Get Automation Answers at IMTS

For those of you who are coming to IMTS 2014 in Chicago, this is your chance to get all your automation answers.

Tim Shinbara, Technical Director, AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology writes: 

What comes to mind when you think of automation? Is it more mechanical than sensory, or more mundane than dynamic? While each individual’s thoughts may ebb or flow between answers, the world of automation seems to be changing to become more flexible to hit multiple moving targets.
IMTS not only has the advantage of seeing the latest and greatest in a given technology sector, it also provides the means to discern what technology elements will work well together as a production solution. Things to think about as you delve into IMTS 2014:

•Are these technologies to augment/supplement or replace my current capabilities?  

•Do I need an island solution or do I need some level of commonality for holistic incorporation?

•What data would be beneficial to have from my manufacturing technology?

Many of these answers may seem to focus more towards a system solution; a solution where automation may have a role in either discrete processes or in the integration of the pieces. Whether you feel automation is too expensive, too complex or too much capability, one thing remains…you never know until you ask! 

So ask away at IMTS 2014, but be prepared to be pleasantly surprised, blown-away or just awed by the presence of so much technology! 

If you have any questions, e-mail: tshinbara@AMTonline.org.

MTConnect conference: Attendees come away educated, connected and inspired

I just want to share with you some interesting insights that happened during the manufacturing conference organized by MTConnect. Indeed attendees came home educated, connected and inspired. Here are some of the highlights from the MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference in April.

Founding principal of MAYA Design and co-author of Trillions: Thriving in the Emerging Information Ecology, challenged attendees to look beyond just the Internet of Things and “imagine a world in which you could not buy a microprocessor that didn’t have a radio on it. Everything, every trivial piece of bric-a-brac we build with processors, is going to be communicating with everything else. What would such a world look like?”

He continued, “It’ll be a lot like nature. Trillions of computers communicating with billions of people and an uncountable number of information objects, flowing freely from device to device with everything connected.”

In another keynote address, Greg Harris, Ph.D., who is with the U.S. Army, Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center, Engineering Directorate, Manufacturing Science & Technology Division and Program Manager of the Digital Manufacturing & Design Innovation (DMDI) Institute, explained how the federal investment for the DMDI Institute that will be used to establish the Digital Lab for Manufacturing (Digital Lab), led by a Chicago-based research and commercialization collaborative called UI Labs came to be. “We knew the basic criteria necessary for innovation to take place: close proximity, ways to make the design-make-and-learn cycle faster and an ecosystem in place to support innovation. As a pillar of President Obama’s investment in U.S. Manufacturing, the Digital Lab will be the nation’s flagship research institute in digital manufacturing and design innovation and a world-class, first-of-its-kind manufacturing hub with the capabilities, innovation and collaboration necessary to transform American manufacturing.”

On the closing day of the conference, The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Defense-wide Manufacturing Science and Technology (DMS&T), along with AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology and the U.S. Army Benét Labs, announced the three top winners of the MTConnect Challenge 2 as voted by [MC]2 attendees. The MTConnect Challenge was a two-part competition for the development of manufacturing intelligence ideas and software applications utilizing the MTConnect standard.

First prize of $100,000 was awarded to Valerie Pezzullo of Clemson University for Machining Process Monitoring to Aid in Chatter Identification. Second prize of $75,000 went to Joel Neidig of ITAMCO for Expanding Manufacturing's Vision: MTConnect + Google Glass. Third prize of $50,000 was awarded to Shane Crandall for Promise.

The conference also featured an End User Forum and various other educational sessions where attendees received hands-on training about MTConnect and the MTConnect/OPC UA Companion Specification.

Cuperex CEO John Beachy: Phenomenal discovery of processing copper ore

“It is still a phenomenal discovery, a revolutionary process turning low grade copper ore concentrates into 98%-pure copper crystals without the need for smelting,” Beachy Head told International MetalWorking News- Middle East & Africa (IMNE)

A South African company that said it would change the face of copper ore processing globally with its ground breaking technology and convinced investors to part with US$50 million, has failed to perform, and has been placed under financial rescue plan.

It all started when in 2006, when Cuperex Director Dr Gerard Pretorius was experimenting with excess malachite the company was importing but could not sell as a jewellery-grade product as it intended.

While trying to find ways of extracting the copper from the malachite other than the traditional cementation processes Pretorius tried a new mechanism that involved continual stirring. He was however making the mistake of stirring away the nucleus preventing the crystals from growing until one Sunday he left his experiment to go to church.

When he came back from church, lovely copper crystals had grown on the iron without contaminating it. This accidental discovery was the birth of a world patent which Cuperex took to investors. The company had told its financiers it intended to become a leading copper producer through the roll-out of its world-patented technology, a radical shift from traditional electrowinning.

But things went belly up due to apparent insufficient low-grade copper ore yields available to Cuperex and the cash flow monster started blowing smoke.

Cuperex CEO, John Beachy Head is still upbeat however after explaining that a “speed wobble” in the operation had forced them into financial rescue.

“It is still a phenomenal discovery, a revolutionary process turning low grade copper ore concentrates into 98%-pure copper crystals without the need for smelting,” Beachy Head told International Metal Working News- Middle East & Africa (IMNE)

When a small plant was constructed at Spectakel, near the small Northern Cape town of Springbok, in 2012 it was reported that it would have a capacity to produce 200 t of copper a month with a second 1000 ton a month plant at nearby Concordia, in the pipeline.

Mining Weekly Online journalist Martin Creamer interviewing Cuperex’s Dave Lake at the time reported that payback on the R24-million 2 400 ton/year Spectakel facility was expected to be less than one year. Investors had ploughed US$5 million into the project.

But Beachy Head explained that low copper yield had dunked Cuperex into a cash flow crisis. “It is not all doom and gloom however, we are in a financial rescue process because there is still hope based on the patented new technology. We will make it work, it is just taking longer than we expected,” Beachy Head said.

The technology still has the potential to change the face of copper ore processing. It can be scaled down to match small seemingly insignificant deposits at the mine site. This means that high-value copper rather than low-value ore is transported, a huge cost saving in the operation.

 “This process of turning concentrate into pure copper is completely new technology in the industry”, Dr Pretorius at the time demonstrated the process to the media by growing and harvesting copper crystals hydrometallurgically at desktop scale. The technology is radically different from the traditional conversion process of concentrate into copper which requires significantly more capital expenditure, more electricity and equipment. In contrast, the Cuperex technology can make the production of as little as 50 ton a month which by industry standards is not financially viable, into a positive account.

Spectakel has 25 000 ton of copper and Concordia 70 000 ton, which Cuperex secured two years ago in order to prove its technology to the world. Lake told Mining Weekly at the time that the advantage of beginning at Spectakel rather than the deeper Concordia is that the oxide ores were near the surface.

 “The company is positioned to be a copper maker and it will not be renting or selling its technology”, Lake was reported as saying. He said the company expected to be producing copper from dumps, heap leaches, tailings dams and oxides stockpiled on surface by copper producers focused on the deeper copper sulphide ores.

It almost looked too good to be true but it did not deter investors. Beachy Head however reassured IMNE that the technology was “solid” and an industry breakthrough that will pull Cuperex through its financial crisis”

By: Johan Schronen

TRUMPF APAC open house: A conversation with Hans-Peter Laubscher

International Metalworking News for Asia (IMNA) sat down with the Managing Director of TRUMPF Asia-Pacific, Hans-Peter Laubscher, during TRUMPF Asia-Pacific's 2014 Open House. Laubscher spoke about up-and-coming markets in Asia; new investments and innovations that keep the company competitive; and what it takes to be a market leader.

The family-owned Germany company, TRUMPF, was founded in 1923 as a mechanical workshop. Today, the company has a presence in over 60 countries, with almost 10,000 employees world-wide. The company has established itself as a force to be reckoned with in a myriad of differing industries: laser technology, electronics, medical technology, and sheet metal and material processing.

TRUMPF set up its office in Singapore in 1991. The Singapore office in the German Centre in the International Business Park is also the main office of TRUMP Asia-Pacific. The company has a presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, as well as trusted distribution partners in Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and Thailand.

IMNA: How has TRUMPF's technology and expertise influenced and impacted the machine tools industry?

Laubscher: At TRUMPF we are proud to offer our customers technologies which best suits their needs. For example, when looking at the 2D laser cutting technology, our machines are equipped with either a CO2 laser or a fiber guided Solid State Laser – depending on the customer’s application.

Thus, the fact that we produce both Laser Sources ourselves is extremely important for us in order to provide a one stop solution when it comes to service and applications.

IMNA: What steps are you taking from a management point of view to stay competitive and progressive?

Laubscher: We know that investing in new machinery is a major decision for manufacturing companies. With this regard, we offer leading edge technology driven by innovations such as BrightLine fiber or Laser Networking. At the same time we are strengthening our portfolio with entry level solutions for start-up companies. Our investment in fiber guided laser cutting machines is paying off. We are the sole player with four different machine series which can either be equipped with CO2 or fiber guided lasers.

Thanks to our technology, we are certain that our customers will save on material, energy and processes in the long run. This will eventually lead to cost savings. It is good to know this as the initial investment in technology is, in many cases, a burden for smaller companies. In order to be able to support our customers in their long term success, TRUMPF offers competitive financing possibilities to our customers.

IMNA: In what areas, or departments, will you continue to invest?

Laubscher: As you can see in our showroom today, TRUMPF is continually investing in new ways and synergies to offer technologies which enhance our customer’s production sites.

For example, the TRUMPF Laser Network allows companies to connect several machines or applications to one single Laser Source, thus saving on the initial investment costs as well as on space and maintenance requirements. The Laser Network also allows an easy entry into new fields of application by using the Laser Source of the 2D Laser Cutting for Laser Welding applications as well – just to name one example.

IMNA: Can you tell us about TRUMPF's sales and business growth and revenue?

Laubscher: In 2012 and 2013, the TRUMPF Group – which has almost 10,000 employees worldwide – achieved sales of 2.34 billion Euros. With more than 60 subsidiaries and branches, the TRUMPF Group is represented in almost all of the countries in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. Asia makes up 22% of total sales of the TRUMPF Group, with China being the third largest single market after Germany and the United States. However, we strongly believe that other Asian markets, and especially markets in ASEAN, will grow over-proportionally. With this respect, we are increasing our footprint in the region continuously in order to serve our customers in the related markets with sales and after sales services.

IMNA: How involved is the company, from a manufacturing and a marketing standpoint, in Asia?

Laubscher: TRUMPF has its own production sites in Japan and China and several showrooms and Application Centres in the Asian region in countries such as Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.

In South East Asia we are represented with own TRUMPF subsidiaries in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. For us, it is essential not to only supply technology to the markets, but to also strongly build on providing service to our machines in order to support our customers at any time required.

IMNA: What new markets are you targeting?

Laubscher: In addition to new markets, we are also targeting new fields of application of our latest technologies. Especially when it comes to Laser Tube Cutting, there are certain industries which show great potential for more efficient and cost effective manufacturing by just adapting the design of the manufacturing parts to be processed by new technologies.

IMNA: What would you say are the keys to TRUMPF's success story?

Laubscher: TRUMPF is rather unconventional. We are a mechanical engineering company and a laser specialist, but we are also a manufacturer of medical technology. Merging the expertise in these fields by being back-integrated gives us the advantages of being flexible and adapt to changing demands in the markets.

Our special strengths lay no doubt in the fact that we have all technologies under one roof. We design and manufacture all types of lasers in-house, produce external beam guidance and cutting optics ourselves, and integrate them into leading edge systems. With that said, we are unique being a one-stop shop vertical and horizontal from punching or laser cutting, via bending to welding.

Additionally, we are a family-run company. We are also responsible and geared toward the long-term, being conscious of our history and focused on the future. We are a medium-sized enterprise – even though we have almost ten thousand employees. All these factors contribute to being a leader in innovation, and having shaped the technological state of the art for decades with a dedicated commitment to all markets we are directly, or via partner, represent.

By: Marisse Gabrielle Reyes

Meeting the demand of a booming auto industry

By Pissanuwat Keowamrat

Thailand has been referred to as the "Detroit of Asia," and so far it really is. The country’s economy has been boosted by the automotive industry, and this year, according the Thai Automobile Industry Association (TAIA), auto production is expected to reach 2.2 million units.

 “The urgent issue right now is capacity. This is especially so now that most flood-affected companies have recovered and people are pushing hard to get parts to feed their production. This is happening across the whole supply chain,” said Tanasak Puttal, Production Unit 1& 2 Manager at GKN Driveline (Thailand). The company is an affiliate of GKN Driveline, and it is a BOI promoted company that has been manufacturing CVJ driveshafts for passenger cars for both the domestic and export markets since 1997.” Our principle customers include Toyota, Nissan, GM, Ford and Auto Alliance,” continued Tanasak, whose career in the auto industry expands for more than 20 years from technician right up to the management level today.

With his long experience in machining automotive parts, Tanasak shared with us his experience of machining automotive parts. “What we need in a situation like this is to increase output from a limited amount of machines and people. Having worked with many suppliers we learnt that vendor support in terms of technical expertise and collaboration are very important, especially in the long term. Walter has proved that they are reliable, we are impressed with the technical support that they provide us allowing us to improve our cutting efficiency, our cycle times and reduce machining costs.” said Tanasak.

 “The auto parts industry is very demanding in terms of capacity, capability and specification requirements, and GKN is not excluded,” said Oliver Zimmerer, Walter’s application engineer manager, who has been working closely with GKN Driveline (Thailand) for a number of years. “So it is very important for us to make sure that we are able to deliver a solution that fulfills the customer’s needs, but just as important is to do it at the right time.”

Tanasak further told us that one of the remarkable successes with working with Walter has been with how they increased productivity while reducing cost through the idea of using common indexable inserts. “In the past we used to have as many as 24 item numbers of cutting tools, and now it has become only two items. The day-to-day routine has become much easier because of the far fewer part numbers means less confusion for the operators. It is also a lot easier manage stock as well,” Tanasak added.

Another key productivity improvement was the switch from the NS6 to NMT inserts that has allowed GKN Driveline (Thailand) to increase daily output by 50%. Tanasak explained that before using the NMT insert from the Tiger·tec-WPP series their process encountered problems with chips that were coiled, long and unbroken, and many times these got stuck in the chip conveyor and the operator had to stop the machine to remove them. “That not only reduced output, but also could cause our operators to get injured too.”

 “The chip fracture behaviour of forged and cold-formed components is as problematic as it is for titanium alloys. The tendency to produce coiled swarf is particularly pronounced for materials such as Cf53, C10 and St37. In addition, material removal for forged parts is often only 1.0 to 2.0 mm, which again impedes chip breakage. In order to break the chip reliably and enhance process reliability, optimised cutting edge geometries are necessary. Therefore Walter developed the new NMT geometry,” explained Oliver Zimmerer. “The main feature of the NMT geometry is the curved cutting edge, whose purpose is to reduce the cutting forces and to prevent variations of the workpiece surface when profiling (e.g. ball joints). Close behind is a closed series of dome-shaped bumps which provide an obstacle for the swarf and deflect it, while simultaneously providing a constriction on the overall cutting depth. Additionally, the cutting edge has been drawn up slightly around the corner radius to enable positive geometry conditions at this point.”

Tanasak also mentioned Walter’s Machine Programmer that helps them to increase their efficiency. He explained that, “Given the machine and the product requirements, this programmer can provide us with the proper machining strategies, tool path, feed rate, cutting depth, etc. We get better cycle times and reduced errors and defects.”

Thanks to the help they have received from Walter in boosting their levels productivity, the company will for the first time ever reach a record of producing one million automotive parts in one year, an historic milestone for GKN Thailand. This is something that really puts a smile on his face.

http://www.industrysourcing.com/ezine/res/14/04/imna.html?pagenum=40

Zeiss expands with metrology competence centre in Malaysia

ZEISS opened an Industrial Metrology Competence Centre in collaboration with the German-Malaysian Institute at the GMI campus in Kajang, Malaysia. International Metalworking News for
Asia attended the grand opening and was able to talk to Manfred Bender, Ven Raman and Ngan Cheng Hwa, deputy managing director (Education & Training). They shared the dynamics of opening a competence centre in Malaysia and its ongoing growth strategy to serve existing and new customers from a wider platform. read more

Small to Medium Enterprises ...Driving Vietnam’s Economy

While visiting the Metalex 2013 exhibition in HCMC, ANTHONY EVANS of International Metalworking News for Asia came across a Hanoi-based company that’s a good example of how the SME sector is powering Vietnam's economy. He caught up with David Nguyen, Hayen’s Business Development manager, to get some information about the company, its products, and how he sees Hayen’s future growth here in Vietnam.read more

Ways to Reduce Metal Corrosion

Metal corrosion is a large and growing problem estimated to cost the global economy $2.2 trillion each year or roughly 3% of gross domestic product, according to World Corrosion Organization. While anti-corrosion technologies have been in development since the early 1900’s, companies must generally decide between spending a lot of money up front to buy better anti-corrosion products, or dealing with subpar products that will require expensive and time-consuming replacement.

Abakan Inc. (ABKI) aims to revolutionize the market by providing the strongest protection against corrosion at a competitive price. Through its 72% interest in Ohio-based MesoCoat, the company provides the PComP™ family of thermally-sprayed nano-composite cermet coatings and the CermaClad™ clad steel products, targeting a wide variety of end markets, ranging from oil and gas to infrastructure customers. Abakan’s current focus is to serve the oil and gas industry, and it comes as no surprise; since more than 70% of the remaining oil and gas reserves are extremely corrosive , making it almost mandatory for oil and gas companies to use high-quality corrosion-resistant products to produce oil and gas from these corrosive reserves.

In this article, we’ll take a look at why investors may want to examine Abakan Inc.’s growing presence in a little known but very large and rapidly growing industry.

Corrosion Resistant Coatings

PComP™ is a family of nano-composite cermet coatings that are used to impart wear and corrosion resistance, as well as restore the dimensions of metal components in an environmentally acceptable manner. PComP™ can also be applied and machined much faster than products based on traditional carbide or other ceramic coatings, resulting in higher productivity and reduced costs in metal finishing operations. The unique structure of the PComP materials enables coatings that are both hard and tough, which means that these coatings can withstand both impact and stress, a feat that none of the other coatings can achieve.

By using proprietary nano-composite materials, the technology provides better wear, corrosion, and mechanical properties at a lower life cycle cost than traditional alternatives in the $32 billion inorganic metal finishing markets, like hard chrome plating and tungsten carbide thermal spray coatings. The EPA also increasingly frowns upon the use of hexavalent chrome and tungsten carbide cobalt.

In a sign of the efficacy of their product line, Abakan already has the several oilfield equipment manufacturers as customers. While PComP™ is already commercially available in numerous end markets; MesoCoat plans to expand geographically and set thermal spray coating facilities to better serve the higher margin, regional customers that don’t have the capacity to coat their own products.

Innovative Cladding Process
CermaClad™ combines the lower cost of carbon steel clad with better properties of a corrosion resistant alloy in order to offer a lower cost and higher performance alternative for critical oil and gas assets. Using a high-intensity arc lamp, the proprietary process rapidly fuses protective, proprietary anti-corrosion and anti-wear cladding materials onto the internal surface of steel pipes and tubes, covering a large surface area; coating at production rates up to 20 times faster compared to conventional weld overlay and laser cladding technologies.

CermaClad™ clad products costs less than a third of solid anti-corrosion alloy alternatives since it deposits only a thin layer of the anti-corrosion alloy on top of the inexpensive but strong carbon steel substrate, and the strong bond formed between the carbon steel and alloy in the process makes it a more durable alternative than other cladding processes. In fact, the technology boasts an average lifespan of 30 to 100 years without maintenance, which helps customers lower costs and avoid expensive accidents.

On March 13, 2014, MesoCoat received the highly prestigious National Association of Corrosion Engineers (“NACE”) and Materials Performance (“MP”) Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award in the Coatings and Linings Category for its CermaClad™ high-speed, large-area, metal cladding technology. The Pipeline Industries Guild also conferred CermaClad with the ‘Subsea Pipeline Technology of the Year’ award that validate CermaClad’s potential to improve the performance and life of offshore pipelines and risers that are subject to an extreme assault of corrosion as they transport unrefined caustic fluids.

About a few years ago, the average requirement for clad pipes was for 3 to 5 kilometers whereas the largest requirement was 20 to 30 kilometers for each project. Today, the average requirement for clad pipes is in the tens of kilometers and the higher end in hundreds of kilometers for single projects; where cladding the inside diameter of a kilometer long 20” pipe would roughly translate to $6 million in revenues. The clad pipe market is growing at a rapid pace and the current solutions have several limitations in terms of inspectability, installation, quality, and productivity. CermaClad™ technology enables metallurgically bonded cladding over large areas at high production rates, and without the size, thickness, and reeling/installation limitations of other methods.

Robust Business Model
Abakan Inc.’s technologies are uniquely positioned in several multi-billion dollar markets. PComP™ targets the broad and fragmented market for corrosion resistance, while CermaClad™ targets a more consolidated market for large-scale metal cladding. Independent studies, awards, and industry have confirmed the effectiveness of both technologies.

PComP™’s are being commercially sold since 2011 and have witnessed progressively increasing demand; and once CermaClad™ development is finished, the company will be in a unique position to service large oil and gas companies. CermaClad™ plants can be established at a fraction of the cost of traditional steel mills, like those operated by U.S. Steel Corp.  or ArcelorMittal SA, which means that its up-front costs and utilization requirements are much lower.

Growth Plans

Abakan is currently scaling-up its PComP powder production from 3 tons/year to 18 tons/year to meet the growing demand, especially since the current capacity is sold out for the next 6 months, and has recently received a low-interest $1.5 million loan from State of Ohio that allows Abakan to scale-up its PComP powder production to 180 tons/year which given the current market price for similar thermal spray coating powder, translates to about $22 million in annual revenues. Further growth and expansion plans over the next 3 years call for the acquisition of up to 10 US based thermal spray production businesses that will have a total of 30 to 40 spray booths, which serve the growing oil and gas sector; where each coating cell can generate up to $5 million in revenues.

The company has announced setting-up a large clad pipe manufacturing plant in Indonesia, and has announced plans to set-up plants in Brazil and Canada to supply the highest quality metallurgical clad pipes for projects across the globe, as they see an increasing number of projects getting delayed due to lack of supply and lower quality of clad pipes. The very high productivity of the CermaClad™ technology enables the company to set-up clad pipe manufacturing facilities at a tenth of the cost of competing technologies; which allows the company to set-up multiple facilities across the globe to serve the regional market and fulfill the growing and critical local content requirement in South America, Indonesia, Africa, Middle East, and other regions - a trend that is expected to continue and grow over the foreseeable future. The company intends to have capability of producing up to 200 kms of 10” clad pipes in 2016, and then expects to add new clad pipe manufacturing facilities in Middle East, Mexico, Alberta, and Europe to produce more than 500 kms of 10” clad pipes to serve the rapidly growing clad pipe market across the globe.

Investors may want to take a closer look at the company given the large scale expansion of PComP™, the massive potential for CermaClad™, and recent traction and funding that the company has received which is briefly mentioned in the press releases below.