The February issue of International Metalworking News for Asia is now out! Beyond the stories mentioned in the teaser, nearly every piece of content in this issue is about finding new ways forward. Despite the challenges we are facing, 2022 is a fresh start and acts as a reminder that we must keep moving forward. Happy Reading!
Thursday, February 24, 2022
Monday, January 3, 2022
Hypetherm: Helping shape the world
By: Kathryn Gerardino-Elagio
International Metalworking News for Asia recently attended Hypetherm's virtual press event to witness the unveiling of its brand-new generation of air plasma systems — Powermax SYNCTM air plasma cutting and gouging systems in Asia and Oceania. Hypetherm executives. Mr. Israel Gonzalez, Director for Distribution Sales in Asia, Mr. Wagner Turri, Director for OEM Sales in Asia, and Mr. Lester Lee, Marketing Program Manager for Asia, explained the journey to SYNC and the development of Powermax technology. There was also a live cutting demo, which boasted Powermax SYNC’s features and a Q&A at the end. Here's what we learned.
The new Powermax technology was developed to answer the challenges customers face, the high cost of production delays and setup errors to a manufacturer, and what consumables to change and when.
This next-generation of Powermax is unlike any plasma you’ve seen before. Featuring built-in intelligence and revolutionary single-piece cartridge consumables, Powermax SYNC simplifies system operation, streamlines consumable inventory, lowers operating costs, and maximises performance for customers in the shipbuilding, construction & machinery, structural steel, or transportation industries.
Israel Gonzalez said, "It took us nearly 20,000 hours to develop the new Powermax SYNC air plasma systems. We're not bringing this into the market to satisfy our engineering pride. Customers were telling us how difficult it is to constantly train people to manage the changing of consumable stacks. With 5 different amperage options (30, 45, 65, 85, and 105 amps) for 5 separate applications, operators have to deal with up to 25 part numbers daily. In essence, the traditional consumable stack-up requires you to have a very skilled team of operators that perform consistently across time. Otherwise, your product quality won't be consistent and rework becomes a constant, which translates to extra costs and delays — all because of a bottleneck in the cutting operations."
The new Powermax SYNC technology is designed to eliminate common operation errors and reduce service calls. Israel added, "Hypetherm is first in the industry to innovate something like that. We believe it's going to bring the benefits of easy set-up and lower operation costs. It will give our customer a chance to say 'yes' to offering a new product — which may involve new engineering and features, but won't require more training because the machine is going be ready to start in one go. It eliminates common operator errors and reduces expensive rework. Powermax SYNC is a game changer for the industry."
Revolutionary single-piece cartridge consumable
Consumables are the parts in the torch that wear out over time; they are slowly damaged by heat or by contact with the plasma arc. The Powermax SYNC and its SmartSYNC torch replaces the traditional five-piece consumable stack-up with an easy-to-identify single-piece cartridge consumable that is colour coded by process to eliminate confusion and simplify consumable inventory management.
Lester Lee, Marketing Program Manager, explained, "There are many factors that affect the consumable life. Prior to this launch, we ran extensive tests with some customers and observed that the cartridge for Powermax SYNC systems can last up to twice as long. Simply because the Hypertherm cartridge for Powermax systems is manufactured as a single piece to ensure that all parts are perfectly aligned and optimised for the best possible performance. With this, the cartridge will deliver cleaner cuts when compared with traditional consumables. It can even track data, such as start and arc-on time, in order to identify trends, enhance the efficiency of cutting processes, and to improve end-of-life detection."
The technology embedded in each cartridge automatically sets the correct amperage, air pressure, and operating mode and displays a prompt when a new cartridge is needed. Additionally, controls on the SmartSYNC torch allow operators to adjust the amperage and change the cartridge without returning to the power supply.
Fostering innovation
Hypertherm dedicates more resources to industrial cutting research, development, and testing than any other manufacturer in the world. Its engineers are always reshaping people's perceptions of plasma. Every year, the company introduces patented new technologies to improve performance and extend consumable life.
Wagner Turri, Director for OEM Sales in Asia, remarked, "Hypetherm is a pioneer in industry innovation. While we respect and acknowledge our competitors, we've always taken a leadership role within the market, and innovation remains a cornerstone of our business."
Thursday, December 16, 2021
Kim Union rolling beyond product features and benefits
Manufacturers of different industries have their own preferences about which processing method best suits their needs. However, there has been a growing interest in thread rolling for more reasons than one.
Having been in the industry since 1972, Kim Union Industrial Co., Ltd. is a pioneer in the manufacture of both thread rolling machines and thread rolling dies.
Along with creating new products and adding features to old ones, Kim Union's product advantage includes a unique type of product service. The company understands customers’ needs and is willing to dig deeper with clients to move beyond the obvious features and benefits of a product and understand the true principle of its request.
According to Kim Union, customers come to them with their requirements for workpieces; and from there, they try to identify the workpiece and explain to the customer what they must do in order to create the workpiece.
Kim Union believes that there is a benefit for having both production lines for thread rolling machines and thread rolling dies because they are well experienced and ready to share their knowledge with customers.
One example is Kim Union's new thread rolling machine models that are designed based on customer’s prerequisite. The UM-120 hydraulic thru feed type thread rolling machine is a new model in the market. This type of machine is suitable for bigger wind fan screws -- the larger diameter screws.
Another case is the UM-50H serration gear rolling thread rolling machine. This machine is apt for serration gear-type workpieces for creating car parts or motorbike parts. The designs of these machines are made by Kim Union team and consulting partners.
For thread rolling machines, Kim Union does trial run and customers must approve the samples before shipment. For thread rolling dies, 100% testing and inspection is done before delivery. The company also does the thread rolling process inside the factory for some design parts. All these efforts lead to an improved type of business process that makes Kim Union confident that their products will not encounter any problems when they arrive the customers' factory.
After the economic blockade caused by the epidemic, on-site meetings between customers has decreased, so Kim Unions' regular overseas visits and services were suspended. The company is finding ways to compete all odds and act quickly. Therefore, it uses apps such as LINE and WhatsApp, which are very convenient to use in order to communicate with customers. In this way, any questions from clients can be answered immediately.
Looking beyond the current crisis-imposed moment, Kim Union says that the quality of their products and customer satisfaction will definitely be their focus. In the next five years, the company plans to set up another plant in Bangkok, Thailand. However, thread rolling machines will only be produced in Taiwan in the future. Kim Union deems it right for the machines to be closer to the local market.
Thursday, December 9, 2021
IMI: Your global electronics solutions partner
By: Kathryn Gerardino-Elagio
IMNA: Tell us something about IMI and what do you do for the company?
Nones: IMI provides EMS (electronics manufacturing services) and power semiconductor assembly. We have 22 factories in more than 10 countries globally. IMI puts together components needed for the manufacturing of electronic devices. We do advanced manufacturing and engineering, and of course assembly. In the early 2000, we decided to go into automotive and industrial; and a few years ago we bought an EMS company in the UK that specialises in aerospace and defence. Right now, the bulk of our revenues is in automotive electronics. I think about 50% of that bulk revenue is from Europe. Since we are heavily entrenched in that segment, we are currently the 6th largest electronics manufacturing services company in the automotive space globally.
IMNA: Do you have any particular requirement when purchasing materials and processing equipment?
Nones: We do have an extensive procurement group or supply chain group. They're divided into different areas and they have an extensive network from mostly major regions; and because of our activity, we're able to leverage on the competitiveness of the things that we’re able to buy. Yes, we’re definitely purchasing machines and also procuring production systems that could help us in the manufacturing process.
IMNA: How have you set the points in the past to ensure that the company has developed in such a positive manner?
Nones: What we have in the electronics industry is quite different from any other industry because we're very much familiar with disruptions. Over the last four years, there have been so many social political and economic disruptions that basically affected the business. Whether it may be a new technology to global financial crisis or disruptions in trade, including shortage of cheap semiconductor components that is really affecting supply chains globally.
One of the things that we were able to do is set up a risk management system to help mitigate the threats.
The risk management system allows us to be able to put things in autopilot once incidents happen. For example, when the pandemic struck and there were several lockdowns, we were not that surprised because we had the system in place. Though of course the pandemic affected us negatively, it didn't affect us so much that it will be difficult for us to recover. We also heightened our risk management systems to be one step ahead of possible things that can happen. This is also brought by our desire to become a sustainable business over a long period.
Nones: Early this year, we had a problem with recommendation shortages and it's not only impacting IMI. In fact, this is impacting globally and basically all OEM's, and not only the automotive. Supply cannot keep up with the demand because of shortage of major components that will be used. This happened because of the pandemic. A lot of automotive factories started to close and production was affected. The number of vehicles that were to be shipped in 2020 went down significantly by 22%, which manufacturers especially the ones that are doing components did not foresee.
When the automotive was down, manufacturers shifted their inventory to the computing sector. As you know, people were staying at home and doing home school and working from home. There's demand for more laptops more storage devices so that's where it's been, and so what happened was they thought that the automotive sector would be recovering over a longer period of time. But it did recover right away because of the demand for electric vehicles; and because of that, manufacturers of semiconductors and components didn't have any more inventory for the automotive sector. Given the state that we are in, it would take a few more months probably by middle of 2022 when things would be able to normalise, and the shortage would be minimised. Everyone is affected, profit levels of companies are affected. For IMI, we are doing our best to be able to minimise or at least mitigate the effects that are happening to us on the supply chain.
IMNA: In your opinion, what is your edge among your competitors?
Nones: In terms of our size and client base, we really don't have any competitors. In fact, I think this is the misunderstanding that most people have in terms of our industry; we don't really compete with other companies. In fact, we encourage more EMS companies to relocate or to establish in the Philippines, whether they are local or foreign. Why? So that the local supply chain would be built or would be attractive enough for global supply chains to source from us. This will also support workers and provide them with the necessary education and skills.
Nones: I make sure that I'm exposed to different environments so that I'll be able to learn and apply many principles in my area of work. I love looking at other industries and see the different ways of how they do things. In this way, I will have an idea on how to deal with challenges. Progressive companies in Europe or in the US require about 15% of the worker's time to be able to spend on things that have no relation to their work.
I enjoy my work. If you cannot handle pressure that means maybe you're not enjoying. So it depends on how one person would be able to enjoy his work. In my case, meeting a lot of people, seeing different industries and learning current technology -- those things to me are fun. You can say that those are the factors behind my success. It's also about the environment. If you work in an environment where you are not supported, and they only want you for what you provide; those things hamper satisfaction or even success however you define it.
IMNA: Finally, how do you see the future, with special reference to IMI?
Nones: With special reference to IMI, I see a future that involves a lot of technology. But the danger here is that if we allow technology to rule over us, we will lose our humanity. We will lose our ability to choose and we will let AI choose for us. We need to be able to strike that balance. The things that we're exploring right now, it's really exactly above and beyond what is currently around us. So it's not only technology but the people driving and not the other way around. You have all these technology but there's a gap that has to be filled. Apart from hard skills, we need soft skills, such as critical thinking, decision making and designing that's what we are trying to build.
Click for E-zine link: International Metalworking News for Asia 12-2021 issue
Monday, December 6, 2021
Int'l Metalworking News for Asia December 2021 issue now Online
2021 has been a year of transition. Industrial manufacturing businesses began shaping their futures rather than just grinding through the present as result of the COVID-19 crisis. Industrial manufacturers should take the opportunity to learn from the pandemic on how to redesign workplaces, build healthier work environments, and invest effectively in employee health.
As the transition to digitalisation picks up speed, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have a lot to gain from embracing digital technologies (digitalisation) into their existing business models, which would improve productivity while opening up new revenue streams. International Metalworking News for Asia features companies and agencies around the world with their predictions and technology insights in order to give a clear vision and gain a competitive edge to thrive in the year ahead. Find out more in this month's Outlook 2022 report.
For most of us, the word downtime conjures images of relaxation. For plant managers however, downtime is a word that triggers concerns about lost production and lower revenue. That's especially true for unplanned downtime and there is growing evidence that manufacturers are still unaware of the full impact of the problem. In the Smart Factory section, John Young, APAC sales director at automation parts supplier EU Automation, assesses some of the latest research on manufacturer downtime and the steps manufacturers are taking to address the problem.
The Lasers & Welding section confirms that many companies rely on manual welding, which is both costly and time-consuming. Companies need low-cost solutions to get a foothold in this business – but these are few and far between. TRUMPF unveiled a new solution that aims to help sheet-metal fabricators make the jump into automated laser welding.
In machine shops that work with metals and alloys, factors such as thickness, parallelism, and surface condition are often dictated in the specifications. Grinding is also often utilised to remove significant amounts of material to bring a stock sheet or plate to precise dimensions. This issue of Tooling & Workholding shows advanced rotary surface grinders that deliver endless possibilities and tighter tolerances.
e-mobility, digitalisation and automation: these are just some of the key trends in the grinding technology sector at present. Machine Tool presents research experts and the companies exhibiting at the new GrindingHub trade show. They will be providing insights into the latest technologies and processes in this rapidly developing industry.
Lastly, you need to evaluate what is missing in your company to remain competitive in 2022. Changes will also mean a different focus of your workforce, and you might find a professional shortage of technicians and experts, so start training inside talent to keep up with the new trends in demand.
Thursday, November 11, 2021
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Monday, November 1, 2021
Kim Union Industrial: The thread rolling machine expert in Taiwan
Founded in 1972, Kim Union Industrial Co., Ltd is committed in providing better quality and competitively priced machines to help as many clients as they possibly can. In fact, the company supplies precise, practical, durable, and excellent design machines specific to a certain application to make a difference that will leave a lasting impact on the job.
Kim Union owns production lines focused on thread rolling machines and thread rolling dies, under the brand name UNIFY. As a distinguished manufacturer of thread rolling machines in Taiwan, the company carries out its commitment to both local and overseas customers.
With more than 50 years of experience in thread rolling method, Kim Union is skilled in designing thread rolling die set for the thread rolling method with special thread workpieces. It can even perform a trial run on a thread rolling machine to prove that the products are correct. Thus, customers are pleased with its service and are open to sharing their thoughts, concerns and ideas about new products.
CNC thread grinding machine
Strategies for learning
They say that companies who cultivate a clear historic perspective move farther and more effectively into the future than those who do not.
Kim Union fondly recalls the time when they only have a production line for thread rolling machines. But since thread rolling dies plays a very important factor in the thread rolling method, there was a need for thread grinding. As what President Yu said, "What is the best way for producing thread rolling dies but through thread grinding."
Kim Union narrates how they did research on "thread grinding machines" in the market. There was no internet during the 1970s, no email and even fax. Therefore, they decided to import Swiss-made Reishauer thread grinding machine. It was a big risk since the price of the equipment was very high, and they did not have the experience in grinding but they believe that thread grinding is the correct way of producing thread rolling dies. To cut the long story short, this was how Kim Union started to produce thread rolling dies.
Fundamentals of thread rolling machines
In Taiwan, majority of parts are outsourced and assembled into complete machines in the factory, and Kim Union is not an exception. Therefore, before the parts are assembled at the factory, Kim Union will arrange for an accuracy inspection, and once the standard is met, the small parts will be combined into big parts, and then finally the entire thread rolling machines will be assembled.
In terms of raw materials, Kim Union chooses cast iron parts for the thread rolling machine's body rather than steel plate assembly. Cast iron parts with a high mass characteristic can considerably alleviate the vibration problem that occurs during machine operation.
Kim Union is meticulous when it comes to its assembly process. In addition to accuracy check, the body must go through scarping to increase the oil content. The transmission gears, worms, and bearing shaft parts are also ground and shaped by Kim Union's own screw grinder and gear grinder.
Kim Union's machine accessories are all well-known brands. The motor is either Siemens or TECO, while the inverter is the best-selling Delta in Taiwan, whereas the transmission bearing is a well-known brand, such as NTN, etc. In addition, Kim Union ensures the quality of its thread rolling machine by matching the entire package.
Personnel development
New technologies are revolutionizing the modern workplace and market. Skills training can help an enterprise stay at the forefront of innovation and creativity.
Kim Union believes that all of its staff must first be aware of their products and the quality they offer. For instance, if a staff is assigned to the assembly of thread rolling machines, he must pay attention to precision.
The company therefore recognizes that a good and knowledgeable engineer will lead another two less experienced staff. The skills learned from the proficient engineer will be passed on to the younger generation. Kim Union also emphasizes that an employee with sufficient professional skills will have the opportunity to be assigned overseas.
Currently, Kim Union has three factories in all. The Taiwan main production facility produces both thread rolling machines and thread rolling dies; while the two factories in China: Central China: Shao Xing and South China: Dong Guan creates thread rolling dies.
Competitive advantage
Kim Union's 50 plus years of experience in thread rolling machine manufacturing combines technology and design to orchestrate meaningful milestones for everyone who interacts with their brand, UNIFY — from customers and prospects to employees and partners — at every stage of their journey.
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