Asia Manufacturing News May 2018

ASIA

Asia Manufacturing News

May 2018

MANUFACTURING NEWS Success Through Innovation $4

May 2018

Can North Korea open for business?

The promise of the Edge and IIOT India’s role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution AI may make airport control towers obsolete

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EDITORIAL ASIA

CAN NORTH KOREA OPEN FOR BUSINESS?

MANUFACTURING NEWS JEZ Media www.jezmedia.net

Managing Editor Doug Green Art Direction Kim Alves Advertising Enquiries Please visit

Doug Green

It’s early days. It was a momentous occasion the meeting between Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae In and here’s hoping for better times for the divided Koreas – to become as one or at least open North Korea to become a more open society.

If the change comes about then it can be the difference between the light being on and the light being off. A light – an opening up of their society and markets and the freedom to trade throughout Asia and the world in the future.

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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

Why not think like this? Let us change the perception that the kingdom with a mark against it can’t change. That they can be part of a brighter future and that it doesn’t all have to do with the United States. This needs to be the positive message we can all be part of.

So, let’s take small steps…let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let us consider that in the future North Korea can be part of each of our company’s business negotiations through trade, creating opportunities for that country as part of a positive, go-ahead Korea.

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 provided. No liability is accepted for the result of any actions taken or not taken on the basis of this information. Those acting on the information do so entirely at their own risk.

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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 | MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY The promise of the Edge and IIOT in Asia’s manufacturing industry.

8 | ANALYSIS India’s opportunity and role in shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

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9 | MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY Cup holder charges phones wirelessly.

Robot see, Robot do.

More power, Less tower.

13 | DEVELOPMENTS New production plant in Singapore.

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Aurecon strengthens presence in Asia with Centre of Excellence for Digital Engineering.

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Three game-changers for the manufacturing industry in 2018.

16 | PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE Spend a little to save a lot.

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What the future holds for manufacturers investing in IoT analytics.

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18 | SPECIAL REPORT

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Top practices for a top performing production floor.

24 | THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY These disruptive technologies are driving the circular economy.

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26 | NEW PRODUCTS Vricon Precision 3D Registration available.

Delivering enterprise Robotic Process Automation.

Fujitsu releases new version of battery-free Beacon Pulsargum.

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Konecranes strengthens its bulk handling presence in Japan.

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

Asia Manufacturing News

May 2018

THE PROMISE OF THE EDGE AND IIOT IN ASIA’S MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY To remain competitive in today’s always-on world, organisations require near-instant access to data and resources. That’s where the edge comes into play: the place where computing occurs, in between the data centre and the cloud.

In Singapore and Asia, edge computing poses a great opportunity to enable improved real-time decision-making – especially in Asia’s booming manufacturing sector. In a rapidly growing industry, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is lighting the way for a highly automated future.

The IIoT refers to a combination of intelligent computers and devices that enable instant data sharing and automated processes in industrial manufacturing. The IIoT is set to revolutionise manufacturing by providing accessibility to large amounts of data at far greater speeds.

According to a report by Boston Consulting Group, Five Profiles That Explain China’s Consumer Economy, GDP growth in China, the world’s second largest economy, has slowed from more than 10% in 2010 to around 7% in 2017.

To remain competitive, Asian economies – once reliant upon low-cost labour and exports – are under pressure to adopt smarter technologies, such as robotics and the IIoT. Going forward, it is predicted that smart technologies and IIoT networks will allow industrial organisations to break open data silos and connect people, data and processes like never before, from the factory floor to executive offices.

Automation and the future of manufacturing So where does edge computing fit into all of this?

The promise of edge computing in industrial environments means switching into the right device in near real-time to drive

faster decision making. For this to work, the edge device and its embedded software, edge servers, gateways and cloud infrastructure must be up-and-running correctly at all times.

According to a recent report by ARC Advisory Group, Is IIot Living on The Edge In Industrial Environments? forward-thinking organisations are implementing edge infrastructure to Dave Laurello, CEO, Stratus. optimise performance and production outcomes.

The report surveyed a group of over 300 end-users across the globe to assess the state of play in the market. Key findings from the report include the fact that over half of industry leaders are planning to invest in the edge and the cloud to create more robust infrastructure and enhance automation.

The majority of leaders agree that deploying real-time data analytics will improve asset performance and maintenance, optimising production and preventing unplanned downtime. At the same time, edge analytics have the power to significantly reduce dependency on human effort, improving operational efficiencies and reducing manual labour costs.

How does edge computing benefit the end-user?

ARC Advisory Group’s report found that the top three benefits for deploying systems and connectivity at the edge are operational: analysing and controlling devices, improving process speed/ reducing latency issues, and reducing data security risks.

The decision to implement an edge computing architecture is typically driven by the need for location optimisation, security, and most of all, speed. Edge computing provides this by pushing applications, data and computing power services away from centralised data centres to the logical extremes of a network, close to users, devices and sensors.

In this way, edge computing enables companies to put the right data in the right place at the right time, supporting fast and secure access. The result is an enhanced user experience and a strategic advantage in today’s increasingly competitive manufacturing industry.

Edge computing and analytics are increasingly being located close to the machines and data sources. As the digitisation of industrial systems continues, so

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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

does analysis, decision-making and control being physically distributed among edge devices, edge servers, the network, the cloud and connected systems.

Industry Insights Building the interconnected systems of the future Innovative IIoT and edge devices are building the interconnected systems of the future. However, across factory ecosystems, products, equipment in the field and the manufacturing supply chains, these devices and connections must be made secure and reliable, or manufacturers will slow down the deployment of edge and cloud innovations.

In the very near future, companies will be leverage data to identify production inefficiencies, compare product quality against manufacturing conditions and pinpoint potential safety, production and environmental issues. Remote management of edge infrastructure will immediately connect operators with off-site experts to be able to avoid or more quickly troubleshoot and resolve downtime events.

The growth of IIoT in Asia extends the edge to industrial devices, machines, controllers and sensors. Going forward, smart manufacturing and edge computing with information-enabled operations offers virtually infinite potential to improve business performance.

The Stratus solution Stratus’ edge solutions begin with ftServer, the ideal system for digital transformation initiatives at distributed enterprises. An intelligent, self-monitoring, self-diagnosing, self-healing computer

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system, ftServer is best suited for remote hybrid deployments or customers within process manufacturing, where fault tolerance is business-critical.

The latest version of ftServer brings VMware support along with better performance, enhanced availability and improved manageability. These improvements help customers and partners accelerate time-to-value, maximise revenues and increase efficiency. “The more automated and connected applications become, the more critical it is for customers to have a highly reliable, continuously available and operationally simple edge infrastructure to drive true IIoT business value.�

-Dave Laurello, CEO, Stratus

Asia Manufacturing News

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May 2018

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ANALYSIS

INDIA’S OPPORTUNITY AND ROLE IN SHAPING THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION The world is on the brink of a new, all-encompassing revolution moving at exponential speed. We are witnessing the emergence of innovative technological trends such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, robotics, 3D printing, nanotechnology, and others with applications as diverse as the technologies themselves.

The combination of these technological breakthroughs is the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Each revolution brings systemic implications and this one is no different. What is different is the extensiveness of its scope and the vitality of its impact on our existing interaction, distribution, production and consumption systems – and even on our identities.

But the impact of the technological revolution on economies and society is not preordained and can be shaped by policies at the local, national and global levels.

In order to optimally leverage the Fourth Industrial Revolution for our collective progress and prosperity, we need governance frameworks, protocols and policy systems that ensure inclusive and equitable benefits. Most importantly, we need to embrace the fact that technological evolution exists in a social context and not just as a business case. In order to achieve this, we need to design normative and regulatory approaches to ensure that it is human-led and human-centred.

The Indian philosophy of blending science and spirituality for harmonious co-existence reaffirms faith in human ingenuity and adaptability. The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution can help India leapfrog traditional phases of development and accelerate its transition to a developed nation.

Deploying these technologies optimally and strategically can create a potent mix of resources and infrastructure that can yield better quality, more sustainable growth. With more than 50% of its population under the age of 27, India’s role is also going to be pivotal in shaping the global Fourth Industrial Revolution agenda in a responsible, scalable and inclusive manner.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution holds a lot of promise for India.

As Prime Minister Modi has articulated, artificial intelligence (AI) can be used effectively to reduce poverty, improve the lives of farmers and make the lives of the differently abled simpler.

AI has vast applications across sectors – ranging from medicine

to criminal justice, to manufacturing, to finance. Similarly, blockchain has potential applications to a wide range of issues – from cross-border data flows to the future provision of government services and natural resource management.

This can help India reduce property and other disputes, increase transparency and fight corruption, among others. Additionally, unmanned aircraft systems, commonly referred to as drones, have the ability to increase crop yields, make dangerous jobs safe, and act as a lifeline for remote populations. Drones are an enabler in realising Prime Minister Modi’s call to double farmer incomes by 2022.

Apart from being pervasive, rapid and non-linear, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is also transient, which reinforces the need to build flexible and dynamic models to respond to the changes and optimise their impact.

Realising the country’s potential to lead in and influence the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the World Economic Forum has partnered with the Government of India to set up the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

The Center will work to accelerate the development and implementation of governance protocols for emerging science and technology to best serve citizens, society and the public at large. By working with central and state governments, private sector actors, international organisations, and civil society groups, the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India will design and pilot practical tools for the agile governance of specific technologies.

The Indian Government is already on the right path by bringing the necessary structural reforms and promoting an entrepreneurial ecosystem through initiatives such as Startup India and the Atal Innovation Mission.

Prime Minister Modi’s “Together for All, Development for All” clarion call and his emphasis on embedding technological evolution within this philosophy for broad-based development will be a key driver of inclusive growth and progress.

With one of the youngest labour forces in the world, a sizeable technical aptitude, the second largest number of internet users on mobile devices and the second largest English speaking population, India is well positioned to enhance its global leadership in a post Fourth Industrial Revolution era.

With the right mix of accelerators – including regulatory frameworks, educational ecosystems and government incentives – India can lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution while simultaneously enhancing the quality, equity and sustainability of its own growth and development outcomes.

India is well positioned to enhance its global leadership in a post Fourth Industrial Revolution era.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution holds a lot of promise for India.

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Asia Manufacturing News

May 2018

CUP HOLDER CHARGES PHONES WIRELESSLY

A cup holder that wirelessly charges electronic devices in a 3D space has been developed by ETRI in South Korea.

It is dubbed as ‘E-Cup’ and can charge multiple devices placed inside the 10 cm-wide holder at the same time, at the same rate as wired chargers, regardless of orientation or position of the devices.

Shaped just like a circular cup holder, the wireless charger generates and maintains a constant and uniform magnetic field.

The electric current wirelessly flows to the batteries inside the electronic devices based on the magnetic resonance.

“The newly developed technology has a wide range of potential applications including phones, although it is still in infancy. But at the same time it has a great potential to be improved,” says Dr. Ho-Jin Lee, the AVP of the Radio & Satellite Research Division of ETRI. While it matches the speed of wired chargers, it is less efficient; its power conversion reaches to about 60% when calculated in terms of DC-to-DC conversion systemwise.

The team is working on raising that to 70% before the product can be commercialized. When this technology comes to market, people can easily and freely charge the cellular phone wirelessly.

ETRI has been working on wireless charging for several years.

From 2015, ETRI developed a 3D wireless charging technology based on magnetic resonance for electric bikes, drones and smart devices.

They succeeded to overcome the limitations of its 2D design and expand to 3D design to accelerate the freedom of charge without a loss of efficiency.

The research team considers this a ‘generic’ technology that can

be applied to all areas of industry. The market for wireless charging devices is expected to grow to nearly 1 billion USD in 2022, according to the U.S.-based firm Markets and Markets.

Besides smartphone chargers, ETRI is focused on developing highly efficient and safe wireless energy transfer technologies applicable to charge multiple devices in huge spaces, such as living rooms.

Shaped just like a circular cup holder, the wireless charger generates and maintains a constant and uniform magnetic field.

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ROBOT SEE, ROBOT DO:

BOTS LEARN BY WATCHING HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

Robots following coded instructions to complete a task? Old school. Robots learning to do things by watching how humans do it? That’s the future.

Stanford’s Animesh Garg and Marynel Vázquez shared their research in a talk on “Generalisable Autonomy for Robotic Mobility and Manipulation” at the GPU Technology Conference recently.

In lay terms, generalisable autonomy is the idea that a robot can observe human behaviour and learn to imitate it in a way that’s applicable to a variety of tasks and situations.

What kinds of situations? Learning to cook by watching YouTube videos, for one. And figuring out how to cross a crowded room for another.

Cooking 101 Garg, a postdoctoral researcher at the Stanford Vision and Learning Lab (CVGL), likes to cook. He also likes robots. But what he’s not so keen on is a future full of robots who can only cook one recipe each.

While the present is increasingly full of robots that excel at single tasks, Garg is working toward what he calls “the dream of general-purpose robots.”

The path to the dream may lie in neural task programming (NTP), a new approach to meta-learning. NTP leverages hierarchy and learns to program with a modular robot API to perform unseen tasks working from only a single test example.

For instance, a robot chef would take a cooking video as input and use a hierarchical neural program to break the video data down into what Garg calls a structured representation of the task based on visual cues as well as temporal sequence.

Instead of learning a single recipe that’s only good for making spaghetti with meatballs, the robot understands all the subroutines, or components, that make up the task. From there, the budding mechanical chef can apply skills like boiling water, frying meatballs and simmering sauce to other situations.

Solving for task domains instead of task instances is at the heart of what Garg calls meta-learning. NTP has already seen promising results, with its structured, hierarchical approach leaving flat programming in the dust on unseen tasks, while performing equally well on seen tasks. Full technical details are available on the project’s GitHub.

Feeling Crowded? Follow the Robot We’ve all been there. You’re trying to make your way through a crowded room, and suddenly find yourself face-to-face with a stranger coming from the opposite direction.

You move right to get

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around them, but they move the same way, blocking your path.

Instinctively, you both move the other way. Blocked again!

One of you cracks a “Shall we dance?” joke to break the tension, and you finally manoeuvre past one another to continue.

Understanding how and why people move the way we do when walking through a crowded space can be tricky. Teaching a robot to understand these rules is daunting. Enter Vázquez and Jackrabbot, CVGL’s social navigation robot.

Jackrabbot first hit the sidewalks in 2015, making small deliveries and travelling at pedestrian speeds below five miles per hour. As Vázquez explained, teaching Jackrabbot — named after the jackrabbits that also frequent his campus — is a vehicle for tackling the complex problem of predicting human motion in crowds.

Teaching an autonomous vehicle to move through unstructured spaces — for example, the real world — is a multifaceted problem. “Safety is the first priority,” Vázquez said. From there, the challenge quickly moves into predicting and responding to the movements of lots of people at once.

To tackle safety, they turned to deep learning, developing a generative adversarial network (GAN) that compares real-time data from JackRabbot’s camera with images generated by the GAN on the fly.

These images represent what the robot should be seeing if an area is safe to pass through, like a hallway with no closed doors, stray furniture or people standing in the way. If reality matches the ideal, JackRabbot keeps moving. Otherwise, it hits the brakes.

From there, the team turned to multi-target tasking, akAva “Tracking the Untrackable.” Moving gracefully through a crowd goes beyond immediate assessment of “Is my path clear?” to tracking multiple people moving in different directions and predicting where they’re headed next.

Here the team built a recurrent neural network using the long short-term memory approach to account for multiple cues

Asia Manufacturing News

May 2018

— appearance, velocity, interaction and similarity — measured over time.

A published research paper delves into the technical nitty-gritty, but in essence, CVGL devised a novel approach that learns the common sense behaviours that people observe in crowded spaces, and then uses that understanding to predict “human trajectories” where each person is likely to go next.

So, the next time you find yourself headed for one of those awkward “Shall we dance?” moments in a room full of strangers, just remember to track multiple cues over time and project the motion trajectories of every human in sight.

Or take the easy way and find a JackRabbot to walk behind. Or better yet, the newly announced JackRabbot 2.0 (with dual NVIDIA GPUs onboard). It’ll know what to do.

MORE POWER, LESS TOWER: AI MAY MAKE

AIRCRAFT CONTROL TOWERS OBSOLETE Airport control towers are an emblem of the aviation industry.

A Canadian company wants to use its technology to make them a relic of the past.

Airport buffs may mourn the change. But Ontario-based Searidge Technologies believes its reasoning is, um, well-grounded.

It believes AI-powered video systems can better watch runways, taxiways and gate areas. By “seeing” airport operations through as many as 200 cameras, there’s no need for the sightline towers give air traffic controllers.

That doesn’t mean air traffic controllers are going away. The

alternative Searidge proposes is a new concept made possible by remote towers. It’s not an easy idea to swallow for an industry that’s been reluctant to embrace change, and is sensitive to any perception safety is being compromised.

But the benefits are hard to deny, including reduced taxi and wait times, handling 15-30 percent more aircraft per hour and reducing the number of tarmac incidents.

“The industry is adapting, and often now puts air traffic controllers in regular buildings,” said Chris Thurow, head of research and development for Searidge. “It gives them a better view than they see out the tower.”

View of an airport from remote tower using Searidge technology.

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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

A Searidge Technologies control workstation.

Originally a Radar Alternative At first, Searidge focused on providing cheaper alternatives to expensive radar systems for tracking and identifying objects on airport runways and taxiways. The company’s earliest products used traditional computer vision algorithms that analyzed video feeds on CPUs. They met the demands on the system at the time, but that was more than a decade ago.

Since then, the resolution of video and need for real-time intelligence have both grown fast. CPUs can’t keep up with these resource-intensive features.

“Using GPU technology, we can offer this at a better price and with a significantly lower number of servers,” he said.

Searidge shifted to GPUs about two years ago. It also brought deep learning tools such as NVIDIA’s CUDA libraries, TensorRT deep learning inference optimizer, and the Caffe deep learning framework into the mix.

Then, as airports began to ask not only for coverage of runways and taxiways, but also tarmacs and gate areas, Searidge expanded the abilities of its technology.

The company started working on more advanced AI that could accommodate a wider range of business rules. This enabled it to detect a greater assortment of objects. It could even deduce when such objects might cause unexpected delays.

“We are still trying to find the limits of the technology,” Thurow said.

Trained with Pooled Airport Data Searidge has been training its deep learning network on workstations running NVIDIA Quadro P6000 GPUs. The system constantly collects imagery from the airports it serves to expand its training base. Training typically takes five to seven days, so the company has recently begun training on the GPU-powered

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Google Cloud to speed the process.

The company deploys its technology on workstations running Quadro P6000 GPUs to do positioning of targets, classification and stitching of images in real time for 20 HD cameras.

Once at a new airport, it annotates 24 hours of that facility’s normal operations and combines this with customer data from about three dozen airports in 20 countries — so its algorithms are always improving.

Searidge’s AI innovations are built on top of their “remote tower” platform. New control towers are no longer being built or renovated, Thurow said. Instead airports are moving air traffic control to ground facilities.

They’re even considering off-site locations. With AI added to remote towers, they offer high levels of situational awareness and air traffic controller support.

In some cases, he said, smaller airports are considering joining forces, allowing a single remote tower to manage more than one facility.

The European Union’s first certified medium-size, multi-runway remote tower recently opened in Budapest, Hungary, using Searidge’s technology. All tower controllers have been trained on the system, which is initially being used for contingency operations, live training and as a backup system.

By 2020, HungaroControl aims to operate a full-time remote tower at Budapest.

Eventually, Thurow believes further AI innovation will lead to a more fully functioning “AI assistant.” The assistant could help air traffic controllers by picking up things humans might miss, predicting situations and recognizing patterns.

“I expect AI assistants to come into play in the next five to ten years,” he said.

DEVELOPMENTS

Asia Manufacturing News

May 2018

NEW PRODUCTION PLANT IN SINGAPORE Silesia Flavours South East Asia Pte Ltd has opened a new production site in Singapore following a 15 months’ long construction period. To stay competitive and to meet the growing potential of the Asian market, the previous company domicile in Singapore consisting of laboratories and offices has been replaced with a brand new production plant and innovation center employing 65 people by now.

“With the shorter delivery times from Singapore we are able to further improve service levels to our customers in the South East Asian region”, explains Jorgen Hejl, Managing Director of Silesia Flavours South East Asia Pte Ltd. Population growth combined with a continued migration from rural to urban areas lead to changes in consumer behaviours, which present great growth opportunities for the flavour expert.

In the new 16,000m2 building Production, R&D, Flavour Application as well as Sales & Marketing are all under one roof.

“Singapore as manufacturing hub makes sense. We can supply every country in Asia fast and cost effectively from here. The city state also attracts by its political stability and clear rules and regulations”, stresses Hejl.

The production of liquid flavours is already up and running and the commissioning of the process equipment for powder flavours is ongoing. The new factory uses the same process equipment, which is used in Germany and this simplifies the production transfer. The Singapore plant will meet the same high hygiene standards as in Germany. In addition to the new plant in Singapore, Silesia also operates a production plant in Shanghai.

AURECON STRENGTHENS PRESENCE IN ASIA WITH CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR DIGITAL

As Asia’s appetite for more future-ready buildings and infrastructure expands, global engineering and infrastructure advisory company Aurecon aims to play a major role in the birth of new ideas to feed this hunger, through its new Singapore-based Regional Centre of Excellence for Digital Engineering.

Supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), Aurecon’s new Regional Centre of Excellence for Digital Engineering serves as an extension of the company’s Digital Futures team. This Centre is the first of its kind for Aurecon and is dedicated to solving client challenges with emerging digital technologies and alternative business models.

“The engineering and construction industry is not spared from digital disruption, which is changing the way we work and live.

The decision to extend the Digital Futures team into Asia was driven by increasing regional demand for digital transformation in the building and construction sector. Singapore’s strategic location places our new Centre of Excellence at the epicentre of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and within touching distance of North Asia,” said Paul Lombard, Managing Director, Middle East and Asia.

Aurecon will invest SGD3 million over the next three years and will focus on three areas: Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics; the Internet of Things; and Visualisation & Digital Collaboration.

Each area of focus will have a dedicated Digital Specialist in charge of consolidating ideas and lessons to support priorities such as urban mobility and infrastructure within Singapore. Once adopted locally, these ideas may then be exported to other parts of Asia, or even the world.

The launch of the Centre of Excellence in Singapore is an integral part of Aurecon’s near and long-term business goals in Asia. On the more immediate front, the Centre accelerates the development of digital engineering capabilities for Singapore and

the wider Asian market.

Building these capabilities in the heart of the Asian landscape will help the company strengthen its leadership position, while offering innovative and practical project support to developers.

Aurecon’s latest investment is aligned with Singapore’s Professional Services Industry Transformation Map, which looks to accelerate the development of innovative and exportable solutions from Singapore, to support regional infrastructure boom. which looks to accelerate the development of innovative and exportable solutions, from Singapore, to support regional infrastructure boom.

Headquartered in Singapore, the Centre of Excellence will be headed by Phil Lazarus, Digital Practice Leader, Asia.

To deliver tangible outcomes, Aurecon has identified four key competencies for development. The first is 3D collaborative design and BIM (Building Information Modelling) to support the coordination of construction projects. The second is based around enhancing personal and emotional connections using technologies such as virtual reality. The third is a proprietary design collaboration and project delivery portal called GeoDocs, that allows secure file access from anywhere.

The fourth is the Smart Centre, which aligns with Singapore’s Smart Nation vision and uses sensors to collect data from multiple points.

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THREE GAME-CHANGERS FOR THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN 2018 IoT being built into the product design, manufacturers adopting a more service-centric business model, and 3D-printing reaching the tipping point of realizing business benefits on a large scale. These are the three game-changing predictions that Antony Bourne, IFS Global Industry Director of Industrial and High-tech Manufacturing outlines for 2018.

1) By the end of 2018, over 50 percent of manufacturers will be building IoT technology into the design phase of their products In 2018, IoT will take a decisive step forward in its evolution.

If we once thought of IoT as a product’s nervous system, this year will see it grow from picking up signals at the periphery to being the brain of the product, constantly sending, receiving, growing and gathering information, from the center of the product throughout its lifetime, and in the process enabling new services and revenue streams.

Manufacturing is undoubtedly heavily impacted by IoT today.

According to Global Market Insights, IoT in the manufacturing market was valued at over US$ 20 billion in 2016 and will grow at

more than 20 percent up to 2024. Current IoT investments that are unique to the manufacturing environment are taking place in three major initiatives: • Smart manufacturing to increase production output, product quality, or operations and workforce Antony Bourne safety as well as lower resource consumption • Connected products to impact product performance, including collecting detailed information on products in the field, remote diagnostics and remote maintenance • Connected supply chains to increase visibility and coordination in the supply chain, tracking assets or inventory for more efficient supply chain execution We will see IoT included as a part of the design process in all three of these IoT initiatives. Manufacturers are realizing that by engineering IoT technology into products and equipment already in the design process, you can monitor not only the equipment’s performance to predict when it needs repair, but also how and when it is being used—which provides game-changing competitive advantages!

2) Servitisation speeds ahead: by 2020, most manufacturers will earn over half of their revenue from services With the manufacturing industry becoming more commoditized, the need to differentiate yourself is key to survival and profitability.

We now see that a large number of manufacturers are shifting Continued on Page 20

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PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE

PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE: SPEND A LITTLE TO SAVE A LOT

-Paolo Carnovale, Head of Industrial Product Marketing, RS Components

Spending money to save money doesn’t come easy to some. But in the case of predictive and preventative maintenance regimes – especially for high-capital assets – a relatively modest spend could potentially offset repair or lost-production costs that run into millions.

The problem with maintenance spend is that it is very hard to quantify its benefits if nothing actually goes wrong – accountants tend to like tangible figures as opposed to those generated by “what-if” scenarios. Couple this to budget competition from other disciplines and the job of justifying the expenditure becomes even harder.

As it is tough to define an “opportunity cost/loss” in terms of maintenance statistically, it is far easier to look at the issues simplistically by determining, for example, the cost of maintenance vs. the cost of repair/replacement and the expected life of a machine or asset vs. its extended service life.

In all cases, the cost of lost production, goodwill and customer confidence must also be factored in to this equation. Even with these simple analyses, the need to have maintenance as a strategic element of an operational plan, becomes very clear, but what is the next logical step?

For those with complex operations, the obvious route is the deployment of a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS), which will help remove much of the guesswork and workload by defining a strategy and timetable as well as the actual work to be undertaken on individual machines and assets.

More often than not, this type of proactive approach is combined with technological solutions that offer a real-time snapshot of machine health.

These solutions range from simple temperature sensors and vibration probes all the way up to bespoke, fully featured condition monitoring (CMS) software solutions. How they are selected, deployed and subsequently interrogated depends very much on the application.

In the case of electronic systems, most are “clever enough” to know when they are going wrong or are much easier to interrogate using intelligent systems, although cabinet-based components do need careful monitoring. Mechanical and electromechanical systems, on the other hand, tend to be more demanding and can fail in a much wider (and noisier) variety of ways.

In the majority of mechanical systems, wear is the primary culprit, resulting in (to name but a few) reduced tolerances, elevated heat levels, slower and jerkier movement and the inevitable loud squeal and grinding that foreshadows something going seriously wrong.

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The good news is, with proper servicing and regular observation, mechanical systems can easily match and even exceed the predicted overall life of the machine.

One of the primary predictive measurements in the case of wear is heat generation. Lubricant failure and additional friction almost always equate to elevated heat levels. In these cases simple, inexpensive temperature sensors come into their own.

One example would be the PN151 NFC Infrared Temperature Sensor from Calex. By mounting a sensor like this near potential wear points, operators can be quickly made aware of any issues that are normally preceded by elevated temperatures.

Another approach would be to use thermal-visualisation solutions, such as those offered by FLIR. These deliver a ‘heatmap’ in an easy-to-decipher format and are designed to highlight specific hotspots, delivering the means to target maintenance more precisely.

Wear is also normally accompanied by vibration, especially in rotating equipment.

Specialist vibration sensors exist, such as those from SKF, which can measure multiple frequencies in order to differentiate between normal and abnormal vibration.

Indeed, some sensors and their associated software can even highlight the potential failure mode by interrogating the frequencies being measured and comparing them against those generated by known failure modes.

Earlier, we mentioned maintenance as a strategic tool. With this and a longer-term view in mind, plant managers have to cater for the changing demographics of their workforce, from one that comprises a greater number of older, specifically skilled workers, who know their machines more intimately and can therefore interpret subtle wear signals, to a smaller, younger multi-skilled workforce who rarely build up the same level of technological relationships.

This younger workforce is also much more comfortable with digital solutions.

From a strategic operational perspective, maintenance expenditure should be seen as something that can increase overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), create faster return on investment (ROI), lower reactive repair costs, reduce secondary damage and contribute to increased or maintainable product quality.

These are the tangible benefits that have to be at the forefront of any expense justification; and with a modest expenditure potentially having a massive positive impact on virtually all strategic goals, it is very hard to create a cogent counterargument.

PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE

Asia Manufacturing News

May 2018

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

FOR MANUFACTURERS INVESTING IN IOT ANALYTICS

By John Duda, Vice-President of Global Solutions Engineering, Birst (an Infor company)

With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), industry has never had access to so much data. Among the possibilities of connected devices and artificial intelligence models, predictive maintenance is one of the most promising areas of development.

As we all know, plant and equipment downtime is costly, often causing delays in the production schedule and further delays in deliveries to demanding customers. In an era where market where product quality and customer service are critical to businesses’ survival, these are issues and costs manufacturers can’t afford anymore.

The recent massive compulsory car recall of some four million cars on Australia roads to protect drivers from exploding airbags is just one example of the impact a simple production default can have on an organisations’ bottom line and reputation.

Data-driven predictive maintenance has proven to increase equipment lifetime, improve plant safety, prevent costly waste, reduce energy consumption, and create stable assent performance.

But as companies rush to obtain IoT systems, they are making costly mistakes. It’s tempting to modernise right away, maintenance managers who do not establish a larger strategy to collect and leverage data will end up drowning in data they do not use, or miss opportunities to improve business efficiencies.

Here are six steps manufacturers need to establish an IoT predictive maintenance strategy:

1. Business Care The first step is to figure out where, why, and how the IoT predictive maintenance model fits into the organisation’s needs. It is essential to identify which questions the company expects this system to answer, what criteria it will be measuring, and the goals the organisation aims to meet.

By understanding which critical assets are likely to fail and when, and thinking about how this failure impacts personnel, operations, and production costs, it will be easier to understand what metrics the organisation needs to focus on and how data-driven decisions can be integrated within the constraints of existing maintenance practices.

2. EAM & Analytics The easiest and quickest way to create value is adding an analytics solution on top of an EAM (Enterprise Asset Management) solution. EAM systems are already accumulating a wealth of transactional data, which is usually not being fully leveraged for its potential. The reporting from an EAM solution is one dimensional, and while it might be enough to support day-to-day activities, these reports fall short in providing stakeholders with intelligence that draws attention to inefficiency, ineffectiveness, bottlenecks, and other risks in their maintenance operations.

Layering business analytics on top of the existing EAM data creates the opportunity to examine trends and establish meaningful insights for more accurate decision-making.

3. Identify Data Solutions Once EAM data is optimised, next step is to leverage additional data sources. Most equipment manufactured today has built-in sensors that provide real-time information to industrial control systems such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems or Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). For older equipment, there are simple ways to retrofit assets with sensors.

With so many potential data sources, maintenance managers can start small by identifying one or two assets to tackle initially and map out the remaining assets to prioritise down the road.

4. Collect & Model It is not necessary, or even advisable, to collect all sensor data in a single location. But what is crucial is that the data be modelled in a central location where it can be analysed, and where additional data sources can be brought in.

An ideal analytic solution should be adaptable enough to aggregate from all data sources, wherever the data lies, and model it in a central location where anyone can analyse it.

5. Analyse Data analysis is key as this is what will enable the definition of thresholds for asset performance and create models for failure patterns. This enables the creation of rules for condition monitoring of real-time data coming directly from machine sensors. From there, historical and third-party data such as reliability models and logs can be added on to create failure patterns that further refine rules and offer actionable insights in real time.

6. Operationalise Operationalise data analysis and start monitoring the streaming data assets against the defined performance threshold is the final step of any successful predictive maintenance strategy. The key here is to visualise the data to easily understand potential problem areas and accelerate preventive maintenance.

Dashboards can display assets and their health in intuitive ways such as in a map, list, or hierarchical view. This allows operators to see the status of individual assets for further analysis or information, such as sensor or meter data history or current operating condition.

Gathering a mountain of data, and hoping for it to suddenly turn into business insight is a common mistake. True predictive maintenance requires data to be consistently collected from the equipment sensors and analysed for possible patterns. It then can reveal actionable insights and be incorporated into normal operations.

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SPECIAL REPORT

TOP PRACTICES FOR A TOP

-PERFORMING PRODUCTION FLOOR The Australian manufacturing industry continues to face significant challenges that mean businesses need to find ways to evolve and outperform their competitors to remain viable.

Competition from overseas manufacturers with lower costs and a strong Australian dollar have put pressure on local businesses in recent years.

“However, there are signs the Australian manufacturing industry could be set for a comeback with manufacturing jobs increasing by 40,000 in the last 12 months. (1) This suggests Australian manufacturers have found new ways to compete and prove their relevance,” said Greg O’Loan, regional vice president, ANZ for Epicor Software.

The most successful manufacturers tend to concentrate their efforts in three key areas:

1. Production planning and scheduling Manufacturers must first plan what products need to be produced to satisfy existing orders, then when these products can be made. There are four ways manufacturers can maximise production: • Define existing capability for production: a realistic assessment of production capacity includes factors such as the availability of machine time, the flexibility of the various types of machines for different tasks, and the availability of skilled labour within the organisation.

• Improve accuracy of production scheduling: organisations must continuously refine both manufacturing processes and the time allocated to them.

This may be achieved by storing the load time (the amount of time it takes for production) for each job operation and recalling this to improve scheduling accuracy for future quotations as well as for actual production.

• Use technology to enhance production control: an accurate schedule should be available not only to those in production planning, but also to people on the shop floor who may be actively managing or producing products.

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system has these capabilities and is flexible enough to accommodate changes.

• Communicate the schedule to all stakeholders in the organisation: the availability of online schedules means that anyone connected to the manufacturing process has the accurate, up-to-date information they need to make good production decisions.

• Cloud-deployed ERP systems make key workflows easily available across the enterprise and the global supply chain.

Cloud deployment is the most effective way to bring accessibility and integration to most organisations, with only an internet-connected PC, tablet, or smartphone required.

production management process that can be optimised for better outcomes: • Stay on time: businesses must develop realistic production plans and schedules, then execute strictly according to those plans. The process of production should be the same whether the product calls for a single day or a week’s worth of production.

• Be proactive: managing any changes in production proactively will minimise the impact of changes on the overall schedule.

Businesses shouldn’t wait until the last minute to update schedules and notify customers regarding changes.

• Increase visibility: manufacturers need full visibility of the entire production process to manage it effectively. This means making the production schedule, materials management, current production operations, and quality assurance process available to everyone in the organisation according to job roles.

Senior executives in manufacturing should be able to see a live view of production output and costs such as energy and materials, to enable data-driven decision-making for executives through to the shop floor team. This capability should be built into the ERP system.

• Close the finished job: many manufacturers miss the opportunity to implement continuous process improvement.

The ability to compare expected costs and labour against actual results is critical to driving the organisation towards more efficient manufacturing processes.

3. Quality “Since Australian manufacturers tend not to be able to compete with overseas businesses on price, quality is an area where local businesses can excel. To deliver a high-quality product that commands a premium price, top-performing manufacturers must maintain a focus on quality throughout the production process,” said O’Loan.

They can do this by instilling quality principles throughout the organisation, including: • tracking quality incidents in a systematically and regularly, beginning with the production floor • identifying the root cause of a quality problem so that quality issues can be avoided in the future • making quality in the production cycle an organisational objective.

“While the Australian manufacturing industry is strong with plenty of potential for growth, businesses that don’t regularly review and improve their operations will fall by the wayside. By focusing on these three areas, manufacturers can increase their competitive capabilities, reduce costs, and streamline operations for increased efficiencies.

This positions these businesses for ongoing, sustainable growth,” concluded O’Loan.

Quality is an area where local businesses can excel.

2. Production management Managing production processes can help save time and money.

This is the part of the process where manufacturing businesses can gain efficiencies or increased quality for their products, which are key markets of competitiveness. There are four tasks in the

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Reference: (1) The Australia Institute Centre for Future Work: Manufacturing: A Moment of Opportunity. June 2017

Asia Manufacturing News

May 2018

www.10thousandtrees.com

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DEVELOPMENTS Continued from Page 14 to a more service-centric business model. The buzz word is “servitisation”.

Servitisation is a way for manufacturers to add capabilities to enhance their overall offering in addition to the product itself.

Apple, which did this a few years ago when it had gained the majority of market share with the iPod and introduced iTunes to increase loyalty, differentiated itself, and generated more revenue. You may think that it will never apply to your business, but companies are now reaping the benefits of servitisation across many different sub-segments.

For global furniture manufacturer Nowy Styl Group, servitisation has been crucial to its growth. Last year, its clarion call was, “for us, chairs are not enough”, starting a transformation from pure manufacturer to world-class office interior consulting company.

Another example is a manufacturer of cleaning products that started offering delivery and service dosing systems. The company understood that choosing the right cleaning products was just part of its customers’ main objective, i.e. keeping its premises hygienic.

Applying the products in the most effective way, choosing the right accessories, establishing the right routines— all these too were crucial to keeping premises clean.

Both these customers realized that with technology accelerating as fast as it is, no matter how beautifully designed a chair, or how effective a cleaning product, today’s luxury products turn into tomorrow’s commodities faster than ever, pulling prices down with them. Expert services built on years of experience provide a kind of value customers will always pay for, regardless of technology trends.

According to the IFS Digital Change Survey, conducted by the research and publishing company Raconteur, 68 percent of manufacturing companies claim that servitisation is either “well-established and is already paying dividends” or “in progress and is receiving appropriate executive attention and support”.

However, almost one in three manufacturing companies has yet to

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derive value from servitisation.

They are missing out on revenue streams and new ways to develop their offerings. To be successful in their response to customer needs and increasing demands, manufacturers must look to new business models to compress time to market, and taking an idea through from design to a saleable item as quickly as possible.

New technology like IoT adds an additional layer to servitisation.

With sensors detecting when your product or equipment needs service, this data can trigger an automated service action that will realize significant benefits to make your service organization more effective. This type of automated predictive maintenance will become more common as it is a natural next step after implementing IoT to optimize service efforts.

3) By 2019, the 3D printing print will be exhausted, with real benefits blooming Like IoT, 3D printing will enter a new, more mature phase. No matter how big the ‘wow’ factor is when we first see it, apart from smaller-scale manufacturing production like hearing aids and jewelry, 3D printing has so far failed to live up to its full potential.

All this could change in 2018, and refresh 3D printing with renewed momentum.

A couple of developments point in that direction. The first is the improved scalability of 3D printing solutions. A new generation of 3D printing companies is moving into manufacturing traditionally dominated by injection-molding manufacturers, with new, faster, better connected automated systems that reduce some of the time-consuming pre- and post-processing that has been such an obstacle to wide-scale uptake.

One company, Stratasys, has collaborated on a new printer, the Demonstrator, that combines three printers into a stack system— each printer able to communicate to its neighbors in real time. The new printer is highly scalable, meaning it can significantly increase production capacity, printing from 1,500–2,000 components a day. You can now achieve an economy of scale to bring costs down, an important catalyst for the success of the 3D printing technology.

The aviation industry is already pioneering 3D printing technology, and the manufacturing industry can learn from that effort. One successful example is the new GE turboprop ATP Engine, which was 35 percent 3D printed, taking it down from 855 components to 12 and contributing toward the engine being lighter, more compact, and delivering a 15 percent lower fuel burn and 10 percent higher cruise power compared with the competitors’ offerings.

The expanded capacity and reduction in pre- and post-processing that new, highly innovative mid-size 3D printing companies are bringing to the field mean that, in 2018, we will see manufacturing companies flying high with new 3D printing capabilities.

Asia Manufacturing News

May 2018

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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THE INTERVIEW

THE INTERVIEW: FARO

Spokesperson: CHEW Beow Kwan, Product Marketing Associate Manager, Asia Pacific, FARO Technologies Please tell us what BuildIT Construction is all about?

The BuildIT Construction software leverages on FARO’s cutting-edge 3D metrology capability. FARO is to first to offer this fully integrated building lifecycle Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) management tool empowering construction professionals to continuously evaluate projects with real time comparisons against CAD designs using 3D scan data.

The software from FARO uniquely enables laser scanner users to perform immediate, real-time build and verify analysis throughout the entire project, and facilitates a new level of cost management and operational efficiency.

BuildIT Construction can be fully integrated with 3D data collected from FARO Focus Laser Scanners, optimised for the FARO TracerM Laser Projector for placement and layout of structural components and is compatible with the FARO Laser Tracker for prefabricated modular positioning. It can also be used seamlessly with other third-party hardware.

Where do you see this software being used most?

Application areas that will benefit most from the BuildIT Construction software include Architecture, Civil Engineering/ Surveying, Construction, Facility Management, Historical Preservation, and Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP).

AEC professionals will find the software useful for: • Verifying accuracy of scan data to design models • Detecting incorrect placement or missing features such as walls, columns, beams, pipes, etc.

•⁃ Performing important measurements accurately and quickly •⁃ Inspecting construction for adherence to building standards • Verifying shifts and movements within structural performance over time with 4D analysis •⁃ Performing real time monitoring of adjacent structures throughout the project lifecycle

Is there a lot of construction underway across ASEAN? Prospects for construction in the ASEAN region is generally bright. According to the Global Construction 2030 Report , the ASEAN construction market is expected to exceed US$1 trillion by

2030, with growth predominantly driven by labor intensive light manufacturing industries moving to Asia’s emerging markets. The analysts also expect the construction sector of ASEAN members — Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam — to show growth rates of 6% per annum or higher, up till 2030.

BuildIT Construction can be fully integrated with 3D data.

What are the advantages for AEC professionals?

The software provides several advantages for AEC professionals and these include the acceleration of project timelines, minimization of waste, and an increased confidence in the measurements obtained. BuildIT Construction utilises complete digital 3D scans to quickly and easily perform construction QA/ QC analysis and reduces prolonged hours of manual validation to minutes. AEC professionals can also use the software to perform routine quality checks throughout the build process, to detect errors at every stage of the project lifecycle and reduce expensive scrap and rework. They can also conduct analysis using an established platform derived from 20 years of proven expertise in delivering best in class measurement solutions to the manufacturing industry.

Quality control appears to be a major factor with this software?

Yes, the BuildIT Construction software is all about improving the quality control process. Historically, the tolerance level for scrap and rework in the construction industry has been very high because it is considered part of the normal business. With the introduction of BuildIT, AEC professionals can now be empowered to make informed decisions throughout the build process and reduce the need for scrap and rework, improving the overall quality of the project altogether.

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Asia Manufacturing News

asiamanufacturingnewstoday.com

May 2018

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THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

THESE DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES ARE

DRIVING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY Increased transparency, new customer expectations and emerging technologies are disrupting traditional sources of competitiveness.

From mobile to machine learning, big data to blockchain, seemingly there’s no end to what technology can enable or improve.

As we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution, new technologies carry immense opportunities to transform the way we do business.

These technologies are driving new ways of creating value in a circular economy, for both emerging and established businesses alike.

Given the fragility of the linear economy, based on its reliance on finite natural resources for growth, and as we move ever closer to the brink of our planet’s boundaries, it seems companies with their heads in the clouds could be the key to unlocking the value in a regenerative, recycling economy.

Technology and sustainability Technological advancement has catalysed the development and implementation of circular business models, driving new processes, new communication channels and new operational efficiencies that enable the decoupling of resource use from economic growth across industries and on a global scale.

Digital, physical and biological technologies are quickly maturing and, in some cases, demonstrating exponential growth in their application and uptake.

While digital technologies are based on computer sciences, electronics and communication, physical technologies focus on the basic property of materials, energy, forces of nature and their interaction. Meanwhile, biological technologies are primarily based on the structure and function of living organisms, their systems or the derivatives thereof.

Together, this combination of technologies gives an injection of momentum to disrupt current industry models.

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Asia Manufacturing News

May 2018

Here’s a selection of leaders: 1. Rubicon Global (cloud, big data) Rubicon’s cloud-based, big-data platform connects waste producers with a network of independent waste haulers across 50 states in the US and Canada, as well as 18 additional countries. This enables higher diversion rates from landfill, creative reuse of waste material, optimised truck routes and the detailed analysis of waste data.

2. NCC (mobile) Through their open eco-system, Loop Rocks platform, NCC are allowing the inherently asset-heavy construction industry to become more resource efficient.

Their app makes waste from over 600 sites available to other companies at a reduced price, optimising the handling of waste and secondary masses in a smarter, cost-effective and more environmentally conscious manner.

3. Hello Tractor (machine-tomachine communication and mobile) Based in Nigeria, Hello Tractor uses mobile technology to enable over 250,000 small-hold farmers to obtain tractor services on demand, improving their food and income security. Furthermore, the tractors are fitted with M2M technology to share information on the vehicle and its efficiency, in turn maximising the utilisation, extending the tractor’s usable lifecycle, and increasing the value yielded from the machine.

4. Apple (robotics) Liam, Apple’s iPhone disassembly robot, has 29 arms and is capable of dismantling a discarded iPhone in 11 seconds, and separating its component parts into usable materials, capturing the value from previously discarded resources at an unprecedented rate. To date, Apple has captured 61 million pounds of material that

is reusable in future products, including 2,204 pounds of gold, to a value of $40 million.

5. gCycle (bio-based materials) Pioneers in the eco-friendly diaper industry, gCycle’s gDiaper is the world’s first certified cradle-to-cradle, 100% compostable, children’s diaper. By replacing oil-based plastic with non-GMO corn biofilm, gDiapers allow childcare centres to divert 80% of their waste stream from landfill.

Technology is central to enabling and driving value in the circular economy. The importance and role of it is recognised by the Circulars, the world’s premier circular economy award programme.

Apple’s robot, Liam, can split old iPhones into their components for reuse in 11 seconds.

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NEW PRODUCTS

VRICON PRECISION 3D REGISTRATION (P3DR) AVAILABLE Vricon unveiled the next in a series of GEOINT solutions — Vricon Precision 3D Registration (P3DR) — at the year’s GEOINT 2018 Symposium in Tampa, Fla. Vricon P3DR is a software suite designed to automatically georegister imagery, regardless of collection platform, against the most accurate 3D geospatial foundation available, The Globe in 3D. P3DR can be implemented as a real-time processing workflow for imagery feeds without the need for GPS location, heading information, or ground control points.

While we’ve always been able to perform georegistration of individual data sets using 3D models as an accurate foundation, Vricon P3DR takes this capability to a whole new level. Users now have multiple options for where and when they can automatically georegister their FMV or other imagery sources in real-time and at an enterprise scale.

Precisely locating geospatial data from different sources is a persistent challenge for the geospatial community. Imagery data is collected at different times, on different platforms, and with different look angles, sensor characteristics, and raw pointing accuracies.

High-off-nadir Full Motion Video (FMV) is particularly challenging, given the relatively narrow field of view, high resolution, and often poor initial pointing accuracy of the sensors.

All of these complexities yield data sets that are significantly misaligned with each other and the real world. The alignment is often off by tens or even hundreds of meters. As a result, users are unable to automatically correlate multi-sensor data, making it difficult to fully leverage collection assets on critical targets.

This also creates additional work for analysts, who spend hours

trying to align various image sources. Vricon P3DR software — enabled by Vricon’s Globe in 3D — provides a way to quickly and accurately georegister data anywhere on the globe.

Vricon P3DR provides critical accuracy enhancements to other ISR sources, enabling GEOINT data to be used to precisely direct resources to any specific location on the planet. Vricon P3DR software builds off Vricon’s industry-leading Globe in 3D to support analysts and warfighters with: • 0.5-meter resolution foundational 3D context • Absolute accuracy of 3 meters or better in all dimensions (x, y, and z) • Global coverage — even in denied areas Vricon products and services provide ready solutions for military, intelligence, telecommunications, and emergency response needs, to include: • GPS-denied navigation • Sensor fusion • Targeting • Situational awareness

DELIVERING ENTERPRISE ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION (RPA) Fujitsu Limited and Blue Prism Group PLC will be working closely together to deliver Blue Prism’s market leading Robotic Process Automation(RPA)(1) offering to enterprise clients across a wide range of industries.

With the acceleration of digital transformation in recent years, the use of RPA has drawn attention in the context of automating processes to achieve improvements in productivity and quality of service.

As Proof of Concept (PoC) and full-scale RPA deployments gain traction and wide scale adoption, Fujitsu and Blue Prism have agreed to collaborate to meet this demand.

Through this collaboration, the companies intend to support the creation of a framework for customers in Europe, North America, Japan and beyond to launch, operate and entrench, and grow their RPA-related activities.

They will do this by applying Fujitsu’s AI and other cutting-edge technologies to Blue Prism RPA software through joint planning, proposals, and proof of concept creation for solutions, building on Blue Prism’s proven record of delivering large-scale enterprise systems around the world.

Blue Prism was named one of MIT Tech Review’s 50 Smartest Companies for 2017, as well as being the winner of the 2017

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UK Tech awards. The company has also been recognized by Everest Research as an RPA market leader in their PEAK Matrix Assessment report in 2018. Billions of transactions and hundreds of millions of hours of work are executed on Blue Prism robots for renowned companies.

(1) Robotic process automation (RPA) Software can automate and improve the efficiency of white-collar processes, in particular, by substituting software robots for defined tasks that were previously done by people. It has also been called digital labour, because it can execute processes as a supplement to people.

Asia Manufacturing News

May 2018

FUJITSU RELEASES NEW VERSION OF BATTERY-FREE BEACON PULSARGUM Fujitsu has enhanced the features of Fujitsu IoT Solution Battery-free Beacon PulsarGum, The new version can be powered by one-tenth the light of the previous version. It is therefore easier to use in a wider range of locations, such as low-lit manufacturing facilities, the corridors of buildings, and distribution warehouses.

With the spread of the Internet-of-Things, there is increasing consideration of operational transformations through the deployment of IoT devices in a wide range of operations and industries.

One type of IoT device - a beacon - is being widely used because it is easy to deploy. When newly installing beacons in a customer’s work environment, however, securing a power source for each beacon and the time and effort required for installation were major issues.

Fujitsu has offered PulsarGum, a battery-free beacon that has been used on the front lines. It does not require batteries to be replaced because it runs on a solar cell, and it is also lightweight and easy to install.

It was envisioned that the previous version would be used near a source of light, but some customers said they wanted to use the beacons in places where lighting is more subdued, such as in manufacturing facilities, the corridors of buildings, and distribution warehouses.

The radio waves emitted by the PulsarGum battery-free beacon are received by devices, such as smartphones, for connection to Fujitsu Cloud Service K5 IoT Platform, a service platform for using IoT data.

The analysis of that data supports customer activities to improve

their operational front lines, enabling them to grasp the locations and flows of people and things, and thereby analyse their operations to improve productivity.

The solar cell in the beacon device has been miniaturised and made multi-layered, and its power source circuit has been improved, enabling stable operations in one-tenth the light of the previous version. As a result, the beacon can be used in a wider range of front-line settings, such as hallways, where lighting is subdued, or near outside lights at night.

Because protective features have been built in the circuits of the device, the beacon is able to run stably even when there is an excessive supply of power from direct exposure to sunlight. As a result, it can be attached without worry to outside structures or equipment.

Main Specifications Dimensions : W 19 x D 72 x H 3 mm Weight : Approx. 3 g Wireless frequency : 2.4 GHz Bluetooth Low Energy Operational illumination : 300 lux Transmission frequency : Once every 1.28 seconds(1) Wireless output : 1mW (transmission distance of

approx. 10 m) ID : ucode Water resistance : Equivalent to IPX-7

KONECRANES STRENGTHENS ITS BULK HANDLING PRESENCE IN JAPAN Konecranes Gottwald Model 4 Mobile Harbor Cranes handling bulk material. A similar crane will handle coal and coconut husk in the Japanese Port of Miike.

Konecranes is supplying an eco-efficient, diesel-electric Gottwald Model 4 Mobile Harbour Crane to Miike Port Logistics (MPL). MPL will begin to operate the crane – which was ordered via Chikuho Seisakusho Co., Ltd. (CS) – at the end of 2018 at its terminal in the Port of Miike. The machine will be dedicated to bulk handling, mainly of coal and coconut husk.

MPL has been operating a smaller Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor Crane since 2006. This crane has been handling different types of cargo, including bulk, with a motor grab. Miike’s new mobile harbor crane will replace an ageing bulk gantry crane.

Makoto Aso, President, CS, explains: “Bulk handling technology from Konecranes has proven to be very productive and reliable at many terminals around the world. MPL has been very impressed by the performance of their Konecranes cargo handling equipment to date. It was logical to opt for a Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor Crane in order to further expand our bulk handling activities.”

Holger Schauer, Regional Sales Manager, Konecranes Port

Solutions, says: “We are pleased that the fleet of Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor Cranes at Japanese terminals is growing. Since 2003, we have delivered one Model 2 and nine HMK 170 E mobile harbor cranes, the predecessor of Model 2, to nine terminals around the country.

The new crane will be the first Model 4 mobile harbor crane to be operated in Japan.”

The four-rope grab crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 95 tons, an outreach of up to 46 metres and a high-performance grab curve. To meet the special requirements in Japan, Konecranes will deliver the crane with an additional overload indicator.

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