International Metalworking News for Asia

In the past year, people all over the world faced the largest economic and health crisis in recent history.

Companies were forced to adopt extraordinary measures to keep running amidst stranded employees, supply chain disruption, sudden changes in demand both up and down depending on the sector.

The truth is that no matter the outcome of the economic recovery, the structure of the post-pandemic economy will be intensely different.

More than a year into the crisis and still some companies are doing less compared to others and why are some doing better than before?

The answer to this rests in those companies that had already successfully implemented digital transformation and platform-based business models, or those that were able to quickly adopt digitalization. Companies that do not digitally transform will be left behind and will cease to exist.

This issue of International Metalworking News for Asia features articles that explain how digital transformation can be agile and help boost return of investment in even in the short term. Jeff Burnstein, President of Association for Advancing Automation (A3) said that the pandemic accelerated trends that were underway already. Companies who had not invested in robotics and automation realised that they should do so now in order to remain globally competitive.

The objective of every manufacturing company is to satisfy its customers by delivering workpieces to the right quality, on time and at optimal cost. Here, Staffan Lundström, Product Manager at Sandvik Coromant explains why cost-efficiency and quality in steel turning means precision — particularly in the choice of coolant.

The immediate impact of Covid was the need for staff to work from home if possible, which meant that that tasks like programming the cutting machines and preparing quotations needed to be quickly made operational from home offices. The solutions in Lantek's MES Manager and Quoting modules are designed to resolve this, enabling the team to know when a job has been completed, and accurately find costs from their remote environment.

The reality is that the effects of the pandemic will play out in a multifaceted and hard-to-predict way. For businesses, digital transformation will always be indispensable. Now, in our current situation, this trek has become essential and precarious if firms are to emerge positively and profitably.