Exclusive interview with new RMI Pressure Systems director

By: Kathryn Gerardino-Elagio

The use of emerging technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), artificial intelligence, and Big Data is becoming more common in the pump industry. Because of the volatile nature of the pump industry in recent years, makers of reciprocating pumps and other pumps have focused on providing smart pumping systems in order to maximise earnings. Reciprocating pump manufacturers are relocating their manufacturing plants to China, where labour costs are cheaper, in order to capitalise on the cost-effective advantages of reciprocating pumps and increase profitable sales in such high-potential Asian countries.

 

Early May this year, high pressure reciprocating pump specialist RMI Pressure Systems has promoted Sabrina Zhang to the role of Director for Aftermarket Sales, Services and RMI Operations in China.

International Metalworking News for Asia (IMNA) interviewed Sabrina to talk about the global trends, customer expectations, requirements, and opportunities.

 

IMNA: What are the global trends in the high-pressure pumps industry?

Sabrina: Users of high-pressure pumps are increasingly focused on energy efficiency and sustainability. We have seen this trend clearly in China. Just a decade ago, for instance, our patented ODIN® (On Demand Intelligence) control logic system was a significant innovation in the local market – using variable speed control to optimise performance and save energy. Today, it is common to see longwall mining tenders specifying the inclusion of variable speed drives in a system. Customers really pay attention to efficiency, as this can deliver considerable financial savings.

We have also seen rapid developments in the technology and design of high-pressure pumps, including the material used. This has led to more robust products and user-friendly control systems.

Predictive maintenance has also been an important focus in China, combined with remote monitoring of high-pressure pumps systems. This has a special relevance for underground mining, as it allows personnel to perform more of their work from surface – enhancing both safety and productivity as personnel do not need to travel to the coalface as often, and can spend less time in potentially hazardous zones. In addition to monitoring, the operator can even control aspects of the pumps remotely.

IMNA: Have you noticed any changes in the expectations and requirements of your customers in China (APAC) since the Covid-19 pandemic?

Sabrina: Most readers will be familiar with the very strict lockdowns in China over the three years of the Covid-19 pandemic; during this time, coal mines still needed to meet certain production targets so that the country had electrical power. Our customers therefore needed reliable and uninterrupted access to spare parts and service. The severe disruptions to the global supply chain meant that we had to keep more inventory – both at our factory in Shanghai and at our warehouses close to our customers.

We also ramped up our localisation strategy to deal with the logistical uncertainties of importing goods; this led to more local sourcing, so that we could shorten our lead times to customers. With the travel restrictions, we also located service engineers closer to the mine sites so that they could visit customers regularly and maintain a high level of technical service.

One of the main outcomes of the Covid-19 pandemic was that equipment manufacturers and suppliers had to find innovative ways to improve the resilience of their supply chains. Among the ways we achieved this as RMI Pressure Systems was by upgrading our Shanghai production facilities and diversifying our sourcing strategy.

IMNA: How do you view the adoption of high-pressure systems in the Asia Pacific region?

Sabrina: High pressure reciprocating pumps are employed in many industry sectors from mining and steelmaking to oil and gas – with various applications requiring their own performance specifications or even materials of construction. There is a competitive market in the supply of these high-pressure systems, although there is a wide variety in the quality of offerings and their reliability. As an early entrant to the market in China, RMI Pressure Systems have been differentiated through our robust design and our manufacturing expertise. These factors give customers high uptime levels and longer equipment life – for a lower total cost of ownership.

IMNA: What is your role in driving growth for your products and solutions in China?

Sabrina: There are three main areas of focus in my role within RMI China, starting with aftermarket sales – which I have already managed for the past five years. This is a critical area of our responsibility to existing customers, keeping their RMI pumps well maintained and productive. In this way, we have built a loyal customer base that trusts our systems and support.

The second key aspect of driving RMI’s growth in China has been the process of earning certification from the MA Centre, which we achieved in April this year. The MA Centre is the Chinese agency responsible for approving and certifying the safety of mining products before they can be used underground. This opens up the market substantially for us, as we now qualify to participate in many more tenders where our products match the technical tender requirements. Up to this year, we have only been permitted to submit proposals for about three tenders each year; this number now increases potentially to hundreds of opportunities. Of course, our success will rely on our ability to be cost-competitive among many local suppliers. Our localisation strategy is aimed at doing this, while maintaining the high quality for which our pump solutions are known.

Thirdly, we are continuing to develop our marketing channels in China for new system sales, adding to the partnerships we have with local agents, representatives, and distributors.

IMNA: Which business segments make you feel confident about the opportunities ahead for the company in the next year; and are you noticing demand emerging from any new industry or segment?

Sabrina: With our recent MA certification, there are exciting opportunities to grow our presence in the longwall coal mining segment of the market – where we have been established for over 30 years. We expect to increase our new system sales, as we are now able to participate in many more tenders in this segment – and can build on our strong reputation in this industry.

In addition to powering longwall equipment underground, our high-pressure reciprocating pump systems also play a role in dust suppression and cleaning in coal mines. These applications point to a range of other industries that could be potential markets for these systems, such as water and wastewater treatment.

IMNA: What do you think are the key manufacturing priorities in APAC for 2023 and how can your technology give the industry a positive outlook for the future.

Sabrina: Our key manufacturing priorities now are to continue building resilience in our supply chain, while at the same time progress our localisation strategy. These two imperatives are allowing us to diversify our sourcing, to improve pricing and lead times – which in turn will assist us in our efforts to improve cost-competitiveness.

Another important element of our manufacturing strategy is to incorporate more intelligent technology in our system solutions to customers. Beyond our expertise in pump design and manufacture, we are also responding to customers’ needs for automation and intelligent mining strategies. This means gathering and analysing data on pumps’ operating functions, to predict what maintenance is required – thereby avoiding unscheduled downtime. Operators can run our pumps from a centralised operating room, improving safety and efficiency.

Our intelligent emulsion mixer unit, for instance, can measure the concentration of the oil-water mix and keep the concentration within the required parameters. We also use our patented control logic system ODIN® (On Demand Intelligence) to proactively collect the combined face pressure signal and powered roof support initiation of the longwall mining systems – to enhance their performance. This kind of technology is an essential part of building economies that are safe, productive, and sustainable.

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E-mobility with TRUMPF laser technology

By: Kathryn Gerardino-Elagio

Global mobility transition is in full swing. In South East Asia, electric vehicle (EV) and battery industry appears poised for growth. The EV market is expected to reach US$2,665.3 million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 32.73%, according to Mordor Intelligence. More companies, mostly automotive suppliers, are looking for new manufacturing solutions, and laser is at the centre of it.

 

International Metalworking News for Asia (IMNA) caught up with Markus Lindemann, Regional Director, Laser Division of TRUMPF Pte Ltd, during the recent ITAP in Singapore to discuss TRUMPF’s E-mobility solutions made with laser welding.

 

IMNA: Please give us an overview of the best features of TRUMPF’s laser welding for E-mobility?

 

Markus: E-mobility is one of our growth drivers. The change from the combustion engine to the EV cars is a big push for laser applications. For TRUMPF, we are moving our focus to different topics. We start e-mobility in the battery cell manufacturing, where we have developed new processes with scanners to weld aluminium housing. But also slitting and contour cutting as well as welding the battery foils are common application for TRUMPF’s lasers.

 

There are lots of laser applications in the prismatic cells. Main battery cell manufacturing companies in Korea and China are using TRUMPF’s lasers. At the end, the automotive or OEM suppliers take the battery cells and combine it to battery modules and battery packs. The module tray, as well as the other parts like combining the battery cells with the bus bar, is also laser welded. Another important process is laser cleaning which is to remove the coating between the battery cells in the model.

 

In our latest development we also came up with a special process to weld the aluminium cans of prismatic battery cells. With a scanner, you can now do tack welding and final contour welding in one station.

Copper materials are also often used in E-mobility. We have developed a new green laser with pulse function for copper welding to address this market trend. For thinner aluminium sheets and connectors, we use the green laser with a excellent beam quality and laser powering up to 3kW. But for thicker copper material (e.g.  thickness of more than 1mm) we still use infrared laser with a scanner optic. We compare different technologies in-house and look for the best solution. It is not only about the optics and the laser source, but also about vision systems, quality control, and welded measuring-- that is another focus of TRUMPF. We are moving towards a holistic approach in offering as a laser system provider including vision and sensor systems. And with these optimised optics and vision system, combined with application know-how, we develop a technological advantage for our customers.

 

IMNA: Considering the present weak market, could you say laser welding is positioned to be a cost-efficient solution?

 

Markus: Lasers will be only used if you can reduce your production cost by using a laser source. Typically, laser is either used in high volume production where we have a fully automated process, and everything is clearly defined and accurate. On the other hand, laser gives you an advantage in being able to produce different parts without any customised tool for it. Cause at the end, it is always the laser light and you have to apply this in a certain way through programming and that makes a laser very flexible to work. In both cases, the laser will only be used if it can reduce the cost.

Another aspect is quality. Laser can achieve new qualities, such as different product features. For instance, you can make the part smaller and more precise compared with other technologies. This is of course one of the strengths of laser technology -- you can explore new applications and product design by applying laser technology.

 

IMNA: Do you see encouraging signs in Asia’s manufacturing capacity utilisation?

 

Markus: Our focus in South East Asia is of course finding customers who have local R&D, but I realised that a lot of R&D is not done here. It is mainly a production hub where processes are developed in Europe and in America, and have transferred their production here. In this case, you do not have much influence on the decision-making process. Once you develop the process, the production side will just follow according to the test before, so there is a limit in developing new things here.

 

But we do have some partners in SEA who develop new things for a local market. For example, we have a customer in Thailand making automotive parts. They came to us saying, “We have this bended tube parts and we need a 3D cutter to cut holes and ends.” We did the testing and came up with a solution. We discussed the costing, investments, and cycle times. In the end, it materialised. It has turned out into a project that is going for more than 4 years but finally we are happy to see TRUMPF’s TruLaser Cell machines fully-automated. That is the first fully automated production line I have seen in SEA for parts like this. This gives me confidence that there is still a need for such solutions in South East Asia and not only in other part of the world You just need the right partners for this journey.

 

IMNA: What do you think are the key manufacturing priorities for 2023 and how can TRUMPF technology give the industry a positive outlook for the future?

 

Markus: Digital solution is the upcoming trend. We move away from the basic machines and if there is an issue, we send a service engineer for repair. I think this is in some ways still state-of- the-art. But this will fade out soon and at TRUMPF we are going into digital manufacturing. On the machine toolside, we have the smart factory where we organise the whole production system. We help the customer to reduce their material storage cost, to optimise the piece flow, optimise the usage of our machines, and gain more by using smart technology.

 

On the laser side, we are using condition monitoring that connect our lasers at the customers through cloud with our headquarters in Germany. They receive the data and apply AI to it. If they see something critical, they will feedback to our local service team, and they will contact the customer to schedule a visit in the next few days. The service team will inform the customer that their machine might be down in the next 30 days and ensure that the required spare parts will be available upon the scheduled visit. This allows the customer to plan their down-times. We also have the first installation in Indonesia already and we have ongoing discussions with customers in in the Philippines and Thailand.

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Renishaw brings advanced manufacturing solutions to South East Asia

 By: Kathryn Gerardino-Elagio

Steve Bell, General Manager of Renishaw ASEA

Manufacturers nowadays are progressively looking to automation in order to propel operational efficiency and overcome skill shortages on the shop floor. To control manufacturing processes on the shop floor, the need for new process control methods, such as gauging systems are increasing.

 

In a conversation with Steve Bell, General Manager of Renishaw ASEAN, at the recent Industrial Transformation Asia Pacific 2022 (ITAP 2022) in Singapore, he highlighted the Equator 300 and 500 flexible gauge system, which is suitable for automation requirements.

 

According to Steve, the Equator 300 versatile gauge is a smaller standalone Equator, while the Equator 500 is the larger system that enables the gauging of larger parts, with a working volume of 500mm in diameter and up to 400mm in height. Both are designed to provide speed, repeatability, and ease of use for manual or automated applications.

 

“We are showing the Equator here at the show to demonstrate how it can help customers in an automation environment. Our focus is very much on products that land themselves to automation, such as our Equator, automated gauging system, machine tool probing, calibration those are the areas we are focused on” he explained.

 

Equator gauging system

The Equator is a highly valuable option for manufacturers who are looking to replace their current gauging method.  Its system enables process control by delivering highly repeatable, thermally insensitive, versatile, and re-programmable gauging to the shop floor.

 

Purchasing an Equator will see a rapid return on investment – Equator’s automated system can greatly increase throughput and naturally will simultaneously reduce labour costs.  The Equator is also a fraction of the cost of an equivalent custom gauging system, including associated fixturing.  There is also no need to pay for expensive rework of custom gauges in order to gauge modified or new parts because of the Equator’s re-programmable readiness.

 

Most users of Equator systems need short cycle times to maximise throughput from their manufacturing processes. Both Equator 300 and 500 systems, while maintaining high levels of repeatability, are capable of rapid scans and high-speed touch points on a wide variety of features. Years of customer experience with Equator systems have proven the capability to gauge size, position, and geometry on a single device. This can eliminate the need to stabilise parts to the temperature of the quality room prior to measuring geometry and form of critical features.

 

Improved efficiency solution

Steve said that its message is all about “Improved Efficiency Solution.” “I think more than future trends, we see a continuation of where things are going right now. I think we are going to see quite a difficult time for the world economy and we must be as efficient as we can be. Both in terms of our own operation and the products that we sell to our customers. The future is going to be electric vehicles (EVs), wherein everything will be connected with EV-- the battery production, energy production in general. All those are pretty much our focus,” he stated.

 

Market growth in South East Asia

As restrictions ease and borders open in South East Asia, more opportunities arise for market expansion. With countries now on the road to recovery after massive losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, the region is once again becoming one of the world’s most attractive emerging markets.

 

For Renishaw, the company is maximising the market opportunities in South East Asia. There is a wealth of opportunities for its business in the region. Steve shared, “Singapore’s semiconductor industry has received a lot of growth. We also see oil and gas coming back strong, including aerospace. Thailand still has a lot of business with automotive, while consumer electronics are growing in Vietnam and the Philippines.”

 

Newly renovated Bangkok facility

With the promising outlooks for Renishaw in South East Asia, the company is refurbishing its Bangkok facility. “Right now, we are doing a major overhaul of our Bangkok facility. Steve revealed, “We are building a state-of-the-art showroom on the ground floor. This is a major refurbishment. Thailand still has a lot of business with automotive, but increasingly more on EV projects coming into Thailand.”

 

He added, “The refurbished facility makes it more feasible, logistically, for Renishaw to work cooperatively with customers and potential customers in Thailand, and develop solutions specific to them.”

 

The renovated Bangkok facility is designed to provide venues where automation adoption process can be accelerated. Steve, further said, “We can give companies cost-effective, hands-on experience of our products, combined with application engineering support to optimise their design, and post-processing capabilities to ensure that it performs as it should.”

Important Strategy

The increased production of new energy vehicles, including hybrids and full EVs, has seen a major shift in automotive engineering and manufacturing practices. Production flexibility and adaptability as technologies are continually refined are fundamental to commercial success on the journey to EV.

Steve disclosed, “One of our important strategies is to recognise that the internal combustion engine (ICE) will not be around that much longer. A lot of our customers especially for inspection and metal cutting products are heavily involved with that industry. So, we must shift our focus to the future which is EV. We are very much involved in developing products and systems to address the needs of the EV industry. There are a lot of things happening in the EV industry, consequently we will also be developing a lot of products to address these needs.”

 

As new automotive technologies continue to be refined, production flexibility and adaptability will be fundamental to commercial success on the road from conventional ICE to full battery EV. Renishaw's manufacturing solutions provide the speed, flexibility, and ease of use to help you adapt your production for this electric future.

Hurco leading change with shopfloor automation solution

 By: Kathryn Gerardino-Elagio

The workforce is the heart and soul of every manufacturing company. The right people can drive a business to incredible heights, while the contrary can lead it to failure. In Singapore, one of the most pressing challenges for small and med-size enterprises (SMEs) is the predominant labour crunch.

International Metalworking News for Asia sat down with Wai Yip Lee, General Manager of Hurco (S.E Asia) Pte Ltd, to discuss a possible solution that can help businesses not just in Singapore but the entire Southeast Asia (SEA) region to bring order to the chaos of batch production and high-mix manufacturing.

Wai Yip Lee, General Manager of Hurco (S.E Asia) Pte Ltd

“The labour crunch is the biggest problem that is affecting every industry, especially precision engineering. The precision engineering industry has always faced a shortage of skilled workers and the pandemic has further aggravated the situation with an unpreceded movement of workers from Singapore and parts of SEA. Foreign workers in Singapore, even in some areas of SEA, are moving away from the big cities. This movement could be temporary, but manufacturing companies are exploring options to reduce their dependence on entry level workers like machine setters. Automation is the first thing that pops up in their mind,” remarked Wai Yip.

He mentioned that after the pandemic, machine shops have relooked at how they are using machines and their overall business model. “Machine shops owners want to upgrade their current machining capability while keeping costs at the optimum level to stay competitive. Most of these shops in the SME segment are subcontractors, serving larger companies and the export markets. They want to move away from providing general machining services and move up the value chain. Faster, multi-axis machines that can hold tighter tolerances and reduce set-up time are seen as essential in their upgrading journey,” Wai Yip added.

SHOPFLOOR AUTOMATION SOLUTION

Wai Yip understood the common struggles machine shops experience with traditional automation, such as lengthy implementation and set-up, steep learning curve and the reliance on system integrators for program and sequence changes. As a result, he is offering a shopfloor automation solution as an upgrade option to Hurco users and others, who wish to transform their machine shop.

“Hurco has introduced a new line of shopfloor automation solutions under the brand name ProCobots. This initiative has started from our Hurco USA head office where customers have requested for an automation solution that is easy to use, flexible and can be efficiently operated by their existing machinist. It has received encouraging response from our users in the US and Europe, where labour rates are substantially higher. I cannot wait to bring ProCobots to our customers in Singapore; they face the same situation as these matured markets,” he disclosed.

According to him, the ProCobot provides easy to use one robot to one machine tending capability, without having to utilise a third-party software. “We have developed an automation manager software that is incorporated within the existing Hurco MAX5 controller that the machinist is familiar with.

This software provides the direct link and interface to the ProCobot robotic arm and parts station. This allows an existing Hurco user to utilise the automation manager to command the robot and schedule the CNC programs for various parts loaded onto the parts station. A standard integration package that includes an auto-door, pneumatic vise and an interface utility box makes this a quick "plug and play" solution for Hurco machines. The ProCobot can be installed on an existing Hurco machine, and up and running in less than a week. If you need to swap the ProCobot from a machining centre to a lathe to support a production run, it can be moved easily and set-up within a day.”

Hurco ProCobot caters to both batch production and high-mix low volume production. “We are currently running tests on actual batch production parts of our customers so that we can identify the range of parts suitable for ProCobots and its various Profeeders (parts station). The initial successful runs will certainly encourage our customers to adopt ProCobots into their production floor,” Wai Yip said.

Wai Yip plans to introduce ProCobot officially in early 2023, after the initial live production tests. “We will showcase the ProCobot solution in a practical way, i.e., a live production environment, to our customers in Singapore so that they can identify whether this is a viable solution to their machine tending needs. They can see for themselves how this simple solution, can be incorporated into their production floor and programmed by their existing machinist. I believe that ProCobot could be the starting point of transforming the machine shop towards a modern manufacturing environment.”

FIVE-AXIS STRATEGIES

Wai Yip noticed the increasing trend of high-mixed low volume production requirements in the market today. “With the changing consumer patterns and shorter lifecycle for most products, five-axis technology will continue to be a very important part of our strategy,” he said.

The regional markets just opened, and Hurco being a regional player in SEA wants to use this opportunity to reconnect with its end users and existing customers thru a series of tradeshows. Wai Yip noted, “The tradeshows provide a good platform for us to reconnect with the regional markets and find out how end users’ expectations and demands have evolved after the pandemic. This will provide first-hand information to help shape our activities for 2023 so that we can continue to serve our customers and grow our installed base across the SEA region.”

Besides investments in industry tradeshows, Wai Yip is focused on expanding its distribution channel in key markets like Vietnam. “We have recently appointed a new distributor, Weldcom, who has strong presence throughout Vietnam. They have two key showroom and technical facilities in Binh Duong and Hanoi, plus several satellite offices. We trust that through an expanded distributor network and technical facilities, we will be able to reach out a wider base of end-users and share how our technology can assist them to increase their profitability.”

DEALING WITH CHANGES

With the current economic slowdown, Wai Yip regarded the SEA market as unpredictable in general. “There are many challenges being faced by the industry, including supply chain disruptions, inflationary pressures, labour crunch, and geopolitical uncertainties. These challenges will affect and shift the demand of end users in the market.”

“The strength of the US dollar versus regional SEA currencies has also further escalated the inflationary pressures. It will take some time for SEA currency to stabilise and buyers to gain confidence to invest. In the meantime, our key focus is to introduce automation solution to help our customers solve the labour crunch; and to simultaneously work with them to identify potential areas of improvement to stay competitive. Be it supporting test-cuts for their R&D projects for new products or improving the productivity within the machine shop,” he declared.

Wai Yip added, “We must stay close to the market so that we could continually tweak our plans and activities along the way to suit the emerging needs of various end users in different markets.”

STAYING POSITIVE

Wai Yip perceived the current economic slowdown is temporarily more of a market reset after Covid. “I am confident that the market will pick up around mid-2023, so we must continually upgrade and position ourselves in a way where we are ready to ride the wave to recovery.”

“Vietnam is the fastest growing market for us. In terms of market relevance, it will probably be number one compared to other parts of SEA. There is still a lot of opportunities here with continual flow of FDIs and local machine shops upgrading and investing in new technology to serve the growing needs. So, we do see a continual growth in demand of machine tools for the Vietnamese market.”

In terms of the emerging demand, Wai Yip expressed, “We will see a substantial increase in the adoption of automation and smart manufacturing solutions by machine shops in Singapore in line with the Singapore government’s refreshed Industry Transformation Roadmap 2025 for the precision engineering (PE) industry. Companies are encouraged to upskill their workforce, adopt digital manufacturing platforms, automate, and introduce advance manufacturing techniques in their business. To stay relevant, businesses will need to transform and set themselves right to compete against the global market. We are committed to drive our solutions to support our customer transformation needs.”