International Metalworking News for Asia

In this issue of International Metalworking, we are presenting exclusive interviews of South East Asia’s (SEA) metalworking industry bigwigs, sharing important technologies for this ever-changing world of industrial manufacturing.

Global mobility transition is in full swing. In SEA, electric vehicle (EV) and battery industry appears poised for growth. The EV market is expected to reach US$2,665.3 million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 32.73%, according to Mordor Intelligence. More companies, mostly automotive suppliers, are looking for new manufacturing solutions, and laser is at the centre of it. Markus Lindemann, Regional Director, Laser Division of TRUMPF Pte Ltd highlighted their E-mobility solutions made with laser welding.

Manufacturers nowadays are progressively looking to automation in order to propel operational efficiency and overcome skill shortages on the shopfloor. To control manufacturing processes on the shopfloor, the need for new process control methods, such as gauging systems are increasing. In the Focus section of this issue, Steve Bell, General Manager of Renishaw ASEAN, explained how the Equator 300 and 500 flexible gauge system can help customers in the automation environment.

Uncertainties have been compounding in the recent past, with developing signs of weakness in economic growth and other high-frequency parameters. To provide manufacturing decision-makers in South East Asia with improved insight into global economic conditions in 2023, we asked thought-leaders in the metalworking industry how their technology can give the industry a positive outlook for the future. Find out more in the Outlook 2023 section.

The labour crunch is the biggest problem that is affecting every industry, especially precision engineering. Shortage of skilled workers and the pandemic have further aggravated the situation with an unpreceded movement of workers from Singapore and parts of SEA. Wai Yip Lee, General Manager of Hurco (S.E Asia) Pte Ltd discussed a possible solution that can help businesses not just in Singapore but the entire SEA region to bring order to the chaos of batch production and high-mix manufacturing.

The last couple of years gave us a lot of things to consider and analyse. We hope that our last issue for the year will give you a general overview of some of the most important forces shaping up the manufacturing industry. The world is taking large steps in the direction of automation, AI, digitalisation, robotics, IoT and more. Use these latest trends to your advantage.