandem to drive growth. Only when all four technologies were widely diffused did fast growth happen. Next, the research looked at today’s technologies. It found emerging digital equivalents that align with the four technology foundations of the Golden Century: - Digital energy: combining smart power grids and smart meters into platforms that dynamically match energy generation and demand from both new and traditional sources. - Digital transport: moving people and goods across oceans, skies, and land autonomously. - Digital health: remotely enabling connected health care from anywhere. - Digital communication: connecting billions of people and things, allowing them to interact in new ways. A fifth foundational technology – digital production – was added to these. It will bring a paradigm shift, from centralized mass production to distributed, localized production, combining edge cloud computing and 3D printing to create goods in near real time.
Forecast for growth By calculating when these digital technologies could reach their tipping points and by applying historical formulas, Nokia Bell Labs has projected a significant productivity jump, as much as 30% to 35% in the U.S., starting at some point between 2028 and 2033. This is a similar leap to the 1950s and could add approximately $2.8 trillion to the U.S. economy. Similar gains are anticipated in India, China, and other nations. Projected diffusion of key enabling digital infrastructure network technologies Image: I. Saniee, S. Kamat, S. Prakash and M. Weldon, The widespread deployment of high-capacity, low-latency 5G networks is a major catalyst to the digital infrastructure of the future. This reality is not far off. Wide trials are taking place this year that could lead to full commercial 5G
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TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
What good is technology? I believe technology serves us best when it gives us more time to do things that are uniquely human. This includes activities that are enjoyable, creative, and productive. For nations and societies, the “good� or benefit of technology is often expressed in economic terms, in measures such as workplace productivity and business growth. As we move into the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the digital transformation of life as we know it, the potential benefits and risks of this new era are in ongoing discussion, in Davos and elsewhere. Will the Fourth Industrial Revolution deliver on its promises? Is it simply hype, or will it be a massive engine driving productivity gains, economic growth, and business success?
engines) and the Second (which was powered by electricity, steel, chemicals, and telecommunications), productivity boomed. Starting around 1870, these two revolutions sustained a Golden Century of progress. The 1940s and 1950s brought massive gains in the United States and elsewhere. Then what happened? The Third Industrial Revolution arrived, ushering in the Information Age. Massive, world-changing innovations emerged in computing, the internet, mobile
Lessons of the past Nokia Bell Labs researchers have analysed historical data from previous industrial revolutions to model and forecast the potential impact of the next one. During both the First Industrial Revolution (which was fuelled by iron and steam
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SAFETY
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
BOOSTING YOUR BOTTOM LINE WITH A SAFER WORKPLACE Authored by Helen Masters, senior vice president and general manager, Asia Pacific,
It’s the sound you dread: a bang, crash or shout heralding that one of your employees has been injured.
In that moment, you know that many things have been lost — a person’s wellbeing (and possibly their life), the morale of other employees, and possibly, their confidence in the safety of their workplace. Underlying it all, the productivity, cohesion, and workflow you depend on to deliver a competitive, profitable product may also be impacted. Workplace mishaps in Australia killed 182 employees in 2016, according to statistics from Safe Work Australia and resulted in nearly 104,000 non-fatal serious injuries. Although workplace deaths have halved in a decade, and workplace-related injury and diseases reduced by a quarter, these still translate to 1.5 deaths per 100,000 workers and nearly 1 percent of workers affected by a serious work-related injury or illness. The effects are a serious drain on companies and on the wider economy — work related injuries and fatalities cost the nation $61.8 billion in 2012, nearly 5 percent of GDP.
Safer operations mean higher productivity The old line about prevention being better than cure has never been more important than when talking about workplace safety. A safe workplace is essential to ensuring reliable, uninterrupted operations. With strong safety programs, companies can significantly improve their productivity, while reinforcing their bottom line and not only boosting morale and wellbeing among their employees but also having a positive impact on the families and close friends of their employees.
There are no accidents The question for many businesses is how to get from here to there. In the transport industry, there is an assumption that there are no accidents, just collisions that could have been prevented with foresight and planning. It is hard to think of a sector where that basic principle does not apply. An end-to-end approach to workplace safety begins with a
dedicated effort to keep equipment in safe working order, develop workplace procedures and rigorous training plans, and deploy sensors that set off alarms or simply shut down equipment when it is being misused.
A safer workplace with enterprise asset management Most companies have maintenance plans based on spreadsheets that track inspection and repair histories for critical devices and equipment. A comprehensive, cloud-based enterprise asset management (EAM) system does much more. An effective EAM system: • maps out preventive maintenance schedules based on manufacturers’ specifications and actual equipment histories, helping keep critical assets in top condition. • Uses Internet of Things (IoT) technology to spot changes in equipment function that point to deficiencies, inefficiencies, or emerging hazards early on. • Replaces hard copy maintenance routines with mobile checklists, and automatically uploads service records to a central server. • Captures content from multiple volumes and editions of hard copy manuals in electronic formats that are readily accessible and searchable. Through the lens of enterprise asset management, the connection between safe operations and productive business systems is clear. If you adopted a sound approach to EAM, you have probably seen a corresponding reduction in injuries, downtime, and associated costs. If you are responding to injuries and near-misses too often, that safety record is probably a bellwether for other costs and business impacts across the system — and an opportunity for significant savings. Unless your business is to do with health and safety, you may not have too many opportunities to literally save lives while boosting your own bottom line. Enterprise Asset Management helps you connect those dots, preventing as many shop-floor safety incidents as you can before they happen.
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TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
FIRST DEMONSTRATION OF DRONE-BASED DELIVERIES ALONG POWER-LINE ROUTES TEPCO Ventures, Inc., Zenrin Co., Ltd. and Rakuten, Inc. have begun examining the utilisation of “drone highways,” or the airspace above infrastructure such as power transmission lines, for drone logistics. The three companies also announced that they have safely carried out the world’s first demonstration test utilising a drone highway. TEPCO Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc., and map publisher Zenrin formed an alliance on March 29, 2017 to confirm the use of drone highways for safe drone-based deliveries. The concept, which is attracting increasing interest, is a focus of the “2018 Roadmap for the Industrial Revolution of the Sky,” which was approved by the Public-Private Conference on Infrastructure Creation for Drones in Japan in June 2018. To develop a drone highway, TEPCO and Zenrin have been studying how to combine data on TEPCO’s infrastructure, such as transmission lines and towers, substations and utility poles, with Zenrin’s three-dimensional maps of the sky, which are currently under development. Going forward, several test courses will be set up in eastern Japan’s Kanto Region during 2018 to demonstrate the practical use of drone highways.
Internet services company Rakuten, which has been operating a drone-based delivery service called “Rakuten Drone,” has joined the initiative. The first demonstration test, conducted in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, successfully achieved the world’s first drone-based delivery using a power line route for the flight path.
THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
A CIRCULAR FUTURE WITH STEWARDSHIP AT THE CENTRE Adele Rose – 3R Chief Executive Mention the term ‘product stewardship’ to the first person you bump into on the street and chances are you will be met with a blank look. Suggest that manufacturers and retailers should take responsibility for the products they make and sell throughout the lifetime of those products (the definition of product stewardship), and the blank look will probably turn into a puzzled one.
Product stewardship is a cornerstone of the circular economy. 12
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Fast-forward to the year 2050 and this will be a different story. The terms ‘sustainably produced’, ‘fair trade’, ‘organically grown’ and the like were little known or not even coined 20 or 30 years ago but are now part of everyday life. In the same way talking about product stewardship will certainly be common place 32 years from now. The reason for this is product stewardship is a cornerstone of the circular economy – another little-known phrase which will certainly become common place long before 2050. The circular economy is the economy of the future, and ironically also one from the past.
Circular principalst In generations past there was a far higher value placed on things. When your TV broke you didn’t immediately throw it away,
THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
you had it repaired if possible. Things like children’s toys were more durable and weren’t bought on mass. We generally had less stuff, and the stuff we had lasted longer, was repaired and reused. Simply getting rid of something and buying new wasn’t the knee-jerk reaction it is today. Moving to a circular economy isn’t about nostalgia or an ideologically nice thing to do. It’s also not because it’s the environmentally responsible thing to do, but rather because the linear economy and its basis of infinite growth from finite resources is intrinsically flawed and cannot survive. We cannot survive it. In a future in which the circular economy is in full swing having a product stewardship scheme will be standard practice. Consumers will expect it, so much so that it won’t even enter discussion – it will simply be the way things are.
Stewardship in the here and now So where are we now? Currently there are 14 voluntary, Government-accredited product stewardship schemes in New Zealand, ranging from container glass to concrete, and agricultural plastic to waste oil. These vary in size and effectiveness and rely on manufacturers and retailers to ‘do the right thing’ by voluntarily contributing to schemes which collect and recycle or properly dispose of the products. Granted, each scheme covers a number of different products, but 14 schemes isn’t a high number. It also isn’t particularly impressive considering the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 - which has stewardship at its heart - has been around for 10 years.
Priority product
repairability. In a circular economy future (underpinned by product stewardship) our whole way of thinking about product ownership will shift, with a greater emphasis on paying for services rather than owning the products which provide them. Philips’ Light as a Service is a much drawn on example of this new way of doing business. The model sees a customer pay Philips for the light it uses while Philips maintains ownership of the lighting fixtures. This means the company has taken complete responsibility for their products, from production through to end of life treatment. As a result, Philips develops more durable and repairable fixtures and is more motivated to maximise the resources which go into them. The circular economy in action.
The Act is a big part of getting from here to where we need to be. It’s a powerful tool, which hasn’t been fully utilised by previous governments. But as Bob Dillon said, “the times they are a changin’” and the new Government is seemingly far more motivated than their predecessors to make use of the Act. And this is where mandatory product stewardship (which the Act has the ability to create) comes in. Mandatory stewardship is the more effective route as it puts everyone on a level playing field and prevents non-participating producers from taking a ‘free ride’. In New Zealand mandatory stewardship can only happen when the Minister for the Environment declares a priority product under the Act. Priority product status has never been declared in New Zealand. However, recent comments by Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage point to a quickly growing probability we will soon see the country’s first mandatory declaration. End of life tyres are a good example of how mandatory stewardship is the best route to follow. The working group for end of life tyres, Tyrewise, has the backing of the industry but on the condition of tyres being declared a priority product. One reason being that they want to avoid free riders, the second being that the industry recognises some product regulation tools will be needed to support local Councils.
Recycling has long been seen by the public as the environmentally and sustainably responsible thing to do, and it certainly has its place. However, it is far from the first choice. What we don’t want from our product stewardship schemes of the future is to simply enable more recycling. This can so easily happen as recycling is the path of least resistance because manufacturers don’t need to change their products much – if at all. There are of course exceptions. Glass, being infinitely recyclable, is one example. The best way of dealing with the tens of thousands of tonnes of glass bottles and jars being used every year in New Zealand is to recycle them into new bottles and jars. Another example is PET (type 1) plastic. It too can be recycled again and again as rPET. This is where product stewardship can support the development of onshore processing capacity for materials.
The face of stewardship
The future
Another important part of the puzzle is of course what a product stewardship scheme, be it voluntary or mandatory, looks like. The waste hierarchy of avoidance, reduction, reuse, repair and only then recycle is the guiding standard which all stewardship schemes should look too. Properly implemented product stewardship goes back to the design phase in order to increase lifespan, reusability and
In the year 2050 stewardship schemes will not only divert waste from landfill and recapture resources, but genuinely do so with the waste hierarchy at their core. They will also have sparked a myriad of new business opportunities. Mention the term product stewardship to someone in 2050, or even in 2030, and they will know exactly what you are talking about.
A place for recycling
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DEVELOPMENTS
EPSON TRIPLES PRECISIONCORE PRODUCTION WITH NEW INKJET PRINTHEAD FACTORY
Epson Seiko has completed construction work on a new factory at its Hirooka Office in Shiojiri, Japan, that started in the autumn of 2016. The new factory will be used to produce PrecisionCore print chips, a core component of Epson’s most advanced PrecisionCore inkjet printheads. The new factory, which will begin operations in the 2018 fiscal year (ending March 31, 2019), will triple current PrecisionCore print chip production capacity. Under its Epson 25 Corporate Vision, Epson is targeting the office, commercial, and industrial printing markets. In FY2017, the company released high-speed linehead inkjet multifunction office printers as a major part of its strategy to drive future growth. Epson will expand sales of high-capacity ink tank printers, which have been driving near-term growth, in both advanced and emerging economies. In FY2018, Epson plans to sell 9.5 million units—a 1.7-million unit increase over FY2017. In the commercial and industrial sectors, an accelerating shift from analogue to digital solutions is expected to generate significant market growth for printers used for printing signage, textiles and product labels. Epson will continue to strengthen its line-up of commercial and industrial large-format printers, and will boost both its R&D and manufacturing capability. The new factory will enable Epson to expand its presence in
these markets in addition to bolstering its ability to handle an expected medium-range increase in demand for printheads. By leveraging its production capacity, Epson also plans to rollout sales of its PrecisionCore printheads for large-format printers worldwide, and work with its partners to accelerate the shift to digital in commercial and industrial printing. The new factory will be the second production site for PrecisionCore print chips, which are currently manufactured at the Suwa Minami Plant in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The structure, facilities, and equipment of the new factory boast excellent disaster resistance, thus reinforcing Epson’s business continuity capabilities. The new factory is also designed to achieve 20% higher space productivity than existing factories. It is equipped with a research and development function and will play a key role in improving printhead quality and productivity primarily through the development of production technology. Epson is committed to inkjet innovation. By advancing its original technologies and providing products and services based on its unique core devices, the company seeks to lessen environmental impact through its efforts to expand the world of digital printing.
The new factory (Building 9)
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DEVELOPMENTS
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
VEIT ZHEJIANG SELECTS ERP IN CHINA TO SUPPORT GROWTH Veit Group, a leading global garment equipment manufacturer, has chosen the global enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution Epicor ERP for its wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary, Veit Zhejiang Co. Ltd. The implementation is part of the company’s plans to improve production efficiency and increase competency amid fierce market competition both in China and globally, to support profitable business growth. Headquartered in Germany, the Veit Group is the worldwide leading manufacturer of ironing equipment, fusing machines, underpressing, and final pressing machines, as well as refinishing equipment for garments. Its Chinese subsidiary was founded in 2011 and is dedicated to the production and assembly of all kinds of ironing tables, irons, small steam generators, shirt folding tables, and some pressing as well as fusing machines, under the Veit brand. Veit Zhejiang recently started looking for a global ERP solution
with multi-language and industry-specific capabilities in order to support its mid-size, foreign-funded, operations in China. The solution had to provide access to the same information for German and Chinese staff in order to support the company’s plans to improve management efficiency. Veit Zhejiang plans to improve material request and procurement, purchase order production and delivery, inventory management and turnover, office process standardisation and mobility, decision accuracy and feasibility, as well as competitiveness and profitability.
TANAKA EXPANDS FC CATALYST PRODUCTION CAPACITY
The Tanaka Kikinzoku Group has a major expansion for its Fuel Cell Catalyst Development Centre at the Shonan Plant in Kanagawa Prefecture, operated by subsidiary Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo, the manufacturing entity of the group. Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo already commands the top global share in the fuel cell catalyst market, but will increase production capacity seven-fold with its freshly enlarged FC Catalyst Development Center. Scheduled for completion on July 18, the new Center moves to full-scale operation in January 2019. With an investment of 4 billion yen, the new buildings are adjacent to the existing Centre, with some 3,000 square meters for production facilities combined with new shipping and warehouse facilities. As a result, Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo will be able to provide stable supplies of electrode catalyst in response to rising demand for precious metal electrode catalysts, having grown in tandem with expanding fuel cell markets and facilitating development of a hydrogen society. China recently announced its support for developing hydrogen energy for fuel cell vehicles as a strategic industry, while the city of Shanghai announced a subsidy plan for purchasing fuel cell vehicles and the establishment of R&D facilities. The global move away from diesel vehicles is accelerating in Europe, and there are development areas for new transportation including hydrogen-powered trains, marine craft and unmanned or connected vehicles. The question of global demand for fuel cells and electrode catalyst shows no signs of slowing, for which Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo sought an answer. Tanaka will Electrode catalyst for PEFC maintain a stable
The new fuel cell catalyst materials centre. supply of fuel cell electrode catalysts into the future, while focusing on its research and development program as well. As the leading provider of precious metal fuel cell catalysts for more than a half-century, Tanaka will continue to contribute responsibly to the wider adoption of fuel cells and the development of a hydrogen-based society.
Tanaka ‘s Fuel Cell Electrode Catalysts Tanaka ‘s FC Catalyst Development Center develops and manufactures electrode catalysts for ‘polymer electrolyte fuel cells’ (PEFCs). PEFCs are an exciting new technology, used in household ‘ENE FARM’ fuel cells and in fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). However PEFC use is expected to expand to grow to the fields of industrial machinery, such as FC forklifts, and commercial vehicles, such as FC buses. PEFC is a small, lightweight, high-power, and new environmentally-friendly technology that uses the chemical reaction of hydrogen and Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo combined precious metal catalytic technology, and electrochemical technologies cultivated over the years, to have developed a highly-active platinum catalyst for cathode (air electrode), and a platinum alloy catalyst resistant to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning for anode (fuel electrodes).
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ANALYSIS
FASTER BIG-DATA ANALYSIS WITH WORLD-CLASS PATTERN MINING TECHNOLOGIES
An international team of researchers, led by Professor Min-Soo Kim from Department of Information and Communication Engineering developed ‘GMiner’ technology that can analyse big data patterns at high speed. GMiner technology exhibits performance up to 1,000 times faster than the world’s current best pattern mining technology. Pattern mining technology identifies all important patterns that appear repeatedly in the big data of various fields such as buying goods at mega-marts, banking transactions, network packets, and social networks. This technology is widely used in various industries for purposes such as determining the location of products on mega-mart shelves or recommending credit cards that match the usage patterns of consumers of different ages. The growing importance of pattern mining has led to the development of thousands of pattern mining technologies over the past 20 years; however, due to the increasing length of big data patterns, which increased the number of analytical patterns exponentially, existing mining technologies were hindered in their analysis of data of more than ten gigabytes (GB) because they failed to complete their analysis due to insufficient computer memory or took too much time. Traditional pattern mining technologies first found medium-length patterns and stored them in memory. When seeking a pattern that is longer than medium-length, they used a method of finding final patterns in comparison to a medium-length pattern that had been previously saved. However, GMiner technology developed by the research team has succeeded in fundamentally solving the problem of existing technologies by proposing anti-intuitive techniques that combine the temporarily calculated medium-length patterns using the thousands of cores on graphics processing units (GPU) to calculate the ultimate length of patterns. GMiner technology completely solved the chronic problem of
Professor Min-Soo Kim form Department of Information and Communication Engineering Copyright : Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST)
insufficient memory suffered by conventional technologies by not storing an exponential number of medium-length patterns in memory. In addition, it solved the slow speed problem by streaming data from the main memory to the GPU while simultaneously seeking patterns using the high computational performance of the GPU. GMiner technology showed analysis performance that is a minimum of 10 times to a maximum of 1,000 times faster than conventional distributed and parallel technologies that analysed data by using up to dozens of general home computers that have a single GPU per computer; thus, it can analyse big data on a larger scale than existing technologies. It also showed excellent expansion performance that improves performance in proportion to the number of GPUs. Professor Kim said, “We have secured fundamental technologies that can analyse big data patterns at high speed without any problems in memory for big data accumulated in a variety of industries.
GMiner technology developed by the research team has succeeded in fundamentally solving the problem of existing technologies.
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“By solving problems where pattern mining technologies were not properly applied to big data due to lack of memory and slow speed, this new technology can be utilised in helping companies to make efficient decisions by analysing big data patterns in various sectors including the finance, retail, IT, and bio-related sectors.”
ANALYSIS
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
IMPROVING ANOMALY DETECTION AND PREVENTION:
WHAT IS YOUR DATA TELLING YOU? By Ruban Phukan, Co-Founder of Progress DataRPM and VP, Product, Progress The pace of digitisation means manufacturers today are under growing pressure to deliver perfect products in increasingly shorter timeframes, and at a lower cost. They can’t afford unplanned interruptions, unforeseen failures, or unexpected breakdowns, nor can they afford to wait until the quality check stage to identify issues that could have been avoided during the production line. According to Vanson Bourne, 82% of companies have experienced at least one unplanned downtime outage over the past three years, which can cost anywhere from $US50k-$150k per hour up to $US2 million for a major outage on an industrial critical asset. Industry research shows more than a third of the manufacturers lose 1-2% of their annual sales to scrap and rework. Data to the rescue! In order to reduce downtime, improve operational efficiencies and quality, manufacturers are heavily investing in data-led technologies. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) for example are helping automate the process of analysing a growing number of datasets to understand and prognose machine health. Yet, most industrial anomaly detection efforts fail, with research from Capgemini showing almost 60% of organisations do not have the analytics capabilities to take advantage of the data generated from IoT sources. The issue is, many anomaly detection systems end up identifying either too many anomalies (false positives) or not enough (false negatives). Identifying true anomalies involves scouting for those “unknown unknowns”, amidst a sea of changing industrial data patterns.
Avoiding downtime: Illuminating the dark spots in your industrial data The key is to detect early signals of future problems, and take proactive actions to prevent them. There are a few best practices used for anomaly detection and prediction that every manufacturer should look to follow: 1. Rule-based/supervised vs unsupervised anomaly detection and prediction Rule-based systems are designed by defining specific rules, and typically rely on the experience of industry experts detecting “known anomalies.” The thing is, real business scenarios are quite complex and full of uncertainties. Unsupervised learning can help learn patterns of normal
behavior and identify anomalies that are very different from the expected normal behavior. It is about enabling the production system to constantly learn, update and predict what is likely to happen next in the data stream, providing an intelligent way to detect and predict the “unknown” anomalies with greater accuracy, much before the incident occurs and alert plant operators. 2. Top down approach vs bottom up approach In the traditional top down approach, the same set of features are calculated for each sensor. But all sensors may not exhibit the same characteristics, and even those which do may not do so during all operational stages, making the data much more complex to analyse. In the bottom up approach, the different stages of each individual sensor are first identified from the data. Then the state space of the machine is developed acknowledging that each sensor stage is part of a dynamic process’s portion that determines the state of the machine at any time. An ensemble of baseline models for the normal conditions of the machine is then created, which helps identify anomalies based on how much the state of a machine is different from the expected normal state. 3. Manual vs cognitive approach A manual approach to anomaly detection is useful to detect common outliers or extreme value points, which are commonly occurring across all machines. But it brings in significant human biases, it can only factor in known problems from the past, and assumes anomalies are only outliers. A cognitive approach to anomaly detection and prediction applies a “machine-first” approach. It creates a mechanism where the algorithms, which can adapt to changing conditions, learn the data domain for each individual machine and transfer learning across similar machines. It then validates the learning with feedback from subject matter experts. You eventually get a fully automated and cognitively enabled machine learning system, where anomalies are detected and predicted before they occur. Manufacturers still lack full awareness of when equipment is due for maintenance, upgrade or replacement. Investing in data-led technologies and taking a cognitive approach can help build up rock solid foundations to design accurate anomaly detection scenarios, and build truly efficient predictive maintenance strategies.
ASIA
MANUFACTURING NEWS
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PRODUCT NEWS
KEYSIGHT RECENTLY IN SINGAPORE Keysight’s largest annual signature event, the Keysight Measurement Forum (KMF) 2018, recently happened on the 20th of July in Singapore. At the event, Keysight and industry experts not only shared about key trends in the industry but also showcased solutions that accelerate innovation in 5G New Radio (NR) Workflow, End-to-End Mission-Critical IoT and Autonomous Vehicles and Connected Cars. Keysight also announced two key updates – firstly, their new Infiniium UXR series, which are the only oscilloscopes to support terabit research with real-time bandwidth. Secondly, Keysight has also expanded their Ixia visibility portfolio with Hawkeye Express, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) extension to the Hawkeye network assessment and monitoring platform.
NUM AND CHINESE PARTNERSHIP
DEVELOP MACHINING CENTRE CNC specialist NUM has helped the Chinese machine building company Original Point Machine Tools (OPMT) to develop an advanced 8-axis CNC machining centre capable of processing many different types of materials, including metal, ceramics, glass and cemented carbide. OPMT is a relatively small but fast-growing company based in Fo’shan – of Guangdong Province – in south China. It is rapidly acquiring a reputation for innovative complex engineering: after developing a highly successful 4-axis milling centre for an automotive production line, it then created a compact 5-axis milling station for the dental industry. For its latest project, OPMT was asked by Guangdong University of Technology to develop a machining centre that combined high
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speed laser cutting and milling capabilities. This key provincial university is located in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, and provides a wide range of courses, with a major emphasis on engineering. OPMT chose to partner with NUM for its CNC expertise and with the Xi’an Zhongke Microcrystalline Manufacturing Company and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to help with some of the complex materials processing issues. The result is the ML125 8-axis multi-function machining centre. The machine has a dual laser head that is capable of switching between a 20 watt picosecond laser for very high speed cutting and an ultrafast 10 watt femtosecond laser for improved process quality. The femtosecond laser is capable of drilling and cutting almost any type of material, and its very short 1030 nm wavelength means that it is suitable for micro/nano processing applications. Entirely controlled by NUM’s latest-generation Flexium+ 68 CNC platform, the ML125 machining centre has eight servo axes, two independent NC channels and fast application-specific I/Os embedded in the NCK hardware. Movement of the fully articulated laser head is controlled by five NUMDrive X servo drives, with high speed interpolation between all five axes – and the CNC system provides a full RTCP function. By employing a special hollow shaft torque motor and a linear motor drive, the dual laser head has an exceptionally high positional accuracy of 8 micrometres (0.008 mm), with a repeatability of just 5 micrometres. The associated A/C axis rotation platform has a precision rotary feed function with a positional accuracy of 5 arc minutes. The milling head uses a 40,000 rpm spindle motor, and laser cutting and milling can be performed with just one clamping operation, which further improves process accuracy. According to Bruce Zheng, CEO of OPMT, “The requirements of the industrial processing market keep changing, which means that our machines need to be extremely flexible so that they always offer customers what they need. “Partnering with NUM helps us to achieve this; its open architecture CNC systems are easy to integrate with third-party products such as motors, and the company is prepared to offer the long term commitment and technical support that is necessary for successful completion of complex machine projects.” The ML125 machining centre is now installed in a research laboratory at Guangdong University of Technology.
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
www.10thousandtrees.com
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COMMENT
ASIA CAN RESIST THE RISE OF THE ROBOTS A knitting factory in Bangladesh brings together the past, present, and future. On one floor, workers knit by hand. On another, people and machines do the work together. And on a third floor, there are only robots. This building might seem like an anachronism, given the accepted wisdom that robots will replace humans in textiles and many other industries. But it is actually a savvy response to how the Fourth Industrial Revolution will likely play out in Asia. As is the case elsewhere, technological advances are rapidly transforming industries and economies, by blurring the boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. And yet much of Asia isn’t ready for robots, for reasons that go beyond fears of mass unemployment. In 2014, China had just 11 robots per 10,000 employees in non-automotive industries, and just 213 per 10,000 employees on automotive assembly lines. That is hundreds fewer than in Japan, the United States, or Germany.
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Although China is closing the gap by increasing its spending on robots, poorer countries face significant barriers to adopting new technologies. Moreover, the region’s lower wages give firms an incentive to retain human workers. At the factory in Bangladesh, human workers can step in if power outages or equipment failures knock the machines offline. At the same time, having a fully automated section allows production to continue if workers go on strike. Conventional wisdom decrees that this dual-track approach isn’t sustainable, and that low- to middle-skilled workers will eventually make way for robots. A landmark 2013 study by Carl Frey and Michael Osborne of Oxford University suggests that, in the coming decades, 47% of total US employment will be at risk of automation.
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
In order to be prepared for the future of automation, Asia needs people to be educated in technology. Similarly, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned that 56% of total employment in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam is “at high risk of displacement due to technology over the next decade or two.” But these grim predictions ignore the fact that most jobs comprise a bundle of tasks, some of which cannot be automated. According to a 2016 OECD study that breaks down occupations by task, only 9% of jobs on average across 21 OECD countries are really at risk. The same logic applies to Asia. In Vietnam, for example, the share of jobs at risk falls from the ILO’s predicted 70% to just 15% when the country’s large informal economy is considered. Street sweepers in developing countries are arguably less threatened by automation than their counterparts in developed countries, because their jobs are less mechanized and lower paid. Still, robots are gaining a foothold in the region, particularly in economies such as China and South Korea. In 2015, robot sales in Asia increased by 19% – the fourth record-breaking year in a row. When less-developed Asian countries eventually join the technology bandwagon, layoffs will inevitably ensue. To soften the blow, governments urgently need to pursue labour-market reforms and overhaul their education systems, starting with technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Although TVET is becoming increasingly popular in Asia’s developing economies, its quality is often poor. Governments should ensure that TVET courses focus on more relevant skills, while remaining flexible so that students can study without sacrificing income. One option is to expand the availability of modular short courses, which take less time, train for specific tasks rather than entire jobs, and are more manageable for entrants who need, first and foremost, to earn money. In Myanmar, for example, the government has launched a pilot program to target the country’s “missing million” students who drop out of school each year. The program offers short courses on
welding and other skills needed to repair rural machinery. Competency-based assessment systems could also be particularly useful, given Asia’s large informal workforce. Programs offering skilled workers a chance to earn certifications based on their work experience would allow for, say, uncertified electricians to find formal employment in robotics. The private sector can also help produce more graduates with job-ready skills. Asian countries should take a cue from India’s National Skill Development Corporation, which works with private training firms to match skills curricula with industry needs. So far, India’s program has helped train more than 63,000 people. Furthermore, governments should offer subsidies or tax incentives to companies that invest in the skills that humans master better than machines, such as communication and negotiation. They will also have to adopt more flexible labour regulations, because firms won’t hire skilled workers who cost too much. At the end of the day, Asia’s developing countries need policies that support workers, rather than jobs. All parties can benefit from flexible contracts and lifelong learning and retraining opportunities. Retraining is particularly important, because automation will create entirely new industries and occupations. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that automation could boost global productivity growth by 0.8-1.4% annually, generating large savings and performance gains for businesses. Improving access to training and certification would help countries capitalise on these advances and ensure more equitable growth, by giving workers the skills needed to handle the new jobs. That outcome would be good for workers and for Asian economies. It would mean that businesses like the factory in Bangladesh could operate solely with robots, while its former workers would be gainfully employed elsewhere, most likely in jobs that don’t even exist yet.
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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
WHAT DO FIELD SERVICE WORKERS HAVE TO DO WITH MANUFACTURING? -Paul Baptist, Senior Director, Solution Engineering, APAC, Salesforce
We’re seeing manufacturers increasingly invest in their customer service and field service teams as customers demand the types of experiences companies like Airbnb provide. Anytime, anywhere, frictionless and personalised experiences are what customers demand. The lines between B2C and B2B customers have also blurred, meaning your experience must match the very best that’s out there, no matter your end buyer. The stakes have never been higher. The Salesforce 2018 State of the Connected Customer report, revealed 66 per cent of buyers say they are likely to switch brands if they are treated like a number instead of an individual. Every touch point a manufacturer has with a customer has to deliver the best possible, personalised experience. In-between buying cycles, field service is often your most important and regular touch point with customers. That’s why we’ve seen our manufacturing customers like KONE, Schneider Electric and Fisher & Paykel invest in their customer service experience.
What’s the impact of field service workers in manufacturing? A good example of investing in your field service team is KONE. It is working towards a future where the operating condition of more than 1.1 million of its escalators and elevators is linked with real-time customer information and maintenance schedules. This will be provided to its team of 20,000 field service technicians around the world. By owning the quality of service and empowering its field service technicians, KONE is turning a service request or product break down into an opportunity to provide an outstanding customer experience.
What is the ‘customer experience crisis’? Customers judge your business based on their most recent and best interaction. Think of the companies that deliver outstanding service and repair experiences, like KONE or Fisher & Paykel for example. All manufacturers are judged by this standard today. Buyers expect every representative of a company to have information about who they are and their history with the business. Being asked to reshare the same information with different service staff is seen as a failure to provide good service.
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I’ll expand on the Fisher & Paykel example. It simplified the process for customers to access service by automating confirmation reminders and providing tracking of their technician’s arrival time. This simple change not only removed friction from the service experience, but has reduced training time around the world from an average of nine months to just three weeks per operator, saving $40,000 in training costs per operator.
How can manufacturers empower field service workers in the digital age? Manufacturers need to put relevant information in the hands of their technicians to deliver an experience that ‘wows”. This includes consolidated communications with the customer, the latest information on job scheduling, traffic routes to the site, suggested fixes, next best actions, and the ability to contact the customer easily. Insights from data analysis can also be used to automate administrative tasks and give field workers access to real time customer information anytime, anywhere. This frees workers to focus on the job at hand: identifying issues and fixing them.
What does this have to do with Salesforce though? Salesforce works with a range of manufacturers around the globe. Some of our customers include Schneider Electric, KONE and component maker Lippert. Lippert implemented Salesforce’s Service Cloud and Field Service Lightning for increased efficiency, scheduling, and improved productivity. Lippert is now paperless and has full visibility into the interactions across it organisation. For the first time, the team can engage in real-time interactions with trackable, recordable results. With the help of Field Service Lighting, Lippert is servicing products like its recreational vehicles two days faster, increasing productivity for both technicians and support staff.
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
GRUNDFOS FORUM NOW OPEN THROUGH A VIRTUAL CONFERENCE Water, environment and sustainability professionals from all over the world will have the opportunity to learn more about the future of water solutions, as leading pump manufacturer Grundfos opens up its global customer forum to the world. A first for the event, the Grundfos Forum 2018 will be broadcasting from Suzhou, China through a virtual conference. This will give professionals from all over the world the opportunity to hear from world-class engineers, government leaders, consultants, academics and other key decision-makers about ways to move and manage the world’s water better, under this year’s theme of ‘Intelligent Connectivity’. The virtual conference will broadcast live on 15 and 16 August, and OnDemand from 17 August to 14 October. In addition to the access to talks, events and breakout sessions, participants will also get to have their voice heard – they will get to take part in the Forum’s Interactive Spaces, interact with Forum participants, and chat with experts while exploring the Exhibition Area. To encourage greater engagement, online participants will also be automatically enrolled into the Leaderboard Challenge, where points are gained through participation. The top five participants
will win a trip to Grundfos’ headquarters in Bjerringbro, Denmark. Kim Jensen, Regional Managing Director of Grundfos Asia Pacific region, said, “We have received tremendous feedback from business leaders and our customers about the insight and learnings that they have gained from attending our forum over the years. “This year, we are hosting the conference online so that we can reach more industry professionals who are not able to make it to the event in person.” “Just as how technology has changed our relationship with water, it has transformed the way we get to engage with one another. With the virtual conference, people will not only get to tap into a wealth of knowledge, but also actively participate in the discussions with our experts and other participants.”
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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
UNIVERSITY TAKES QUANTUM LEAP IN RACE TO BUILD FIRST SUPER BATTERY A South Australian university has recruited a leading quantum physics expert in a bid to win the race to build the world’s first quantum battery. Dr James Quach has joined the University of Adelaide’s School of Physical Sciences for four years under a Ramsay Fellowship. He will work within the Precision Measurement Group in the University’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS). The new super battery, with the potential for instantaneous charging, could replace conventional batteries in small electronic devices such as a watch, phone, iPad or computer or any other product that relies on stored energy. Eventually it is hoped larger quantum batteries could provide opportunities for the renewable energy sector. Dr Quach, who has previously been a researcher at the University of Melbourne and the ICFO Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, said that unlike ordinary batteries, quantum batteries would theoretically charge faster the more you have of them. Dr James Quach will work under a Ramsay Fellowship to develop a quantum battery. “If one quantum battery takes one hour to charge, then two would take 30 minutes, three would take 20 minutes, and so on. If you had 10,000 batteries, they would all charge in less than a second,” he said. This is possible thanks to a feature of quantum mechanics known as entanglement. “Quantum mechanics deals with interactions at the very smallest of scales, at the levels of atoms and molecules – at this level you get very special properties that violate the conventional laws of physics,” said Dr Quach. “One of those properties is ‘entanglement’. When two objects are entangled it means that their individual properties are always shared – they somehow lose their sense of individuality.
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“It’s because of entanglement that it becomes possible to speed up the battery charging process.” South Australia is a global renewable energy leader with renewable sources accounting for more than 40 per cent of the electricity generated in the state. It is also home to the world’s largest lithium-ion battery, installed by Tesla at Neoen’s Hornsdale Wind Farm in the state’s Mid-North last year and the 150MW SolarReserve Aurora solar energy project. “The long-term aim is to scale up, to build bigger batteries which will support renewable energy technologies by making it possible for continuous energy supply no matter the weather conditions – rain, hail or shine,” Dr Quach said. The idea for a quantum battery was first discussed in a 2013 research paper. Since then there have been other papers on the subject, but Dr Quach said he would “take the theory from the blackboard to the lab”. “Entanglement is incredibly delicate, it requires very specific conditions – low temperatures and an isolated system – and when those conditions change the entanglement disappears,” he said. “With the support of the academic community in Adelaide, interstate and globally, I aim to extend the theory of the quantum battery, construct a lab conducive to the conditions needed for entanglement, and then build the first quantum battery.”
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
3D PRINTING AIRCRAFT PARTS
USING NEW LASER TECHNOLOGY A team of RMIT University researchers led by Professor Milan Brandt are using laser metal deposition technology to build and repair defence aircraft parts in a two-year collaboration with RUAG Australia and the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC). The technology feeds metal powder into a laser beam, which when scanned across a surface adds new material in a precise, web-like formation. The metallurgical bond created has mechanical properties similar, or in some cases superior, to those of the original material. “It’s basically a very high-tech welding process where we make or rebuild metal parts layer by layer,” explains Brandt, who says the concept is proven and prospects for its successful development are extremely positive. Head of Research and Technology at RUAG Australia, Neil Matthews, says that by enabling onsite repair and production of parts, the technology could completely transform the concept of warehousing and transporting for defence and other industries. Currently, replacement parts typically need to be transported from local or overseas storage and suppliers. “Instead of waiting for spare parts to arrive from a warehouse, an effective solution will now be on-site,” says Matthews. “For defence forces this means less downtime for repairs and a dramatic increase in the availability and readiness of aircraft.” The technology will apply to existing legacy aircraft as well as the new F35 fleet. The technology is also being adopted in RUAG’s recently established robotic laser additive manufacturing cell. A move to locally printed components could mean big savings on maintenance and spare part purchasing, scrap metal management, warehousing and shipping costs. An independent review, commissioned by BAE Systems, estimated the cost of replacing damaged aircraft components to be more than $230 million a year for the Australian Air Force. CEO and Managing Director of the IMCRC, David Chuter, believes application of this technology will be much broader than defence.
Engineers repairing a landing gear “The project’s benefits to Australian industry are significant. Although the current project focuses on military aircraft, it is potentially transferable to civil aircraft, marine, rail, mining, oil and gas industries,” says Chuter. “In fact, this could potentially be applied in any industry where metal degradation or remanufacture of parts is an issue.” The research project is the latest collaboration over the past decade between RUAG Australia and Brandt, who is Director of RMIT’s Centre for Additive Manufacturing and a leading expert in the field. “As the leading Australian research organisation in this technology, we are confident of being able to deliver a cost-effective solution that fulfils a real need for defence and other industries,” says Brandt.
A move to locally printed components could mean big savings on maintenance and spare part purchasing, scrap metal management, warehousing and shipping costs. The laser metal deposition technology in the lab
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BUSINESS NEWS
TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS
THE SECRET TO ASIA’S DEVELOPMENT It is widely acknowledged that new technologies play a critical role in making economies more productive and creating better paying jobs. Indeed, throughout developing Asia, high-yielding crop varieties in agriculture, modern machine tools in manufacturing, and new information and communications technologies in services have done much to support food security, dramatically curb poverty, and improve labour market conditions. Yet, there is growing concern about the potential downsides of new technology. In particular, the growing sophistication of robotics and artificial intelligence raises the possibility that an unprecedented degree of automation may render many jobs obsolete. In textile and footwear manufacturing, for example, companies are testing “worker-less” factories, using completely automated production. In services, it is becoming technically feasible to automate even complex tasks such as customer support, book-keeping, and financial analysis. How will these new technologies impact developing Asia’s ability to generate more and better jobs? Just as today’s advanced economies were able to negotiate the job displacement that accompanied the introduction of new technologies in certain sectors and occupations, so too will the economies of developing Asia A key reason for this is that productivity gains that new technologies generate often trigger a chain reaction that creates more jobs than are lost.
The impact of automation on jobs.
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Image: Asian Development Bank
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Consider automation resulting from new technology. While it reduces the number of workers required to produce a given level of output, the story does not end here. Productivity gains from automation typically reduce the costs of production; under general conditions prices fall, spurring an increase in demand. The latter may be strong enough to even expand the number of jobs in factories that automate part of their production process. More generally, productivity gains from new technology in one industry lower production costs in downstream industries through input–output channels, contributing to increased demand and employment across industries. Higher demand and more production in one industry raises demand for other industries as well. Historically, this partly explains why automation in the production of textiles in the US was accompanied by a rise in employment, along with new jobs in upstream and downstream industries. As the work of American economist James Bessen shows, US textile productivity soared with the introduction in 1814 of power looms. Rather than cause a reduction in employment, the price of textiles and textile products declined, raising demand so much that employment increased. It was only after many decades, once demand for textile products started to get saturated, that employment began to decline. Is a similar process underway in developing Asia? In 12 developing Asian economies (accounting for 90% of the region’s total employment), rising demand more than compensates for jobs displacement because of rising productivity. The structural decomposition analysis of employment changes shows higher productivity is associated with a notional 66% decrease in employment, equal to 101 million jobs annually, for a fixed level of output. However, concurrently higher demand for goods and services more than offsets this, with a notional 88% increase in employment, equal to 134 million jobs annually associated with rising incomes. Of course, this is not to deny the possibility that some time in the future technology may become so advanced that most jobs could be carried out more effectively and at lower cost by machines than by humans. But, even if that day arrives sooner than anticipated, the decision to deploy machines will still rest with humans. If new occupations in which humans have the comparative advantage do not arise, and this lead to mass unemployment, society always has the familiar tools of taxes and subsidies to alter the calculus of employing machines instead of humans. Whichever way one looks at it, the future is ours to control.
BUSINESS NEWS
Asia Manufacturing News
August 2018
TRINTECH OPENS OFFICE IN SINGAPORE Trintech, a leading global provider of integrated, cloud-based Record to Report (R2R) software solutions for the office of finance, today announced its continued investment in the APAC region with the opening of its new office in Singapore. The new office improves ongoing support of customers in the region and better positions Trintech to address the growing demand in the ASEAN market. “We are excited to hear of Trintech’s newest investment in the APAC region,” said James Agnew, Senior Vice President, Corporate Controller at Ingram Micro. “As a global leader in technology and supply chain services, Ingram has operations worldwide, which include a majority of ASEAN countries. “With Trintech’s expansion in Singapore and Malaysia, we believe that this will improve support for our Cadency users in ASEAN, while better aligning with our global network.” The addition of Trintech’s Singapore office follows several recent investments in the APAC region, including a new Australian data center and an expanded in-country team. In addition, Trintech attended the 6th Malaysian Shared Services & Outsourcing Week in Kuala Lumpur on May 2nd - 3rd. This is the largest shared services and outsourcing event in Malaysia and Trintech discussed how its innovative financial solutions can deliver increased efficiency and effectiveness, real-time visibility and control to attendees in booth #4.
“Trintech is experiencing rapid adoption and expansion of our solutions in the APAC region,” says Ben Cornforth, Vice President of Sales, Asia Pacific. “In order to continue to support ongoing demand and innovation, we are committed to the necessary investments we need to make to better support our customers and partners in this region.” Trintech, Inc. pioneered the development of Financial Corporate Performance Management (FCPM) software to optimise the Record to Report process. From high volume transaction matching and streamlining daily operational reconciliations, to automating and managing balance sheet reconciliations, intercompany accounting, journal entries, disclosure and fiduciary reporting and bank fee analysis, to governance, risk and compliance - Trintech’s portfolio of financial solutions, including Cadency, Adra®, Trintech Disclosure Management®, ReconNET , T-Recs®, and UPCS® help manage all aspects of the financial close process. Over 3,100 clients worldwide - including the majority of the Fortune 100 - rely on the company’s cloud-based software to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve governance and transparency across global financial organisations.
MHIEC TO BUILD
WASTE TO ENERGY PLANT IN KAWASAKI Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environmental & Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (MHIEC) has received an order from Kawasaki City (Kanagawa Prefecture) to build its Tachibana Waste to Energy (WtE) Plant, a municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration plant in Kawasaki’s Takatsu District. The existing facility will be rebuilt as a stoker type incinerator (1) with a total waste treatment capacity of 600 tonnes per day (tpd). The order is a joint venture project with Taisei Corporation, and is valued at 29.8 billion yen. Completion is scheduled for September 2023. The Tachibana WtE Plant had operated for around 40 years, but the facilities have aged and the incineration plant ceased operations in March 2015. The WtE Plant subsequently closed in 2016. The current facilities will be dismantled and removed, and construction will begin on the new centre. The new MSW incineration plant will comprise three stoker type incinerators, each with a capacity of 200 tpd, as well as other related equipment. MHIEC acquired MHI’s waste treatment plant business in 2008, incorporating MHI’s environmental protection systems technology, as well as its broad expertise in the construction and operation of waste management facilities in Japan and overseas. Based on its strong track record, MHIEC is well positioned to provide comprehensive solutions for plant construction and operation. MHIEC will pursue further orders by building new advanced
WtE plant that contribute to the formation of a resource-recycling society, enhancing the energy efficiency and stable operation of existing plants, and providing solutions that lower operation, maintenance and other lifecycle costs. (1) A stoker furnace is the main type used at MSW incineration plants. The solid waste is combusted as it moves along on a fire grate made of heat-resistant castings.
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ASIA MANUFACTURING NEWS • FEBRUARY 2014
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