APMEN Jan-Feb 2014

Market Outlook 2014 | Metalex & Manufacturing Indonesia Review | Thai Automotive Industry Special Report January - February 2014

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Singapore • Malaysia • Indonesia • India • Hong Kong • South China Thailand • Philippines • Vietnam • Taiwan • Australia • New Zealand • Middle East

Contents

18

Making the Cut 18 Progress In Milling Tools

Milling tools developed in recent times need to provide operational flexibility in order to machine increasingly complex components.

By Tapio Alatalo, Seco Tools

22

Turbine Blade Machining

High temperature alloys makes machining turbine blades more complicated and expensive, giving rise to the need of more creativity in terms of tool selection and milling strategies. Contributed By Andreas Elenz & Thomas Schaarschmidt, Walter Tübingen

Shop TALK 24

There’s No Time For Downtime As the economy recovers, manufacturers simply have no time to lose. By Craig Charlton, Epicor Software Asia

Design & Measurement 28 Made To Measure

As additive manufacturing takes centre stage, greater focus is placed on metrology solutions that are fast, precise, accurate, and cover both geometry and material aspects.

By Sherlyne Yong

2

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

January-February 2014

28 Fabricator's Note 32 Put A Stamp On Sheet Metal Processing

Augustine Quek looks at the technologies that are available in today’s world of stamping.

INDUSTRY FOCUS 36

Technology’s Pointing The Way Forward In Oil & Gas

With demands in the oil and gas industry becoming tougher, manufacturers have to adapt in order to stay competitive. This includes evolving into solutions providers, embracing technology, as well as working closely with industry partners as a whole.

By Sherlyne Yong

36

FEATURES 44

Making A Quick Turn To Success

The year 2014 is poised to be an exciting one for Mazak Singapore with the fruition of its facility expansion plans, new product offerings made in Singapore and the appointment of a new MD. By Joson Ng

48

It’s All About Solutions

Hakan Pfeiffer, head of sales and marketing of GF Machining Solutions, took time out to speak with APMEN on the company’s recent rebranding exercise and its activities in Asia.

By Joson Ng

52

APMEN Market Outlook 2014

The New Year is finally upon us and once again, it is time to get in touch with the leaders in the metalworking world to provide us with valuable insights and pointers on how the year 2014 will go from an economic and technological standpoint.

40

56

Marcos Rosenzvaig, oil & gas industry manager of Iscar gives us the latest cutting technology in the world of oil & gas.

Uli Kaiser is tipping the well-oiled Thai automotive bandwagon for future growth.

By Joson Ng

Right Tools For The Right Materials

Opinion: Thailand Automotive Industry To Grow

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Contents

January-February 2014

ASIA PACIFIC METALWORKING EQUIPMENT NEWS (M.E.N.) is published 8 issues per year by Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd 1100 Lower Delta Road EPL Building #02-05 Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 Fax: (65) 6379 2806.

58 COMPOSITE MATERIALS SPECIAL 58

Aerospace: Projecting A Faster Process

A projector system optimises production of CFRP parts for the aerospace industry. By Thomas Armbruster, LAP

60

Belotti Eyes Asia Market

Possessing machines suitable for machining composite materials and a healthy appetite for growth, a machine builder hopes to gain a larger share of the composite industry pie in Asia. By Joson Ng

62

Using Programming & Simulation To Develop Optimised Process For Fibre Placement

Productive automated composite lay-up machinery has become a reality. The technology has been driven by aerospace, but is transferring to other industries such as wind, automotive and even shipbuilding.

This article provides a general overview of the Automated Fibre Placement (AFP) process. By Bill Hasenjaeger, CGTech

Regulars 08 Business News 75 Product Finder 79 Exhibition Programmes 80A Product Enquiry Card 4

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

62

SUBSCRIPTION RATES: M.E.N. is available to readers on a per annum subscription basis depending on location: Singapore: S$60.00, Malaysia: S$60.00, Asia Pacific/America/Europe/ Others: S$100.00. Refer to the subscription card in each issue for further details. For change of address, please notify our Circulation Manager. For more subscription information Fax: (65) 6379 2806 Singapore E-mail: samanthatan@epl.com.sg

IMPORTANT NOTICE THE CIRCULATION OF THIS MAGAZINE IS AUDITED BY BPA WORLDWIDE. THE ADVERTISERS' ASSOCIATION RECOMMEND THAT ADVERTISERS SHOULD PLACE THEIR ADVERTISEMENTS ONLY IN AUDITED PUBLICATIONS

EVENTS & EXHIBITION 66 Metalex 2013

Like the previous editions, the 2013 installment of Metalex is a good place to gauge the pulse of manufacturing industries in the Southeast Asia region.

By Joson Ng

Indonesian Metalworking Industry: More To Come But Proceed With Caution In 2014

We dissect the Indonesian metalworking market with the help of three metal cutting machine and equipment builders.

By Joson Ng

SIMTech Annual Manufacturing Forum 2013

The forum gave participants a preview on what lies in store for the manufacturing arena. By Joson Ng

Event Preview: MTA Hanoi 2014

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For Advertiser's Enquiry Numbers

INDUSTRY Endorsements Singapore Precision Engineering and Tooling Association (SPETA) Federation of Asian Die & Mould Associations (FADMA)

Federation of Malaysian Foundry & Engineering Industry Associations

Indian Machine Tool Manufacturing Association (IMTMA)

China Machine Tool & Tool Builders' Association (CMTBA)

Machine Tool Club (MTC)

Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI)

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ENQUIRY NO 012

Editor’s Note Published by:

Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd (a fully owned subsidiary of Eastern Holdings Ltd)

Southeast Asia Continues To Excite

Reg No: 199908196C

managing director Kenneth Tan senior editor Joson Ng

in the company’s sales strategy for the years to come. Finally, Siemens PLM sees Southeast Asia as a bright spot on the map and believes that the manufacturing sector’s growth in the region is a good sign of things to come on a larger scale.

B e yo n d m e t a l wo rk i n g, t he economy of Southeast Asia is said to remain attractive to investors and growth is expected. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the economic outlook in emerging Asia, a region that includes Southeast Asia, will remain robust over the medium term and a steady rise in domestic demand is in the offing.

In the report titled ‘Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India 2014’, the Southeast Asian region will have growth at a pace which is comparable to the preglobal financial crisis. The report added that the real GDP growth rate in the region is projected to average 5.4 percent per annum between 2014 to 2018, against 5.5 percent between 2000 to 2007.

randyteo@epl.com.sg

sales manager Carrie Ho

Welcome to the first issue of the year.

While some of us will be looking back on 2013, the month of January is perhaps a good time for us to take a look at what the year 2014 holds for the metalworking community. In the spirit of looking ahead, we have gotten some of the bigwigs of the industry to tell us how they view the coming year in our special market outlook feature.

Judging from their responses, it looks set to be a year of growth for most of the metalworking segment.

To be specific, representatives from the CAM software, machine tool, PLM software, cutting tool and metrology fields all declared in unison that the region of Southeast Asia remains a vibrant economic zone.

For example, Delcam expects continued growth in 2014 in Southeast Asia, at a similar rate seen in 2013.

Hexagon Metrology believes more companies in Southeast Asia will invest in building automotive, heavy equipment and even electronics components such as disk drives.

Iscar regards Asia as a vital focus

josonng@epl.com.sg

business development manager Randy Teo

carrieho@epl.com.sg

editorial assistant Sharifah Zainon sharifah@epl.com.sg graphic designer Jef Pimentel jeffreypimentel@epl.com.sg circulation executive Samantha Tan

samanthatan@epl.com.sg

contributors Tapio Alatalo Craig Charlton Sherlyne Yong Augustine Quek Marcos Rosenzvaig Thomas Armbruster Bill Hasenjaeger Andreas Elenz Thomas Schaarschmidt board of consultants Wäinö A Kaarto AB Sandvik Coromant

Dr Moshe Goldberg ISCAR

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced in any form or means – graphic, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, taping, etc – without the written consent of the publisher. Opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers are not necessarily those of the publisher and editor.

Printed in Singapore by Fabulous Printers Pte Ltd MCI (P) No. 050/06/2013 PPS 840/09/2012 (022818) ISSN 0129/5519

Eastern HOLDINGS Ltd Executive Board

Joson Ng Senior Editor

chairman Stephen Tay group executive director Kenneth Tan executive director Lum Kum Kuen

etm

Eastern

Trade Media Pte Ltd an Eastern Holdings Ltd company

Head Office & Mailing Address: 1100 Lower Delta Road, EPL Building #02-05, Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379-2888 Fax: (65) 6379-2806

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asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

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Email: infosingapore@georgfischer.com www.gfms.com/sg ENQUIRY NO 015

Business News Autodesk To Acquire Delcam

San Rafael, US: Autodesk has announced its intention to acquire Delcam. On completion of the acquisition, which is likely to be in February, Delcam will become

8

a subsidiary of Autodesk. It will maintain its focus on accelerating the growth of its market share in the manufacturing sector, with the added strength that will

come from being part of a larger organisation.

Commenting on the planned acquisition, Carl Bass, president and CEO of Autodesk, said: “We are taking an important step on our path towards delivering a better ma nufacturing e x p e r i e n c e . To g e t h e r, Autodesk and Delcam will help further the development and implementation of technology for digital manufacturing.”

Clive Martell, CEO of Delcam, added: “I am very excited by the opportunities from combining Delcam with Autodesk to create a compelling platform from which to ser v ice both compa nie s’ ma nu factu r ing client s. T he added strength and status that we will gain from being part of the Autodesk Group will benefit our customers, our staff and our sales channel.”

Posco Begins Integrated Steelworks In Indonesia

TaeguTec Expands Advisor Program

South Korea: Posco has begun operations of Southeast Asia’s first integrated steelworks in Indonesia. This marked the first time in 40 years that the company is producing molten iron overseas.

Indonesia makes up a large market, with a population of 250 million, maintaining high, six percent average annual growth. The market has steel consumption potential, as 12.5 million tons of steel are necessary for economic growth. Currently, the country is mostly reliant on imports, with annual steel consumption per person at 50 kg, less than one-twentieth of that in South Korea.

By commencing operations of the Indonesia integrated steelworks, Posco plans to complete a steel belt spanning China-Vietnam-IndonesiaIndia to target the Southeast Asian market, and continue to grow as a global steel company.

The company's presence in Indonesia is represented by Krakatau Posco, which was jointly established by Posco and Indonesia’s staterun Krakatau Steel at a share ratio of seven to three, and boasts iron making, steelmaking, and steel plate production facilities. The company is capable of producing 1.8 million tons of slab and 1.2 million tons of steel plate.

The company plans to reach positive operating profits in 2014, its first year of operation, through market development and low-cost production technologies. The company will secure sales networks in the domestic market where prices are higher than exports, and sell 1.5 million tons of slab and 600,000 tons of steel plate in Indonesia.

Daewoo International will support overseas exports and domestic sales of the steel materials produced in Indonesia, as well as new resource development in Indonesia.

South Korea: The recently launched TaeguTec Tool Advisor (TTA) program has been expanded to include information about drilling and milling-shouldering programs with more on the way.

It is desig ned to suggest appropriate tools ba sed on work mater ia l, re quire d applications, machine rigidity and workpiece setup.

This system is a tool and can be used by customers, dealers, salespeople and technical engineers to find appropriate solutions for applications.

The resource is available for free at the company’s homepage and the company will soon launch milling-facing, milling-slotting, turning and T-Clamp programs.

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

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BusinessNews

National Instruments Set Up Academy In Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia: National Instruments (NI) and the Politeknik Negeri Jakarta (PNJ) have entered a strategic collaboration to set up the first LabView Academy in Indonesia. The partnership was formalised with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing.

A first for the company in Indonesia, the academy at PNJ is an authorised centre providing classroom curricula and hands-on exercises to train students and researchers on NI LabView system design software.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Indonesia, is heavily dependent on growth from industries such as mining and large-scale manufacturing, which require highly-skilled engineers and technical specialists.

“The objective of the academy at Politeknik Negeri Jakarta is to help develop capable, industry-ready future engineers. We look forward to a successful collaboration with PNJ,” said Goh Yih-Hsiung, ASEAN sales manager, National Instruments.

GF AgieCharmilles Is Now GF Machining Solutions

Switzerland: As of January 1, 2014, GF AgieCharmilles has become GF Machining Solutions. The name change underscores the fact that Georg Fischer AG (GF) is a unified company with three divisions.

The new name emphasises the division’s positioning as a global solutions provider. At the same time, the name change represents an opportunity for the division to communicate its role as an extension of its customers’ expertise and capacity, and conveys the company’s mission.

Along with the name change, customers will notice the gradual implementation of a new design style on the GF Machining Solutions website and sales literature. The new design is aimed at conveying diversity, unity and innovation.

What will not change are the terms of existing agreements with customers and the names of the division’s legal entities. Since the brands AgieCharmilles, Mikron, Step-Tec and System 3R have high value, the division will continue to use these names on the respective products. A new product naming system is in development and will be introduced in the first half of 2014.

LTA Awards Contracts For Rail System Worth S$757 Million Singapore: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) of Singapore has awarded two civil contracts, T208 and T212 with a total value of around S$757 million (US$607 million).

The scope of the contracts includes the construction of Springleaf station and its associated tunnels (T208) at a contract sum of S$383 million. Contract T212 for the construction of Upper Thomson station and its associated tunnels 10

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

has been awarded at a contract sum of S$374 million. Construction works for both contracts are expected to start by the first quarter of 2014.

These two Thomson Line stations are scheduled to be completed in 2020.

When completed, both stations will connect the northern and central parts of Singapore through North-South Line’s Woodlands interchange, Circle Line’s Caldecott

interchange and Downtown Line’s Stevens interchange to transport commuters to the rest of the rail network, bringing further convenience and connectivity to those working and residing in the Woodlands and Thomson areas.

With the award of contracts T208 and T212, a total of nine civil contracts have been awarded for the construction of Thomson Line at the total sum of S$2.65 billion. www.equipment-news.com

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Argentina _ Australia _ Belarus Rep. _ Belgium _ Brazil _ Chile _ China _ Croatia _ Czech Rep. _ Denmark _ Finland France _ Germany _ Greece _ Hungary _ India _ Indonesia _ Ireland _ Italy _ Japan _ Malaysia _ The Netherlands _ New Zealand Pakistan _ Philippines _ Poland _ Portugal _ Romania _ Russia _ Serbia _ Singapore _ Slovakia _ Slovenia South Africa _ Spain _ Sweden _ Taiwan _ Thailand _ Turkey _ Ukraine _ United Arab Emirates _ United Kingdom _ U.S.A. _ Vietnam

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BusinessNews

Tognum Asia To Expand Operations In Singapore

Singapore: Tognum Asia has held a groundbreaking ceremony announcing the construction of their enlarged Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore.

The premises will consolidate the areas of application engineering, sales and service support, distribution management, as well as marketing and communications under one roof. The move will enable the company to better serve its regional clients, by bringing together all business functions and over 300 staff members into one facility.

“2013 has been another hugely successful year for Tognum in Asia Pacific and keeps our strategy for sustained growth in the APAC region on track,” said Dr Michael Haidinger, chief sales officer, Tognum AG. “We recognise the uniqueness of this market and Tognum is well equipped to respond to these challenges. Grid instabilities in emerging Asian countries and the increasing need to secure power supply for critical applications like data centres will spur demand for emergency power and diesel gensets.

Additionally, environmental challenges will encourage cleaner and more efficient technologies such as gas fired generation systems.”

The facility has 24,800 sq m of floor space, covers a total of 1.75 hectares, and is located at the Tukang Innovation Park. The complex, designed to consume less energy and be more environmentally friendly, will include a training centre.

Larger Middle & Affluent Class In Vietnam & Myanmar J Ha, Geneva, US

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: The middle and affluent class will double in size in Vietnam and Myanmar between now and 12

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

2020, according to a publication b y T h e B o s to n C o n su l t i n g Group (BCG).

By 2020, there will be more

Heimatec Organises Its 2nd Asia Distributor Seminar

Bangkok, Thailand: Right after the Metalex fair in Thailand, Heimatec held its second annual A sia Distributor Seminar in Bangkok. The interactive event saw distributors from India, Ma laysia, Tha ila nd, Ta iwa n and Japan updated with latest technical developments and new products such as the HighSpeed Axial-/Radial, as well as the Heimatec Ultra-Light head.

Present were the company's president Martin Krieger, sales manager Andreas Meyele, regional manager Karl Moessmer, as well as country manager of Taiwan, Jun Liao. Apart from the technical updates, marketing tactics and strategical issues were discussed in detail as well. than 30 million middle class a nd a f f lue nt con su me r s i n Vietnam and about 10 million in Myanmar. “Companies that invest in Vietnam and Myanmar now have an opportunity to build busine sse s, bra nds, and momentum early in the development of these formerly closed economies — but only if they have a solid understanding of these markets' consumers and how to satisfy them,” said Douglas Jackson, a BCG partner ba sed in Ho Chi Minh Cit y and co-author of Vietnam and Myanmar: Southeast Asia’s New Growth Frontiers.

Vietnam has been on the upswing for 20 years, and that www.equipment-news.com

LEICA ABSOLUTE TRACKER AT402 AND B-PROBE Entry-level ultra-portable probing system The Leica B-Probe is a handheld and battery-powered point probing device made for the Leica Absolute Tracker AT402, Hexagon Metrology’s most portable laser tracker.

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Indonesia (Representative Office) Hexagon Metrology Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Tel: + 65 6463 6242 | Fax: + 65 6463 8030 contact.sg@hexagonmetrology.com

Singapore Hexagon Metrology Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Tel: +65 6463 6242 | Fax: +65 6463 8030 contact.sg@hexagonmetrology.com

Vietnam (Hanoi Representative Office) Hexagon Metrology Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Tel: +84 4 3936 7935 | Fax: +84 4 3936 8069 contact.vn@hexagonmetrology.com

Malaysia Hexagon Measurement Technologies Sdn. Bhd. Tel: +60 3 5632 8900 | Fax: +60 3 5632 8955 contact.my@hexagonmetrology.com

Thailand Hexagon Metrology (Thailand) Ltd. Tel: +66 2 361 3695 to 9 | Fax: +66 2 746 9607 contact.th@hexagonmetrology.com

Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh Representative Office) Hexagon Metrology Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Tel: +84 8 5445 6665 | Fax: +84 8 5445 6660 contact.vn@hexagonmetrology.com

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BusinessNews trajectory has steepened since 2007, when the country joined the World Trade Organization.

H o w e v e r, f e w V i e t n a m e s e consumers use banking products other than a savings account.

Only five percent own a credit card, for example.

M y a n m a r ’s e m e r g e n c e f rom e conom ic isolat ion is more recent and provides a

rare opening for companies to reach a small, undeveloped, but rapidly growing market. Only about one-quarter of consumers go on vacation and fewer than 4 out of 10 frequent restaurants.

“If Vietnam is a here-and-now opportunity, Myanmar is a more long-term play. The market is still developing, so there is time to learn and be focused in your

Singapore’s GDP Grew 4.4 Percent In The Q4 Of 2013

Singapore: The Singapore economy grew by 4.4 percent on a year-onyear basis in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to 5.9 percent in the previous quarter, based on advance estimates1.

For the whole of 2013, the economy is estimated to have grown by 3.7 percent. This is in line with the country's Ministry of Trade and Industry's (MTI) growth forecast of 3.5 to 4.0 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, the manufacturing sector grew by 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, lower than the 5.3 percent growth in the preceding quarter. The moderation in growth was mainly due to a sharper contraction in biomedical manufacturing output and a slower pace of growth in transport engineering output.

The construction sector grew by 4.7 percent on a year-on-year basis, moderating from the 5.8 percent growth in the previous quarter. The slowdown was primarily due to a moderation in the growth of private sector construction activities.

Note: The advance GDP estimates for the fourth quarter of 2013 are computed largely from data in the first two months of the quarter (ie: October and November 2013). They are intended as an early indication of the GDP growth in the quarter, and are subject to revision when more comprehensive data become available.

14

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

strategy,” said Tuomas Rinne, a BCG partner and co-author of the report.

The report also said consumers in these two Southeast Asian countries are among the most optimistic in the world — more optimistic than even their counterparts in China, India, Indonesia, and other fastgrowing emerging markets.

Korber Schleifring & United Grinding Technologies USA Re-Aligns Corporate Identity

Hannover, Germany: Korber Schleifring and United Grinding Technologies USA is now United Grinding Korber Solutions. This re-alignment of corporate identity is targeted to strengthen the group brand on an international scale and also to toughen the group’s image as a provider in hard fine machining.

The individual brands under the group are Magerle, Blohm, Jung, Studer, Schaudt, Mikrosa, Walter and Ewag.

In addition to the change in name, the group will also enhance its customer care services. Finally, the group has pledged to create added value and bring more success to their customers.

“From today onwards, we will be operating under a single family brand and no longer under two. Effective immediately, we will be called United Grinding," said Sa ndro Botta zzo, head of busine ss development & marketing. “We are the industry experts and want to enthuse customers with our solutions.” www.equipment-news.com

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Wenzel Asia Pte Ltd. 26 Boon Lay Way, #01-84 TRADEHUB 21, Singapore 609970 Tel : +65 6795-2327 Fax: +65 6795-4327 sales@wenzel-asia.com www.wenzel-group.com

ENQUIRY NO 016

BusinessNews

Industrial Machinery & Equipment Manufacturers Looking For Flexible ERP Dublin, US & London, UK: Leading Industrial Machinery and Equipment (IME) manufacturers will be on the lookout for flexible Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems over the next three years, according to an industry survey.

The survey revealed that most IME manufacturers find traditional ERP systems do not fully support their need for fast and timely access to information, or the need to further improve collaboration across business functions. In addition, nearly 40 percent of all IME manufacturers surveyed believe ERP is vital as the platform that connects the back office and front office

and streamlines business interaction with suppliers and customers.

These sentiments have led to the realisation of the importance of providing superior customer experience and engaging on deeper levels with their customer base, as it is the only way to get out of the dead-end of poor economic growth and low customer loyalty.

F ina lly, ne a rly 8 5 percent of la rge I M E organisations with 5,000 employees or more indicated that their ERP is a vital platform for delivering a good customer experience.

Machine Tool Demand In China To Grow Steadily

2017. Sustained plans to expand durable goods production, facility renovations, and new product innovation in all markets will continue to stimulate growth.

Machine tool demand in the electrical and electronics market is also expected to expand near the average rate through 2017, benefiting from strong increases in fixed investment in the home appliance and power generating equipment industries. Machine tool demand in the primary and fabricated metal market will be spurred by continued expenditures in construction projects.

Another driver for the growth can be attributed to the transition to more environmentally friendly machines. Analyst Linda Li says: “Increasing regulations regarding energy conservation will lead to growth in demand for energyefficient machine tools.”

Looking forward, China will continue to see its trade deficit in machine tools expand for the foreseeable future. Imports are expected to reach CNY184 billion in 2017.

Foreig n suppliers w ill continue to benefit from growing demand for the precise and sophisticated machine tools needed to manufacture advanced machines. In addition, decreases in tariffs on imported machine tools will also drive sales of imported products through 2017.

Martin Boulanger, Lyon, France

China: Demand for machine tools in China is forecast to increase 9.2 percent per annum to CNY600 billion (US$99.1 billion) in 2017 according to an international business research company.

A study from the Freedonia Group said that gains will be stimulated by healthy growth in the industrial machiner y and transportation equipment industries. A continuing shift in the product mix towards highervalue product types such as machining centres, CNC machine tools, and multitasking machine tools will help drive market gains in value terms.

Metal cutting machine tools will continue to be the largest product segment in 2017, benefiting from their relatively wider range of applications in durable goods production and a comparatively 16

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

greater variety of metal cutting product ty pes. In addition, growing demand for highlyadvanced and comprehensive meta l cut t in g mach ine s — especially for machining centres and multitasking machines — will further boost product sales.

Demand for metal forming equipment is forecast to advance 9.7 percent per annum through 2017, benefiting from strong growth anticipated in the motor vehicle, shipbuilding, aerospace, and power transmission and distribution industries.

The industrial machinery and transportation equipment markets have the largest impact on overall machine tool sales, as they accounted for over 60 percent of all demand in 2012. Gains in these two markets are forecast to be near the market average through

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ENQUIRY NO 217

Making The Cut

Progress

In Milling Tools Milling tools developed in recent times need to provide operational flexibility in order to machine increasingly complex components. By Tapio Alatalo, global product manager (Square Shoulder/ Helical Milling), Seco Tools

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s manufacturers i n t ro d u c e p ro d u c t s w it h grea ter functionality and efficiency, the components that make up the products become more complicated and difficult to manufacture. In addition to featuring complex contours and tighter tolerances, the parts are often made of high-performance materials that provide strength and reliability but negatively affect machinability.

Toolmakers continuously develop new tools engineered to maximise machining efficiency.

P ro g re s s i n m i l l i n g c u t t e r technology is one example of this effort. Solid carbide cutters have traditionally provided high metal removal rates and excellent accuracy. However, the one-piece nature of the cutters necessitates that they be reground when worn. Changing tools for regrinding interrupts production and consumes time and money.

Applying a reground cutter requires changing NC program parameters, and producing a different part contour may mean choosing a different cutter with a more appropriate tooth geometry.

As a cost-efficient alternative

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to solid cutters, toolmakers have developed milling cutters with indexable, replaceable inserts.

When cutting edges wear, inserts are simply indexed or rotated.

Worn out inserts can be quickly replaced with the tool body still in the machine, and different insert geometries can be fitted to the same cutter body to create a variety of contours.

Negative Vs Positive The geometries of indexable inserts have evolved as well. Many indexable inserts have cutting edges on both top and bottom sides. Turning such a doublesided insert over after indexing doubles the number of available cutting edges. However, the design of double-sided inserts does not include space behind the cutting edge for a clearance angle, and thereby does not permit the tools to be applied in a positive-rake approach.

In a positive rake tool, the bulk of the insert body is tilted back from the cutting edge, enabling the edge to shear the workpiece material. On the other hand, in a negative-rake tool, the bulk of the insert body tilts toward the workpiece and the tool essentially

pushes the material being cut.

Because of its design, the cutting edge of a double-sided insert must approach the workpiece from a negative angle.

Negative-rake cutting tools do offer certain benefits. They are strong; they can withstand heavy chip loads and cutting forces, and thereby handle rough milling, interrupted cuts and tough, abrasive workpiece materials such as cast iron. The availability of multiple cutting edges results in tool cost savings that can make double-sided negative inserts an economical choice in simple 2-D milling of easy-to-machine workpiece materials.

However, because negative rake tools push the work material instead of shearing it, they generate high cutting forces and heat. If the machine tool’s power is lacking or if the entire machining system is not sufficiently rigid, final accuracy will suffer. The cutting forces generated by a negative-rake tool, for example, can distort a thin-walled part.

Conversely, a positive-rake tool is free cutting, which minimises cutting pressure, and often can cut tight contours that a negative tool cannot reach. Positive insert www.equipment-news.com

Makingthecut Positive and negative rake tools

Positive Rake Angle geometries provide a large degree of flexibility to perform a variety of operations, including slotting, contouring, helical interpolation and ramping. The tools can help stabilise machining on older and/ or less rigid machines, where minimising cutting forces is crucial when machining tough materials such as titanium, Inconel, and many stainless steels.

One-Sided Inserts To provide indexable inserts that can cut in the positive mode, tool manufacturers offer onesided inserts with clearance angles behind the cutting edges.

Although the inserts cannot be turned over, they can be rotated in the holder, providing multiple useful cutting edges.

The free cutting nature of positive-rake tools reduces cutting forces and heat generated in the cut, which enhances tool life. That is important because a one-sided insert must have three times more tool life per edge to be cost effective, compared with doublesided inserts.

Engineered Geometries Beyond the basic distinction between positive and negative www.equipment-news.com

Negative Rake Angle cutting edges, tool manufacturers have developed a variety of edge treatments aimed at maximising productivity in different workpiece materials. For example, sharp, uncoated polished edges work well in softer materials such as free-machining aluminium alloys.

For more difficult-to-machine materials such as steels, cast iron, or stainless steels, honing or chamfering the tool edge is necessary to protect it from chipping. Inserts engineered to machine cast irons, for example, often feature edge treatments including both a negative chamfer and an edge hone in the order of 30 to 35 microns. Inconel and titanium, on the other hand, require a freer-cutting geometry with no chamfer and an edge hone in the range of 20 to 25 microns.

Grades & Coatings M u c h o f a c u t t i n g t o o l ’s performance is determined by combining substrate characteristics with wear-resistant coatings. Inser t substrates generally strike a balance between toughness and hardness. A tough grade has impact resistance to handle interrupted cuts, certain difficult workpiece materials, and

less-than-rigid machining setups.

Wear-resistant grades, on the other hand, have the hardness required to machine abrasive workpiece materials.

Coatings are intended to further fine-tune tool performance by providing additional resistance to wear and heat. Basic coatings include general-purpose materials such as TiN (titanium nitride), which is cost-efficient and good for ferrous metal applications not involving high levels of heat.

A more advanced coating material is AlTiN (aluminium titanium nitride). It is more expensive than basic coatings but possesses good resistance to high temperatures, making it excellent for use in challenging applications such as milling of titanium, nickelbased alloys, and cast irons.

In some situations, the coating’s high heat resistance makes dry machining possible.

Each tooling manufacturer develops its own variations on basic coating concepts; in Seco’s Duratomic coating, for example, the atomic structure of the aluminium oxide outer layer is controlled to maximise surface smoothness, tool life, and high speed capability.

Jan-Feb 2014 asia pacific metalworking equipment news

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Makingthecut

The free cutting nature of tools reduces cutting forces and heat generated in the cut, which enhances tool life.

Square Shoulder & Helical Cutters Milling cutters are generally configured to handle specific machining situations. Square shoulder cutters, with a single row of inserts located radially around the cutter periphery, are appropriate where axial cutting depths are less than the length of a single insert’s cutting edge.

For greater depths of cut, helical cutters, with staggered rows of inserts arranged axially, can be used for slotting, pocketing and ramping as well as circular milling and helical interpolation.

A milling cutter’s pitch, or the spacing between the inserts it holds, will influence its performance.

Coarse pitch (large spacing) cutters are appropriate when machine power and rigidity are limited, or when the cutter is mounted on a long extension or applied in a deep axial cut. Fine pitch cutters, on the other hand, provide maximum metal removal rates when used in rigid setups on powerful machines.

If machine power and rigidity are lacking, aggressive application of a fine-pitched cutter can result in vibration.

Increasing Accuracy In regard to accuracy, solid carbide 20

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tools generally have less runout than indexable tools and normally can achieve a better surface finish.

As such, in many situations, it is appropriate to rough and semifinish with an indexable inserted cutter and create the final surface finish with a solid endmill.

On the other hand, some cutter bodies feature precision-ground pockets to minimise mismatch between insert levels and thereby boost machining accuracy as well as tool life.

Correct Application Advanced tools must be applied correctly to take full advantage of their increased capabilities. A typical case of application error is the use of an incorrect grade, such as employing a hard, wearresistant substrate in a cut where a tough, impact-resistant tool would be more appropriate.

However, the most common error in the application of advanced milling tools is the use of cutting parameters that do not fully exploit the tools’ performance potential.

Many users run the advanced tool at the same parameters they employed for the lesser tools they replaced, often using too slow of a cutting feed, speed, or both.

The key to productivity is to machine more aggressively. For some tools, it is necessary to increase the speed, while other geometries require increased feed rates. Users should be sure to consult the cutting data that toolmakers provide when they introduce new products.

Continuing Progress Many industries, especially aerospace, power generation and defence, are developing new products that feature complex, high-precision components and utilise new workpiece materials that are more difficult to machine.

More and more parts will feature contours that demand five-axis machining technology, and some components that formerly were assembled from separate parts will be machined as a unit.

Those trends will further spur development of new milling tool technologies. Free cutting, high-performance tools that can machine exotic alloys with low cutting forces and high accuracy will be increasingly in demand.

The evolution of milling tooling will continue unabated.

Enquiry No. 1001 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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ENQUIRY NO 108

Makingthecut

Turbine Blade Machining High temperature alloys make machining turbine blades more complicated and expensive, giving rise to the need for more creativity in terms of tool selection and milling strategies. Contributed by Andreas Elenz & Thomas Schaarschmidt, Walter Tübingen

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lade machining has its fair share of idiosyncrasies.

While problems usually stem from the software or the machinery used during the milling of the required blade curvature, the main challenge these days is the blade material.

A wide range of materials may be required to equip a turbine with blades, opening up the different possibilities in terms of tools and strategies.

High temperatures are present in the high-pressure area, meaning that high-temperature materials are in particular demand. However, cast irons or titanium alloys are also used in the low pressure area.

In this area, it is not the temperatures but the centrifugal force that determines the material; other differences occur because of the type of blades. For example, rotating rotor blades are subjected to different types of stress than those of stationary guide blades, which is the reason why the materials vary.

As stated above, the greatest focus is on the high-pressure area of the blades. In order to increase the efficiency of their machines, the system designers are allowing for increasingly high input temperatures. For machine operators, this development means higher manufacturing costs for blades and related components.

Because extreme temperatures

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re q u i re s p e c i a l m a t e r i a l s , conventional ferritic, martensitic or austenitic turbine steels are often insufficient, making nickelbased high-temperature alloys necessary. The increased use of these difficult-to-cut materials leads to significantly longer machine operating times. The best way of keeping costs down is to use optimised tools with maximum performance.

Optimised Tools Whereas some low-pressure blades are forged or cast, the majority of other blades (particularly mediumand high-pressure blades) are created by milling from a solid block on special machines with highly dynamic axes. Between 60 to 85 percent of the block material is machined away.

Thomas Schaarschmidt, business development energy team leader and the person responsible for turbine blade machining technology says: “The preferred cutters for roughing are initially copy mills with round inserts such as our type F2334R, which has been optimised for blade machining.”

The R stands for reinforced design. A main feature of this type of cutter is its high level of stability and therefore process reliability, and the fact that it is capable of five-axis machining. “These tools,” he continues, “take care of 70 to 80 percent of the entire machining

process, resulting in the majority of metal removal occuring in the turbine blade area.”

Simultaneous milling using five axes is now the standard, because it means that the best possible geometry and cutting force relationships can be established in any orientation; it is also possible to get close to the required finish contour during the roughing stage.

When the blade has been completely roughed out, semifinishing of the blade is usually the next step. A typical tool for semifinishing is a shoulder mill with large corner radius or a tangential shoulder mill, both cutter types having the ability to leave a surface for fine finishing. Ball nose cutters such as the exchangeable insert type or solid carbide ball nose mills and conical ball nose copy mills then take care of the machining of the transitional radii.

Blade root finishing is usually a task for milling cutters with inserts with a large number of cutting edges. Since good surfaces are required at this stage of machining, the machine operators replace the cutting edges even if the slightest amount of wear is present. Ideal tools for this are special octagon cutters, for example.

Finishing the turbine blade is an extremely important process. The type of surface and the curvature of the blade ultimately determine the flow characteristics and therefore www.equipment-news.com

Makingthecut

Simultaneous milling using five axes is now the standard (for machining medium and high-pressure blades), because it means that the best possible geometry and cutting force relationships can be established in any orientation its efficiency. “Two concepts for this are available from Walter,” explains Mr Schaarschmidt. “(They are) milling with conventional solid carbide end mills and milling with our modular ConeFit system with solid carbide changeable heads.

We use standard or special cutters depending on the application.” The special versions have a greater number of teeth, eg: 10 teeth on a 16 mm diameter cutter. This means high feed rates and therefore good cost efficiency are possible.

Ceramics Have The Edge Walter collaborates closely with the Institute for Production Engineering (IfP) at the University of Applied Sciences in Zwickau, Germany, in developing tools and suitable machining strategies for the different materials.

Turbine blade machining is one of the institute’s core competencies.

The blade specialist reveals that only ceramic cutting material has achieved maximum performance in the machining of the more frequently occurring high temperature alloys.

Ceramics are a component in an overall concept. Cutters with ceramic indexable inserts take care of the roughing operations, ie: the lion’s share of the machining, and cutters utilising carbide carry out the semi-finishing and finishing work operations. With the current state of technology, ceramics are only suitable for roughing.

Tools for other processes are also under development. www.equipment-news.com

These also include all-ceramic end mills. “It will be possible to make additional significant machining time reductions when ceramic tools for prefinishing and finishing are available,” predicts Lucas Günther, research assistant at the IfP. However, this development is totally dependent upon the turbine manufacturers. The extent to which ceramics can be introduced as a finishing material depends on the amount of heat that is introduced into the material. If excessive temperatures occur, they may change the surface structure in a non-permissible way. The manufacturer’s requirements and the possibilities from the point of view of machining are initially two undefined variables.

Back to what is currently feasible, the high cutting performance of ceramics is based on special cutting material characteristics.

This includes extremely high hardness of up to 3,000 HV10 (carbide: up to maximum 2,500 HV10), high temperature resistance of approximately 1,100 deg C (carbide: maximum 1,000 deg C), a low friction coefficient and low adhesion wear.

However, these beneficial properties can only be utilised if several conditions are met. It all depends on stable clamping of the workpiece and low tool projection length. The machine must be designed for spindle speeds of about 15,000 to 30,000 rpm in order to be able to use the relevant strategies with high

Cutter bodies for ceramic button inserts

cutting speeds. It should also be equipped with an extraction system and encapsulated guideways because of the ceramic particles that are produced.

In the meantime, the IfP has tested both grades in optimised cutter bodies and developed appropriate machining strategies.

According to Walter, the optimum cutting data for the WIS10 cutting material is a cutting speed of vc = 1,000 m/min with feed per tooth fz = 0.1 to 0.4 mm and infeed depths of ap = 1 to 2 mm.

“It is extremely important to determine which cutting data and machining strategies are suitable for the type of cutting material,” explains Mr Schaarschmidt, “our customers therefore always receive a complete package consisting of tool and know-how.”

As well as the strategies, the design of the tool body is another way of fine-tuning performance, continues the expert. For example, an important detail is the clamping of the indexable inserts. He estimates that about 30 percent of the performance of a ceramic mill is based on having an optimised tool body.

Enquiry No. 1002 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

Jan-Feb 2014 asia pacific metalworking equipment news

23

Shop Talk

There’s No Time For

Downtime

As the economy recovers, manufacturers simply have no time to lose. By Craig Charlton, senior VP & GM, Asia Pacific, Epicor Software Asia

downtime can cost thousands of dollars per minute, reducing unplanned and operational downtime can yield great results.

In addition to financial savings, reducing changeover time and operational downtime leads to proportional increases in manufacturing capacity. Best practices implemented on a single line can often be transferred to similar lines, multiplying the impact and creating even more needed capacity.

• Wipe out minor stops. Minor stops are short hesitations and stops that are usually less than five minutes. They are short enough to be ‘unnoticed’, but long enough to have a significant impact on line performance and capacity. Minor stops can add up to significant loss, especially if you do not have visibility into the frequency, duration, and reasons for them.

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s the manufacturing sector continues to recover, the focus of operations is changing.

The economic upturn has brought an end to low volume and harsh rationalisation. Volume has suddenly shot up for many manufacturers, and now they face a problem much different from cost cutting, ie: how to meet increasing demand after a long period of resource slashing and little or no investment in productivity?

Historically, businesses did one of two things to meet new demand: build capacity with capital investment or outsource.

But there is a third option that is far less cost-prohibitive and more

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sustainable: meet demand with better utilisation of assets on hand.

This involves eliminating loss — random and chronic — to free up resources and capacity.

To do this, manufacturers need accurate, real-time manufacturing information so they can uncover and prioritise production problems and create new capacity using the same resources they already have.

Boosting Capacity A recent Epicor whitepaper lays out a four-step process to boost capacity: • Stop unplanned and operational downtime. In a world where reliability is key and unplanned

• Eliminate production variability and quality loss. Quality loss and rejected product has a double impact: material and labour. A standard Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) calculation includes a production reject as a lost opportunity for production, w h i c h i m p a c t s c a p a c i t y.

Therefore, when calculating OEE, consider the cost of both material and labour.

• Establish improvement priorities in a financial context. Not all downtime is equal. Applying cost information to downtime analysis may reveal a new perspective: the cost of downtime. A cost-ofdowntime analysis can be used to establish priorities with a financial context. Moreover, a probability of success analysis across loss categories will prepare operations professionals to prioritise efforts and achieve sustainable improvements. www.equipment-news.com

ShopTalk

MES can be used to reduce waste, inventory and downtime in order to optimise equipment, capital and worker resources.

Capping Inefficiency With MES This can be further illustrated by manufacturers such as Australia’s Caps & Closures — a company that utilise technology to enhance the four-step process.

The company has grown fairly quickly over the past few years and now deals with global markets. They understood that in order to handle the expansion, a centralised solution was required to review and obtain information such as variations in cycle times and scrap rates in real-time. As such, the company decided to implement the Mattec MES (Manufacturing Execution System).

The solution collects production data directly from equipment and allows operators on the shop floor to enter other data using touch screen technology in real-time, eliminating inaccurate and time-consuming manual data collection.

With real-time information and alerts, the system helped the manufacturer pinpoint critical issues, reduce waste and improve www.equipment-news.com

quality and customer services.

“Our injection moulders and assembly machines are connected to the system which then records each pulse from each machine measuring cycle time, calculating the number of units produced, downtime and OEE. From a planting point of view, the solution is critical to ensure that we meet our customers’ lead time expectations and provide that extra level of service,” said Robert McArthur, GM of Caps & Closures.

He also commented that the deployment of the system has also helped to plan their jobs better, minimise tool changes and run jobs for longer periods.

Much more than OEE, MES also helps with real strategies for improvement. It can be used to reduce waste, inventory and downtime in order to optimise equipment, capital and worker resources. At the end of the day, MES drives performance.

Injecting A New Monitoring Solution But what if you already have a

production monitoring system i n p l a c e ? S t o p t h e re f o r a moment, it might be worthwhile to reevaluate if the solution is reaping the benefits that it should and not impeding your production process.

Some pitfalls that a traditional production monitoring system can bring include insufficient reaction to machine downtime, no integration with existing ERP system, limited real-time reporting capabilities and limited network accessibility which resulted in limited availability to users to key in data.

These weaknesses were the driving force behind a global injection moulding company’s search for a new production and process monitoring solution.

“We were concerned about the vendor’s sustainability, given the size of the existing user base and the number of new users they were bringing in,” says Steve Boeder, director of operations at the Vollrath Dane Facility.

“That seemed to impact product enhancements because Jan-Feb 2014 asia pacific metalworking equipment news

25

ShopTalk Overview of a MES

Planning and Scheduling Monitoring, Data, and Communications

Production Optimisation

Visibility, Reporting, and Analysis

Energy Management

Quality Management Maintenance Management

they had become few and far between. We also had no process monitoring capability. We had paid for that module as part of an upgrade, but we just couldn’t get the functionality to work.”

As such, Vollrath concluded that the new production monitoring system has to fulfill the following criteria : • Real-time processing alerts • Comprehensive Statistical Process Control (SPC) • A quality system module • Easy-to-use Machine Interface Units (MIUs) for the employees on the floor.

Upon much evaluation, they decided to choose Mattec MES as the solution fulfills the above requirements. The system provides them with real-time production monitoring to capture downtime reasons, reject reasons and reject quantities. Real-time 26

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

reporting is available to users on the network, improving accessibility to key information.

The greatest influence on improved uptime at the company has been the use of the alerting and voice paging system of the MES. “We use manual alerts for paging the necessary resources, like maintenance staff, quality staff, super visors and first responders to a machine. We also have automatic alerts based on cycle times. If the MES finds that a machine is running out of cycle, these key alerts let the technicians know that something needs to be changed.

The voice paging and alerting system has had the most impact on our ability to improve uptime,” says Mr Boeder. “Prior to the software installation, our uptime (of our planned run time) was at 79 percent. As we implemented and rolled out the MES in the middle of the year, it rose to about 81 percent. By the next year that number was 90 percent.

This year-to-date we’re averaging

91 percent uptime. That’s just from the alerting capability, which allows us to get the right personnel over to the affected machine immediately.”

By minimising down machine response times through the realtime voice paging and alerting functionality of the MES, the company has steadily improved OEE to 87 percent, and uptime to 91 percent. Real-time reporting has improved accessibility to key information to the people who need it.

To s u m i t u p , t h e b e s t way to create capacity is to scrutinise line performance with manufacturing intelligence applications that monitor and analyse manufacturing processes accurately, and in real time. These applications provide crucial information to help find the capacity needed, without costly investments for new machinery, additional labour, or contract manufacturing.

Enquiry No. 1101 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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ENQUIRY NO 007

U.S. Navy photo by Greg Vojtko: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavy/5751710509/

Design & Measurement

W

hile much of the hype in manufacturing is often attributed to breakthroughs in materials, machining technology or tools, industrial metrology plays a quieter but equally pivotal role in driving developments.

Without it, manufacturers are hard pressed to produce components that fit perfectly in the complex jigsaw puzzle-like assembly processes of today. To put it simply, it is essential for quality assurance.

For starters, sectors like aerospace, oil & gas, automotive and medical technology all require a strict adherence to tolerances for safety reasons.

This focus has been amplified as parts and processes increase in sophistication and complexity, resulting in a demand for greater precision and accuracy. External drivers, such as the tight labour market, have also driven the ease of use factor in tools.

In addition to existing demands, technological developments in each verticals are also bringing their own set of challenges. Some

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MadeTo Measure As additive manufacturing takes centre stage, greater focus is placed on metrology solutions that are fast, precise, accurate, and cover both geometry and material aspects. By Sherlyne Yong of the main challenges include catering to the rise of additive manufacturing, measuring large parts in the aerospace industry and the increasingly stringent s t a n d a rd s i n t h e m e d i c a l technology sector.

Driven By Additive Manufacturing There has been an explosion of additive manufacturing in recent years, particularly in the areas of rapid prototyping and reverse engineering. Boeing is already using 3D printing to produce more than 20,000 military aircraft parts, while GE Aviation has announced its plans to produce more than 100,000 components for its LEAP and GE9X jet engines using additive manufacturing by 2020.

A c c o rd i n g t o a G a r t n e r forecast of the consumer and enterprise 3D printer (3DP) market, worldwide shipments of 3DPs priced less than US$100,000 will grow 49 percent in 2013 to reach a total of 56,507 units.

That number is expected to further increase in 2014, growing

75 percent to 98,065 units, followed by a near doubling of unit shipments in 2015.

“Companies that do rapid p ro t o t y p i n g a p p re c i a t e 3 D printing, because it positively impacts their product design process by way of two ver y important factors — time and confidentiality.

With 3D printing, designers are able to manufacture a mockup quickly for analysis and evaluation, and it eliminates the need for model fabrication at an external vendor’s facility, both of which are attractive attributes,” explained Quah Beng Chieh, head of marketing at Faro Asia Pacific.

This in turn, has resulted in the demand for 3D laser scanning capabilities, which is used to digitise components for additive manufacturing and allows checks to be performed on the prototype, thereby closing the loop in the 3D process. It is also essential in helping suppliers to compete for speed and attain a shorter time to market.

For this reason, GE has signed an agreement with Sigma Labs to www.equipment-news.com

Design&Measurement advance in-process inspection technologies for its additive manufactured components. The focus is to verify the quality and geometry of components during the additive building process, which may ultimately ramp production speeds up by 25 percent.

As additive manufacturing continues its boom, Mr Quah is optimistic about metrology’s role in this area. “In 2014, we believe that non-contact optical measurement technology will likely continue to gain more ground,” he said. Such technology includes laser scanners, white light scanners and video systems.

Laser Scanners The main purpose of a 3D s c a n n e r i s t o c a p t u re t h e geometry of physical objects by collecting large amounts of surface data in a point cloud, which is then used to construct digital 3D models. Extremely useful in contamination-critical e n v i ro n m e n t s , n o n - c o n t a c t measurement tends to edge out traditional methods in terms of speed and precision.

These are benefits that are shared among all non-contact measurement tools, but that is not to say that differences do not exist. Laser scanners alone come in a plethora of options, which widens exponentially when other types of systems are included.

Nonetheless, laser scanners are by far the equipment of choice in 3D scanning.

A laser scanner collects data by scanning a single point of illumination (either a spot or a line) across the workpiece in the X, Y and Z directions, where the signals are then passed back to a detector.

Depending on the focal range required, this can either be triangulation-based, structured light, time-of-flight or phase-shift www.equipment-news.com

Measurement tools like portable arms offer greater flexibility

3D scanners. For short ranges with a focal distance of less than one metre, triangulation and structured light scanners would be the most suitable.

Triangulation based scanners operate by using a sensor (eg: a camera) to locate a laser line or dot that is shone onto the object. Meanwhile, structured light scanners work on a similar principle, but instead of a single point, patterned light is projected onto the object and the deformation of the pattern is measured.

Among the two, the former offers more portability and flexibility — it is available as an area scanner, handheld scanner and as a portable arm.

Less preparation for the part is needed and it is also less sensitive to ambient light. When paired with passive, visible light sensors, surface textures and colours can be captured to create a full 3D model as well.

However, they have a lower resolution and higher noise, and are generally less accurate.

Due to its ability to scan multiple points or the entire field of view at once, structured light scanners generate profiles that are much more precise than laser triangulation, often with a higher resolution and lower noise. It also reduces the problem of distortion from motion. Nonetheless, it is more sensitive to surface finish and is limited to only area scanner types.

Meanwhile, pulse-based (timeof-flight) scanners serve as a better option for mid to long range applications. These scanners get their measurements by calculating the time it takes for the laser light to be reflected back.

A similar alternative is a phase-shift system. It works on the same principle, but also modulates the power of the beam.

In turn, the scanner compares the phase of the laser that is sent out and returned. This option is faster and more accurate, but is only suitable for medium range applications, unlike pulse-based systems whose range spans between 2 to 1,000 m.

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U.S. Army RDECOM, Maryland, US: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdecom/7944784012

Design&Measurement

Reverse engineering and rapid prototyping have driven the demand for 3D laser scanners

Surface Metrology Tools Apart from 3D laser scanners, other types of non-contact measurement used for surface metrology include interferometry, video systems, as well as autocollimators.

A n i n t e r f e ro m e t e r u s e s the effect of interference for calculations; it generally starts with an input beam that is split into two using a beam splitter, before recombining the beams on another beam splitter and measuring the power of the resulting beam.

Depending on the type of interferometer, as the use of light sources and beam splitters differs, this technology can resolve minute differences in surface characteristics to the nanometre scale. This is particularly useful for applications where surface finish is of utmost importance.

Meanwhile, video measuring obtains accurate dimensions by comparing and contrasting the relationship between surface edges and features after magnifying 30

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

the images. This technique can generate rich information and is mostly used for measuring the size and shapes of work pieces.

One of the best options for the precise angular adjustments of components is the autocollimator.

It combines both the collimator and the telescope by using a single objective lens, and separates both beam paths by using a beam splitter. Measurement results are also independent from the distance to the object due to the collimated beam.

This can be automated by replacing the eyepiece with a digital camera with discrete sensor pixels, thereby enabling PC assisted measurement and eliminating the need for a skilled operator. Automated versions generally provide greater accuracy and repeatability since it is not dependent on the operators’ expertise. By eliminating operator error, sample throughput is increased.

In addition, it provides flexibility and convenience to the

measurement of large parts as well, which has traditionally been a cumbersome process. “Large parts are best measured by laser trackers because they provide high accuracy, portability and a large measuring volume,” said Mr Quah.

As large parts tend to be bulky and heavy, portability serves as a boon because it eliminates the need to move parts to a measuring room. “With a large measuring range, users also do not have to worry about fitting the part onto a measuring table,” he added.

Influences On Material Properties A c c o rd i n g t o D r X u J i a n , principal research engineer II at the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), the top two needs in additive manufacturing are rapid modelling of solid objects for reverse engineering, and 3D internal and external dimensional measurement for quality assurance.

Despite an emphasis on geometry repeatability, part to part repeatability of material properties is equally important and contributes to an integral part of inspection processes.

One way to go about this is obtaining internal dimensional measurements to detect residual stresses that may have been caused by microstr uctural changes, transitions in phases and thermal issues.

For instance, warping occurs due to temperature differences between the material deposition point and its surrounding areas.

This is an issue commonly seen in systems that build components one layer at a time. In laser beam systems, this problem is exacerbated as the surrounding material is not heated. However, warping is not the only byproduct of poor thermal gradients, as it affects residual stresses and porosity as well. www.equipment-news.com

Design&Measurement This has led to the push for in-process measurements that measure temperatures across the printing surface as the component is being built. Not only will it enable intelligent path planning so that thermal gradients can be reduced, it also allows a layer to layer approach so that greater control can be held over the workpiece.

U s i n g re a l t i m e s e n s o r s and a closed loop control, this approach can be used to reduce droplet size variability and rectify mistakes made in earlier layers. Some of the possibilities include using infrared cameras and high-speed measurements of droplet size.

Subsurface Measurements Especially for additive manufactured parts that are used in sensitive applications like medical technology or aerospace, it is integral to ensure that the part has favourable internal stresses.

Some manufacturers have circumvented this problem by making parts with an extra stock envelope. Others have resorted to non-destruction methods like neutron imaging, thermal imaging and x-ray CT systems to test and ensure that internal measurements are up to scratch.

B o t h n e u t ro n a n d x - r a y imaging are non-destructive techniques that are based on measuring attenuating properties of the imaged object. While x-rays are attenuated based on the material’s density, neutrons are attenuated according to material types, which either absorb or scatter neutrons.

Because of its impartiality to density, neutron imaging tends to be more comprehensive.

Depending on the material, it can penetrate up to several centimetres to non-destructively measure residual strains and www.equipment-news.com

U.S. Navy photo by Greg Vojtko: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavy/6211711684

Non-contact measurement offers greater speed and precision over traditional methods

stresses. Another benefit of neutron imaging is that neutrons are allowed to pass through many commonly used metals, which might make it a better alternative for checking metal components.

Yet, x-ray imaging is not without its merits. According to Dr Xu, “subsurface/internal structure 3D inspection using x-ray CT” is one of the current developments in 3D inspection.

He and his team at SIMTech are using high energy x-ray CT systems to reconstruct 3D internal structure of objects, with a maximum penetration length equivalent to 70 mm of steel or 250 mm of aluminium.

This focus on non-destructive methods is credited to the growing need for automated inspection, and the measurement of parts/ surfaces dimensions, defects in composite structures, as well as the structure integrity of remanufactured items.

At the end of the day however, there is no single best inspection equipment or process. Choosing

the right tools and approach depends on the context of each scenario. “In order to choose the most suitable measurement system, users should consider their needs for measuring range/ volume, accuracy/precision (tolerance levels), portability, as well as total costs involved (eg: cost of device, dedicated measuring room, foot print of equipment, maintenance, etc),” said Mr Quah.

As with everything else in life, the key is attaining the right balance for each specific set of needs. For inspection in additive manufacturing, this could mean turning to surface metrology for geometr y inspection, implementing inprocess measurements, using nondestructive radiographic systems for internal dimensions, or simply dabbling in all of the above. The exact configuration does not matter, what does is reaching the end goal of quality assurance.

Enquiry No. 1201 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Fabricator's Note

M

odern metal stamping presses are versatile systems. They can perform a variety of operations on a single machine, including bending, blanking, piercing, coining, four slide forming, piercing, notching, flanging and many others.

The types of metal-stamping presses used however, depend on the nature of the stamping work to be done. Metal stamping presses can be categorised according to the drive mechanism, like mechanical, hydraulic, and servo. They can also be classified by press frame construction.

Whether it is gap-frame, c-frame, or straight side, they are based on certain important characteristics of the press.

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Put A Stamp On Sheet Metal Processing Augustine Quek looks at the technologies that are available in today’s world of stamping.

Go Faster With Mechanical Press Most mechanical presses use flywheel drives, driven by motors, to store energy that is then transferred to ram motion.

Because flywheels expend energy with each down stroke of the ram, they slow down. The motor then restores the energy to the flywheel in time for the

beginning of the next stampingpress cycle.

Mechanical presses are known for their speed. With this capability, many operators use mechanical presses for high-volume metal stamping applications where parts are flat and do not have high depth. While this may seem like a limitation, compared to its hydraulic press counterparts, www.equipment-news.com

Fabricator'sNote speeds of above 1,000 strokes/ min make up for this. Finally, the stroke range of mechanical presses is typically short.

More Control With Hydraulic Presses Hydraulic presses differ from mechanical drives by depending on the pressure of hydraulic fluid in cylinders to provide force to the ram. These presses, by controlling the pressure, allow the pressing force to be controlled (up to the full force if need be, throughout the motion of the ram) as the part is formed.

Force is an impor tant consideration for hydraulic presses because force control in the vertical motion, ie: throughout the stroke length, can affect the effects of forming. It is said that hydraulic presses are relatively easier to maintain due to better hydraulic system designs and they incur lower energy costs for users.

Mechanical + Hydraulic Presses = Servo Presses?

A relative newcomer in the world of stamping are the servo presses.

These presses use servo drives, a control device that outputs electrical signals to a servomotor to induce motion, while providing adjustments for deviation from the set state.

These presses arguably combine the advantages of mechanical and hydraulic presses as they have the capability to control the press’ stroke length and velocity.

According to Schuler, a press technology solutions provider, the advantages of these presses are higher efficiency, better component quality, better flexibility due to adaptable slide movements, superior energy ef ficiency compared to conventional presses, and maximum process reliability.

Stamping The Dynamic Way Schuler has its own ServoDirect technology. The use of dynamic www.equipment-news.com

While hydraulic and mechanical presses are common, there is increasing usage for servo presses.

torque motors permits the s t r a i g h t f o r w a rd a n d r a p i d programming of different movement profiles in one press cycle.

Oscillating stroke mode permits user-programmable slide stroke heights. The reversing movement of the torque motor means that the eccentric drive of the slide has an oscillating motion and alternates between moving forward in one stroke and backward in the next stroke.

Energy accumulators can be used as an option in order to reduce the connected load.

For frame construction, stamping presses generally conform to two basic designs: gapframe or straight side. Gap-frame presses, also known as c-frame presses because of their shape, are connected from bottom to top at one location, behind the work

area. These presses feature lower capacities and typically perform as stand-alone machines, often manually fed.

Straight side presses are supported on each side of their rectangular footprint, and given their robust construction, they are less susceptible to deflection arising from off-centre loading than gap-frame presses.

Such deflections can occur when stresses drive the ram out of its normal, parallel condition.

Due to their beefed-up framework, straight side presses offer high capacities and often operate in press lines, either teamed with other straight side presses or outfitted with ancillary equipment.

Energy Efficiency M e t a l s t a m p p re s s e s h a v e improved rapidly in features Jan-Feb 2014 asia pacific metalworking equipment news

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Fabricator'sNote

Did you know?

Sheet-metal stamping star ted playing a prominent role in the early 20th century, especially in the production of motor-vehicle bodies. By the 1970s, other variants have emerged, one of them is hot stamping, also popular with automotive manufacturers. The technology was developed to make metal parts stronger yet lighter.

six axes articulation robots, visions sensors and cameras.

A Fanuc R-2000iA can be used to destack blanks utilising modular tooling suction cups and double blank analysers while a different R-2000iA equipped with a Fanuc robotics 2D camera, locates and picks up a blank from a gauge table and loads the part into the draw press. Inter press robots transfer parts down the press line through the final press and onto a conveyor belt.

Many press brakes manufacturers are now playing the energy efficient tune.

and functionality. One of those improvements that manufacturers like to shout about usually involves energy efficiency.

For example, the Evolution series of press brakes from Ermaksan is touted as an energy efficient machine that uses energy only while it is bending. It is a fast operating press brake using servo motors and efficient pumps that are quieter than most presses at 63 db and is TÜV-SÜD certified.

It can achieve an accuracy of between +/- 0,01 mm. Other improved features include longer system and pump lifespan due to better quality components and smart running technology. These press brakes are also said to use 65 percent less energy than a standard press brake, with no oil change needed for five years.

Automated Stamping Automation of stamp pressing 34

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has also become the norm, as the competition for ever increasing productivity and speed escalates throughout the industry. New processes such as hot stamping have also made automation necessary. For example, special care must be taken when unloading the part from the press due to high temperatures inside the die after hot stamping. Manual operations are either inefficient or impossible.

One possible solution can be found in ABB robots, where multiple IRB 6650S and IRB 7600 robots are dedicated to load the oven, depending on press rates. By means of a battery of destacking tables and destacking robots, up to three or four parts run through the oven and are loaded into the press.

Another example is the Fanuc stamping press to press transfer system. The system incorporates various Fanuc technology, including

Looking Ahead Metal stamping has undergone a period of change resulting in something that is radically different from the traditional way of stamping. A process that requires no physical force, electrohydraulic forming is a method of stamping, which the action of an electrical discharge on water is transmitted to the workpiece.

When that happens, the workpiece is deformed and takes on the shape of an evacuated die.

Deformation is due to ‘shock waves’ in the rapid evaporation of fluid.

Metal stamping operations are the mainstay of any manufacturing line. With customers demanding higher precision, shorter timelines and greater product variation, improved flexibility and shorter time-to-markets are needed. Press manufacturers have responded, and press technology has evolved to serve these diverse needs.

Enquiry No. 1301 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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ENQUIRY NO 008

IndustryFocus

Technology’s Pointing

The

Way Forward In Oil & Gas With demands in the oil and gas industry becoming tougher, manufacturers have to adapt in order to stay competitive.

This includes evolving into solutions providers, embracing technology, as well as working closely with industry partners as a whole. By Sherlyne Yong

B

reaking a single chopstick is easy, but it becomes considerably tougher when a few of them are bundled together. Like the message in this principle that most people in Asia grew up with, the main takeaway from DMG Mori’s Open House is that unity is strength.

H e l d i n S i n g a p o re f ro m December 3 - 6, 2013, the fourday event strongly reiterated the themes of close communication and collaboration. This was made evident with the participation of industry partners, tooling suppliers and material suppliers.

Through the use of live demonstrations and seminars, the participants provided solutions for various industries, one of which being oil & gas.

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“We focus very strongly on oil & gas, that’s why we have an oil & gas day here and we brought colleagues from all over,” said Dr Christian Braun, MD of DMG Mori Seki (SEA). He explained that apart from the US and Europe, the company’s third biggest footprint is in Southeast Asia, especially in Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

While markets like Thailand and Indonesia are dominated by the automotive industry, it is the oil & gas and aerospace industries that drive the company’s business in this part of Southeast Asia.

Unsurprisingly then, Dr Braun has confidently projected growth for the oil & gas sector in 2014 to be at least 20 percent. “For the overall market, we expect a growth for the next year, and especially for oil and gas,” he said.

His optimism is attributed to the strong investments and expansion of international OEMs as well as the supplier industry for OEMs here in Southeast Asia.

He said: “Not only will Singapore be the hub here, but we also see significant development in all markets around, like Malaysia, which is a key driver behind Singapore.” He also expects strong developments in Vietnam, and believes that along with the US, Middle East and Europe, Singapore as well as Southeast Asia will be the major hub for oil and gas in the future.

Demanding For More Despite the positive prognosis of the industry, it is undeniable that today’s customers are demanding more. “I’ll tell you one thing about the oil and gas market — as fast as it can go up in more work that you can do, it can equally go down as fast,” said Roger Atkins, VP of Sales & Marketing at MIC Group, a contract manufacturer headquartered in Texas, US. He explained that trends in the sector are driven by the trinity of quality, delivery and price. Quality is no longer fixed, but subject to the individual needs to each customers. The industry is seeing an emergence of customisation where each buyer has a very specific set of requirements for their materials (eg: the extent of heat treatment).

To top it off, there is a lower acceptance of deviations when it comes to the adherence of tolerances, which — contrary to what some might think — are as tight as those in the aerospace industr y. Greater part stability and reliability is required as the industry heads toward the use of parts for deeper, subsea activities.

According to Dr Braun, the growth areas for manufacturing are mainly for cutting tougher materials, which as many know, www.equipment-news.com

IndustryFocus is harder to machine. Yet, the general consensus dictates that coming close no longer makes the cut; it has to be correct.

The same applies for delivery, which according to Mr Atkins, has to be on time at least 95 to 98 percent of the time. Suppliers are expected to deliver lower lead times without forecast in the face of unknown industry fluctuations. On time delivery has evolved from a preference to an expectation, especially in Asian markets where higher expectations for punctuality exist.

As a result of the quest for 100 percent quality and delivery, metrics requirement is at an all time high. Documentation plays a growing role along the entire supply chain, starting from raw material right up to ser vices. Ever ything needs to be documented for greater accountability and transparency.

Documentation errors are as critical as machining errors and making a good part is no longer sufficient. In light of various disasters within the industry, traceability measures have proven to be a crucial tool for protecting the credibility of an organisation.

Embracing Challenges Further muddling the already c o m p l e x e n v i ro n m e n t a re c h a l l e n g e s t h a t s p a n f ro m technology and labour to secondar y equipment and industry demand.

Labour shortage is a perennial issue that is seen across all industries in manufacturing. With an ageing population becoming more prominent throughout the world, job shops are hard pressed to find replacements with the skills and expertise required in the oil and gas industry — people who are, and will be able to train, the workers of tomorrow.

Shops and firms across the manufacturing sector are all competing for the same workforce, www.equipment-news.com

Roger Atkins (L) with Dr Christian Braun at the event

which inadvertently leads to higher costs. In addition, the lack of sufficient skilled workers also mean that time as well as money has to be funneled into training.

Apart from nailing the right employees, it is also crucial to have the right secondary support.

“Those kinds of secondar y services are very important.

The increase in requirements that are going down from us manufacturers, those same requirements are going down to the secondary suppliers. The same stringent requirements are moving down on them,” said Mr Atkins. As a result, suppliers have to overcome challenges that include varying raw material specifications, tooling availability and knowledge too.

While seemingly small at first glance, these issues have a substantial incremental effect on overall cost efficiency and productivity. Throw in tougher industry demands into the mix, and manufacturers are inevitably in for a tougher time ahead. With these challenges, how can they lower costs and increase their competitiveness?

The answer lies in technology.”

Key Technologies “For every trend, for everything that the oil and gas market is

challenged with, technology is the answer,” said Mr Atkins. For instance, the labour issue, made worse with higher globalisation and outsourcing, has left companies with little choice but to do more with less people. More specifically, engaging in new technologies in the areas of multi-tasking machines, tooling and work holding, and machine inspection among others have helped companies regain their competitiveness.

Take the trend of multi-tasking machines, where more can be achieved without needing to increase the number of operators.

For instance, two machines may now be manned by a single skilled operator. Another configuration could include pairing two operators, one skilled and the other unskilled, for three machines, where training and production could be implemented simultaneously.

This not only saves time and ups productivity, but eliminates workforce issues.

In Singapore’s context, these types of machines are particularly useful as the labour crunch has been exacerbated by the restrictions on foreign labour.

Having machines do most of the work also resolves the challenge of unskilled labour, as reduced human intervention results in less room for error.

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IndustryFocus

Live demonstrations showed how the machines handle difficult materials like Inconel

To tackle this problem, among others, Dr Braun has revealed that one of the company’s main aims is to have the fastest and easiest process from the idea phase right up to finished parts.

“Our biggest target for future R&D is to develop the idea of easy manufacturing,” he said.

This includes the integration of U and W axes into various machine types, as well as the creation of an intuitive user interface.

In particular, the latter was realised with the launch of CELOS, an operating system that provides operators with ease of use. Speaking on the motivation behind this development, he said: “The discussion is always how to find the workforce, so you must always go in the direction where it is easier to operate the machine.”

Inspired by today’s smartphones, the system utilises visuals to provide easy instructions and the management of data. According to Dr Braun, this is the future of shop floor control as it interrelates all the different departments, be it externally through the internet or connecting it directly to other facilities.

Nonetheless, having the right technology is far from sufficient.

Instead, “the future is partnering with people we trust,” said Mr Atkins.

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From Machines To Solutions Being a manufacturer of good machines is no longer enough as today’s customers seek solutions to their problems. Being a solutions provider, however, requires collaboration.

Technology is moving far too quickly for anyone to successfully keep up by themselves. The prudent decision then is to partner others and work out recommendations and other challenges as a team. “This is the only way to win in the oil and gas market,” warned Mr Atkins.

Echoing the importance of collaboration, Dr Braun said that the possibility of improvement always exists, and close communication — a core tenet of the company’s philosophy — is the key to achieving it. “What we are establishing with our partners is a continuous exchange of ideas, networking to bring together people in open houses like this, to continuously discuss, and to learn from each other,” he added.

At the most basic level, the aim of the organisation is to provide customers with close support. This means offering the best engineering solutions with turnkey projects, test cuts, and time studies to help customers achieve their requirements. The goal is to lower cost per part, produce better output results,

better quality, and ultimately, to improve the manufacturing process at the site itself.

Whether customer requirements can be fulfilled depends strongly on how closely machine tool makers and their suppliers work together.

As a result, the company maintains a regular exchange with its partners (eg: suppliers, employees and customers) to plan on how to further develop cooperation and customer projects.

The after effect of these sessions have led to customised solutions, where for instance, the company followed on a customer’s idea and added a hydraulic clamp and steady rest to the workpiece table, resulting in greater flexibility among the axes and greater workpiece accessibility.

At the end of the day, staying competitive in the fast moving oil and gas industry requires manufacturers to evolve into solution providers. Customers need resolutions to complex and often specific problems, and the only way to achieve this on a constant basis in the long run is through collaboration with industry partners — establishing regular exchanges, a mutual reliance on each other’s expertise, and a shared focus on delivering what the customer needs.

Enquiry No. 1401 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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ENQUIRY NO 009

Industry Focus

Right Tools For The Right Materials Marcos Rosenzvaig, oil & gas industry manager of Iscar gives us an update on the latest cutting technology in the world of oil & gas.

T

he world’s energy demand has increased dramatically throughout modern history and today, the energy consumption is about 25 times the amount used 200 years ago.

According to recent demographic research, the global population is expected to reach nine billion by 2050, an increase of approximately 25 percent compared to today’s population levels.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that an unprecedented level of investment — US$1.6 trillion per year on average — will be necessary to meet energy demand through 2035. Large investments in R&D

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and manufacturing technology are crucial to maintain a long term competitive advantage.

Going Deeper Exploration and Production companies, known as E&P c o m p a n i e s , a re d r i v e n b y continuous demand from international governments and are very much focused on the exploration of deep-water and ultra-deep water reservoirs. These deep and ultra-deep water projects continue to push technology to the edge. Potential investors and multinational energy companies foresee a long term investments in the upstream sector.

Deep waters are among the most important and challenging exploration and production frontiers today, the success of which offers a unique opportunity for adding significantly to the world’s oil reserves. As the exploration expands to deeper waters, they reveal ever more technically and economically challenging environments, with minimal local support infrastructure.

Going deeper into the sea means unprecedented technological challenges. The equipment involved in this hostile environment must be carefully designed using advanced technology and modern engineering.

The Exotic Venture According to Iscar’s cutting tool engineers, there is a fast growing demand for machining exotic materials, such as stainless steel, duplex and super-duplex, Inconel and titanium.

These exotic and expensive materials are widely utilised in offshore projects due to their m e c h a n i c a l a n d c o r ro s i o n resistant properties in most acidalkaline solutions, and chlorine bearing environments.

However, for metal cutting tool suppliers, these non-standard materials are normally categorised as high temperature resistant alloys. In general terms, medium carbon steel is easier to cut compared to heat resistant alloy; so serious thoughts must be given to the cutting tool technology and cutting conditions applied to the cutting tool for these alloys.

Aiming to optimise cutting conditions and tooling technology, it is important to consider material properties of the workpiece and how they can affect machining.

In general terms, there are four main properties to evaluate before choosing the right cutting conditions and tool: tensile strength, hardness, ductility and thermal conductivity. www.equipment-news.com

IndustryFocus Dealing With Inconel In order to keep in line with the tight security and environmental re g u l a t i o n s i n d e e p w a t e r projects, E&P companies will choose equipment suitable to withstand corrosive environments, which is often accompanied with high pressure and high temperature conditions.

For example, Inconel 718 has become very popular among the companies related to the upstream exploration sector due to its excellent corrosion-resistant p ro p e r t i e s . T h e a u s t e n i t i c microstructure of this nickelbased super alloy provides high tensile and yield strength.

However, machining Inconel 718 presents major problems to be addressed which are characterised by the very high temperatures on the cutting edge of the insert, due to the abrasive elements in the material composition (high nickel content of 50 to 55 percent and chrome 17 to 21 percent) resulting in high wear rates, chipping, notching and insert breakage.

Inconel 718’s metallurgical sensitivity to residual stresses and self-hardening during the cutting operation may reduce drastically the expected tool life due to high deformation of the cutting edge, even at low cutting speeds.

Carbide grades are being developed to help counter the challenges posed by this material.

One grade for example (IC806 by Iscar), has a coating that combines hard submicron substrate with thin PVD coating and a special post coating treatment, which provides improved tool life and better reliability.

Getting The Shape Right Machining high temperature alloys is not only a question of choosing the right substrate and coating; it also means choosing the correct cutting tool and geometry.

Take for example, the Inconel www.equipment-news.com

Figure 1: An insert having a lack of radius can result in increasing both cutting speed and feed.

cladding machining process, which is normally found in tubing hangers (a component used in the completion of oil and gas production wells).

The relatively thin Inconel layer welded in the inner walls of this component must be machined with carbide cutting tools. This process is normally called rough boring and involves critical machining setup, the necessity for long tool overhang, unsteady material stock to be removed and interrupted cutting.

All these disadvantages frequently lead to chattering and as a consequence, poor carbide tool life. As a result, the Inconel cladding machining operation becomes a bottleneck in the manufacturing process and eventually causes high manufacturing expenses.

The solution is clear for this type of application. A carbide insert specially designed for machining high temperature alloys should be used. One of the most important features of such inserts (SNMG 432-EM-R in this case) is actually the lack of radius.

Its 45 deg approaching angle reduces notch wear and allows increasing both cutting speed and

feed, yet achieving long-lasting tool life. (See figure 1) A sharp cutting edge reinforced by a tiny edge preparation is followed by a 13 deg rake angle, allowing a considerable 6 mm depth of cut in these hard-to-cut materials. However, neither the coating nor the geometry of the insert can assure efficiency during machining high temperature alloys, since good chip control is hard to achieve.

Turning Up The Pressure As mentioned previously, high temperature alloys produce a very high temperature as they are being cut. By effectively removing the heat by applying coolant, the chips become less ductile and therefore easier to break.

Today’s standard CNC machines are normally equipped with traditional coolant systems, which deliver coolant at low pressures. But when machining high temperature alloys, the heat rate generated is beyond the coolant’s boiling point, which turns to vapour and prevents the coolant from reaching the machined cutting zone, causing thermal shock on cutting edges and eventually a negative impact on the insert life.

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IndustryFocus

Figure 2: High pressure coolant systems pressurise the coolant and deliver liquid through small outlet nozzles, lowering temperature and protecting the cutting edge from thermal shock.

Figure 3: The ‘all-in-one’ solid EFP carbide cutter features a combination of three endmills.

A b l e t o o v e rc o m e t h i s thermodynamic barrier, high p re s s u re c o o l a n t s y s t e m s pressurise the coolant and deliver enough liquid volume through small outlet nozzles.

At atmospheric pressure, the coolant flowing through the nozzle can reach a very high velocity. As a result, a considerable force is generated on the chips, lowering temperature and protecting the cutting edge from thermal shock, assuring better carbide insert tool life and part surface finish.

One example of an effective highpressure coolant tooling system for turning centres, vertical turning lathes and multi-task machines is the JHP system from Iscar. (See figure 2) By implementing this highpressure coolant tooling system, smaller chips can also be easily managed — they do not tangle around the workpiece or machine parts, so there is no need to stop the process frequently. This additional feature/advantage enhances the productivity and cut expensive manufacturing costs.

It has been proven that by applying high pressure coolant, both tool life and chip control can be considerably improved when machining stainless and high temperature alloys.

All In One For machining deep cavities in oil & gas deep drilling parts, it is always recommended to use 42

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

a reliable tool that guarantees rigidity, tool life, repeatability, accuracy and optimal tool life performance.

In this case, there is one machining technology by Iscar called the ‘all-in-one’ solid EFP carbide cutter. Its design provides an advantage in cavity milling, featuring a combination of the company’s three endmills.

The Feedmill EFP solid carbide endmills utilise a large radius cutting edge configuration that allows for high feed rates up to 0.5 mm/tooth, at 0.3 to 1.0 mm depth of cut. As a result, the cutter delivers a reduction in cycle time, which increases productivity. (See figure 3) The cutting edge geometry axially directs the cutting loads towards the spindle, providing high stability during cutting and enabling high feed rates, even with long tooling overhang. This feature allows for high metal removal rates when machining pockets and cavities in high temperature alloys.

After penetration into the cavity, the serrated cutting edge features flat peaks, which leave a better surface finish, in comparison to other rougher endmills.

The Route Forward There is no doubt that the oil and natural gas industries touch our lives in countless ways everyday.

They fuel our cars, heat our homes

and cook our food. The oil and gas industries provide the world’s 6.9 billion people with 60 percent of their daily energy needs.

The other 40 percent comes from coal, nuclear, hydroelectric power, and ‘renewables’ like wind, solar, tidal power, and b i o m a s s p ro d u c t s . G l o b a l demand for energy continues to grow, especially in developing countries such as China and India. Increasingly, oil and gas are found in challenging areas, such as deep water, and arctic regions of the world.

To meet the fast growing energy demand worldwide, governments are approving more deep water drilling permits. E&P companies foresee a strong growth in offshore activity whereas the oil & gas deep-water exploration and extraction is expected to reach unprecedented rates.

Deepwater surface-to-seabed projects today are typically at depths of 1,500 to 2,000 m and the number of drilled wells at depths of up to 7,000 m is continuously increasing.

At these depths the hostile environment requires special equipment and exotic materials to meet the tough safety regulations which involve enormous investments. In order to meet these challenges, innovative and advanced cutting tools are needed.

Enquiry No. 1402 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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ENQUIRY NO 201

Features

T

here are plenty of activities at Mazak Singapore these days. The company recently gave the Quick Turn Primos (QTP), a compact CNC lathe, its debut at the Singapore plant on November 8, 2013. There is also an expansion project going on and the new building is scheduled to open in early 2014. Finally, returning to Singapore after four years is Toshimitsu Kito, director of sales & marketing, who sat down with Asia Pacific Metalworking Equipment News (APMEN) for this exclusive interview.

Referring to Singapore as his “second or third” hometown, he told APMEN that he is pleased to be back in the country where he spent seven years prior to leaving in 2009. Judging from his plans for the company, it is fair to say he is keen to hit the ground running. Mr Kito intends to adopt a hands-on approach where his task is to work with the employees to inculcate a positive mindset, ie: to get them to believe in working more, in order to get more.

When asked about his vision for the company and his plans for the next five years, he said: “There are two aspects; we have to grow our Southeast Asian subsidiaries to be more independent and more profitable.

In addition, I want to grow an engineering area (in Singapore), where we have the power and capability to create and develop new machines. For example, the QTP is designed in Japan. Five years from now, I want to have an engineering department that is capable of doing so. I think it is possible because of the talent we have.”

Expansion Plan In Singapore

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Making A

Quick Turn To Success

The year 2014 is poised to be an exciting one for Mazak Singapore with the fruition of its facility expansion plans, new product offerings made in Singapore and the appointment of a new MD. By Joson Ng Mr Kito wants to develop new machines in Singapore.

Mr Chong feels the QTP is built for modularity.

I want to grow an engineering area (in Singapore), where we have the power and capability to create and develop new machines.

Toshimitsu Kito, on his plans for Mazak Singapore

15,210

Additional production space:

sq m

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Features

Although there is an option for a chip conveyor, chips can be easily removed manually from the QTP.

Participants learning more about the CNC lathe.

Made For Mass Production “This machine (QTP) is built for modularity,” said KS Chong, director of sales and marketing at the company, “the machine is compact and it occupies less space. The key feature here is maximum productivity per sq m, ie: you can get more output from a smaller space. Apart from these two considerations, automation, or rather the ability to be retrofitted with automated loading system, also ranks highly in the list of capability of the machine.

Some of the machine orders from Thailand and India are starting to have robot loading as it is difficult to get workers, even in emerging economies. We developed two systems; one is called the Quick Loader, which is semi-automated, and a fully automated version called

Expansion Plan In Singapore

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the Gantry Loading System, which is suitable for a wide spectrum of industrial applications.”

According to him, the machine is designed for the automotive and mass production industries and is made compact for transportation (ie: mobile and easy to install) within the shop floor. This is an important point as most mass p ro d u c t i o n f a c i l i t i e s n e e d to frequently reconfigure their production lines to cater for large orders from a single OEM. As QTP is touted to be a compact CNC lathe suitable for the automotive industry. We asked Mr Chong about the design philosophy behind this machine.

“Although mainly targeted at the automotive industry, the QTP is in fact equally suitable for most mass production type of

New technology centre:

industries. Through our continual market research and extensive customer feedback process, we believe we understand the needs and requirements of customers in the region. The development of the machine seeks to bring benefits along with its features, encompassing compactness, enhanced visibility, ergonomics, ease of operation and maintenance,” he said.

Off the bat, the height of the machine is the first thing that caught the eye; at 1.7 m (highest point), the machine allows visibility. Mr Chong explained: “In the automotive industry, machines will be arranged in rows.

The supervisor would want to see the whole factory, making shop floor management and control easier.” Taking a closer look, he pointed out that the space for chip disposal is larger than bigger models. This may not make sense at first but the reason behind this is actually very simple.

“For such machines, most customers do not use chip conveyors because of space limitation and cost. Therefore you need a big opening for the chips to fall in before being collected manually by the operator. For customers who want a chip conveyor, we have that option too,” he said.

In terms of control, the machine is using a Fanuc system, something many users in a mass production environment have shown preference for.

The Accuracy Challenge QTP is said to bring about higher accuracy and productivity with its built-in main spindle among other improvements and innovations.

According to Mr Chong,

4,274

sq m

(build-up area)

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45

Features

The key feature here is maximum productivity per sq m, ie: you can get more output from a smaller space.

Mazak Singapore giving the QTP its Singapore debut on November 8, 2013.

KS Chong on the QTP accuracy and productivity require a built-in or integral spindle motor as it delivers better power and acceleration or deceleration and has less vibration than a conventional belt or gear driven spindles.

However, built-in spindle design in a compact machine is a challenge due to the space constraints, which has to be overcome by the design team without compromising on performance.

He revealed the R&D process took almost a year and the process focused mainly on improving the versatility and flexibility of the machine, with considerations to incorporate affordable factory automation options like a Quick Loader or a Gantry loader system.

This is to cater to the rising trend seen in the automotive industries in Asia that is moving towards unmanned operation due to the tight labour situation.

Finally, APMEN understands that the company will offer recommended par ts list and machine specification documentation for mass production customers and test cuts for all QTP models.

Facility Tour

Deputy GM Thomas Lee showing the guests around the new expansion.

The newly expanded facility consists of additional production space with a build-up area of 15,210 sq m and a new technology centre with a build-up area of 4,274 sq m, which is four times larger than the present one. The Southeast Asia Technology Centre with integrated customer support functions includes a new showroom with turnkey area, a regional parts centre, online technical support, application, service and maintenance training areas.

One interesting feature of the plant is its white floor, a curious choice of colour considering the nature of the work done there. According to Mr Kito, it is a Mazak tradition and the reason is simple. “When the floor is white, we have to clean it often. If it is a darker colour, people tend to ignore it,” he said.

The expansion is a result of rising demand, especially in India, according to the company. It is said that the market size in India is big and it has a large domestic automotive and mass production industry base. The demand for good and affordable machine tools to meet increasing quality and productivity demand is expected to grow in the future years.

Apart from the QTP, the company will continue to produce other series of 5”, 6” and 8” CNC turning and turn mill centres at the new area. These machines are targeted at job shops or batch production industries in territories outside of Asia. In addition, they are also producing 40 taper compact vertical machining centre at the premises.

Enquiry No. 1501

Enquiry No. 1502

Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Increased production capacity

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ENQUIRY NO 006

Features

It’s All About

Hakan Pfeiffer, head of sales and marketing of GF Machining Solutions, took time out to speak with APMEN on the company’s recent rebranding exercise and its activities in Asia.

By Joson Ng APMEN: The new corporate design is a step to reposition the GF brand. What are the motivations behind this exercise? What is the inspiration behind the design?

Hakan Pfeiffer (HP): It is important to remember that the new corporate design is just one element to redefine our brand positioning and perception.

It goes along with matching communications such as the brand story and key messages.

For example, the new branding gives us the opportunity to sharpen the perception of Georg Fischer as a traditional Swiss company to one that is both Swiss and close to the markets, and allows us to tell a globally relevant brand story.

Our customers are our most important reference point, and that includes the new corporate design, which is closely linked to our value, ‘We put customers first’. Our new look conveys the message to existing and new customers that, ‘We are all about you’, which is represented by the employees of Georg Fischer.

To better represent our range of technologies, our industry expertise and our role as a provider of solutions to our customers, GF AgieCharmilles became, as of January 1, 2014, GF Machining Solutions. This more descriptive division name is easy for our customers and prospective customers to understand — and enables us to better integrate all our current and possibly, future technologies.

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The name also suggests that we are not only a supplier of machine tools. We want to be perceived as a division that offers solutions and we go beyond EDM machines, milling machines, laser technologies and automation solutions. The new name also improves our alignment with the other two divisions of GF, GF Piping Systems and GF Automotive.

APMEN: Apart from the branding campaign, what other marketing strategies does the company have in Asia?

HP: From now through 2015, you will see our new corporate design being rolled out, with completion of the rollout planned for the end of 2015. Our first set of communication measures is aimed at creating awareness in Asia of our new division name, GF Machining Solutions. This first step in Asia will include an advertising campaign, direct mailings, trade fairs, and in-house events.

Branding is one small piece of a total element.

Even though we put a lot of emphasis on rebranding, ultimately our success in Asia is more related to the fact that we are not just any supplier in Asia.

We operate several sales entities (in Asia). On top of that, we have plants in Asia. Market share and presence in Asia is of paramount importance to us.

APMEN: What is your sales target in Asia for 2014?

HP: We target 10 to 15 percent increase this year (compared to 2013). However, it ultimately depends on how China performs. The country is a little bit tricky these days. We defined the objectives (for China) for 2014 back in the summer (of 2013). At that time, the mood was more positive compared to now. But of course, we cannot totally disconnect www.equipment-news.com

Features ourselves with the macroeconomic environment.

In other parts of Asia, Japan and Southeast Asia should do quite well. All in all, things are always changing. We are confident of the new products we put on the market. With our approach, we should be able to gain market share.

join the best 7 – 11 April 2014 Düsseldorf, Germany

APMEN: The year 2014 is looking to be a busy one in Asia in terms of major tradeshows. For example, there are two major shows happening in China and one each in South Korea and Japan. Share with us the major shows you intend to participate in this year.

International Wire and Cable Trade Fair International Tube and Pipe Trade Fair

Meeting point: wire 2014 and Tube 2014 in Düsseldorf!

HP: The ones you mentioned, we will be there.

However, exhibitions are time consuming and require a lot of investment. Moreover, they may not necessarily be the most effective way to reach out to customers, especially in the more mature markets. We plan to have a serious amount of direct marketing activities like open houses to complement these shows.

join the best – welcome to the world’s leading trade fair for the tube, wire and cable industry!

Those who wish to find comprehensive information about the latest innovations both in wire and tube manufacturing and processing need look no further.

It can all be found here at the world’s most important exhibitions. A focal point of wire 2014: The growing importance of copper wires in automotive engineering, in telecommunication or electronics.

Special focal point at Tube 2014: Plastic tubes.

A special area is reserved for them, because the question of materials is becoming more and more important.

APMEN: In that case, do you believe in-house shows are more effective compared to major international shows?

An important fixed date in your calendar – your visit to wire 2014 and to Tube 2014 in Düsseldorf!

HP: For the mature market, it is. In those markets, we know the customer base quite well. Therefore, there is much more value in conducting in-house shows.

This is what we have been doing in Europe and the US. In Asia, it is still a region where we participate in exhibitions. We do not have the same know-how of the markets as we do in Europe and the US. APMEN: With machines in South Korea, Taiwan & China gaining more popularity and some countries like Thailand reporting spare manufacturing capacity, do you think European machine tool builders are facing a unique challenge in Asia whereby: • They are ‘priced out’ of the market today?

www.wire.de

www.tube.de

HP: We want to produce locally for the local market. The main changes we see in several Asian countries are related to the increasing demand for sophisticated products and an increasing demand for automation to further improve quality. To better meet our customers’ requests and expectations, we will further increase our presence with automation solutions, and we will approach the market as one team and one face to the customer. www.equipment-news.com

Messe Düsseldorf GmbH P.O. Box 10 10 06 40001 Düsseldorf _ Germany Tel. + 49 (0)2 11/45 60-01 Fax + 49 (0)2 11/45 60-6 68

www.messe-duesseldorf.de

wiretub1402_80x240_int.indd 1

ENQUIRY NO 017

• Users can afford not to use high-end machines since they have spare capacity?

Jan-Feb 2014 asia pacific metalworking equipment 03.12.13 news 15:24

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Features HP: People will always prefer European made machines but they come at a price. They are willing to consider a Chinese made machine as long as the quality they get is up to the European standard. We are cost-conscious, therefore we have our manufacturing facilities in Asia. Having our manufacturing footprint in China, working on our cost structure while producing at the same quality level adopted in Switzerland put us in a position whereby we are not manufacturing Chinese made machines only for China.

APMEN: Do you export Chinese made machines back to Europe?

HP: Yes we do.

Hakan Pfeiffer

Our EDM factory in China is producing EDM machines: an entry line and, for the past two years, a standard line. The entry level machines are fully developed in China but are also exported outside of China. Our standard machine lines are developed through collaboration between our R&D in Switzerland and R&D in China.

The total production in China represents almost 60 percent of the total number of machines produced by the division.

Our milling factory in Changzhou opened in 2011.

At that site, we produce three-axis and 3+2-axis HighEfficiency Machines (HEM) for milling, as well as High-Speed Milling (HSM) machines with ballscrews.

Our strategy is to produce more locally for the local market which means producing in China for the Asian market and in Switzerland for the European market. Customers in the Americas can order the machines in Switzerland or in China. To achieve this, we will continue to invest a lot in R&D. APMEN: How many percent of your turnover is allocated to R&D per year?

HP: It depends on the divisions but overall, it is between eight to nine percent of the annual turnover.

It is very high. We are not a cost leader but we are a technology leader and we intend to remain as one.

Because of our spending in R&D, we will always be more expensive than our competitors. That spending however, brings about additional value.

APMEN: The machines produced in China no doubt go through stringent QA, but is there still an image problem?

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APMEN: How do you foresee 2014 to be for your company? Do you expect growth?

HP: The odds are rather favourable. The US is showing relatively good signs and Europe as well. For Asia and Southeast Asia, Japan looks promising. The only big question mark is China.

If the Chinese economy manages to keep its place, I would say, 2014 should be a successful year for us.

The year 2014 is also a year with many new products. We are planning to launch an EDM wirecutting machine for the standard segment; the name and specifications are still confidential. This machine will come from Beijing and be sold first in China in 2014 before becoming available for export to other markets.

We will also launch a new EDM die-sinker to replace the FO 350 SP. This machine will bear the same name as its Swiss counterpart, the Form 200, and will be equipped with the latest CNC and generator.

From Switzerland, the Cut 2000 S, our wirecutting EDM machine, will also be launched in Asia, and will break new barriers in terms of precision, efficiency and process automation.

In milling, we will launch the larger sister of the high-speed milling product, the HSM 700. This machine will also be produced in Changzhou and allow our customers to gain machining speed on larger moulds, at a competitive price.

Automation will also be at the centre of our proposition to our customers in Asia, including China, where demand for automation is rapidly increasing. New robots and handling systems from System 3R will be launched, to enable even more productivity gains.

Enquiry No. 1503 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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ENQUIRY NO 014

Features

Market Outlook 2014 The New Year is finally upon us and once again, it is time to get in touch with leaders in the metalworking world for valuable insights and pointers on how the year 2014 will develop from an economic and technological standpoint.

Question 1: What will be the main growth areas (industry & market) in your business for 2014?

How many percent, in terms of growth, are you targeting for your business in 2014?

Question 2: What strategies will you be putting in place to ensure your company achieves that target in 2014?

Dr HansPeter Laubscher MD Trumpf (Asia Pacific)

We are convinced that the demand for technologies such as machines for laser cutting with solid state lasers, laser welding, punching and bending will continue to grow within this year. Also, complementing technology with its corresponding software and services gets more and more important.

In our business field of laser technology, we expect that demand will increase in the microprocessing sector, where countless new application possibilities for our ultrashort pulse lasers are conceivable.

Besides that, we see an increasing demand for high

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Question 3: What technological advancements can we expect to see in 2014?

Question 4: Speaking for the metalworking industry in Southeast Asia in general, do you see 2014 as a year of growth? Is it going to be different compared to 2013?

power fibre laser applications. We expect a moderate positive development of sales and growth.

Investing heavily in R&D has always brought Trumpf one step ahead of its competitors when it comes to innovative technologies. In the last fiscal year (July 2012 - June 2013) for example, the development ratio of R&D quota was at nine percent of total sales. These innovations were then passed to our customers, offering them a competitive advantage in their respective markets and setting new standards in many sectors.

Above all, Trumpf expands its already good position in the Asian market through the acquisition of a majority stake of approximately 72 percent of the Chinese machine tool manufacturer Jiangsu Jinfangyuan CNC Machine Company Limited (JFY) in Yangzhou.

As such, we can strengthen its presence in the world’s most important mechanical engineering market. This acquisition is giving us access to the market’s extremely dynamic middle segment.

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Features Our recent innovation of ‘Bright line fiber’ for example, enables cutting qualities which could only be achieved in the past by CO 2 Laser.

This technology turns solid-state laser machines into universal systems. Until now, solid state lasers had a reputation for being highly productive with thin sheets a l t h o u g h t h e y p ro d u c e s l i g h t l y i n f e r i o r edge quality with thicker stainless steel and aluminium, along with increased burr formation on the underside.

‘Bright Line fiber’ has corrected this condition for good. With our 5 kW disk laser, aluminium and stainless steel up to a thickness of 25 mm can be cut without a problem. The edge quality

Dr Jens Hardenacke CEO Asia DMG Mori

We see the global demand for machine tools picking up in 2014 and expect to participate in the overall development. Our focus industries in general are mechanical engineering, tool and mould construction, precision mechanics (optics) and automotive.

However, in Southeast Asia, we still expect aerospace and oil & gas to contribute a significant share.

Looking at regional distribution, Malaysia and Singapore will probably be leading the trend and we also expect Australia to get back on track after a weaker year in 2013.

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achieved here, and the almost complete lack of burr formation also guarantees that the cut sections can easily be removed from the sheet skeleton — creating the ideal preconditions for automation of all downstream processes.

In general, we see 2014 as a year of moderate growth. For the coming year in particular, we expect a shift towards higher-quality exportable products in emerging countries, especially in China. That will make the requirements placed on sophisticated production technology even more stringent. This opens up good opportunities for German producers to benefit from changes in procurement behaviour.

Rajiv Ghatikar VP and GM, Asean and Australasia Siemens PLM Software

We are seeing strong regional demand for our Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software solutions across all key vertical markets, but there are a few standout growth sectors, most notably industrial machinery and heavy equipment, automotive and transportation, and oil, gas and refinery. We don’t disclose numbers, but our growth outlook is very strong, particularly in Australia and Indonesia. Additionally, we view Indonesia and Vietnam as two strong emerging markets.

Economic development in Southeast Asia is driving the need for integrated product design, development and manufacturing capabilities. Manufacturers know they must out-innovate in order to strengthen their competitive advantage, and they can do that by investing in new technologies and strengthening product lifecycle processes. If manufacturers really hope to widen their regional footprint in an increasingly crowded market, they must maximise operational efficiency and minimise waste through improved endto-end processes.

We are constantly searching for ways to better serve our diverse base of customers, and are always working to improve and upgrade our existing PLM product ecosystem, while driving new offerings that help our partners to innovate faster and more efficiently.

Since we serve customers with vastly different goals and plans for growth, PLM solutions must be appropriately customisable to meet individual needs. That said, we will focus on a more industrycentric approach for 2014 and continue to tailor our PLM solutions to address the challenges faced by each of the vertical industries we serve. We are also planning a series of regionally-focused advertising and marketing campaigns to help us build a larger presence within

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Features The DMG Mori Seiki group intends to intensify its global market presence. The cooperation with DMG Mori Seiki Company Limited is a significant component of our long-term strategy. We are expanding our production capacity in strategically important markets. We intend to achieve this by increasingly developing joint products, streamlining our product range and achieving purchasing advantages through standardisation. In addition to this, we will target the use of our worldwide production capacity for local production.

Industr y focussed solutions are a decisive component to our growth plan.

For example, with our international centres of excellence, we are targeting growing industries, such as the aerospace, automotive, medical technology and energy industries.

Another main focus is advanced productivity looking at the manufacturing process as a whole.

At EMO 2013, DMG Mori introduced CELOS (Control Efficiency Lead Operation System) — from the idea to the finished product. It is a new interface that simplifies and accelerates production processes through integrated management, documentation and visualisation of job, process and machine data.

It is compatible with PPS- and ERP-systems and also can be linked to CAD/CAM software programs.

In a first step, it is available with Siemens and Mitsubishi controls.

We expect 2014 to be a year of growth. Based on recent market data, we see that about five percent overall growth of the Southeast Asian metalworking industry should be possible.

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key growth market areas, and ultimately empower manufacturers to bolster business performance through a more efficient, streamlined and flexible PLM process.

The manufacturing industry is undergoing serious structural changes with processes becoming increasingly automated as product complexity creates new challenges.

We see PLM solutions evolving in three major ways, all having to do with enablement.

• Intelligently integrated information, meaning how information is organised to extract value from large amounts of information • Future-proven architecture in order to protect investment and minimise total cost of ownership • Towards a user experience that ensures easy access to the right information when needed, to help guide the smartest decisions The PLM process will soon be driven through a comprehensive and immersive environment that enhances, facilitates and accelerates the product development decision-making process through a highdefinition user experience, which each decision maker can access as and when it is needed in real time.

The global economy is still inching into a tenuous recovery, but Southeast Asia is certainly a bright spot on the map and manufacturing sector growth in the region is a bellwether for good things to come on a larger scale.

That growth is leading to increased competition and pressure for companies to innovate more quickly. Manufacturers recognise the need for new, disruptive technologies and view strong product lifecycle processes as a key driver for innovation and a stronger competitive advantage. We are seeing increased market confidence throughout the region and anticipate a very healthy 2014.

Lim Boon Choon

President, APAC Hexagon Metrology Asia Pacific In Asia, we foresee a high growth in the automotive market in Southeast Asia, and more specifically in Indonesia, where ‘IHS Automotive’ predicts the light vehicle production CAGR to be around 6.6 percent between 2013 to 2015.

Moreover, the aerospace industry remains a very attractive sector as we see major investments from aircraft manufacturers and their sub-suppliers coming into our markets. We have been growing aggressively in the last few years and we expect to continue the trend.

We are focused on providing application know-how and services to our customers to value-add to their business. We

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Features will continue to support our customers with actionable measurement information along the complete life cycle of a product — from development and design to production, assembly and final inspection.

The market is growing quickly in the area of portable metrology equipment, including white light scanning solutions. We expect to sell more and more of these technologies in the upcoming years as we release our next generation products. Overall, our products will continue to help our customers to achieve greater efficiency and productivity, improved quality, and significant material and cost savings in their production processes.

Metalworking will remain a vibrant industry in Southeast Asia as more and more companies invest in building automotive, heavy equipment, and even electronics components such as disk drives in this part of the world. Even though the continuing global economic uncertainty makes predictions for 2014 and beyond difficult, we maintain a positive outlook on the metalworking industry in the region in the years to come.

Meir Noybauer

As the world manufacturing is continuing to globalise, the demands for a comprehensive global footprint is increasing. The many new successful products which Iscar outputs annually provide its customers with the ability to upgrade their machining processes and to increase profitability.

Business Development Manager Iscar

We see ourselves as our main competitor. This philosophy places high benchmarks for our R&D teams who constantly aim to improve the products and technological processes which are being developed daily. Over 1,500 new products, among them the new IQ innovations, are brought to the metalworking market annually by us, which prove our commitment to ongoing value-added strategies.

With the launch of the IQ-Line campaign in the year of 2012, we have introduced, and shall continue to introduce, a vast array of new products. Each product line is continuing to evolve and emerge with new innovations for the metal cutting world, not only from engineering, but from a material sciences point of view. We see the combination of both engineering and material sciences as the right formula for improved machining solutions.

Many of Iscar’s efforts are geared to assure technological solutions for the Asian market. Notwithstanding the company’s strong presence in the leading economies such as China, Japan, South Korea and also India, we intend to meet customer needs in all industry sectors. We plan to expand production and engineering units as well as provide improved service within this region of the world through advanced logistic solutions. Iscar regards Asia as a vital focus in the company’s sales strategy for the future.

Peter Dickin Marketing Manager Delcam

Delcam expects growth of 8 to 10 percent in 2014.

The fastest-growing areas are expected to be in China, India and Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, although the largest markets will still be in the US and Germany. The main industries for growth will be automotive and aerospace.

Delcam will continue to improve its software with new releases from the largest development team in the CAM industry. We will recruit more sales staff to be able to respond more quickly to enquiries for our systems, and add more support staff to provide even better technical support to our growing user base.

We will continue to develop software to give users the maximum benefit from advances in machine tools and cutting tools.

In particular, work will focus on support for the increasingly complex multi-tasking machines, such as mill-turn equipment, and on strategies able to take advantage of the ability of modern cutting tools to cut at speeds that would have been unthinkable as little as five years ago.

In Southeast Asia, we expect continued growth in 2014. This will be at a similar rate to that seen in 2013.

Enquiry No. 1504 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Opinion:

Phuong Tran, Hanoi, Vietnam

Features

Thailand

Automotive Industry To Grow Uli Kaiser is tipping the well-oiled Thai automotive bandwagon for future growth. By Joson Ng

T

he streets of Bangkok are somewhat notorious for its traffic jams. Travelling a kilometre can sometimes take more than 15 minutes. While cars stutter along the congested Sukhumvit road and drivers look at the fast moving skytrains above them with envy, they may start to wonder how things came to be.

While urban planning, historical issues, population and civil engineering may provide some answers, Thailand is also arguably the victim of their own success by having a boisterous automotive industry. Although being the largest automotive industry in Southeast Asia and the ninth largest in the world in 2012 is something that the country can be extremely proud of, it is not to say that the automotive industry in Thailand had it easy.

It too experienced its fair share of potholes and speed bumps.

When the floods hit in 2011 and brought some automotive assembly plants to a grinding halt, productions were greatly affected. In order to spark the industry back to

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life, the Thai government embarked on the first car ownership scheme whereby first-time car buyers were given a substantial rebate when purchasing a car.

The program, coupled with the aspiration to own a car, pushed the country’s car production to over two million in 2012 and things were beginning to look rosy again.

Although the year 2012 marked a dramatic reversal in the fortunes of the automotive industry, looking ahead, it still has some challenges to overcome.

Manpower Woes A notable challenge is skilled labour, or to be more specific, the lack of it. Uli Kaiser, president of the ThaiEuropean Business Association, also the business development manager of Emag (Southeast Asia), told Asia Pacific Metalworking Equipment New (APMEN) in an exclusive interview that the issue of skilled labour is actually the “biggest” challenge of the automotive industry of Thailand.

“Right now, there are a million

migrant workers in Thailand. You wouldn’t think so because you think we have people from farms to pull in, but that is not the case.

Also, society is changing. People do not like to work anymore.

Working a night shift at an autoparts manufacturing plant is not a very desirable way of life.

Motor cycle taxi drivers can earn as much as an autopart factory worker. In addition, they have more freedom,” he said.

According to him, the lack of skilled labour is not a problem unique to the automotive industry.

It is also an issue exacerbated by the introduction of high-end equipment from abroad as “new technology requires skilled labour.” Thankfully, the problem is not allowed to fester and the Thai government is currently looking into it. Other companies like GM and Michelin are also helping themselves by running their own university and grooming their own pool of talent.

A Smooth Ride Ahead The first car ownership scheme is perceived by many as a success as far as keeping the demand for cars up is concerned. The scheme, which has since expired, has served its purpose and the forward momentum is showing no sign of tailing off, according to Mr Kaiser.

“The first buyers’ program was an incentive program to support an industry that greatly suffered in 2011 due to the flood.

Uli Kaiser sees a bright future for Thailand’s automotive industry.

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I think first of all, one should realise the rationale behind it,” he said. “There are different ways to look at it. Critics were very against the program, saying that it would create a bubble and it is not sustainable.” There is some truth to that as he elaborated: “Some people are defaulting on their payment now, which is a bit of a problem. On the other hand, the program helped the industries get back in gear, ie: to have cars to ship, to have orders and to reach people who cannot afford a car. Looking at a 100,000 baht (US$3,105) rebate on a car priced at 400,000 baht, that is substantial.

As such, it increases sales.”

He told APMEN that although the program has ran its course, it would not have a major effect on the development of the sector as the first car program is just a facilitating factor. He said there are bigger drivers for car production.

“First of all, people want cars. In addition, if you look at car density, Thailand sits on about 150 cars, half the rate of Malaysia. Thailand, over the next seven-year period, could move up towards the standard of Malaysia. With the economy developing, car ownership in Thailand could double over the next 7 to 10 years. There are also financing programs in place and other drivers to incentivise buyers formulated by makers, banks and dealers,” he said.

With Mr Kaiser tipping Thailand’s automotive industry for a healthy future, we put him on the spot and asked him if 2014 will see higher car production in the country.

“Last year (2012) was a golden year for the Thai auto industry.

This year (2013), they expect to hit the same number as last year. In total production, the relationship between domestic sales and export, which was 1.4 million (2012) domestic to 1 million export, is expected to switch around.

This is a good thing for the Thai automotive industry. They actually www.equipment-news.com

Patrick Nijhuis Deventer, Netherlands

Features

The lack of skilled labour is a big challenge for Thailand’s automotive industry.

can compensate (for the lack of) local demand by shipping cars to over 50 countries,” he said, adding that, “there is a lot of new capacity coming on line. All makers are increasing their capacities.

My gut feeling is there will be no significant change. We are looking at +/- 10 percent provided there are no major catastrophes in Thailand or the world. I think we will see continuity (in growth).”

External Factors Even as a bright future is expected, Mr Kaiser was wise to caution that external factors like political stability, natural disasters and global economic situations all play a part in the destiny of Thailand’s automotive industry in 2014. In the region of Southeast Asia, we asked if the impending formation of the AEC and the rise of Indonesia as a force in the automotive industry would affect Thailand.

Rather than being a competitor, the rise of Indonesia is seen by Mr Kaiser as complementary to Thailand.

“Indonesia is a domestic market besides some MPVs (some MPVs were manufactured there and exported). They sell three cars more than they produce. In addition, the auto makers are fully interlinked. All the OEMs have an inter-country strategy. The boss in Toyota Thailand is the boss in Toyota Indonesia. I believe this (arrangement) will contribute to growth. If demand in Indonesia

exceeds capacity, we (Thailand) can sell to them. Therefore, they are definitely not a threat,” he said.

As for the AEC, he feels Thailand has less to worry about compared to the other countries. “(On the establishment of AEC) There will be very little effect in 2015 (in Thailand),” he said. However, things will be very different for its neighbour Malaysia. He said: “Malaysia will see a strong impact.

Their national car’s market share will be further eroded,” suggesting that the formation of AEC would allow foreign-made cars a more level playing field against local competing brands.

All in all, he expects Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, which he referred to as TIM, to see continuous long term growth. If the number of cars on the streets of Bangkok is ever an accurate and direct indicator of the performance of the Thai automotive industry, expect more congestion.

Although the gridlock along Sukhumvit road is never a good thing and has certain financial and societal ramifications, the people’s dream of owning a brand new, affordable and locally-made car will not abate. Coupling that with the government’s desire for a healthy automotive industry, drivers and commuters will have to pay a hefty psychological price as open roads in Bangkok continue to be a rarity.

Enquiry No. 1505 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Composite Materials Special

Aerospace:

Projecting A

Faster Process

A projector system optimises production of CFRP parts for the aerospace industry. By Thomas Armbruster, head of marketing, LAP

A

composite parts m a n u f a c t u r e r, L A Composite, produces pa r ts for a ircra ft, machines and rail-bound vehicles.

For their main business, which is the aerospace sector, the Czech CFRP structure supplier produces parts for the primary structures, such as fuselage, wings and tail using the prepreg technology (preimpregnated fibres; semifinished products made from endless fibres and polymer matrix).

The dependability of these parts, in particular, is crucial; their fa ilure would have catastrophic consequences. “The high quality and dependability of our products is at the forefront of our developments,” explains development ma nager L A

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composite, Petr Prucha.

“The greatest challenge in our production is the perfect positioning of the prepreg sections with correct alignment and in a precisely defined order. Only then can our composite parts achieve the demanded parameters for the finished product. The parts often have to withstand enormous static and dynamic loads. Particularly in the aerospace industry, the load carrying capacity is the most

important criterion.”

Another requirement during production is to reduce wastage. With that objective set, the company deployed a laser projection system to aid the production of composite materials. The system in this case is the Composite Pro from LAP, which according to the company, saves scrap in production and more than 50 percent of labour time during the production of CFRP parts.

Reduction In Labour Time In the typical workflow of CFRP part production, the supplier ma naged to save time, a nd therefore costs, due to the system.

Mr Prucha says: “With the high positioning accuracy of the parts and the elimination of human error during production, we save even more time, because that is time that we don’t have.

Later repairs to defective CFRP caused by, for example, incorrect laying of inserts, cores or reinforcements, can now be more or less ruled out. That has further enhanced the costeffectiveness of our production.”

The greatest challenge in our production is the perfect positioning of the prepreg sections with correct alignment and in a precisely defined order www.equipment-news.com

CompositeMaterialsSpecial In addition, the system also allows faster and more precise production. The projectors enable the company to lay individual CFRP layers of the parts exactly according to the design specifications.

“In the meantime, the geometries of the components that we produce, for example for helicopters or airplanes, have become so complex that the production would be almost impossible or at least far slower and with a high scrap rate without laser-based projection,” explains Mr Prucha.

Simple Integration T he wo rk p ro ce s s fo r t he projector-aided production of CFRP parts for the aerospace industry is now more simplified compared to the past as Mr Prucha explains: “We create a 3D model with desired contours in our design software SolidWorks.

Patter ns for projection a re exported from SolidWorks to Lap Composite Pro software, which transmits the data directly to the projectors. They show the user the exact position and form of the CFRP layers, embedded parts and sandwich cores during production.

The laborious and very timeconsuming manual measurement w it h template s ha s b e e n completely eliminated from our production due to the projectors.”

Boosting Quality In addition to reducing the error quota, the engineers at the company confirm that the projectors also increase the accuracy in the positioning of the inserts and cores of the CFRP parts. “Composite Pro has not only improved the efficiency of our production, but has also led to a noticeable increase in the quality of our products. A particular problem is the exact positioning of objects with very complex geometries of the parts,” explains Mr Prucha.

“Before we insta lled the www.equipment-news.com

In the aerospace industry, composite parts are used for the primary structures, such as fuselage, wings and tail using the prepreg technology (preimpregnated fibres).

A particular problem is the exact positioning of objects for the components. In the past, the company had to work with large tolerances, and consequently with larger inserts whose position was not always as exact as the engineers had planned.

In addition to reducing the error quota, the engineers at LA composite confirm that the projectors also increase the accuracy in the positioning of the inserts and cores of the CFRP parts.

projectors, we had to work with large tolerances, and consequently with larger inserts, whose position was not always as exact as our engineers had planned. The consequence was far more scrap, a poorer product quality and less complex parts. With the projectors, we are able to use smaller inserts to make modern and complex forms.”

More Applications Await In addition to the use of laser projectors, Mr Prucha and his team of developers are already

thinking about their use in the cutting of the CFRP parts. “Many of the components that we produce have very complex shapes. We have already discussed using the projectors also for the final trimming of the parts,” he says.

“We know from the use during the processing of the prepregs that the projectors can project very complex geometries. We now want to use this feature also in the manual final trimming of the parts.”

Enquiry No. 1601 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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CompositeMaterialsSpecial

I

n the machining segment of the composite world, there is growing interest in the Asian market. One example is the producer of CNC machining centres Belotti. With a focus on composite material machining, the company is setting its sights on Asia.

Umberto Belotti, the owner of the company, said: “We are opening a HQ in Shanghai at the end of 2013 to be closer to our agents and our customers in Asia.” He revealed that the Asia HQ will start off with an office but the possibilities are boundless.

When asked if the setup would eventually expand into a showroom and production facility, he said it “can be” an option for the company after “some years.”

The key point according to him is to provide local customer care and in the Asian market, which he has trust in.

His trust stems from the encouraging enquiries he

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Belotti Eyes

Asia Market

Possessing machines suitable for machining composite materials and a healthy appetite for growth, a machine builder hopes to gain a larger share of the composite industry pie in Asia. By Joson Ng

received from the region. “In Asia, enquiries are increasing from 30 to 35 percent every year. Asia takes up some 20 percent of our business. I think in the future, it can be 40 to 50 percent. Asia is a region that has a consistent kind of growth.”

Primed For Composites “Our machines are suitable for all composite materials,” said Mr Belotti. Although there are many different types of

composite materials in the market today, he is confident that his machines are up to the task. We asked what the pertinent differences between a machining centre for the composite material are to one that machines metal.

“The main difference is the torque of the spindle and the rpm of the spindle. It is faster.

Another difference is the size of the machine. The dimension of the metalworking (machine) www.equipment-news.com

CompositeMaterialsSpecial

Asia takes up some 20 percent of our business. I think in the future, it can be 40 to 50 percent.

- Umberto Belotti is normally small with a small table. The machines for composite (materials) are very big, up to 40 m long,” he said.

Another difference is the options available to the machine.

He said an important application for the composite market is a dust extraction system.

“While the machine is working, there is a lot of dust inside the machine. For the customer, it is very important to reduce the level of the dust around the workshop. As such, you can see the machines for composite materials have total enclosure and an extraction system with a filter,” he said.

Composites In Asia We look at interesting happenings in the world of composites.

Like it or not, composite materials are gaining a major foothold in today’s manufacturing environment, especially in the aerospace and automotive industries, whereby the material’s much spoke about attributes such as its light weight and toughness are often the main motivation behind their usage.

Unlike conventional materials like cast iron or steel, composite materials are a totally different animal. Its idiosyncrasies have a certain amount of ramifications on various processes like machining, cutting and even automation. At the Innovative Composites Summit held alongside JEC Asia in Singapore in 2013, these issues were brought to a sharp focus.

Expert Opinions In the area of automation, Tan Meng Ho, senior sales manager of Kuka talked about how shelf mounted robots can help reduce floor space and minimise interference with work flow. He also touched on the issue of synchronisation. He said with proper synchronised movements between the robot and the fabricating machine, production times can be reduced.

Another presenter, Klaus Drechsler, director institute of carbon composite of TU Munich, explored the possibility of technology transfer from aerospace to the automotive industry.

According to him, weight reduction is very important in the aerospace industry. For example, in the A380 aircraft, composite parts can be found in floor beams for the upper deck, outer flaps, vertical tail plane, wing ribs and centre wing box, among others.

In conclusion, he said the possibilities for technology transfer between the two industries are high for both ways in terms of design and simulation. However , in automation technologies, the automotive industry has the potential to transfer know-hows to the aerospace industry. As for repair, automotive can benefit from the aerospace sector.

Enquiry No. 1602

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Holding On

A reliable workholding system is essential for machining composite materials.

The machining of composite materials can be a complex process and sometimes requires a combination of machining technologies to get the job done. Therefore, it is not surprising to see a part go through waterjet cutting and milling. In order to facilitate these types of multi process machining, a flexible workholding system has been developed by the company.

According to Mr Belotti, the Universal Vacuum Fixtures (UVF) system, an automatic fixing system, took about 8 to 12 months to develop. The system is designed to clamp shaped metal and/or composite parts by vacuum for several machining operations.

The system, with its automated independent flexible holding supports, can hold parts that may otherwise be difficult to hold because of their complexity in curvature.

As such, production time is reduced. He added the system can be incorporated into the larger machines in his company’s portfolio like the MDL series of high-speed fiveaxis machining centre.

Finally, he shared that for the aerospace industry in particular, where composite machining is common, there is a need for combination machines. He added that waterjet cutting is preferred for composite materials, while in hole drilling, a milling machine is preferred.

Enquiry No. 1604 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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CompositeMaterialsSpecial

A

utomated Fibre Place me nt (A F P ) is a way to create a near-net shaped part by lay ing t hin ca rbon - fibre material on a mould using a CNC machine. Material is fed through guides, wraps around a roller, and gets pressed down onto a tool surface.

Heat wa rms the materia l to get it to stick down. The CNC machine positions the roller and sy nchronises the material application. The end result produces numerous layers of very thin pre-impregnated carbon fibre material applied layer upon layer to a tool or mould surface.

Automated Tape Laying (ATL) and AFP are similar and often confused. ATL lays a wide swath

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Using

Programming & Simulation To Develop Optimised Process For Fibre Placement

Productive automated composite layup machinery has become a reality.

The technology has been driven by aerospace, but is transferring to other industries such as wind, automotive and even shipbuilding. This article provides a general overview of the Automated Fibre Placement (AFP) process. By Bill Hasenjaeger, product marketing manager, CGTech www.equipment-news.com

CompositeMaterialsSpecial of material — a single continuous piece of material, typically 6 to 12 inches wide, all at once. AFP lays several narrower strips of material together, to produce a similar wide swath.

But ‘narrow’ and ‘wide’ are imprecise terms. Is ½” narrow?

Is 1” wide? The principal defining the difference between A F P and ATL is that the ‘narrow’ AFP tapes are cut square at 90 degrees on the end, while ‘wide’ ATL tape can have different shapes cut into both the sides and ends. However, there is an AFP machine from at least one manufacturer that can cut the end of the narrow strip of material at an angle.

AFP technology is evolving rapidly, making many traditional definitions obsolete. It is therefore important to know some of the ba sic A F P terminolog y. The individual strips of material that get laid down are called ‘tow’ (tow material) or slit-taped tow, ie: material that starts as a big roll of a certain width.

The material is unspooled and slit to create strips of material, and then it is rolled back up; it is slit-from-tape to create tow.

After an AFP head lays several of these tows simultaneously and then lifts up, all of that together is called a ‘course’.

Head goes down, lays material, and comes up — it just laid a course of material. A ‘ply’ is a closed bounded area filled by a bunch of courses. A group of plies that are all going in the same direction and at the same level or depth through the lay-up of material is called a ‘sequence’.

A sequence is significant b e cau se t hat is of te n a n inspection point during part fabrication. At the end of every sequence there is typically a full-stop inspection operation to make sure everything was applied in the right place before the next set of plies are laid www.equipment-news.com

The individual strips of material that get laid down are called ‘tow’.

on top of it. Several sequences taken together make the entire part or laminate.

AFP Concepts & Considerations W hen considering A F P, it is important to take into account the strengths and limitations of the AFP process and how it can affect your part design.

Different to the wide tape, AFP can lay-up over highly contoured shapes, shapes that curve in two directions. The narrower the strips the curvier the surface and easier it is to lay the material flat. That is the basic principle of AFP. Overlaps and gaps between material strips are common with AFP. As you are laying down each course over a curved surface, it

is easy to see that they cannot be exactly adjacent (tangent), to each other, creating a perfectly water-tight shell. That can only be the case on a very flat surface.

As soon as the surface has some curvature, courses cannot be exactly parallel to previous ones, because the surface area changes as the course traverses across it. For example, on a shape that is narrower at one end and wider at the other, courses have to converge at the narrow end and diverge at the wider end. The common term for this is ‘course convergence’.

As courses converge, they begin to overlap. If two courses completely overlap then the ply would be two layers thick in this location, instead of one, which is undesirable. But since course Jan-Feb 2014 asia pacific metalworking equipment news

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CompositeMaterialsSpecial convergence is unavoidable, some rules must be created to dictate how to mitigate the overlap as courses converge.

The AFP method is to ‘drop’ or cut tows as courses converge in order to keep them from overlapping too much.

A not he r A F P concept i s ‘steering’. Fibre placement is different than tape laying in that it can be steered, or guided in a particular direction over the shape. But with fibre placement you typically do not have the luxury of laying material in the direction the shape takes you.

You need to steer the material to lay in a particular direction in order to get the strength needed in the structure.

As such, the course must be guided in a pa r ticula r direction, but the material itself has steering limits. It can only bend so far, and that bending or steering limit is typically expressed a s the ‘minimum steering radius’. You have to understand the limitations of your material and know how far

Gaps & overlaps

you can successfully steer it and still have a reliable process.

And lastly, it is important to be aware of fibre angle: the direction that the fibres are laying measured on the surface.

At the tangent of that point, you could say the fibre angle is some angle relative to some known reference system.

F ibre a n g le i s sp e c i f ie d by engineering in the design st a ge , a nd de te r m i ne s t he composite structure’s strength.

Manufacturing needs to meet that fibre angle, lap and gap requirements. In addition, there should be no over-steering of the material, and the plies should be filled. Doing that together, all at once, will result in a good part.

Software For Programming & Simulating AFP Most programming software for AFP is created by the machine builder. But the industr y is t rending more towa rds t he CNC metal cutting model where a softwa re compa ny, not the equipment supplier,

creates AFP programming and simulation software that can program for any machine, not just one brand.

But regardless of the software source, someone must start from a part’s design and then design a tool to layup the ne a r- net- shape of t he pa r t.

The design must contain all of the ply boundaries for all of the layers of material, with the desired fibre direction for each layer specified within the design. That lay up tool and design is handed off to the part programmer.

Once he has the tool surface and all the ply boundaries for all layers, he can create the NC programs for the machine.

Simulation then validates that the NC programs produce the right part.

A s soon a s the lay up st rateg y is con fir me d, t hat it is achievable on the machine, a nd that the pa r t design is producible, then the programming process is to fill plies with material, post- out a nd va lidate the prog ra ms, and do this repeatedly until a l l layers a re complete. O f course much of this task can be automated.

Summary AFP is a flexible and effective process. If you understand both its abilities and limitations, it can be a very good method for creating composite parts.

Since the process is building up the part’s structure, it is very important for manufacturing people to work with design and engineering. Using software to do virtual layup experiments offers an effective tool for confirming that the part design is producible, and that the as-built part will match the design intent.

Enquiry No. 1605 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

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Events& Exhibitions

Metalex 2013 Like the previous editions, the 2013 installment of Metalex is a good place to gauge the pulse of manufacturing industries in the Southeast Asia region. By Joson Ng

Udom Wongviwatchai

U

dom Wongviwatchai, secretary general of the Board of Investment (BOI) and chairman of the opening ceremony gave a keynote speech on the strategy of investing in manufacturing for AEC preparedness.

In his speech, he talked up the importance of ASEAN in the world’s economy. As such,

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investments will move into the region, especially into the automotive or related industries.

He also predicted an influx of investment and personnel after the establishment of the AEC. Therefore, it is important for Thailand to step forward as ASEAN is the country’s largest export market.

In order to do so, he said the

country should improve capacity in manufacturing and continue to develop a sustainable industry so as to provide a strong foundation for Thai manufacturing. Finally, he called for more support in research and study in a bid to add value to the manufacturing industry.

Enquiry No. 1701 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Events&Exhibitions

New Products At Metalex…

Hexagon Metrology: Portable Probing System

Mitsubishi Electric: Laser Processing System

Launched worldwide days before the show, a handheld probing tool for the Leica Absolute Tracker AT402 made its Thai tradeshow debut at Metalex. The Leica B-Probe can gather hidden 3D points in a measurement volume of 20 m (ø) where traditional probes are obstructed.

For very large structures that require highly accurate measurements, the volume can be extended within a working volume of 320 m (ø) with virtually no loss in probing accuracy by completing a laser tracker move station. Finally, the probe can also be fitted with an extension to reach deep areas previously inaccessible.

The ML3015eX-S laser processing system is said to use a high-beam convergence resonator to achieve improved productivity and reduced running cost, resulting in good cost performance for thin plates.

The manufacturer said the machine can reduce the cutting time of thin plates to as high as 20 percent and cut running cost by 13 percent.

Enquiry No. 1702 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Nano Forum Big names from the world of nanotechnology got together to talk about ‘small’ issues.

During a panel discussion on nanotechnology for high pre cision manufacturing and advanced materials development at the nanotechnology forum, the speakers talked about the various challenges of applying nanotechnology to metalworking.

Looking at how nanotechnology can be used to improve the properties of materials, Dr Pornsak Srisungsitthisunti from the department of production engineering at King Mongkut’s University of Technology told the crowd he prefers to view the issue from two different perspectives.

He said: “When people talk about nanotech, one way is to try to reduce the size. For example, get a smaller circuit that is as small as possible, or get the processors to run faster. On the other hand, when the size is small, (material) surface becomes very important. This opens up new properties.”

Although there are undoubtedly benefits, other technologies need to keep pace, creating challenges as well.

For Dr Suey-Li Toh, regional application specialist of Carl Zeiss, the introduction

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of nanotechnology into metalworking has brought about the need to improve resolutions of the characterisation method.

There is now more reliance on electron microscopy systems.

“When the trend is towards nanotech, electron microscopy systems can give more in-depth analysis of the materials.

They can help users understand certain interactions, or give information such as presence of certain elements or the kind of phase or microstructure present,” she said.

Looking ahead, both experts agreed

that more should be done to harness the potential benefits nanotechnology can bring into metalworking.

“In Thailand, we have the potential to be successful in our method and to develop our own products. I think we should be more confident and increase more cooperation between universities, the government and industries in order to promote nanotechnology,” said Dr Srisungsitthisunti.

Enquiry No. 1704 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Events&Exhibitions

Faro Providing A Better Scan The world of 3D at the show was represented

by Faro, which brought the Edge ScanArm ES system to Metalex. According to Harkiran Sandhu, country manager of India, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, the product was launched recently and is making its Southeast Asia debut at the show.

Boasting a better scanning performance, especially when it comes to shiny objects, the system is also more versatile.

“The enhanced scanning technology allows users to scan challenging surfaces such as dark reflective surfaces. There is also a new high dynamic launch mode, which allows the users to scan materials of different contrasting colours,” he said, adding that the system is suitable for customers in the automotive industry.

Improvements in technology are evident in the scanning system. This need is clearly driven by the industry’s move towards higher quality, a point that is made by Mr Sandhu.

“Companies or manufacturers need to manufacture higher quality products. Due to that, the manufacturers are seeking better measurement equipment that allows them to perform specific controls. People are moving into quality rather than quantity.”

Migration in the direction of quality is generally seen as positive by many and it is by no means the only thing moving in the right way. As far as he is concerned, the market in Southeast Asia is also on the up.

Harkiran Sandhu A 3D model of the workpiece (below) can be replicated by running the scanner carefully over it. The whole scanning process took about four minutes.

“There is going to be mixed scenarios here in Southeast Asia. Thailand has been on the growth path for the longest time.

Although some other economies are pretty stagnant, we are still very positive about our outlook for 2014. I would say ‘cautiously positive’ are good words. We would continue on growth, potential expansion, and potential injection anywhere, as long

as it is moving in tandem with the business needs of the country,” he said.

With a positive assessment, he told us that he expects a “20 to 25 percent year over year growth” in the region and they are optimistic about achieving it as they are positioned right.

Enquiry No. 1705 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

GF Machining Solutions Expects Growth In Southeast Asia Laurent Castella

Another product making its debut at Metalex was the Mikron HEM 500 U milling machine. Laurent Castella, the company’s head of market (region Asia), said the 3+2 axis milling machine was

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launched for the first time in Thailand because together with their agent, they see a market in the country. As such, they have designed a package around the machine to fit the market. He added that

the machine is suitable for small batch high value parts production.

Looking into the future in Southeast Asia, Mr Castella is optimistic. When asked about growth in the region, he said: “Yes absolutely. We believe that Southeast Asia will be booming. We see high growth potential in Vietnam and the Philippines. Indonesia is also picking up.

Thailand is a little bit quiet (2013) after a very good last year (2012).” Finally, he revealed to APMEN that he expects a “double digit growth” for Southeast Asia in 2014.

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Events&Exhibitions

The Rise Of East Asia APMEN spoke with two Taiwanese companies at the show to see how they view the Southeast Asian market.

A large Asian contingent can be found at the show, made up by Japanese, South Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese companies. While Japanese brands are well-established in this part of the world, companies in South Korea, Taiwan and even China are slowly gaining more prominence. China was represented by DMTG, among others, and Korloy was flying the flag for South Korea along with many companies hailing from the East Asian country.

The Taiwanese companies were also well-represented at the show with Palmary and Yih Troun Enterprise being the two notable companies from the region.

The former has a manufacturing presence in Thailand, which according to CL Cheng, the company’s president, is developing its own machines. The company presented the locally-made Vastly 35, a multiple grinding machine at the show. According to them, the machine can create 10 types of macros for grinding automatically. It took the company four months to develop the machine with the important components imported from Taiwan.

Mr Cheng added that the machine is suitable for making automotive parts and mould and die manufacturing.

Increasing Efficiency Another Taiwanese company, Yih Troun Enterprise, is also eyeing the lucrative automotive market of Thailand. Fei Chen, who is in charge of overseas business development, told APMEN that they mainly help their Thai customers in efficiency issues.

“We helped them solve many cases.

However, sometimes they do not want to change. They would rather accept lower efficiency since labour cost is lower here.

As such, we encourage them to view cost from the tooling point of view and as a result, we are seeing some change in their perspective.”

To help them achieve higher efficiency, they introduced three products developed in September 2013 at the show with their Thai

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CL Cheng

Fei Chen

YT Enterprise’s indexable tap took almost three years to develop. counterparts Cerathai. Ms Chen said: “We have three new products. One is an indexable tap. The R&D process took almost three years and we believe no other brands in the world are adopting the concept of an indexable tap.”

She added that the reason for undergoing such an extensive development program is due to their belief that the conventional tap may not be the most economical as machining speeds get faster.

The second product making its debut at the show is the spot drill, where its selling point is its size. “We start from M8. It is also indexable and is capable of a runout tolerance of 0.01 to 0.015 mm,” she said.

The final product is a thread mill. According to Ms Chen, only one tool is needed to make threads in different sized holes, as opposed to using various tools for different sized holes.

SEA On The Up Together, both companies are predicting big things for the region of Southeast Asia.

Mr Cheng feels that Thailand, along with Indonesia, which has been developing quickly, is poised for good growth. He expects his Thai business to grow by about 30 percent in 2014 and his Thai counterpart has promised him substantial revenue in the next five years.

Echoing this positive sentiment is Ms Chen, who said the region should do better with positive news from Europe and the US. She picked out Indonesia as a hot spot for her company. Her company’s ambition does not end in Asia however, as she has made plans to go beyond Asia and explore the European market in 2014.

Enquiry No. 1707 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Events&Exhibitions

Indonesian Metalworking Industry:

More To Come SPEED BUMPS But Proceed With Caution In 2014

We dissect the Indonesian metalworking market with the help of three metal cutting machine and equipment builders. By Joson Ng

T

he Indonesian metalworking industry is long lauded for its boisterous nature. Like a shining beacon, it attracts many OEMs from all over the world. As such, the last few years have witnessed good growth but is the run coming to an end? APMEN spoke with three metal cutting machine and equipment builders at the Manufacturing Indonesia show held in December 2013 to see how the OEMs view the country’s metalworking industry.

Shuji Yamashita, MD of DMG Mori Seiki Indonesia, who has only recently moved to the countr y from Japan, views Indonesia as a growing market.

“Compared to Japan, the Indonesian machine tool market is still small but it is growing. I

am expecting much growth in 5 to 10 years,” he said.

With such an assessment, it is perhaps not surprising that he is setting himself high targets.

In terms of sales, using Thailand as a benchmark, he told us that he intends to “catch up with Thailand fast.”

According to him, the Indonesian market has the potential to fuel his ambition.

“The most important thing is to find more potential customers.

Even though we started our business in Indonesia in 2003, we still have lots of unknown customers. This is the biggest reason why are exhibiting here,” he said.

Mr Yamashita is not the only person who views Indonesia as a place of potential. Soo Kam Tatt, director of Hypertherm Asia also sees Indonesia as “a market with still a lot of opportunity,” especially when it comes to metal cutting.

Mr Yamashita sees good potential for growth in Indonesia.

I am expecting much growth in 5 to 10 years.”

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Events&Exhibitions

“In this market you should be among the top three.”

Johan Elster “There is still a lot of room to grow, for example, in CNC plasma cutting. If Indonesian companies start to kick in and run at a high productivity level, plasma is definitely one way to help them move forward,” he said.

With the presence of organic demand, Mr Soo sees many factors that will spur investments.

“We think that if you look at the Southeast Asian market, Indonesia is somewhere at the bottom, in terms of adopting this mode of metal cutting,” he said, before telling us they will work with their channel partners to create awareness and presence by organising various events such as seminars.

Like Mr Soo, Johan Elster of Bystronic also shared similar positive assessment of Indonesia.

The president of business unit markets and member of the management committee said they are budgeting for growth in all countries in Southeast Asia and he has the strategy to do just that.

He said: “In this market you should be among the top three.

This is the same rule for many businesses. If you are among the top three, you make money. If not, you will struggle when the economy goes down. We need to be among the top three, which means you need 20 percent or more market share (every year, in terms of new orders).”

To be near the top of the food chain, it is essential to have good quality machines but it is not the only differentiator. www.equipment-news.com

Mr Elster believes there are two entry points into the emerging markets of Southeast Asia.

“The biggest challenge is to have sufficient coverage,” he said. When asked, he said coverage includes ser vice as well.

“I handle 25 sales and service companies for Bystronic. The most successful ones are the ones with best sales and best service.

They go hand in hand.”

Potential Spanner In The Works Although the Indonesia market is generally rated as a place with potential, enthusiasm and positivity should also be accompanied with a caveat.

With the election looming in 2014, there is growing sense that people are adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude, which may cause a slowdown in activities.

Mr Soo is also aware of the situation as he looked at 2014.

“Last year (2012) this time, we can see everybody excited.

But as we went into 2013, we see the market slow down a bit. This is partly because of regulations happening in the market and also the exchange rate. I don’t feel that

same vibe (at the 2013 edition of the show) as last year. Last year (2012), you can feel more urgency (in making orders). This year (2013), there are but not at the same level,” he said.

Another contributing factor for the market plateauing according to him is also the upcoming presidential election in Indonesia, happening in mid-2014.

“For us, when we look at Indonesia, 2014 could be the year of change (in government).

It (growth) won’t be at that fast pace as there will be a transitional period,” he added. That said, he feels whoever in power would still be trying to attract direct foreign investments.

Competing At The Right Level In the past few years, Asian machine builders have improved technically while retaining their price advantage over their European counterparts, whose selling point has always been good quality and service. Coupling this improvement and a slight slowing in some manufacturing hot spots in Asia, the ‘big names’ have to do something more Jan-Feb 2014 asia pacific metalworking equipment news

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Events&Exhibitions the high-end route would result in a smaller market share.

Having a strong install base of middle range machines is therefore an advantage because it is a key for future upgrading, which he hopes will be a reality with the population of the middle class growing in many emerging economies in this part of the world, along with their expectation of higher quality.

Soo Kam Tatt

drastic in order to increase their competiveness in the market for entry or mid-level range of machine tools or equipment.

As such, many of the big names have started building machines that suits the local demand and more competitive in terms of price.

Admitting that price is a factor, Mr Yamashita told APMEN that his company will have another cooperation product line in the near future that will be able to “cover under the US$70,000” price range.

Bystronic has also started producing Swiss quality machines in China to help bring middle range machines to Asian customers, and for good reasons too.

“In emerging markets, people do not start with end high machines. If you want to be a major part of the market, we need to produce Bystronic quality but at entry level price. That is why we have developed a machine (BySun) fully in China.

The core technology is still from Switzerland, like the laser cutting 72

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

head, drive system, software and control. The mechanical part is developed in China,” he said.

Apart from being competitive, the company has also set its sights further down the road.

“We need to build up our customer base. If we get big install base for this kind of machine, we also have the possibility to sell high end machines to the same customers in two to three years,” he said. This strategy is showing signs of working as he gave us an example.

“Now people still accept quite low quality (in emerging markets). We recently visited some customers in Vietnam who made their own products. They have lower end products for domestic market but for export, they need to provide higher quality. That is why now they are looking for laser (cutting solution),” he elaborated.

For Mr Elster, there are two entr y points into emerging economies in Southeast Asia.

One being middle range machines and the other being second hand machines. Entering the market via

New Products In Indonesia With the machine tool builders augmenting their competitiveness with economical product range, we present some of the machines making their debut in Indonesia at Manufacturing Indonesia. For DMG Mori, it is the Max 3000 high-speed No. 30 Taper Machining Centre, which according to Mr Yamashita, was launched worldwide only in the middle of 2013.

He added that the machine was developed for machining automotive parts. It has an APC and a 15,000 rpm spindle speed for high speed cutting. With quick movement and a high-speed spindle, the machine is suitable for high production and he is selling the machine in Indonesia because of its growing automotive and motorcycle industries.

P a c k i n g m o re m u s c l e i s Hypertherm’s Powermax 125, a plasma cutting system. Launched in November 2013 according to Mr Soo, he calls the system a “breakthrough” as it is the most powerful Powermax to date and the air-cooled system is able to cut and pierce at 100 percent duty cycle.

In addition, compared to a model that is closest to the 125, it has the same outward dimension and weighs about 65 kg, making it portable. Finally, he remarked that the severance and gouging ability has improved too.

Enquiry No. 1708 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Events&Exhibitions

T

he future has always been an intriguing, thoughtp ro v o k i n g i n d e f i n i t e time period. Everyone is interested about their personal future. Manufacturers too are interested in what the future brings.

In the 2013 installment of SIMTech’s Annual Manufacturing Forum, the future (or as some academics at the forum might prefer, the inevitable period, propelled by the existence of time and the laws of physics) is very much on the agenda.

With the theme ‘Manufacturing Technologies: the next 20 years and beyond’, many gathered to learn more about the merging trends and their impact on the future of manufacturing.

According to the organiser, the event also serves as a launch pad for various industrial initiatives.

Industrial Robots Although the forum touched on several topics and technologies surrounding manufacturing like 3D Printing and X-Ray computed tomography, Robotics was arguably the highlight of the morning session. Dr Rainer Bischoff, head of technology development, KUKA Laboratories, presented the opportunities and challenges for the factories of the future.

“Robots are the essential part of the industrial manufacturing platform in Europe and everywhere else,” he said, stating the place robots have in the manufacturing arena today, adding that “they help increase flexibility and improve the work environment.”

Although robots play a big part in today’s modern factories, Dr Bischoff felt that there is a need to identify global megatrends and derive user needs accordingly from there. He listed ageing, global warming, sustainability and safety & security as the trends.

As much as they are complex and ultimately different issues, he stressed that there is always

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SIMTech Annual Manufacturing Forum 2013 The forum gave participants a preview on what lies in store for the manufacturing arena. By Joson Ng

a need for manipulation and grasping technologies.

These global trends challenge existing concepts and breed new ones in the field of industrial robot-based automation. Although there are opportunities aplenty, they will only be feasible if the technical challenges are solved, according to him. For instance, he said robot manufacturers need to look at ways to reduce the investment cost of robot cells, lower life cycle cost, minimise floor space and increase flexibility and the general applicability of robot-based automation.

In addition to the above mentioned, he said another key technology for robotics is safe robot technology. Currently, robots and workers are separated by fences.

This results in either fully automatic or manual production and there is nothing in between.

He felt the present situation has to be changed. Dr Bischoff said: “We have to continue the development of flexible degree of automation. This means human and robots collaborating on the same workspace without safety fences.”

He even suggested a scenario in which humans may be transported into the workspace by robots.

Finally, Dr Bischoff touched on a topic regarding robot-based automation deployed for assembly task. Calling it a “paradigm

change” and the “next big thing in manufacturing,” he painted an example using the assembly work carried out on differential gear.

Currently, manufacturers are using complex gripping technology specially developed for a specific task, resulting in low flexibility, ie: the system cannot be used for anything else and they are costly as a result. The new solution sees two (or more) robots cooperating to carry out assembly work of gearboxes. In this example, simple grippers are being used.

Other Notable Presentations In addition to robotics, there were also many other presentations in the morning session. Irene Ng, professor of marketing & service systems, University of Warwick, talked about the impact of digitisation on manufacturing.

She also asked pertinent questions like ‘what is value?’ and told the crowd how value and resources are contextual.

Chester Karwatowski, CTO, IBM CIO, shared with the crowd his thoughts on technology adoption lifecycle. He said technologies like 3D printing, open source electronics and intelligent robotics are “reaching tipping points,” and they will usher a new frontier in manufacturing.

Enquiry No. 1709 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Events&Exhibitions

Event Preview:

MTA Hanoi 2014

M

TA H a n o i , t h e precision engineering and manufacturing technology exhibition that serves the industries of Northern Vietnam and its surrounding regions, will return to the International Center for Exhibition (ICE) from April 1 – 3, 2014.

According to William Lim, project director for the show, MTA Hanoi has established itself as the go-to event after two editions, for companies located in the vicinity to source for the latest manufacturing technologies.

He also mentioned that the exhibitors will be showcasing an array of solutions that will not only help to increase the productivity of foreign investment companies and locally based manufacturers, but also spur further development of the area’s supporting industries.

Foreign Influences A collection of international and local exhibitors will transform the

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asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

show ground into a bustling market place, showcasing manufacturing solutions such as cutting, moulding and tooling systems, metrology machines, and hand tools, among many others. Into its third edition, the show will also feature three group pavilions from the Czech Republic, Singapore and Taiwan.

The event this year features both debutants and returning exhibitors.

Kamogawa, a Japanese company that specialises in production systems, will be exhibiting at the show for the first time.

Commenting on their inaugural showing, Oshima Masayu, GM of their Vietnam office says: “We have been present in Hanoi for the last eight years and would like to expand our customer base. We will be showcasing a range of automatic CNC lathes and hand tools as well as anti-rust, safety, and cleaning solutions.”

On the other side of the spectrum, Bystronic has taken part in the show since its inauguration in

2008. Philip Loh, MD of the company, comments on their participation at the upcoming exhibition: “The show attracts visitors from many different fields, and the current profile of North Vietnam customers is a good mix of low to high-end producers. At the show in 2012, we had more than 100 customers visit our booth and added many new potential customers that made 2013 a successful year for us.

We hope to continue to promote our brand in Northern Vietnam and attract new customers at the show. The exhibition will also serve to boost sales and open new opportunities for the future. We will be showcasing our entry-level press brake machine, and will also have a wide range of machines from entry-level to high-end automation on offer.”

Knowledge Exchange This year’s edition of the show also sees an expanded seminar programme that will allow visitors to participate in in-depth industry dialogue. Tailored for local businesses, homegrown industry experts will address pertinent topics that are relevant to the manufacturing industry in Northern Vietnam and its surrounding regions.

The show will see two new seminars by the Multi Engineering Solutions Laboratory (MESLAB) a n d t h e Vi e t n a m We l d i n g Society. Participating for the second time is the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Industry (VAMI), who will present a seminar on cooperation with mechanical enterprises.

ICE Hanoi, Vietnam April 1 – 3, 2014 Enquiry No. 1710 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Product Finder THINK PARTS THINK TORNOS

CT 20 From simple to mid complex components, the CT 20 is designed to meet your requirements.

4 or 5 linear axes Up to 26 tools ■ Up to 10 rotating tools ■ FANUC control ■

Your nearest representation : Tornos Malaysia Penang Tornos Thailand Bangkok

+60 4 642 6562 +66 2 746 8840-1

Aicon: Small Handheld Probe

Ametek Taylor Hobson: Versatile Surface Roughness Tester

Aicon has developed the MI.Probe mini, based on its existing MI.Probe. The probe is equipped with measuring points and is automatically identified by the cameras.

The user can carry out the measurement with full freedom of movement without disturbing cables.

Depending on the measuring task, the probe tips are easily exchangeable, which makes the measurement even more precise.

Specially developed for measurements with the Breuckmann StereoScan, the probe is 15 cm long and it is able to identify all geometric details and passes the data on to the analysis software. Fewer set-ups are necessary, making measurements less complicated and even faster.

Enquiry No. 1801 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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ENQUIRY NO 010

■

A portable roughness tester to support surface measurement applications has been introduced by Ametek Taylor Hobson.

For ease of use, the Surtronic S-100 Series includes a large touch-screen and an intuitive software. It is suitable for both shop floor and inspection room use.

Versatility features include a 50 mm stylus lift with right-angle attachment and a stylus reach of over 70 mm. The stylus can also measure upside down. Several connectivity choices are provided by the instrument’s USB and USB mini ports.

Enquiry No. 1802 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

Jan-Feb 2014 asia pacific metalworking equipment news

75

ProductFinder Cognex: Compact Vision Products

Digi-Pas: Two-Axis Digital Level

Cognex has released two products, the Advantage 100 vision system and the AE2 Advantage engine designed for integration into OEM devices and equipment. OEM equipment designers can now take advantage of the vision and code reading technology in even spaceconstrained and cost-sensitive applications.

The former is an (23 mm x 44 mm x 54 mm) enclosed vision system with customisable optics, lighting and Ethernet communications suitable for integration into large automated clinical diagnostic systems.

The latter provides an even smaller (14.5 mm x 29.1 mm x 20.5 mm) form factor designed for tight integration deep inside the enclosure of OEM devices manufactured in high volumes such as medical instruments and printers.

DWL-8500XY is a two-axis digital level with builtin vibrometer, having resolution and accuracy of 1 arcsec or 5 µm/M and measuring range for precision leveling, plane angle measurements, surface 2D profiling and alignment tasks. According to Digi-Pas, it is capable of real-time wireless Bluetooth/USB remote measuring and data logging.

This instrument is engineered to simplify the task of professionals and specialists in installation, setting up, maintenance and characterisation of very large-sized CNC machines, surface flatness profiling, precision test/measuring instruments and 2D alignment-sensitive equipment.

Enquiry No. 1803 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

Delcam Adds Vortex Area Clearance To CAM For SolidWorks

Edgecam: Updated Version With More Enhancements

Delcam has launched the 2 014 r e l e a s e of its Delcam fo r S o l i d Wo r k s i nte g rate d CA M system, the first version to include the Vortex strategy for area clearance. The software also includes a number of options for turning, fouraxis rotary machining and turn-mill operations, plus more strategies for two-axis finishing.

Vortex has been developed specifically to gain the most efficient material removal from solid carbide tooling, in particular those designs that can give deeper cuts by using the full flute length as the cutting surface. Unlike other high-speed roughing techniques that aim to maintain a constant theoretical metal-removal rate, the Vortex strategy produces toolpaths with a controlled engagement angle for the complete operation.

Edgecam has made enhancements in its latest release, the Edgecam 2014 R1. The manufacturing enhancements include the New Chamfering Cycle, which is a modern command supporting 2D and 3D geometry. The option to automatically deburr sharp edges also removes the requirement to prepare geometry, which is another time-saver.

Further enhancements to the software program’s ease of use include a CPL datum marker with colour coded rotation bars and axis labelling. Following the introduction of pictures on dialogs in the 2013 R2, this feature has been extended to the ‘rough and finish turn cycles’, promoting ease of use for new or infrequent users.

Enquiry No. 1804 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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Enquiry No. 1805 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

Enquiry No. 1806 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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ProductFinder

TRULY MULTIPURPOSE

Black Magic Taps

When tapping in a wide range of materials, one of the challenges for manufacturers is to reduce tooling & inventory costs. Sutton Tools new universal high performance tap is capable of tapping a wide range of material groups including stainless steel, aluminium, copper and alloy steels. It also provide improvements to thread quality due to a combination of tool design, material and surface finish.

Features: • Made from PM-HSSE V3 • Hardlube coating minimises friction • 50° helix for better chip transportation in blind holes • Higher reliefs, allowing the tap to cut freely and generate less heat

Asia Equipment New Jan-Feb 14.indd 1

Grieve: Electric Cabinet Oven

Palmary Machinery: Accuracy From Rigidity

No. 1030 is a 550˚F floor-level electric cabinet oven from Grieve, currently used for heating large gears.

Workspace dimensions of this oven measure 48” W x 48” D x 60” H. According to the manufacturer, some 40 KW are installed in the Incoloy-sheathed tubular elements to heat the oven chamber, while a 2,000 CFM, 2-HP recirculating blower provides horizontal airflow across the workload.

Finally, the cabinet oven features 6” insulated walls, aluminised steel exterior and interior, plus five levels of dual-lane roller conveyor rated at 300 lbs. per level.

Enquiry No. 1807 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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ENQUIRY NO 020

To find out more contact Sutton Tools Singapore on +65 6745 6388 or suttontools.sg@sutton.com.au www.sutton.com.au

13/01/14 5:29 PM

The multiple grinding machine V a s t l y 35 from Palmary Machinery has a machine structure that is made of Meehanite cast iron, which is stress-relieved for maximum stability. In addition, precision hand scraping is used on the critical matching surfaces to ensure their flatness and geometric accuracy as well as dynamic accuracy is ensured.

The sliding seat mechanism on the machine with a 1V flat structure machine base ensures the rigidity, performance and accuracy. Finally, the lubrication system allows high accuracy performance under high feedrate status. Both rigidity and efficiency are maintained at the same time.

Enquiry No. 1808 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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77

ProductFinder Ransohoff: Robotically Tended Cellular Parts Washer Ransohoff has developed a robotically tended cellular parts washer.

T he L e a n - J e t R T18 is said to have a drive system that adds flexibility to its cellular design.

While the previous generation did prov ide pla neta r y part rotation at each processing station, the design allows for each individual table to be programed to rotate a part in multiple directions, at varying speeds, or to pause and position a part for dedicated spaying or probing of critical holes or difficult to address areas.

As table position is tracked throughout the cycle and parts are positively located at the load and unload station, this design is suitable for a robotically tended manufacturing cell.

Enquiry No. 1809 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

TaeguTec: Bringing New Dimensions To Grooving

TaeguTec’s multifunctional tool family, the T-Cap, has now been upgraded with design features to enable additional machining operations that improves on cost and increases productivity.

The main feature in its cost savings function is TopCap’s two insert types for the same holder which is created with a recessed seat and dovetail pocket design for rigid clamping while protecting the grooving cutting edge from chip flow. Furthermore, the current standard insert for the line can also be mounted on TopCap holders.

Enquiry No. 1810 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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asia pacific metalworking equipment news Jan-Feb 2014

Tornos: Entry-Level Swiss-Type CNC Lathe

The CT 20 by Tornos is a 20 mm bar capacity, sliding headstock lathe. It is available in two versions with four or five linear axes plus the C axis for the main headstock and 0,1 degree indexing for the back spindle.

The five-axis version has a large tooling capacity with up to 26 tools including four radial live tools in main operations and two back end live tools. With its back spindle moving on two axes and four back end tool positions, this version allows parallel machining, shortening cycle times.

Finally, the cast iron frame and the spindles are designed to tackle any kind of material up to the maximum capacity of the lathe and ensure precision and stability in long runs.

Enquiry No. 1811 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

Trumpf: Solid-State Laser Cutting

The BrightLine fiber function enables an interplay of beam generation, guidance, and focus. This allows higher quality to be achieved in thicker mild and stainless steel.

The TruLaser 5030 fiber, fitted with this function and its five-kilowatt solid-state laser, now cuts stainless steel up to 25 mm thick with quality, making it an all-purpose machine for 2D laser processing.

In addition, the function allows particularly small holes and contours to be cut in thick stainless steel as well as increasing quality and productivity in the processing of mild steel between 15 and 25 mm in thickness. It can also cut through aluminium sheets up to 25 mm thick. In short, it can process all common material types and thicknesses in good quality.

Enquiry No. 1812 Turn to page 80a or log on to www.equipment-news.com to enquire

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EXHIBITION PROGRAMMES MARCH

2014

Porte de Versailles Paris, France JEC Group truong@jeccomposites.com www.jeccomposites.com

BITEC Bangkok, Thailand UBM Asia (Thailand) intermach@intermachshow.com www.intermachshow.com

Shanghai New International Expo Centre Shanghai, China MP International eastpo@eastpo.net www.emte-eastpo.com

19 – 22 Inapa

15 – 18 Sheet Metal Asia 2014

AUGUST

11 – 13 JEC Europe

JI Expo Kemayoran Jakarta, Indonesia GEM Indonesia info@gem-indonesia.net www.inapa-exhibition.net

APRIL

1–3 MTA Hanoi 2014 ICE Hanoi, Vietnam SES mta@sesallworld.com www.mtahanoi.com

9 – 13 SIMTOS 2014 KINTEX Seoul, South Korea KOMMA jjy0331@komma.org www.simtos.org

MAY

8 - 11 MT duo

TWTC & Nangang Exhibition Hall Taipei, Taiwan TAITRA mt@taitra.org.tw www.mtduo.com.tw

15 – 17 Subcon Thailand 2014 BITEC Bangkok, Thailand UBM Asia (Thailand) warayut.c@ubm.com www.subconthailand.com

15 – 18 Intermach 2014

BITEC Bangkok, Thailand UBM Asia (Thailand) info@sheetmetal-asia.com www.sheetmetal-asia.com

14 – 17 EMTE Eastpo

27 - 30 MTT Expo Kuala Lumpur PWTC Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ECMI info@mtt-indonesia.com mtt-indonesia.com

21 – 24 Metaltech

SEPTEMBER

24 - 26 MTT Expo Surabaya (Tentative)

PWTC Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Trade Link info@tradelink.com.my tradelink.com.my/metaltech

JUNE

19 - 22 Intermold Thailand 2014 BITEC Bangkok, Thailand Reed Tradex contactcenter@reedtradex.co.th www.intermoldthailand.com

Grand City Surabaya, Indonesia ECMI info@mtt-indonesia.com mtt-indonesia.com

OCTOBER 2-4 Manufacturing Myanmar

8 – 11 MTA Vietnam

Myanmar Convention Centre Yangon, Myanmar SES mm@sesallworld.com manufacturingmyanmar.com

www.mtavietnam.com

9 - 11 Metalex Vietnam 2014

JULY

SECC Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam mta@sesallworld.com

SECC Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Reed Tradex metalexvietnam@reedtradex.co.th www.metalexvietnam.com

To be considered for inclusion in the calendar of events, send details of event to:

The Editor (APMEN) Eastern Trade Media

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ENTER ENQUIRY NUMBER (S)

(Refer to Advertising Index for Advertisers’ enquiry numbers)

Note: This form must be duly completed and signed.______________ TYPES OF PRODUCTS TO BE PURCHASED IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS ❍ Cutting Tools ❍ Machine Tools ❍ Software

❍ Metrology

❍ Others_____________

TYPE OF BUSINESS (Please ✔ ONE box only) Do you use METAL in your production/manufacturing process?

Do you use machine tools and related equipment?

Do you use automation systems & equipment?

❑ Yes ❑ Yes ❑ Yes

❑ No ❑ No ❑ No

YOUR METAL PROCESS USED ? (Please be specific) ❑ 300 ❑ 303 ❑ 306 ❑ 309 ❑ 315 ❑ 318

CNC Machining Milling Gear Cutting Grinding Stamping Shearing

❑ 321 ❑ 324 ❑ 301 ❑ 304 ❑ 307 ❑ 310

EDM/ECM Inspection/Measuring/Testing Design with CAD/CAM Drilling/Boring Tapping/Threading Lapping/Honing

❑ 313 ❑ 316 ❑ 319 ❑ 322 ❑ 302 ❑ 305

Forging Rolling Die Casting Welding Turning Coil Forming

❑ 308 ❑ 311 ❑ 314 ❑ 317 ❑ 320 ❑ 323

Broaching Plastic Moulding Pressworking Automated Assembly Beading Electroplating

❑ 350 Others (Please specify)_____________________________________________________________________________________________

YOUR BUSINESS ACTIVITY (Please be specific) ❑ 221 ❑ 150 ❑ 222 ❑ 120 ❑ 223 ❑ 122 ❑ 123

Basic Metal/Foundaries/Mills Electrical & Electronics production Telecommunications Equipment Manufacturing Aircraft maintenance/components mfg.

Dies & Moulds mfg.

Motor Vehicles Parts Shipbuilding

❑ 160 ❑ 180 ❑ 200 ❑ 224 ❑ 078

Design & Consultancy Services Govt bodies, Trade Assns, Exhibitions Cos. Agent/Distributor/Trader of Machine Tools & Accessories Mechanical, Fabrication and all other metal engineering works Others (Please specify)_____________________________________

JOB FUNCTION (Please be specific) ❑ 021 Senior & Middle Management ❑ 023 Maintenance Engineering ❑ 025 Research & Devt

❑ 028 Testing & Inspection ❑ 030 Sales & Marketing

❑ 022 Production Engineering ❑ 024 Quality Control/Assurance

❑ 026 Design Engineering ❑ 029 Purchasing/Sourcing

❑ 027 Others (Please specify)

Size of company ❑ 001 1 – 10

❑ 002 11 – 30

❑ 003 31 – 50

❑ 004 51 – 100

❑ 005 101+

www.equipment-news.com FAST PERSONAL COPY SUBSCRIPTION FORM INVEST $0.15 PER DAY IN TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR YOUR CORPORATE STRATEGIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Name: (Surname)_ ______________________________________ (Given Name)_ ___________________________ Company: _____________________________________________ Job Title:_________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________________________________________ Country: ______________________________________________ Telephone No: _ __________________________ E-mail:_ _______________________________________________ Fax No:__________________________________ Signature ______________________________________________ SUBSCRIPTION RATES

Commencing from:

AIRMAIL (1 YEAR – EIGHT ISSUES)

■ *Singapore/Malaysia S$60.00

*(GST applicable)

■ Cheque/Bank draft - made payable to

Date____________________________________

Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd

Year

Month

■ Asia Pacific/America/Europe/ Others S$100.00

■ Amex

■ Visa

■ Mastercard

Cardholder’s name

■ Telegraphic Transfer Payment

United Overseas Bank, Singapore Bank Code: 7375 Branch Code: 037 Account No.: 921-343-851-0 Company: Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd

• Receipt will only be issued upon request!

Account Number

Security ID –

Expiry Date

Signature

TYPE OF BUSINESS (Please ✔ ONE box only) Do you use METAL in your production/manufacturing process?

Do you use machine tools and related equipment?

Do you use automation systems & equipment?

❑ Yes ❑ Yes ❑ Yes

❑ No ❑ No ❑ No

YOUR METAL PROCESS USED ? (Please be specific) ❑ 300 ❑ 303 ❑ 306 ❑ 309 ❑ 315 ❑ 318

CNC Machining Milling Gear Cutting Grinding Stamping Shearing

❑ 321 ❑ 324 ❑ 301 ❑ 304 ❑ 307 ❑ 310

EDM/ECM Inspection/Measuring/Testing Design with CAD/CAM Drilling/Boring Tapping/Threading Lapping/Honing

❑ 313 Forging ❑ 316 Rolling ❑ 319 Die Casting ❑ 322 Welding ❑ 302 Turning ❑ 305 Coil Forming

❑ 308 ❑ 311 ❑ 314 ❑ 317 ❑ 320 ❑ 323

Broaching Plastic Moulding Pressworking Automated Assembly Beading Electroplating

❑ 350 Others (Please specify)

YOUR BUSINESS ACTIVITY (Please be specific) ❑ 221 ❑ 150 ❑ 222 ❑ 120 ❑ 223 ❑ 122

Basic Metal/Foundaries/Mills Electrical & Electronics production Telecommunications Equipment Manufacturing Aircraft maintenance/components mfg.

Dies & Moulds mfg.

Motor Vehicles Parts

❑ 123 ❑ 160 ❑ 180 ❑ 200 ❑ 224 ❑ 078

Shipbuilding Design & Consultancy Services Govt bodies, Trade Assns, Exhibitions Cos. Agent/Distributor/Trader of Machine Tools & Accessories Mechanical, Fabrication and all other metal engineering works Others (Please specify)_____________________________________

JOB FUNCTION (Please be specific) ❑ 021 Senior & Middle Management ❑ 023 Maintenance Engineering ❑ 025 Research & Devt

❑ 028 Testing & Inspection ❑ 030 Sales & Marketing ❑ 027 Others (Please specify)

❑ 022 Production Engineering ❑ 024 Quality Control/Assurance

Send this Fast SUBSCRIPTION FORM to Circulation Department, Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd 1100 Lower Delta Road, EPL Building #02-02, Singapore 169206 or Fax: 65-6379 2806 Note: This form must be duly completed and signed.

❑ 026 Design Engineering ❑ 029 Purchasing/Sourcing

ENQUIRY NO 002

Tungaloy Singapore Pte. Ltd. 31 Kaki Bukit Road 3 #05-19 Techlink Singapore 417818 Tel: (65) 6391 1833 • Fax: (65) 6299 4557 www.tungaloy.co.jp/tspl/

Knowledge and Performance in Concert Imagine running in perfect, synchronized harmony. Any project, any challenge, optimized and refined using digital intelligence to fundamentally transform your workflow into seamless, elegant, simple production. From art to part — to profit.

With NOVO™ you can now have the right tools on your machines, in the right sequence.

This enterprise-wide solution ensures that you execute flawlessly to accelerate every job, maximize every shift. And that should be music to your ears.

That’s Different Thinking. That’s Kennametal.

TM

www.kennametal.com/novo

Experience Powering Productivity ™

©2013 Kennametal Inc. l All rights reserved. l A-13-03372

ENQUIRY NO 011