PM Review Autumn/Fall 2020 by Inovar Communications

Industry News

Ipsen to establish global Technology Excellence Centres Ipsen USA, Cherry Valley, Illinois, USA, reports that it is establishing Technology Excellence Centres, while further strengthening the company’s offerings, in order to ensure it is addressing market needs of its current and future customers. Ipsen states that an important outcome will be faster response times, supported by advanced new service products, in all the regions that Ipsen serves. The company’s equipment manufacturing business will be driven by an Atmosphere Technology Excellence Center in Kleve, Germany, and a Vacuum Technology Excellence Center near Rockford, Illinois, USA. Ipsen explains that this focus on one field of technology will enable fasterpaced innovation and a laser-focus on performance and quality. As a result of this change, new furnace equipment will reportedly be manufactured at fewer locations globally with a focus on specialisation. The Ipsen Germany location will exclusively build Atmosphere Batch and Continuous Systems while the US location will exclusively build all types of Vacuum Furnaces.

In addition, Ipsen India will continue to build Atmosphere furnaces for the India and Southeast Asia markets, noted the company. Its China and Japan locations will no longer manufacture new furnaces and will focus on customer service and the sale of new equipment from the Excellence Centres. The company states that the customer relationship with Ipsen will remain unchanged and will continue to support its customers from all of our global locations. All Ipsen plants remain open in all regions as the aftermarket support of its customers is said to be more than half of Ipsen’s annual business. Activities such as upgrades, local inventory of parts and service are expected to continue to be fully supported on a local basis. According to Ipsen, this consolidation of equipment manufacturing sites together with the uncertainty of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic does result in a reduction of staff, which the company reports is a regrettable but necessary outcome from its carefully planned strategic step. www.ipsenusa.com

Toyota and Mazda invest a further $830 million at USA automotive facility Toyota Motor Corporation and Mazda Motor Corporation plan to invest an additional $830 million into an automotive assembly plant which is currently under construction in Alabama, USA, reports Nikkei Asian Review. The Mazda Toyota Manufacturing site is a joint venture that was announced by the company in 2018 to produce SUVs. The initial investment was said to be $1.6 billion, but this was reduced by approximately $200 million at the start of construction. As part of the funding, the plant is expected to be equipped with stateof-the-art production equipment

Powder Metallurgy Review

and employee-training facilities to increase productivity. Production staff will be recruited later this year, with a total of up to 4,000 expected to be working at the facility by 2022. The total investment is reported to be approximately $2.31 billion. Annual production capacity is expected to remain unchanged at 300,000 units. Toyota has confirmed that it will manufacture a new SUV at the plant instead of originally planned Corolla subcompact. Production is expected to be evenly divided with Mazda SUVs. www.global.toyota www.mazda.com

Autumn/Fall 2020

Dr Gopal Shankar Upadhyaya, distinguished Powder Metallurgy expert, has died Dr Gopal Shankar Upadhyaya, a well-known and highly respected expert in Powder Metallurgy, passed away on July 19, 2020, in Varanasi, India, aged eighty-two. Born in Varanasi, his metallurgical education began at Banaras Hindu University, from where he graduated with his first degree in 1960. He received his MSc degree from the department of Physical Metallurgy at the University of Birmingham, UK, in 1962 and later a PhD from the Kiev Institute of Technology, Kiev, Ukraine in 1969 under the guidance of Professor GV Samsonov. His academic career began at the University of Roorkee from 1964– 1975, and continued at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (1976–2001), as a Professor in the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering. Dr Upadhyaya published over 300 original papers and authored/edited a number of books on a wide range of metallurgical topics. He also won many prestigious awards, including the Niobium Medal of the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Germany, in 1989; the Samsonov Prize of the International Institute for the Science of Sintering in 1993; Medal of the Materials Research Society of India, also in 1993; GD Birla Gold Medal of the Indian Institute of Metals in 1994; Distinguished Alumnus of Banaras Hindu University in 1998; Dr Daya Swarup Memorial Lecturer of the Indian Institute of Metals in 2008; and the DN Agrawal Memorial Lifetime Achievement award of the Indian Ceramic Society in 2009.