International Metalworking News for Asia

Year 2009 started off bad, but thankfully the long awaitedglobal recovery is underway. Although slow, it is anticipated to lift both the world economy and metalworking industry in 2010. It now appears that developing nations in Asia will lead the global economic recovery and thus provide a strong market for machinetool equipment companies. According to a forecast from the International Monetary Fund, 2010 GDP growth isexpected to be 9% for China and 6.4% in India.

The recent economic recession has focused companieson core competencies and collaborative efforts. Machinetool builders Gildemeister AG and Mori Seiki along withMitsui & Co. Ltd signed a contract funding the joint-venturefinancing company MG Finance GmbH.

Machine tool equipment manufacturers are working hard to scale existing business, to complement existing product lines, to focus on strategic areas, and to save costs. High process reliability was the central issue during the development of the new Walter TURN boring bars withrigid clamping. Negative indexable insert geometries andvery strong rigid clamping ensure it is possible to machine cleanly and reliably even in difficult conditions.

Many companies are facing the is sue of an increasingly complex product development process that can be attributed to factors, such as globalization, escalating regulatory environment and increased sophistication of manufactured products. The introduction of HD3D in NX 7.0 is part of Siemens PLM Software comprehensive approach in establishing a new paradigmin visual analytics.

As we look ahead to 2010 and beyond, the challenges are great for the metalworking industry but so are the opportunities. We must learn to thrive in an increasingly globalized world and builda bright new future for themetalworking industry.