Solution Sneak Peaks at HxGN LOCAL in Bangkok

By: Kathryn Gerardino-Elagio

The premier cross-industry technology conference has brought together industry experts and thought leaders from Hexagon’s interconnected business areas to shape the future of Smart Manufacturing solutions.

International Metalworking News for Asia attended the event and interviewed Mr. Taveesak Srisuntisuk, General Manager of the AEC & Pacific region of Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence.

“This is the first time that Asia Pacific team organised this kind of event here in Thailand. The last such event happened in Hong Kong, organised by Hexagon China for the whole Asia, including Asia Pacific (APAC). Last year, Hexagon China organised only for China market, which was attended by 5,500 people,” he explained.

Taveesak said that during the beginning he wanted HxGN LOCAL exclusive for Thailand only. But more partners became interested, and it became Hexagon for South East Asia, today it’s Hexagon for regional APAC. “Now that I’m responsible for South East Asia, I would like to have a similar event outside of Thailand because we have to establish our name everywhere in South East Asia,” he added.

Mr. Taveesak Srisuntisuk, General Manager of the AEC & Pacific region

Market prospects in Vietnam

Taveesak revealed, “I’m looking at Vietnam for the next HxGN LOCAL. Given that we already have eight years’ experience in the region. Also, Vietnam is a potential market for us. We have established our name there and has also closed some big investments in the country. But of course we also want to tap other big customers from Tier 1 & 2 or even local companies.”

“I can say that the Hexagon business in Vietnam is growing higher than other countries in South East Asia, however the market size of Thailand & Indonesia is still bigger than Vietnam. I can also say that we are able to get big investments from Vietnam. We had the opportunity to get an investment from Vietnam’s national car and have established our name there. But we need to keep our good image, therefore we must provide good service. Otherwise customers will try something else and our efforts in the past three years can slip away if we cannot provide good service. So now, I’m much focused in strengthening our Vietnam team,” he remarked.

Taveesak commented that they received a lot of works from the automotive industry in Vietnam, hence he sends its engineers from Thailand. “It is good that here in South East Asia we are one team, therefore we can provide support to other countries. For example in the future, Vietnam requires some works regarding aerospace then our engineers from Singapore can provide support,” he explained.   

Exclusive training opportunities

The intensive two-day live exhibition launched three topic hubs in parallel, which allowed attendees to fully enjoy a broad spectrum of exclusive training opportunities, expert presentations and thought-leader sessions. The three topic areas on the schedule are Manufacturing Processes, Industry-Focused Applications and Software Learning Solutions. Workstations have been provided in an offline classroom setting with instructor-led lab exercises to reinforce the learning materials. Each topic was presented by application experts and software developers.

“We like them to learn the technology not just showing them the product but providing them with different solutions. We have every application for each industry sector that we present here. For example we have here a very specific turbine blade measurement and non-contact measurement. These are something that we never bring during exhibitions-- not even in Thailand,” Taveesak stated.

Besides the exclusive one-on-one learning opportunities with field experts, the live demonstrations at HxGN LOCAL MANUFACTURING ASIA 2019 have been designed to help engineers and production managers discover the latest software updates and learn more about key application areas. Central topics include the optical analysis of tubes and wires, non-contact measurement in automotive inspection and metrology in remanufacturing, as well as end-to-end solutions in additive manufacturing, combining Hexagon’s design and engineering, production software and metrology solutions.

He revealed that in this event, they don’t have a specific product highlight but offers a solution for every customer. “They can come, learn, choose and bring home something, Taveesak said.  

But for this event he mentioned that they are featuring a new product, the Leica Absolute Tracker ATS600, which was globally launched a few weeks ago. The ATS600 is powered by the first ever Scanning Absolute Distance Meter, a metrology-grade iteration of this technical principle that can locate a point to within 300 microns from up to 60 metres away.

By measuring a series of such points across a user-definable measurement area, the ATS600 can quickly produce a measurement grid defining the target measurement surface. The density of that point-grid is also customisable, putting the operator in complete control of the balance between process speed and the level of detail that will feed into your metrology software. 

Also covered at HxGN LOCAL MANUFACTURING ASIA 2019 were the latest applications of new digital technologies and automation solutions, including advances in robotics and 3D scanning and new developments in inspection planning for their individual manufacturing applications. Attendees also learned about PC-DMIS measurement workflows and were able get an introduction to PC-DMIS 2019 R1, while further presentations covered tips and tricks for analysing problem parts, which focused on tools designed to help users succeed when working with both very tight and very loose tolerances.

Finally, Taveesak said that he is very happy and hoped that attendees were able gain the true potential of digital transformation and of course enjoy all the exclusive live demonstrations.