MART NOVEMBER 2012

MTA2013_Industrial Business Mart Mag_Nov12_FA(PATH).indd 1 11/6/12 6:28:55 PM

November 2012industrial business MART12

He was one of the Five Singapore busi-nessmen to beat 65 other nominees. Meinhardt Group is a global multidisci-plinary engineering consultancy. Today Meinhardt Group boasts over 3500 professional spread across 30 offices worldwide, provides specializing in engineering consulting capabilities in In-frastructure and Environment; Planning and Urban Development.

At Meinhardt Group International Ltd, Dr. Nasim encourages his engineering staff to embrace a commercial perspec-tive. Teams are inculcated with the men-tality to design award-winning projects, which in turns challenges them to find ways to innovate.The projects led by Dr. Nasim include some of the landmark commercial offices, residential and retail and entertainment complexes such as The Dubai Mall (Dubai, U.A.E), The Marina Bay Financial Centre (Singapore), The Sail @ Marina Bay (Singapore), One

Raffles Quay (Singapore), OUB Centre (Singapore), The River (Bangkok) and Bank of China (Hong Kong).

The five winners were selected by an in-dependent judging panel which included Dr. Robert Yap, Chairman and CEO, YCH Group, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2007 Singapore; Olivia Lum, Group President and CEO, Hyflux Ltd, Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011, Ernst & Young Entrepre-neur Of The Year 2010 Singapore; Tay Liam Wee, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2004 Singapore; Kenneth Cheong, Managing Director, Baring Private Equity Pte Ltd; Patrick Turner, Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship, INSEAD; Jennie Chua, Immediate Past Chairman, Singapore International Cham-ber of Commerce and Png Cheong Boon, Chief Executive, SPRING Singapore.

“This year’s nominees come from di-verse backgrounds and fields such as en-

gineering, hospitality, consumer beauty and financial services,” said Max Loh, country managing partner of Ernst and Young. “Among them, these five winners embody the business tenacity, financial credentials, courage and innovation that define an exceptional entrepreneur.”

The winners will receive their awards at the Ernst and Young EOY Awards Gala on November 27, 2012 at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore.

Dr. Shahzad Nasim wins Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 – Engineering

Dr. S. Nasim, Global CEO of Meinhardt Group International has won the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) 2012 award in the engineering category.

“In 2011, we set up a Group Design Division whose role is to pro-mote design innova-tions, and encourage the customization of engineering solutions and set standards across the Group”

Dr. Nasim says

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Expanding its worldwide capacities for softlines testing, TÜV Rheinland, the global top ten technical service provider, opens its new laboratory in Gurgaon with an investment of 1.9 million Euros.

During the opening ceremony CEO said: The softlines laboratory net-work of TÜV Rheinland now comprises testing facilities in nine countries, offering customers the benefit of one-stop testing for global markets. Within the coming year TÜV Rheinland is also opening two additional softlines laboratories in Bangalore and Tirupur with an estimated invest-ment of another 1.5 million Euros.

TÜV Rheinland is a global leader in independent inspection services, founded 140 years ago. The Group inspects technical equipment, products and services, oversees projects and helps to shape processes for companies. Its experts train people in a wide range of careers and industries.

Softlines Testing Lab by TÜV Rheinland at Gurgaon

“The huge Indian market for product testing is also a very important market for TÜV Rheinland. This is why we invest in four laboratories in this region alone, with a laboratory in Bangladesh operational since last year and three new ones this year in India.”

Dr. Manfred Bayerlein CEO, TÜV Rheinland


Lake Mary, FL (October 2012) – FARO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: FARO), the world’s most trusted source for 3D mea-surement technology; today announced the release of FARO CAM2 Gage 2.2 Soft-ware. It is the latest software update for the company’s leading lines of portable measurement solutions, the FaroArm and FARO Gage. New features like en-hanced QuickTools, barcode functionality and temperature compensation dramati-cally expedite and improve the accuracy of measurement routines. These and over 30 more new features make CAM2 Gage 2.2 one of FARO’s most complete solutions for fast, high-accuracy contact measurement.

As part of the newest update to CAM2 Gage, FARO’s temperature probe provides feedback on part temperature during measurement routines. This is important since variations in tempera-ture can adversely affect the accuracy of measurements. By closely monitoring and automatically compensating for these changes, CAM2 Gage helps ensure users receive consistent and accurate results despite changing measurement conditions.

The QuickTools functionality permits users to import and use QuickTools programs generated in FARO CAM2 Measure 10.

Barcodes can now be created directly in the CAM2 Gage software and saved together with the inspection plan data. One click with the new FARO barcode reader and the inspection plan is instantly loaded in the CAM2 Gage soft-ware. The result is exceptional speed for frequently-repeated, everyday measure-ments.

“CAM2 Gage 2.2 software presents new features that accelerate and simplify measurement activities. FARO is fully committed to continuously improving our measurement software packages,” said Markus Grau, FARO’s Product & Business Development Manager for the FARO Gage. “With this latest release, we have reached a new milestone in offering the easiest and most intuitive measure-ment software available.”

For more information, you can also visit: www.faroasia.com/Gage/in

Leading Contact Measurement Software Gets Even Better with More Than 30 New Features

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Mikro Berhad, Malaysia, presents the AN1 12 and the AN1 20 Alarm Annunciator series which provide the ideal solution

for all your alarm system management and requirements. Available with either 12 or 20 windows, it is highly flexible in terms of functionality and programma-bility due to its microprocessor-based design. It has 11 Alarm Sequences as per the ISA-18.1 standard.

Each channel or window is fully field programmable either from the panel built-in push button or from a PC. Not only does it have an option of either RS232 or RS485 MODBUS-RTU commu-nication, it also comes with user friendly

Annunciator (AN1 12/ AN 20) from E Powerconfiguration software. For stations not permanently manned, the feature of sleep or unattended mode is present. Its auto-silence and auto-acknowledge features also come with a delay set-ting of 1 – 255s. There is a repeat relay for each window, as well as numerous configurable multifunction output relays for connection to external equipment, to form the alarm management system.

For more information please visit www.epowerengineering.in

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thousands of data points, which enables the comparative measurement of high volume manufactured parts. The Equa-tor can switch between parts in seconds, perfect for flexible manufacturing pro-cesses or accepting parts from multiple machines.

Also on show will be the AM250 laser melting system, which uses a pioneering additive manufacturing process that is capable of producing fully dense metal parts direct from 3D CAD, using a high-powered fibre laser. Parts are built from a range of fine metal powders that are fully melted in a tightly controlled atmo-sphere, in layer thicknesses ranging from 20 to 100 microns.

Renishaw will also be demonstrating

the PH20 5-axis touch-trigger system for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), which increases touch-trigger probing throughput up to three times, using fast, infinite, rotary positioning and unique “head touch” capability for high-speed point capture.

Also appearing at the show will be Renishaw’s new XR20-W rotary axis calibration system, which works with the market leading XL-80 laser interferome-ter system to allow the measurement of rotary axis positional accuracy to within 1 arc second. Totally wireless operation and modular mounting systems ensure suitability for a wide range of machines

For more details please visit www.renishaw.com

Renishaw to Highlight Advanced Engineering Equipment

Renishaw will be exhibiting its range of advanced engineering technologies at Southern Manufacturing 2013, in Farn-borough, UK from 13 – 14 February 2013.

On show will be Renishaw’s versatile gauge, Equator™, which rapidly collects


Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson (NYSE:EMR) and a global leader in protecting and optimizing critical infrastructure, today announced that it

has completely integrated Pune-based DB Power Private Limited’s operations. This integration enables the company to offer an extended range of power management solutions to its customers. Emerson had acquired DB Power, now Emerson Network Power (Pune) Private Limited, in September 2010.

Emerson Network Power has also an-nexed DB Power’s stronghold in the manufacturing sector and domain ex-pertise in industrial projects. DB power’s channel partners have been brought into

the Emerson Network Power fold, and the extended product portfolio is now being pitched to collective customers of both entities through a consolidated channel base.

This integration has augmented the com-pany’s business competence through the addition of robust offerings in AC Power/UPS and Industrial Power lines like Regenerative UPS, Seismic UPS, and UPS for special applications such as Nuclear Plants, Harmonic Filters, and a wide range of Solar Products.

Emerson Network Power Completes Integration of DB Power Business

DB Power Private Limited incorporated as Emerson Network Power (Pune) Private Limited

Fluke Corporation introduces the Fluke®Ti105 and TiR105 ThermalImag-ers, the latest addition to Fluke’s series of lightweight, rugged, and easy to use imagers. The Ti105 and TiR105 offer the

popular Fluke IR-Fusion® technology feature, not normally found in thermal imagers in this price class.

The Ti105helps plant technicians, HVAC/R professionals, and electricians maintain and inspect electrical and mechanical equipment and components, enabling them to save time and money by finding potential problems before they become costly failures. The Ti105 allows techni-cians to troubleshoot in seconds, lessens the likelihood of unplanned downtime, and allows regular inspections from a safe distance.

The TiR105 enables building inspection and energy audit professionals to evalu-

ate and report insulation problems, air leakage, moisture issues, or construction defects delivering a huge competitive ad-vantage by helping them work faster and more efficiently. It quickly documents visible proof of problems so that repairs can be made and then verifies that the repairs have been done correctly.

The Ti/TiR105’s advanced features include the Fluke-patented IR-Fusion (picture in picture) technology, which overlays a PIP infrared image over a full-spectrum image allowing users to identify and document problem areas.

For further details please visit www.fluke.com/india

New Fluke Ti105 and TiR105 Thermal Imagers deliver extraordinary performance from an everyday imager

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“The combined portfolio presents a strong value proposition for Emerson Network Power’s Data Center build operations, and provides an impetus to our provisioning capabilities for complex Industrial projects, The breadth and depth of our synergized offerings and collective experience will improve customization feasibility and turn-around time in such large projects.”

Sunil KhannaPresident & MD, Emerson Network Power in India

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specific angles. This is made possible by an active articulated torsional drive unit, which in combination with a complex control system attains an unprecedented level of efficiency in flight operation. Fes-to has thus succeeded for the first time in creating an energy-efficient technical adaptation of this model from nature.

New approaches in automation

The functional integration of coupled drive units yields significant ideas and insights that Festo can transfer to the development and optimization of hybrid drive technology.

The minimal use of materials and the

extremely lightweight construction pave the way for efficiency in resource and energy consumption.

Festo already today puts its expertise in the field of fluid dynamics to use in the development of the latest generations of cylinders and valves. By analyzing SmartBird’s flow characteristics during the course of its development, Festo has acquired additional knowledge for the optimization of its product solutions and has learned to design even more efficiently.

Visit www.festo.com for the Animation,Film and ,Making of the Smart Bird.

Smart Bird by Festo: New approaches in AutomationSmartBird is an ultra light but powerful flight model with excellent aerodynamic qualities and extreme agility. With SmartBird, Festo has succeeded in deciphering the flight of birds – one of the oldest dreams of humankind.

This bionic technology-bearer, which is inspired by the herring gull, can start, fly and land autonomously – with no ad-ditional drive mechanism. Its wings not only beat up and down, but also twist at


The 56th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) was held at a South Mumbai five star hotel on 7thNovember 2012 and Hon’ble Matthias Machnig, Minister Minister for Economy, Labour and Technology, Federal Free State of Thuringia, and H.E. Michael Steiner, German Ambassador to India were the Guests of Honour.

In the presence of over 600 members the new office-bearers of the IGCC for the year 2012-2013 were elected: Presi-

dent - Mr. V.K. Vishwanathan, President and Country Head, Bosch India and Managing Director, Bosch Limited, Vice President - Dr. Armin Bruck, Managing Director Siemens Ltd.India and Treasurer - Joerg Strassburger, Managing Director & Country Representative of Lanxess India Private Ltd., continues to be the Honorary Treasurer of the IGCC.

The AGM started off with the opening of Product Display Exhibition of over 25 IGCC member companies by the Hon’ble German Federal Minister in the presence of the German Ambassador and Mr. Bernhard Steinruecke, Director General of the IGCC.

The outgoing President, Clas Neuman, Senior VP and Global Head, SAP Labs Network gave the Welcome Address followed by speeches from the Guests of Honour, Minister Machnig and Ambas-sador Steiner.

The IGCC Award for outstanding contri-bution towards the promotion of Indo-German Economic Relations was given to Uhde India Pvt. Ltd. and EPCOS India Pvt.Ltd. (EIPL) received the award for

outstanding export performance by an Indo-German joint venture.

The Dr. Guenter Krueger Awards for Excellence, giving to an outstanding stu-dent of each of the Indo-German Train-ing Centres (IGTC) was presented by Ambassador Steiner to Ms. Aakanksha Sharma (Bangalore), Mr. Jayaganapathy K. (Chennai), Mr. Vineet Mehraia (Kol-kata) and Mr. Subramanian K. Shivshan-kar Mumbai). The award ceremony was followed by the lucky draw of the two free Lufthansa tickets.

The year 2012 was a significant year with bilateral trade posting a 19% growth in 2011 adding on about €2.93 billion over last year’s total, to reach a total of €18.4 billion. Indian exports grew 21.2% with goods worth € 7.5 billion sold to Germany last year. Imports from Germany on the other hand were to the tune of nearly €10.9 billion registering an increase of 17.5% over 2010. The trade volume between the two countries amounted to nearly €18.4 billion. For detailed statistical information, visit the IGCC website: www.indo-german.com .

V K Viswanathan elected as the President of IGCC

L-R: Bernhard Steinruecke, Director General, IGCC, Federal Minister Matthias Machnig, V.K. Vishwanathan, President elect, IGCC, German Ambassador , Michael Steiner and Clas Neumann, Outgoing President, IGCC

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Rotolinear Systems offer different types of Torque limiter, which provides reliable protection for machines and human beings. The reaction (response) time is extremely short (milli seconds) and it is backlash free. Different overload torque and it is very easy to set the desired torque. It can be used for direct drives and indirect drives. Torque limiter is based on the usage of cup springs with degressive characteristics. Once the ad-justed overload torque range is reached the balls disengage automatically and the transmission of torque is inter-rupted/ after the torque fall below the al-

Torque Limiter from Rotolinear Systemslowable max torque, the torque limiter is re-engaged automatically and continues to transmit the torque. Torque limiters are available in torque range of 0.5Nm to 1600Nm. Four models are available in Safety couplings 1st is for mounting tooth belt pulleys, Sprocket wheels, Spur gears the 2nd model bellow type with conical hub, 3rd Bellows type with collet clamp, and 4th with servo insert type collet clamp. Single position engage-ment, Multiposition engagement and full disengagement options available.

For more details please visit www.roto-linearindia.com

19industrial business MARTNovember 2012

Haas Automation India is conducting the annual HaasTec Open House during November 29th through December 2nd, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The event is being held at Vatva Industries Associa-tion, Ahmedabad. During the event, lat-est products would be demonstrated by senior Haas personnel. Industry expert

from Haas Inc USA would be presenting Technical seminars. Industry vendors for tooling, probing, software, etc., would be present at the function.

This educational and entertaining event is popular and well attended. The latest Haas CNC technology is aimed to enable efficient production of parts.

The high-tech event ‘HaasTec Open House’ would feature affordable manu-facturing solutions. Technical seminars on high-speed machining, multitasking, advanced programming, etc., would be conducted at the event. The event is organized such that all machinists, tool-makers, and milling/turning enthusiasts would find it educating and entertaining.

Haas factory representatives would be assisting the attendees with regard to product information and guidance. Semi-nar registration would be on first-come first-served basis. An open house would be held on “The Haas story” – The Past, The Present and The Future between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. The topic of ‘What is new - “The ST Series and The VF Series” would be dealt with between 3 and 4 p.m.

Online registration can be done at www.HaasCNC.com/openhouse. Those who register before November 10th, 2012, would receive the gift of a Haas pen-drive. A Haas goodie bag would be given to the participants at HaasTec 2012.

“HaasTec Open House 2012” at Ahmedabad


Konecranes has introducing a new-generation, cutting-edge CLX chain hoist that aims to meet customer requirements. The new chain hoist is a modernized and completely redesigned version of the company’s previous chain hoist. Not only does the CLX chain hoist contain new technology, it also incorpo-rates new innovations to speed up and facilitate operations by the end-user.

The new, steel-framed and sturdy CLX chain hoist is particularly suitable for individual workstation applications, such as assembly cells, in the workshop indus-try. Other applications include jib cranes and EOT cranes.

The particularly sturdy structure of the hoist enables a larger load capac-ity, while doubling the life cycle of the machine compared to the current hoist. The durability of the lift chain was also a

Konecranes LaunchesNew CLX Electric Chain Hoist

New-generation CLX chain hoist from Konecranes speeds up the work cycle and maintenance work, improves security and doubles the service life of the Hoist.

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key element in the design. The patented chain sprocket dramatically improves the durability of the chain.

The chain sprocket’s transmission has been completely redesigned. The new, oil lubrication-based transmission reduc-es the operating temperature, enabling increased power. Furthermore, the new transmission is maintenance-free and much quieter to operate.

The new transmission increases the speed ratio between low and fast speeds.The new 6:1 speed ratio enables a safe and accurate installation speed and an extremely fast movement speed. The wider speed range makes the CLX chain hoist 25% faster than its predecessor, which helps speed up the work cycle and improves work efficiency.

All components that require mainte-nance are easily accessible and do not require the removal of any parts. All elec-tronics are located compactly on reliable circuit boards, minimizing the amount of internal wiring compared to the previous model. The new design solutions make the maintenance work significantly easier and faster.

The safety functions have been inte-grated into the standard characteristics of the hoist. For example, the brake and the clutch have been installed on the same axle, which prevents the load from dropping even if the clutch breaks down. This feature takes the safety of the CLX chain hoist to a completely new level.

The design team of Konecranes has man-aged to increase the temperature range of the CLX chain hoist; it now operates at -20 degrees to +50 degrees.

The new-generation CLX chain hoist has been designed to be energy efficient, and it meets all the requirements of the RoHS Directive. The hoist’s circuit boards

do not contain any hazardous lead as soldering material, just one example of the hoist’s eco-friendly features.

Three versions of the CLX chain hoist will be introduced initially: Type CLX02 with a lifting capacity of 63-320 kg, type CLX05 with a lifting capacity of 250-630

kg and type CLX10 with a lifting capacity 500-2500kg.

Further information please contact Sand-eep Jadhav, Asst. Manager – Marketing, Konecranes India Pvt. Ltd., Pune, Email: [email protected] or phone:+91 20 40047470


Mr. Wood started 80/20 when he was in his late fifties. He’s now 78 but he’s still at the helm every day and he’s still as energetic and enthusiastic as ever, whether he’s talking about his love of show tunes – he and his wife are mem-

bers of the local operatic society, or his phalanx of Haas CNC machines: a row of TM-2 Toolroom Mills and VF-2SS vertical machining centres.

“My background, is as a tool maker,”

Seven Habits LifetimeIn 1989, Indiana native Don Wood founded 80/20 Inc., a company that builds and sells what he calls The Industrial Erec-tor Set. The basic 80/20 frame-component is a T-Slot extrusion that fits together using brackets and screws to make, for example, a simple table frame, a machine guard, a display case, a chair, a shelf, or whatever else a customer can imagine.

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he says, “so I have a great interest in machine tools and machine tool applica-tions. We looked around for the type of machines that had the capability and the quality we needed to make our many different shapes and parts. But also, of course, we wanted a company that could provide good back up and service.”

80/20 is a 250+ employee business and Andrew Tate is, like everyone else you’re likely to meet there, infected with Don Wood’s passion for doing things well. Also like his colleagues, he has no official title and although his day-to-day respon-sibilities are in the marketing depart-ment, he’s quick to point out that he and everyone else at the company is in the business of customer service.

“It’s a unique culture here,” he smiles, “and one that comes directly from the

top, from Don Wood. He’s a driven man and knows the importance of a positive attitude in life. He respects his employ-ees and he expects them to deliver the

same respect and positive attitude to the company’s customers.”

Mr. Wood is happy to tell you that he


has built his life and most of his busi-ness success on the principles laid out in Stephen Covey’s world-famous 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It’s safe to say that Stephan Covey’s best-selling publication is one of the most renowned business books ever written: It’s a signal call-to-action for anyone who wants to thrive in his or her work and personal life and over the years it has sold millions of copies. Don Wood has taken the book to heart.

Everywhere around the 80/20 factory there are posters and banners reminding employees that they and they alone are responsible for their own attitudes. It’s a message that hits home, clearly. The over-riding impression one gets from a walking-tour of the company’s several sprawling buildings (approx. 165,000sq. ft) is that it’s a business built on pride and personal positivism.

The 80/20 construction system consists of different extruded ‘profiles’ and a range of fittings. Sales in 2008 were more than $48million, and growing, and with every day that

passes the market expands as someone, somewhere discovers a new way to make something using 80/20’s extraor-dinarily adaptable product. The com-

pany’s website claims that its modular solutions are useful in almost every walk of life. The list of applications is already extensive and roughly twice a year 80/20 publishes a brochure showing the best examples submitted by customers in the materials handling sector, medi-cal, furniture, audio visual, publishing, robotics, education, etc. “The number of different applications our customers create is expanding all the time, there’s truly a never-ending amount of possibili-ties with the product.” says Tate. “And not only do we create our own parts for inventory with the Haas machinery, but

the versatility of these machines allows us to create project specific custom components that, in all reality, we would never have thought to offer without the input and designs from our customers.”

80/20 invested in 15 Haas machines over a three-year period. The company’s seven TM-2’s are mostly used to machine short-run or one-off custom drawn parts held in manually operated vices. Typi-cally, these are parts that need multiple machining on multiple faces, so the vices are set-up to offer as many universal-holding options as possible. “The TM machines are also used to process longer extrusions, which are held in custom fix-tures,” says Cliff Cornewell, CNC Opera-tor in 80/20’s Custom Machining Shop. “Our VF-4-SS machines are used when we need higher quantities of custom parts, and more complicated parts, and bars that require more spindle power to remove more material.”

“We’ve set-up our facility to go from raw materials through to finished, packaged products,” adds Andrew Tate. “We do have some customers who buy just raw materials from us and do their own ma-chining. Most of the time, though, we do the machining and ship it out and then the customer can build their applica-tion. If they decide they want us to build

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an assembled product, we can also do that here. So we offer a full service from raw materials to shipping out a finished product.”

The company also has 5 EC-400 hori-zontal machining centres, acquired in late 2008, that it uses to machine large batches of customer drawn and 80/20 standard parts, such as joining plates, inside corner brackets, stanchions, etc. These machines are equipped with hydraulic vises on rotating ‘tower’ fixtures to allow machining on 3 sides without handling. Swapping towers allows loading/unloading parts while the machine is still running. “Several of the EC machines were retrofitted to accept existing fixtures from older machines, to eliminate changeover cost and produc-tion interruption when we invested in Haas,” says Andrew Tate.

When customers order bespoke plastic or aluminum panels, 80/20 uses its Haas GR–712, a gantry type machine with a large vacuum table. “We also use this machine for engraving and tapping,” says Mr.Tate.

Cliff Cornewell has worked in the 80/20 machine shop for almost 5 years and has used the Haas machines since the day they arrived: “The Haas machines have greatly increased our productivity,” he says, “not to mention our overall manu-facturing capability. We’re very pleased with how easy they are to program, as well. They are much more versatile than the machines we had previously,” he enthuses. “They’re just wonderful to op-erate and we’ve found that everybody in each department has discovered differ-ent ways to utilize their capabilities. We can program a lot faster, and run parts faster, and the accuracy of the machines is just phenomenal. We can hold a lot tighter tolerances.”

According to Andrew Tate, those per-formance capabilities and the versatility of the product translates directly into new business opportunities. “We’re

always amazed by the different ways our customers use the 80/20 product,” he says, “and the varying market sectors where it’s used. Our growth potential is huge: The markets are out there. It’s just a matter of conveying the creative opportunities the product offers, and the customer gets to decide how it can be a means to and end!”

With a long and successful business career behind him, Don Wood could have put up his feet in 1989, rather than starting another company. But, as

they say, ‘old habits die hard’. “I was an entrepreneur right from the start,” he recalls. “From when I was a 14-year-old kid selling vacuum cleaners.” Now, he’s a certified Stephen Covey facilitator and he’s always looking for ways to apply the 7-Habits, or help others to apply them. He refers to the evolving 80/20 system as ‘a product of inspiration’. The same could also be said of him and the com-pany he has built.

For further information please contact [email protected]

industrial business MART26 November 2012

According to Wikipedia, the word “hy-brid” is used in engineering to describe “a system where two technologies are combined together”. The Cologne-based linear technology expert igus has now done this with a completely new type of

cost-effective hybrid linear bearing that rolls and slides.

The new hybrid bearing “DryLin WJRM” was developed with the aim of reducing driving force, in particular that required

Reduce friction in Machine Guard Doors

New hybrid linear bearing combines rolling and sliding

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The compact “DryLin W” system from igus was modelled in such a way that the rollers fit inside, allowing the low design height of 18 mm to remain.


for the manual adjustment of doors, guards, partitions and adjustable locks, as well as for light handling tasks. For this purpose, igus has utilized the spe-cific advantages of the sliding and rolling movements and combined these.

Reducing driving force

The lubricant-free plastic sliding plain bearings ensure the hybrid linear system is robust, insensitive to dirt and humid-ity, as well as light in weight and low in cost. The polymer rollers, which are

also maintenance-free, bring ease of use where heavy machine and protective doors up to 50 kg have to be adjusted by hand. At a defined installation position, the driving force required is reduced by a factor of 4 to 5, due to the roller bearing which bears the main load. This makes manual operation so much easier.

Low design height

The new hybrid bearing is extending the tried and trusted “DryLin W” linear guide family from Cologne by a further

solution. For this purpose, the extremely compact system was modelled by the igus design engineers in such a way that the rollers fit inside without increasing the design height, which remains at a low 18 mm. According to information from the manufacturer, the standard economic guide profiles can also be used. These are available in three styles for shaft diameter 10 mm: As individual rails for flexible guiding distance and as double rails with a shaft distance of 40 mm or 80 mm for fast installation

The principle of the installation position for the new hybrid bearing: The main load is on the roller bearing (centre) which reduces the driving momentum required. The plastic sliders compensate any lateral forces (right).

The innovative, cost-effective hybrid linear bearing “DryLin WJRM” from igus GmbH, Cologne, combines rolling and sliding. It was developed for the manual adjustment of machine and guard doors up to 50 kg.


without time-consuming alignment. The hybrid bearing housing is made of blue-chromed diecast zinc.

Lubricant-free and insensitive to dirt

“DryLin W” is a flexible modular system made of hard anodized aluminium profiles, diecast zinc housings, fine-cast stainless steel or aluminium and plastic plain bearings. The wide variety of elements within this easy-to-install system allows users to optimise the available design space. Combined with different carriage lengths, the rail widths permit many combinations. The four design sizes range from 6 mm to a shaft diameter of 20 mm. All the “DryLin W” guide systems work without lubricants as so-called dry-running systems, which means they do not have to be serviced during operation. The linear bearings are offered with the polymer sliding bear-ings “iglidur J” or “iglidur J200”. Both

materials stand out due to low wear and low friction values. In addition, they are resistant to chemicals, dampen vibra-

tions and hardly absorb any humidity.

For further details please visit www.igus.in

With the low-cost hybrid linear bearing now presented by igus, the driving force required for manual door adjustments e.g. on the tooling machines pictured, is reduced.


Considering criticality of its applications, there are many international standards and sub-standards. Some of them are API- 594 for Dual Disc NRVs, API-600 for Gate Valves, API-602 for Forged Steel Gate, Globe and Check Valves, API-603 for Class 150, Cast, Corrosion Resistant, Flanged End Gate Valves, API 609 for Butterfly Valves, API 6A for Wellhead Equipments and its Valves & fittings and API 6D for Pipeline Valves for Oil Fields and Petroleum Refineries.

Ball Valves are being manufactured as per API 6D and BS-5351; Globe Valves are manufactured as per BS-1873 and DIN-2401 while Swing Check Valves are as per BS-1868. All Valves are inspected and tested according to API-598 or BS-6755 Part-I and II.

Generally, Valves are divided in three categories viz. Critical, Non-critical and Utility applications. Based on these

categories manufacturing standards and process are also defined. Clients are required to select their manufacturers according to the merit and facility at dif-ferent manufacturing units.

In any project, Pipelines and Valves of various types are forming a major part of it. Valves are selected according to minimum and maximum working pres-sure, temperature, fluid conditions like corrosive, high & low temperature, gas, vacuum, abrasive, solids, semi-solids, powder, slurry, crude oil, refined oil, food products etc. Valves for cryogenic applications are having special designs and also low temperature Steels like ASTM 352 Gr. LCB/LCC in cast grade and ASTM A182 Gr. LF2 in forged grade.

The MOC [material of construction] are also selected based on the conditions of application as stated above. Gener-ally Valves are being manufactured in

T K ThulaseedharanCMD, Ashwathi Controls Pvt. Ltd

Industrial Valve SelectionIndustrial Valves are playing a very vital role in all process industries like Petroleum Refineries, Chemical & Fertilizer Plants, Drugs & Pharmaceutical, Oil & Gas transportation and process Plants, Paper, Sugar, Textile Process Industries, Thermal & Hydro-Electric Generation Plants, Nuclear Power Plants; in short, no process can take place without an Industrial Valve.

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Cast Iron, Cast and Forged Carbon Steel, Cast and Forged Stainless Steel, Cast and Forged Alloy Steel , Duplex Steels of different grades, Super Alloy Steels of different grades to meet customer requirements or to suit application. Generally, following grades of Steels are being used in Valve Industries which can cover almost all applications:

As I said earlier, there are many types of Valves are being used for different work-ing conditions. I would like to define some of them:

Gate Valves

Gate Valves are being used for almost all applications. Gate Valves are having two Seats on the body and closing mem-ber [wedge] is also having two sealing surfaces. Gate Valve Seats are fitted in the body by press fitting method in case of low pressure Valves, threaded in for replaceable facility and seal welded in case of high pressure and temperature working conditions.

Gate Valves are used in pipelines having pressure from either side because the Valve is having seats on either side of the Valve. A back-seat also provided on Gate Valves. It facilitates replacing or repack-ing the Gland packing on full stream.

The backseat is provided at the bottom end of the bonnet hole through which the stem is moving and in the stem by providing a collar on it. These Valves are used in main lines for total isolation or on full open conditions.

Gate Valves are suitable for very high temperature working conditions due to its metal to metal seat design. Of course, the selection of MOC should be suitable to withstand the desired temperature.

Gate Valves are not used for flow control or throttling because the closing mem-ber will obstruct the flow path and fluid will hammer on it. Thus, the seat area which portion obstruct the flow will get eroded and create uneven surface finish. Further, they are not recommended for very frequent operations because it takes more time either to shut or open, comparing to other Valves.

Globe Valves

Globe Valves are very popular and used in good quantity in almost all plants and applications. Lifting the closing device by one third of the Nominal Bore of the Valve, it gives 100% flow area e.g. if a 100 NB valve is to be opened 100%, lifting the device by 33 MM gives 100% flow area if the Valve is having flat seat design. This

Gate Valves

Globe Valves


may vary slightly if the Valve is having Control type or Parabolic.

This is the reason why these Valves are being used for frequent operation, control the flow rate and total isolation. While most of all other Valves are giving straight through flow, flow pattern of Globe Valves is zigzag. Therefore, the pressure drop across the Valve is more than of Ball, Gate Valve and Butterfly Valves. Otherwise Globe Valves are hav-ing all other features of Gate Valves.

Ball Valves

The most popular Valve in any process industry is Ball Valve. There are many types of Ball Valves like single piece, three piece, two piece, Full Port, Regular Port, Floating Ball, Trunion Mounted Ball, Lever operated, Manual Gear operated, Pneumatic Cylinder Operated and Electri-cal Actuator operated. Over and above Fire Safe and Non-fire Safe design Valves area also available. Requirement of Ball Valves slowly developed about four decades back.

In the beginning, it was available only with soft seats suitable for a maximum

working temperature of 180 deg. C. Now Metal Seated Ball Valves are developed by many manufacturers and they are being used in Petroleum Refineries. Fire Safe design Ball Valves are also very popular in fire hazardous areas of instal-lation.

Operation of Ball Valves is very simple. 90 degree rotation of the operating Stem or Shaft will suffice either full open or full close. This frequent operation facility, easy maintenance, easy replace-ment of Seats and Seals made this Valve very popular.

Butterfly Valves

Butterfly Valves are another popular Valve designed for variant applications and most economical. While it got most advantages of Ball Valves and Gate Valves, these Valves are very slim and compact in design and take very little space than any other Valves. Butterfly Valves are popular with its resilient seats/seals.

While Centric Disc Butterfly Valves are generally being manufactured in Cast

Butterfly Valves

Ball Valves


Iron Body material with Discs of different materials including Stainless Steel and Bronze to suit the working fluid.

Since Body is totally lined with resilient material, these Valves are suitable for corrosive fluids too. Butterfly Valves are also being manufactured in other materi-als according to customer requirements.

These Valves are being manufactured mostly in wafer type design which suits the Valves to be sandwiched in between two flanges of any standards like ASME B16.5/BS-10 Table D/E/PN-10/16 etc. In the meantime, Double Flanged Valves are also available.

There are two major designs for But-terfly Valves viz. Centric Disc and Offset Disc. In Offset Disc design there are three options viz. Single Offset, Double Offset and Treble Offset. While Centric Disc Valves are suitable for low pres-sure up to 10 Bar pressure, Offset Disc Valves are suitable generally up to 20 Bar pressure. Butterfly Valves are generally not used whereas working pressure is beyond 20 Bar.

Non-Return Valves Or Check Valves

Non-Return Valve commonly known as NRV is a very critical Valve. The main per-formance of these Valves is to prevent return flow of fluid from the system. In fact, it is a semi-safety Valve due to its nature of function. Once the pumping process or any other process is in prog-ress, sudden brake down of power or any failure of process system, the pump-ing of any fluid comes to a halt.

In this situation, the fluid already pumped into the process system should not flow back. In such sudden shut off and when the fluid starts flowing back, with back pressure the NRV will shut its shutter automatically and prevents backflow.

It will save the material and equipments simultaneously. That is why I defined it as a Semi-Safety Valve. There are many

types of NRVs are available. The most popular one was Swing Check Valve which is suitable to mount in horizontal or vertical pipelines.

The other designs are Piston Lift, Dual Disc, Single Disc Spring Loaded and Wafer [plate] types. Now, in place of Swing Check Valves, Dual Disc NRVs are being promoted due to its economy in price and space occupation. All NRVs are having heavy pressure drop across the Valve but Dual Disc NRVs are having very little pressure drop comparing to other designs.

Knife Gate Valve

Knife Gate Valves are specifically designed to meet the worst working conditions in Pulp & Paper, Mining & Steel, Power & Chemical Industries to handle Solids, Semi-Solids, Fly-Ash, Chips, Fiber content Pulps etc. These Valves are manufactured as per MSS SP-81 stan-dard.

Compact design of the Valve facilitates light weight, minimum space for instal-lation, easy operation and maintenance. The compact Knife edged Wedge is manufactured from Stainless Steel Plates of different grades irrespective of Body material. The bottom of the Wedge is having Knife type edge, which cuts through Solids, Semi-Solids or Paste type Pulp with possible fiber and/or Solid contents, Fly-Ash, Chemicals with solid contents, ensures smooth shutdown operation.

Knife Gate Valves are available in dif-ferent configurations like Metal to Metal Seat both integral & renewable, Resilient/PTFE Seat for tight shut off. Generally these Valves are having Uni-directional Seat but Bi-directional Seats Valves are also available according to customer requirements.

The Author: Thulaseedharan TK, B.E. [Mech.], MBA. Established Valve design, manufacturing and marketing in 1971 in the name and style of M/s. United

Knife Gate Valve

Non-Return Valves Or Check Valves

Engineers at G.I.D.C. Ind. Estate, Odhav, Ahmedabad. He was the Sole Propri-etor of the Company. In 2004 he had established Ashwathi Controls Pvt. Ltd. at G.I.D.C. Ind. Estate, Kathwada, Ahmedabad focusing on International Market and now exporting to more than 40 countries including US and Russia.


The AIRCAP® distinctively differentiates from conventional angular wind deflec-tors. It is entirely embedded into the car body and completely concealed into the windshield frame when deactivated. In activated state, an aerodynamically shaped wind deflector extends on top of the windshield without disfiguring the automobile’s esthetic side line.

The AIRCAP® comprises two main com-ponents; an electrically operated wind

deflector built into the windshield frame and a wind blocker located between the rear head cushions. Its activation increases the air’s free flow over the car interior which results in dramatically re-duced air pressure and reverse air flow. It can be activated while driving (up to speeds of 160 km/h – or 100 mph) and can be used all the way up to the car’s top speed. The result is increased driving comfort and clearly reduced wind noise. And, as weather conditions and temper-

Not a Hair out of Place,Even at 100 Miles

With the AIRCAP®, Mercedes-Benz offers for its E-Class Convertible an automatic draft stop that can be activated at the push of a button, thus greatly reducing turbulence in the interior. Actuated is the AIRCAP® by a maxon drive system.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet with extended AIRCAP® © 2010 Daimler AG

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atures call for – or just to give free rein to a boundless convertible feeling – the AIRCAP® can again be deactivated at the push of a button.

The Drive System

A drive system, designed by maxon motor GmbH in Sexau, Germany, takes care of moving the AIRCAP®. Its core piece is a motor/gear combination especially designed for the application based on a maxon A-max 22 DC motor and a customized gearbox with three separate reduction stages. Prominent characteristics are compact, robust de-sign; high-capacity, silent, highly dynamic ganging, self-locking output in both end positions and handling-optimized, screw-less assembly into the windshield frame. Behind the concept stand extraordinary

high requirements related to comfort, miniature installation space and screw-less assembly technique suitable for high volume production.

Result is a drive system that claims just 22 mm of installation height and drives the three outputs for bracing, adjust-ment of the lamella module and latching of the AIRCAP® in a fix, coordinated and synchronized ratio. In retracted position, the lamella module is being braced and interlocked flush to the car body’s sur-face, in extended end position it is being mechanically interlocked. While being deployed, the drive overcomes wind ram pressures well beyond 250 km/h (155 mph) by torques of up to 7 Nm.

As to acoustics and ganging, the drive fulfills the same high requirements, as Mercedes-Benz requires for interior

passenger compartment instruments. Besides the high-end demands on power density, dependability and comfort, the drive also complies to the rigid constraints on optimized serial produc-tion. Thus, the entire drive assembly can be mounted into the windshield frame without the use of screws. Alike, the indi-vidual components,such as anti-vibration motor receptacle, motor, gear pinion, bipartite hull etc. are assembled with in an especially designed procedure.

For further information please contact www.maxonmotor.in

maxon motor AIRCAP® Drive © 2010

Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet with AIRCAP® © 2010 Daimler AG

Mercedes-Benz Benz E-Class Cabriolet, E350 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY, detailed view of extended AIRCAP® © 2010 Daimler AG The heart of the maxon motors is the

worldwide patented ironless winding. This motor principle offers unique advantages; no magnetic detent and low electromag-netic disturbances. Its efficiency of up to 90% surpasses other motor systems by far.


TQM implementation is people based. As Pidd said, “Implementation work can be seen as a transformation made by actors in a human activity system”. In the journey towards TQMit is to build the right culture as reflected in the core values internalized by all employees. Exhibit 1 shows the TQM House (as I like to call it)). Its foundation isTop Manage-ment Commitment and Involvement. This is one of the six key core values given byHellsten and KlefsjoinExhibit 2. Other vital core value is Employee Commitment and Involvement – referred to as Everybody’s Commitment in Ex-hibit 2. MostTQM initiatives fail because companies fail to fully secure these two commitments.

When we compare Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2, we see the following two common core values:

1. Customer Driven Processes, as in Exhibit 1. This is the same as Focus on

Processes, as shown in Exhibit 2. TQM consists of redesigning all processes in such a way that they add value to all ex-ternal and internalcustomers. Processes must be designed specifically to ease customer interactions and improve cus-tomer satisfaction. Very often processes are designed for company’s convenience and not for customer comfort.

This points to another core value given in Exhibit 2 – Focus on Customers. This leads to designing customer driven processes. We will discuss this in detail below.

2. Continuous Improvement. As cus-tomers gain experience in the use of products and services their expectations rise. So, it is essential to continuously improve to keep pace with customers’ emerging expectations. TQMdemands continuous improvement of processes and products.

How To Become A Successful TQM Company

In our last month’s column on Quality Management, “Successful Implementation of TQM: Integration of Core Values, Techniques and Tools”, I discussed the essentials to be considered in order to successfully implementTQM. This month we will look at a broad step-wise plan for implementing TQM within a company.

Saravjit Singh

CEO, www.10xQuality.org

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TQM is far wider in its application than just assuring product or service quality. As we have already seen, TQM is a way of managing people and business pro-cesses to ensure complete satisfaction of all internal and external customers. TQM results in the company doing the right things right, first time, every time.

Exhibit 3 looks at a high level five step methodology of how to become a suc-cessful TQM company. These steps are described below.

1. Customer Focus: TQM is a customer-based way of management, whose objective is to increase the value of

goods and services offered to custom-ers. How we achieve customer focus is discussed in detail below. Developing a customer-focused strategy, based on customer focushelps us to develop the right TQM processes, products and services at all levels within the company and at our dealer and supplier end. Each company develops its own customer-fo-cused strategy based on its own unique customers and their needs.

Developing Customer Focus is the first and most important step towards TQM. I am therefore showing below how this is done step-by-step:

1. Clarify Vision, Mission and Values. This is the first step and it is by far the most important step. Employees need to know how what they do is tied to the company’s overall strategy and objec-tives which makes it important that all employees understand where the organization is headed (its vision), what it hopes to accomplish (mission) and the operational principles (values) that will steer its priorities and decision making.

Having a process to educate employees during new employee orientation and a communication process to help ensure that the mission, vision and values is always in front of the people is a major first step.

2. Identify Critical Success Factors (CSF): Critical success factors help the com-pany to focus on those things that help it meet objectives and move closer to achieving its mission. These performance based measures provide a gauge for determining how well the organization is meeting objectives.

In my view, we must have at least one measure to track each core value

Business Excellence

Customer Satisfaction

Customer Driven

Processes

Employee commit-

ment and Involvement

ContinuousImprovement

Top management Commitment and Involvement

Exhibit 1: TQM House

Exhibit 2: Core Values

Core ValuesTop Management

CommitmentFocus onCustomes

Everybody’sCommitment

Focus onProcesses

ContinuousImprovement

Base Decisions on Facts

The core values of TQM according to Hellsten & Klefsjo


as shown in Exhibit 2. Depending on what is important in your business, you could have different CSFs. Examples of someCSFs are Financial Performance, Market Share, Customer Satisfaction, Employee Satisfaction, different aspects of Product and Service Quality. We will also need CSFs to track the performance of our strategic suppliers and main deal-ers. This is because as we progress on the path to TQM, our strategic suppliers and dealers also need to be developed to achieve TQM level. If our suppliers or dealers are weak we cannot claim to be a TQM company – for because of them our end customers will find some one or another deficiency in our products or services.

3. Develop Measures to Track CSF Data: We need measures to monitor and track progress. This can be done through a reporting process that is used to collect specified data and share information with senior leaders.

4. Identify Key Customer Group: Under-standing who the key customer groups are is important so that products and services can be developed based on cus-

tomer requirements. You must acknowl-edge your employees as a key customer group. Other key customers are product buyers, product users, suppliers, and dealers.

5. Solicit Customer Feedback: There should be a structured process to solicit feedback from each customer group in order to identify what is important to them. Best way to obtain this type of customer feedback is through customer focus groups. Such focus groups have to be steered by an experienced facilitator.

6. Develop Survey Tool: Develop cus-tomer satisfaction survey tools that help to find out what is important to your customers.

7. Survey Each Customer Group: Custom-ized surveys should be designed for each customer group, keeping in mind their particular requirements. These surveys establish baseline data on each customer group’s perception of current company practice and dealing. This provides a starting point for improvements and demonstrates progress as improvement plans are implemented. Once the base-line is established you can proceed with

planning for TQM.

2. Planning for TQM: For this step we use the information gathered from our customer-focused strategy as finalized in step 1. We must use this information to plan our business processes in such a way that they meet customer require-ments exactly as they want to be served. The important point to keep in mind is to help customers in every possible way, even if this is seen as creating some inconveniences for the company.

Changing production materials, cor-recting product flaws and creating new product features are part of the planning process of TQM as related to develop-ment and manufacturing operations.

Every one in the company must clearly understand that product quality is based on the perception of customers. Plan-ning and deciding how to achieve this perception are of utmost importance in TQM. Most companies fail to become TQM compliant because they do not plan based on all their customers’ require-ments and needs.

3. Managing Processes: After planning

1. Customer Focus

5. Getting Full Participation

2. Planning For TQM

4. Improving Processes

3. Managing Processes

Exhibit 3: Five Steps to Becoming a TQM Company


for TQM, the next step is to manage pro-cesses. We must now focus on the actual production process of TQM.

Managing processes includes reviewing products and services to ensure they are consistent in quality standards. We also need to ensure products continue to meet customer needs, and to ensure products are available in all markets through channels preferred by our cus-tomers. Managers must review the cost of raw materials and production meth-ods, ensuring that delivering high-quality goods can be done at affordable rates in order to deliver high perceived value to customers.

4. Improving Processes: TQM is driven by the knowledge that no market continues to operate at the same level every year. Over time customer preferences change.

Considering this, your company must be willing to adjust to changed require-ments to ensure the right customer desired quality for all products and services.

Improving processes to reduce costs, finding cheaper raw materials or reduc-ing labor costs are ways to improve processes to remain competitive. One popular tool used to achieve this pur-pose is Lean Six Sigma.

5. Getting Full Participation: To achieve all aspects of TQM,it is necessary to have full participation from all employees. Everyone must commit to customer focus and desire to produce the best goods and services to meet consumer demands. Partial commitment is not acceptable.

Managers must train, educate and develop customer focus in eachnew joining employee as well as reinforce this in all existing employees. Solid commu-nication lines must be created between management and employees. This allows the company to react quickly to any is-sues that affect the TQM process in the company.

The big benefit of TQM is the involve-ment of every employee in serving both external and internal customers more efficiently and effectively. It gives you a big advantage in the marketplace and sustains growth against the stiffest competition.

The author Sarvajit Singh is the Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of 10x Quality.org and he can be contacted at [email protected]


7.0 Logistics (continued from previous article)

Logistics is one of drivers in supply chain management for not only adding to com-petitiveness but also responding well to customer needs. Logistic parameter con-sists basically of warehouse,inventory and transportation. Another important parameter to manage these entire well is information. Emphasis on logistic inbound and outbound operation for op-timum utilization to get competitiveness advantage cannot be overlooked.

7.2 Warehouse

To get best response, to reduce invento-ry in in-house manufacturing and to have just in time parts, Customers are expect-ing that supplier has a warehouse near to manufacturing center of customer. This is common in automotive business and Maruti Suzuki is a good example.

All major suppliers of Maruti irrespec-tive of their manufacturing locations in India have a warehouse near Manesar or Gurgaon. Such warehouses are also called consignment warehouses. Few also have a facility in warehouse to do some value addition like customization of parts keeping basic parts in stock. The warehouse or stock place could be at supplier end as well.

The interest of customer is to see how warehouse is managed, how parts are kept, is there a safe handling method, is FIFO ( first in first out) followed,does parts are labeled to access easily etc. Typically, in our industries especially SME’s stores are treated as dumping yards. If company is using varieties of molds, fixtures, tools then arrangement for safe retention as well as mechanism for easy accessibility is of high impor-tance. Warehouse management module

In the last five articles under the same heading, we dealt about SWOT analysis of sourcing from India and expecta-tion from customer related to quality,technology,cost management,managerial ability and partially logistics. We will continue the topic further in this issue by focusing more on logistics.

Understanding Expectations of Customer Part 6

P S SatishMentor and Consultant

Saraswati Industrial Services

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of ERP is recommended when large vari-eties of parts are involved to be stored.

7.3 Transportation

Transportation costs is getting more attention as Buyers realize that this is an area where increase of costs are happen-ing and where there is a scope to reduce. Supplier has the choice either to have their own transport or to outsource. Own transport though expensive, can serve customer better and normally seen in suppliers to retail shops. When transportation is outsourced by supplier to a logistic service provider (of course, there are more than transporter), it is the responsibility of supplier to monitor their performance.

Their poor performance will affect sup-plier. I have seen cases in export where logistic service provider did badly in terms of lead-time spoiling the name of supplier. Selection and monitoring ser-vice level of logistic service provider will ensure better customer service.

7.4Inventory

Inventory is a necessary evil. The level is a trade-off between efficiency and re-sponsiveness. That means higher the lev-el of inventory customer can be served better but at a cost. Striking an optimum level of Inventory to keep customer happy is an art which supplier need to develop. Customer interest here is to see how the supplier is managing inven-tory, is there a mechanism of following FIFO, is inventory level taken care before ordering, is there a physical verification done periodically, is company aware that high inventory blocking cash-flow, is obsolete or non-moving inventories written off periodically and so on. One of key measure for inventory control is inventory turnover ratio i.e. sales volume divided by average inventory or Inven-tory coverage in number of days.

7.5 Information

If there is one thing all companies should

focus in total supply chain from sub-sup-plier to end customer it is Information. Importance is normally underestimated in companies. Successful companies like Wal-Mart have invested heavily on infor-mation management where suppliers are able to get information of demand at point of sales which in turn helps to have least inventory in the pipeline and respond faster. Customer interest in han-dling information is that how his order information is processed at supplier end. Expectation is that supplier is capable to be interfaced with EDI(electronic data in-terface)if needed. This could be a classi-cal EDI or web-based. With EDI, custom-er is sure that his request has reached supplier and can be tracked. One of the objectives of Buyer is to reduce transac-tion cost of sending purchaser order and schedules to suppliers. Exchanging infor-mation through web-based solutions is gaining importance and supplier should be better equipped.

7.6 Schedules

Customer expectation is that supplier has the ability to manage fluctuations of volumes and deadline changes. Many times Customer also does not have con-trol on changes as he is also depending on his customer or the market. Typically it is expected that Supplier is expected to keep 20% extra capacity than average demand.

Customer wants that Supplier to ac-knowledge the receipt of schedule and sends back a confirmation to him includ-

ing any changes in commitment date. Many suppliers in India do not follow this practice.

7.7 Logistic cost

Monitoring total logistic cost of compa-ny as a percentage of sales and premium freights will help companies to address effectively areas for improvement. This should be part of monthly MIS. Inbound and outbound to be covered. Monitoring gives confidence to customer on cost control measure of supplier

7.8 Tracking Goods

For better visibility of goods in supply chain sayparts, pallets or packets, usage ofRFID (Radio frequency identification) technology will improve supply chain efficiency and customer satisfaction.Maruti-suzuki uses RFID-enabled pallets in shopfloor. As the pallets move to a station,operator knows what operation to be performed and enters as well op-erations done to move to next station. RFID usage in retail industry is at much higher level and manufacturing indus-tries to catch up get full advantage of RFID.

I will continue this article with addi-tionalpoints on expectations of cus-tomer in the next issue. Please send your inputs,remarks,suggestions to P.S.Satish, Mentor and consultant, M/s Saraswati Industrial Services, Q-103,Mantri Paradise Apartments, Bannerghatta Road, Banga-lore-560076 Email : [email protected] . Wishing good day to you all.

Transportation costs is getting more attention as Buyers real-ize that this is an area where increase of costs are happening and where there is a scope to reduce. Supplier has the choice either to have their own trans-port or to outsource.


Jayant Vasant Shiradkar born on 16th March 1967, passed his B.E. (Electrical) in 1988. He is a Member of Institution of Engineers. From 2009 on, he has been a Certified En-ergy Auditor of Bureau of Energy Efficiency, National Productivity Council and Govern-ment of India. In addition, he is a Certified Lead Auditor of IRCA for Energy Manage-

ment System EnMS ISO 50001.

His area of expertise is Energy, including Energy Auditing, Consultancy for Energy Efficiency, Lead Auditor for Energy Management Systems EnMS ISO 50001 – Certification/Consultancy. He also provides consultancy for ‘Green Buildings & LEED Certification Program – IGBC (under US Green Building Council)’ and ‘Non Conventional Energy Sources. Electrical Design of Energy Efficient Distribution System too comes under his technical knowledge area. Corporate Trainings are also conducted by him. He an be conducted at [email protected]

With the due course of the time, the life developed on earth. Since millions of the years the earth is kind enough for her own creations to provide them all the required resources, in abundance, to maintain the continuity and persistence. After so many varieties and cycles of the species, about 200000 years ago, a mature revelation took place and that was the rise of mankind.

The evolution continued for about 150000 years and then may be 50000 years back, few civilizations established in the different parts of the earth. With the intellect and intelligence, the Man made lot many discoveries for improve-ments of the lifestyle and standard of living. In this journey of continuous pro-gression, he made his life more and more comfortable and meaningful.

Earth HourSince hundreds of the billions of the years of our universe, about 4.5 billion year, an important event occurred. That has got a direct relation with our existence. That was a dream of the Great Creature, it was the birth of our planet, Mother Earth!

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Earth was kind enough to her own new creation too. She lavished the resources to man to achieve the progress with the rational capacities. In this success journey, man must have astonished to his own creature by his all cerebral capacities.

With the development of the mankind, the needs of the mankind were also growing. Further mankind was not able to distinguish between need and greed. As we are aware once Mahatma Gandhi said that Mother Earth can fulfill needs of all human being but can not satisfy greed of a single person. With the prog-ress of civilization, the craving went on increasing.

As a result man became more self cen-tered, competitive and started manipu-lating the well established eco system. This continued for the thousands of the years, for ages together.

Eighteenth century was the inkling and footfall for the industrialization. Then in the next century some genius minds, sci-entists, invented so many things which really made our life more and more comfortable, rewarding and meaningful. Soon after the invention of the electric-

ity, in the nineteenth century, with the growing industrialization the world started experiencing a profound effect on the social reforms of the times. It was initiated in United Kingdom and then further extended into entire Europe, North America and in some part of Asia like Japan.

In 20th century, the world enjoyed the growth of industry. Growing industrial-ization brought the social, economical and cultural reforms. Improved econom-ics enhanced our lifestyle. The comfort and well off offered by the industry was also inviting some dangerous threats to the mankind. I

n 21st century, whole world came under the impact of industrialization and aftereffects of the same are now being faced. Due to the self centered approach and blind race for so called growth and progress, all the threats were ignored.

Now, there was need for more resources to cater more industries. An unre-strained and uncontrollable extraction of resources for raw material for produc-tion and the fossil fuel – energy to run the industries was started. The forests were inordinately ruined for expansion

of industries and modern agriculture.

Industrialization lead to urbanization. Population growth added more prob-lems to the scenario. To cater the needs of all this, again the nature was at the stake. Population growth is also caus-ing tremendous stress on the earth’s resources.

To make more space available for habita-tion, cultivation & industries thousands of acres of rainforests are being cut.

The rainforests in the world are vanish-ing at an alarming rate. It is estimated that, 100000 km2 tropical forests are being cut every year and another 100000 km2 are degraded. Presently what Carbon dioxide is being emitted out of that only nearly 50% is being absorbed by the rain forests and chlorophyll of the marine species. Rest 50% which is Millions of tons of Carbon dioxide is depositing every year in the atmosphere of the earth. This is thickening the layer of green house gas around the earth, trapping more and more infrared heat and causing Global Warming.

In the last 150 years, the amount of CO2 in atmosphere (PPMV) has gone from 280-290 PPMV to nearly 400 PPMV. This

Photograph Courtesy ISS/ESA/NASA

Ashok Industry manufactures a wide range of cleaning chemicals that are used in various machines and equip-ments such as vibratory finishing machines, tumbling barrels, ultrasonic equipments, washing machines, spray cleaning equipments, etc.

These chemicals are used for various functions such as cleaning, degreasing, descaling, deburring, brightening, etc.

Chemical Compound for cleaning & finishing machinesAshok industry is an ISO 9001- 2008 Certi-fied Company.

ASHOK INDUSTRY is a more than 50 years old company having an established factory and office premises with very ex-perienced production and technical staff. The factory area has been divided into various segments for ease of product handling, processing, testing, packing and dispatch. It consists of separate


has intensified the global warming and has caused some invariable effects which are to be faced by the generations to come. To list a few, the earth’s tempera-ture has gone high by 1.2 degree Celsius in the last 150 years.

It has deeply affected the ecosystem of the planet. The glaciers at all over the world including the arctic glaciers are melting at frightening pace. Though we have more than 70% of water on the earth, the potable water is only 2.5%. Out of that 70% is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland.

The next 29% is present as soil moisture or lies in deep underground aquifers as ground water and may not be accessible for human beings. Only less than 1% of the world’s total fresh potable water can be utilized for human use. This is avail-able in the rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Only this amount of water is regularly renewed by rain fall, snowfall and there-fore available on sustainable basis.

As large amount of glaciers are melting every year due to global warming, we are losing our most precious treasure day by day. It is a serious threat that the life line of North / East India, our main river Ganga is estimated to be dried up in coming 30 years, if the rate of melting of glacier is continued at the present rate. Melting of glaciers at the poles are rais-ing up the sea level.

It is a great threat to entire world in the

coastal area that a large part of habita-tion, cultivated land will be occupied by the sea water causing migration to safer areas. Global warming, as heating up the earth, it also rises the temperature of the oceans. It is causing disappearing of coral reefs, which again in turn, rising the temperature. Due to this, the severity & intensity of the hurricanes and cyclones is increasing.

A great threat, though it is in dormant stage, is the methane at the bottom of the oceans, which is in frozen form, can dissolve in the sea water. If both these problems, global warming and dissolu-tion of methane in sea water, occurs at the same time, then uncontrolled and invariable temperature rise can happen causing more disasters.

Every hour we are losing three plants or animal species rampantly. Every day up to 150 species are lost and every year be-tween 18000 to 55,000 species become extinct. Biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate.

For all these environmental issues we are contributing knowingly or unknow-ingly. Can we do really something as our sincere effort to ease this complex scenario? Undoubtedly yes, we can help the situation. This decade is the last opportunity for us to correct our self, to control Carbon dioxide emission and to save our planet and in turn our self.

In India, as per the IEA Report, 2007

and the present scenario, 2012, we are consuming energy, a lion’s share for domestic and commercial sector fol-lowing the industrial sector. Agriculture and Industry are the two pillars of our economy and the energy consumption for the agriculture is less than the com-mercial and residential sector. To make available more energy to the driving wheel of our economy like agriculture, it is our prime responsibility to save every possible unit of energy. Of course, in all other sectors like Industry, Transport, Commerce & Public Service and others, energy conservation is possible to a siz-able extent.

At the same time, it is important to think on the point that as per the Integrated Energy Policy (2006) that provides an es-timate of energy saving potential in the Indian economic activity of 15-20%. The CEA study has highlighted a saving po-tential of 75.4 billion KWh by implement-ing energy efficiency in various sectors which is more than the overall energy deficit of 73.1 billion KWh reported dur-ing 2007-08.

This clearly indicates that if we are able to save this energy which is worn out and not harnessed properly, we can, not only reduce down the carbon emission and help our environment but we can ad-dress the burning issue of power crises.

From the next article, we will see, sec-tor wise, how and where we can save energy and save our mother earth!

allocated areas for Production, Storage, Testing, Dispatch area etc.

For further information, please contact Ashok Industry, 301, Nestor Court, Adj. To Vinayak CHS, Baji Prabhu Deshpande Marg, Vile Parle (West), Mumbai – 400 056 Tele: 022- 2623 2133/ 2625 2133 Fax: 26714683 Mob: 9892848669 E-mail: [email protected]


Vivin Agarwal is a Product Architect and Social Entrepreneur. He joined his family business of Interior Contracting in Mumbai after his Architecture graduation from Sir. J.J. College of Architecture in 1975. He has commissioned a community develop-ment program for wood working cluster in Alnaver and set up a glass manufacturing unit with German & Belgian Collaboration in Nasik. He has to his credit, commission-

ing of the P.G Course in Retail Experience in National Institute of Design, Business Research Centre, Bangalore. He is on the faculty board of leading Management & Design Education Institutes.

He is assigned as the Chief Surveyor & Design Expert by Institute of Wood Science & Technology (IWST) for the state of Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh. He identifies commercial application areas for new materials.

He has been handling the Design Clinic Scheme of NID and Ministry of MSME in Karnataka. He has been permitted to conduct customized industry specific courses for middle level management certified by KIMS, Karnatak University. He has completed a project of Designing Water Learning Centre on water conservation for Water Board, Yelahanka, Banga-lore. He has been a consultant at various corporate and business establishments.

Before one figures out the CSR agenda, one has to take a step back for being Responsible. The real challenge of doing a Responsible Business is to open the doors for the basic issues which are the immediate concerns of the survival of this planet. In many parts of the world natural resources are stretching to the limits. Ecosystems and the communities are not in the sync anymore.

Responsible Business thinks strategi-cally, comprehensively and inclusively to develop potential for costumers and

investors, without disturbing the balance of nature. The economical & social ben-efit of this concept is already proved. A market driven approach of a responsible step can value add to the company’s turnover. By creating “ Market of Virtue” one can contribute to profit maximisa-tion. Such a “value capture” can occur through the minimisation of threats in non-market environment or through direct contribution of constructive responsible decision. There are evidence which show the contingent nature of

Innovations and SolutionsThe corporate is buzzing with CSR, an attempt to make them more relevant to holistic development of Society.

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Prodaid Engineers (P) Ltd, Bengaluru, have developed A conveyorised system for serving Buffet Lunch for a gatherings of 1000 peoples in 30 min, with least manpower.

It is ideal for serving lunch in large at public functions and in Industrial can-teens. Also, adoptable for ‘self-service’ Buffet lunch, as the plates are not carried by the Guests and hands are free to serve themselves.

The arrangement consists of S.S. Tables with moving nylon ropes acting as conveying media, carrying the plates while serving the dishes. Length

of 24 ft. conveyor, can accommodate 15 dishes kept inline, with servers stationed behind serving 15 dishes in sequence, resulting in fully served plates, coming out at the rate of 30 per min.

Apart from serving efficiently, quickly, this avoids people carrying the plates during serving, which is of great help for elderly and children spilling the plates which is a common affair in conventional buffet parties.

The system is made in lengths of 2.4 M(8ft) for easy dismantling and assem-bly at function Halls, fitted with latest sealed Drum Motor suitable for opera-

Catering Conveyor from Prodaid Engineerstion for easy washing of conveyor .

It requires 230 V. single phase supply, uses power as less as 60 watts bulb, with additional feature of variable speed to enable servers to match the their abil-ity to serve quickly and to suit size of the gatherings.

For Details contact Prodaid Engineers (P) Ltd., # 18, Govt. P.U. College Road, B.D.A. Industrial Suburb, Peenya, BENGALURU - 560 058 Karnataka Telefax : 080 – 2837 4961 Phone Nos.: 080 – 6534 5363 080 -- 2279 1677 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.prodaid.com


the consumer appreciation on any such move.

Numerous US firms have deployed community development programmes, applying their strategic responsible measures. These actions are directly contributing to the business goals by constructing newer markets.

Socially responsible practices of cor-porate send a positive signal to the consumers, employees and investors who will like to be identified with more responsible organisation.

A survey in business college reveals that a positive reputation in the field of environment concerns increases a com-pany’s ability to attract and retain staff. Fresh MBAs are willing to forgo financial benefits in order to work for a corpora-tion with a better reputation for being responsible for the environment.

Increased scrutiny of the actions of private companies has placed larger responsibility of being environmentally concerned. NGOs, policy makers, media, consumers and public opinion have a critical eye on the industrial activities. To accommodate the increasing expecta-tions the private sector has to have a convincing program.

With power comes the responsibility, staying away from the difficult spots is hardly a solution for the challenges. Re-sponsible engagements can be evolved with careful analysis.

Theory of dual benefits:

A single activity always have numerous outcomes. These possibilities can har-nessed in to developing newer markets for maximise the business gains.

This practice can dilute the economic and energy impact of infrastructure costs and materials. The message to consumer will be through innovating a product and the objectives.

My personal domain being Wood & Engineered wood working sector, I have been able to identify 30 business units who are ready to invest in research facilities to re look into the raw materials they have been using since ages without bothering about environmental impact.

One of the other opportunity with this group is to innovate certain products by fusing the expertise of two different domains that is panel processing and engineering.

Let me cite an example “Deodorising

Shoe Rack”.

We know that panel processing Industry is making the shoe racks of all sizes and designs. We also know that engineering industry is making deodoriser for various applications. If combined, these two as-pects, we can have a product that offers dual benefits. There is an endless list of such products which need innovations. These are efforts to consume less materi-als/ energies and extending consumer benefits.

This format need to qualify on following guidelines.

1. Alignment of expertise of two or more Industrial domain.

2. Unique product benefit.

3. Business opportunities for all con-cerned.

4. Creativity of the process.

5. Environmental concerns.

To be constantly innovative is a mandate of Responsible Business.

You can join us in the search of innova-tive products, by responding to me at [email protected].


In most organizations, any process flow and corresponding specifications are laid down by Engineering department. The production department then follows it and quality department conforms & con-trols it. If the products are not meeting the specifications then quality depart-ment raises the alarm and production de-partment stops the process for rectifica-tion. Then cross functional team rectifies the process that produces the parts to specification. Finally the inspection wing of quality department inspects the qual-ity of the products before dispatching to the customers. If the product doesn’t meet the specifications then the value added to the product across the entire process is lost. Any product should be moved to the next process only if it conforms to the pre-designed engineer-ing specifications, else the value added across the process is futile.

One of the main quality requirement of the product is conformance to engineer-ing specifications. As we all know, all

these engineering specifications are attained through the manufacturing process. Manufacturing floor is the area where each and every part gets shaped into the final product and the operators are the people who have the knowledge about the product.

At Indo-MIM, we thought why can’t we have process operators perform both of these functions of product manufac-turing and conformance (inspection). In fact, no quality manager is daring to delegate the decision of product conformance to manufacturing workers or operators. Also selling the idea at top management regarding operator-based control is difficult. Also sales people feel that this may lead to sacrificing the quality of the product. Almost everyone in the manufacturing organization was accustomed to a volume philosophy wherein machine utilization was the top priority. Changing this mindset was prov-ing to be especially difficult.

Project Green Light All the organizations need to ensure that their manufacturing process is capable of delivering higher performance with passage of time. This is the key for success of any business and helps in fulfilling the business goal of making profit. To make this happen, process owners must develop quality ownership among process operators.

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Dy GM Quality, Indo MIM

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Many of the managers will think that the operators will achieve their produc-tion targets by accepting sub-standard quality products. This belief or thought is based on long-standing tradition but-tressed by some experience, plus the contention of the inspection and quality control specialists. All this has given rise to a sizable inspection function in many business processes.

Indo-MIM feels that production work-ers are the better known group of people for controlling the quality of product along with the shape. Hence, the concept of self inspection evolved at Indo-MIM and named as project “Green Light”.

Concept of Green Light:

Under this concept, all inspection activi-ties and all conformance decisions, both on the process and on the product, are made by the production operator except the decisions on the action to be

taken on the non-conforming products. However, an independent audit of these decisions is made. Quality Department inspects the products on the manu-facturing floor at the process station

by taking random sample periodically. These audits are instituted to ensure that the decision-making process used by operators to accept or reject a product is still valid. In short, these audits verify the decision making process by opera-tors. Also note that, under a pure audit concept, inspectors are not transferred to do inspection work in the production department.

Criteria:

The following points were considered while launching project “Green Light”,

1. Quality must be the number one prior-ity within an organization. If this is not clear, a worker may succumb to schedule and cost pressures and classify products as acceptable that should be rejected.

2. Mutual confidence is necessary - Man-agers must have sufficient confidence in the work force to be willing to entrust to them the responsibility of deciding whether the product conforms to speci-fication. In turn, operators must have enough confidence in management to be willing to accept this responsibility.

3. The criteria for operator (self)-control must be met. Failure to eliminate the

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management-controllable causes of defects suggests that management does not view quality as a high priority, and this may bias the workers during inspec-tion.

4. Workers must be trained to under-stand the specifications and perform the inspection.

5. Specifications must be unequivocally clear. Workers should understand the use that will be made of their products in order to grasp the importance of a conformance decision.

6. The process must be of a nature which permits assignment of clear responsibil-ity of decision making.

7. Add source inspection elements wher-ever it is possible in the Jig or fixture so that non-conforming products don’t fit into the fixture for processing.

It was also discussed during launch-ing of GL(Green Light) concept, if the operators are to be given the product – conformance decision. It is necessary to decide whether the responsibility should be given to all operators or only to few of those who have demonstrated an abil-ity to make good decisions. The second approach was chosen and following guidelines were laid before commencing the “Green Light” concept.

1. Training: Train the operators on how to make product-conformance decisions.

2. Route card: Information regarding control specifications along with location at what stage to inspect and how to inspect were provided in the route card.

3. Institute a traceability system: Set up a system of product identification and or-der preservation to ensure that product decisions can readily be traced back to the operators who made them.

4. Initial trials: Institute a trial period dur-ing which workers make conformance decisions while duplicate decision mak-

ing is done by inspectors. The purpose of this duplication is to discover, through data, which workers consistently make good product-conformance decisions.

5. Provide Identification: Issue “License” for making product-conformance decisions only to those operators who demonstrate their competence.

6. Discover the hidden “Knack” pos-sessed by some competent operators and transmit it to all workers.

7. Institute adequate preventive mainte-nance program on the process.

8. Ensure gage R & R well within accept-able limits on all measuring instruments that are used during self-inspection.

9. Institute hourly inspection reports at each process that is to be filled by opera-tors.

10. Institute an Audit function:

a. For the licensed operators, institute an audit of decision. For the operators who do not qualify, retain the regular inspection.

b. Based on the results of audits, con-tinue or suspend the licenses. If an audit

reveals that wrong decisions have been made by the operators then the prod-ucts evaluated since the last audit are re-inspected, often by the same operator.

c. Periodically conduct new trials in an ef-fort to qualify the unlicensed operators.

11. Review of Certificate of conformance of all the products before moving them to packing.

Case study:

An automotive product for an OEM un-der goes 100 percent visual and dimen-sional inspection before dispatch to the customer had traditionally been conduct-ed by a special inspection department called CSL as shown in the figure.

This inspection was time consuming and frequently caused delays in delivery of products to customer and sometime leads to line shut down at customer end.

A trial experiment of self-inspection by machine operators was instituted for this product. Operators were given with inspection criteria on both dimensional and visual. Operators performed a self-inspection on a lot of 5000 products and shipped the lot to warehouse with


proper identification as shown in the fig-ure. The rejected products were identi-fied separately and moved to quarantine area. The same lot of both accepted and rejected products were sent separately to 100 percent inspection line to the special inspection department. The experiment reached two conclusions: (1) the lot that was inspected and accepted by the operator gave consistent results with the 100 percent inspection by the inspectors. (2) The rejected products were also gave consistent results with the results of 100 percent inspection. The experiment convinced all parties to switch the product-conformance decision to the one by operators. Under the new concept, good product was released to dispatch sooner. In addi-tion, the level of defects decreased. The improved quality level was attributed to the stronger sense of responsibility by operators. They themselves decided

(ownership) if product was ready for dis-patch or not as the immediate feedback received by operators from self-inspec-tion. But there was another benefit, the inspection team was reduced and remaining team was deputed to other type of work, including experimentation and analysis activities on the various types of defects.

The advantages of Project “Green Light” as follows,

1. Manufacturing floor operators are made to feel more responsible for the quality of their work.

2. Feedback on performance or confor-mance is immediate, thereby facilitating immediate process adjustments.

3. The costs of separate inspection de-partment can be reduced.

4. The job scope enlargement that takes

place by adding inspection to the pro-duction activity of the worker helps to reduce the monotony and boredom that are inherent in many jobs.

5. Elimination of a specific station for inspection all products reduce the total manufacturing cycle time.

6. Reduction in rework as the operator does it first time right.

7. Reduction in COPQ.

8. Reduction in internal and external rejections.

9. Improves the operator efficiency as it gives confidence in what they are mak-ing/ doing.

The author R Sai Krishna Rayalu is the Dy GM Quality, Indo MIM and he can be con-tacted at [email protected]


The growing need for high quality test and measurement equipment for Asia’s budding manufacturing scene has led to the steady increase in number of metrol-ogy brands participating at MTA, seen edition after edition. Armed with the industry’s support, the next edition of MTA to be held from 9 to 12 April 2013 at the Singapore Expo will reveal to visitors a section of its floor space dedicated to featuring a wide range of tools related to metrology.

MetrologyAsia2013 will house an impres-sive gathering of exhibitors specialising in cutting-edge measurement equip-ment systems and technologies that are specifically designed to meet the high standards of today’s demanding manu-facturing processes.

Recognising the importance of precision engineering in the world, the Singapore government has been focusing on manu-facturing as one of the key contributors to the gross domestic product. Efforts made to grow Singapore’s manufactur-ing capabilities have been rewarding, with the country being known as one of the key manufacturing hubs in Asia.

The steps taken to ensure that Singa-pore retains this position have also not gone unnoticed by international compa-nies, as many global brand names have chosen to base their Asia headquarters in Singapore, thereby helming the island state as Asia’s leading provider of high accuracy and precision test and measure-ment systems.

Metrology Big Wigs Out in Full ForceFirst Class Test and Measurement Equipment Players will Convene at Asia’s Leading Precision Engineering Trade Event

High precision manufacturing and the development of new and improved high accuracy machines and systems have gained traction in recent years. The test and measurement industry is the main enabler for other high-value manu-facturing industries such as aerospace, medical technology and oil & gas, with many advanced technology gadgets depending entirely on one or more components for its end products. Countries in Asia are starting to recognise the importance of the metrology industry, and have set a firm direction to improve their manufacturing capabilities on home ground.

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Metrology, an important segment of manufacturing, has been one of the main areas which Singapore has been growing. Many government and private organisations such as the National Metrology Centre by A*STAR have been established; education courses and workshops were revised to offer vital, up-to-date technical know-how in order to equip the relevant workforce with the required capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the manufacturing sectors.

“The local government has been putting a lot of effort to bol-ster the industry, and we believe that MetrologyAsia2013, to-gether with MTA2013, will serve to complement this initiative. Companies specialising in test and measurement equipment and systems have been growing by leaps and bounds, and it was clear that the next step for MTA would be to congregate all the top metrology companies within a dedicated space,” Mr. William Lim, Project Director at Singapore Exhibition Ser-vices, organiser of MTA2013, enthuses.

“This move is a clear sign of our unwavering commitment to help boost the growth of the manufacturing verticals. We believe that, armed with the support of our stalwart exhibi-


tors, supporting organisations and trade visitors, MetrologyAsia will be able to hold its own ground as the business net-

working and sourcing platform of choice for Asia’s manufacturing community.”

Hands on World’s Best-of-Breed at Me-trologyAsia2013

With the participation of leading brands like Bowers Metrology, Carl Zeiss, Hexa-gon Metrology, Jenoptik, Konica Minolta, Marposs, Mitutoyo, Nikon, Olympus, Opti-cal Gaging, Renishaw, Wenzel and Zoller, MetrologyAsia2013 is set to impress. Sin-gapore Precision Engineering and Tooling Association (SPETA) will also be showing its support by coordinating a group pavil-ion which will be home to local companies including Cairnhill Metrology, GP Systems, Intec Precision Equipment and Nanyang Instrument & Machinery.

Examples of metrology equipment that were launched at MTA2011 included:

• BLUM’s TC63-30-Modular Touch Probe with Radio Transmission *WORLDWIDE

LAUNCH*

• Cairnhill Technology’s Starett Galileo Plus Multi-Sensor CNC Video Measuring System *WORLDWIDE LAUNCH*

• Carl Zeiss’ Multi-sensor Coordinate Measuring Machine *NEW IN SINGA-PORE*

• Mitutoyo’s CNC CMM Crysta-Apex C9108 with New Surface Measure Laser Scanner System *NEW IN SINGAPORE*

• Nikon’s XT V 160-X-ray Technology For Electronics CT Inspection *FIRST IN ASIA*

• Olympus’ IPLEX-FX The World’s First Mil-Standards/IP-protected Videoscope for Visual Inspections of Inaccessible Areas *WORLDWIDE LAUNCH*

• Wenzel’s Core DS, White Light Sensor for Blade Measurement *FIRST IN ASIA*


Industry Experts Share their Knowledge

Aside from perusing the exhibition floor for the latest tools, visitors may wish to attend the second edition of the International Conference on Optics in Precision Engineering & Nanotechnology (icOPEN). icOPEN will be offering the latest updates and findings to the test and measurement industry, with confer-ence tracks such as “Nanoscale Optics and Metrology”, “Optical Metrology and Instrumentation”, “Optical Metrology for Solar Photovoltaic Cells”, “Optical Metrology for LED and Solid State Light-ing Devices” and “Optical Measurement in Biotechnology and Bioengineering”. IcOPEN is organised by the Optics and

Photonics Society of Singapore.

MetrologyAsia2013 at A Glance

nShow: MetrologyAsia2013, held along-side MTA2013

nMTA2013 incorporates: ToolTec2013, iAutomation2013, MetalAsia2013, WeldTech2013, Outsource &SubCon2013

nDate: 9 – 12 April 2013 (Tuesday - Fri-day)

nVenue: Singapore Expo

nOpening Hours: 10.30am to 6pm

nAdmission: Business and trade profes-sionals only

nVisitor Registration: Please click here to pre-register for the exhibition

nWebsite: www.metrologyasia.com / www.mta-asia.com

Singapore Exhibitions Services organises a portfolio of international tradeshows serving the Communications, Engineer-ing, Machinery and Lifestyle industries. SES events consistently attract a high level of overseas participation with foreign exhibitors accounting for almost 80% of the show floor.

SES is a member of Allworld Exhibitions Alliance, a global network with over 50 offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.sesallworld.com.


The strategic purchase of the Harness Expert software will provide consid-erable potential in the domestic and international markets. It will allow Eplan to tackle new segments of industry, including apparatus engineering, rail and specialist vehicle technology, avia-tion, telecommunications and medical technology. At the same time, there is an increasing demand from within its own customer base for the implementation of 1:1 connections via wire harnesses, as the number of circuit-board based units in control cabinets and devices is increasing constantly. This new software is the perfect complement to Eplan Electric P8, the company’s own CAE solu-tion which has previously handled the engineering of single wires and sheathed cables in the control cabinet and field components. Customers can benefit from this consistent process integration, as all phases of the engineering process

are supported, from planning through engineering through to wire harness design and production. “The purchase of the Harness Expert software makes our portfolio broad enough to cover all engi-neering requirements within the global market. It also gives us a considerable competitive advantage, especially in the international market,” said Maximilian Brandl, Chairman of the Executive Board at Eplan Software & Service. The solu-tion provider is planning to distribute the software internationally under the name of “Eplan Harness Expert” from autumn 2012.

Open for the IT market

Harness Expert is an easy-to-use software suite which fully supports all aspects of wire harness engineering. Typical harness or wiring loom design processes are shown by the software

Eplan adds wire harness software to its rangeSolution provider Eplan has taken over the development and sales rights to Harness Expert, the established 3D/2D software for wire harness engineering. The contract between software developer Linius Technologies and Eplan Soft-ware & Service was signed on 28/06/2012. This extension to its range will allow Eplan to offer its customers even more comprehensive support for all aspects of cable project management.

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in 3D. All 2D production documents are produced by the system, which allows comprehensive openness when it comes to the import and export of third-party systems in design, administration and production. Integration between Eplan Electric P8 and Harness Expert provides all relevant wiring information, such as wire specifications, source/target information and bundle and socket assignments. This integrative workflow reduces engineering time and costs.

One workflow: design of mechanical systems and wire harness

The software provides different flexible approaches to designing a wire harness. Typically, this involves importing a 3D model from a conventional 3D CAD sys-tem, which then checks both the routes and design aspects such as clamps, clips, safety measures required and length

Harness Expert: 3D wire harness display with protective pipes, wires and connectors


calculations within the digital model.

This does away with the time-consuming and expensive construction of proto-types. As an alternative to importing, things can be done in a simpler way. For example, if a wire harness has been laid within an imported 3D model, the design of the 3D model and the wire harness can be passed back to the mechanical design department. The advantage: any impediments to the wire harness as a function of the design can be detected in the virtual model and measures taken immediately - with no need for physical prototypes at all. If 3D models are not available for process-related or organi-sational reasons, a wire harness can be designed quickly and easily within Har-ness Expert’s 3D editor.

Reports and test runs

Harness Expert uses the 3D or 2D wire harness layout to produce a wide range of reports required for quotation, ordering and production. Complete or individual parts lists, plug and splice lists, wiring and connection lists and reports on working processes in order to calculate time and costs. The data can be

transferred directly to cable finishing sys-tems such as Komax. In order to validate the wire harness design, the system has extensive, practical testing and check-ing functions for bending radii, fill levels, cable lengths, bundles without wires and connectors. The aim is to identify pos-sible inconsistency and errors at an early stage, i.e. prior to prototype production and simplify corrections.

What is a wire harness?

A wire harness is a bundle of wires which normally have plugs or terminals at the end to create electrical connections to components and devices. It is considered a passive device. By fixing the wires together, e.g. by wrapping tape around, fitting them into protective sleeves or hoses or putting them in cable conduits, the individual wires are fixed in harness form and can be fitted in the same way as a single cable.

The wires are also protected from dirt, heat and mechanical strain with a view to securing electrical properties such as insulation and conductivity throughout the service life of the product. Unlike conventional (sheathed) cable, wire harnesses are developed on a project or application-specific basis depending on the connections required. The benefits of this approach include optimisation of the space and weight within the installa-tion space and ideal conditions for con-nection requirements. Also pre-fitting/mass production can be achieved even for small batch sizes.

For further details please visit www.eplan.in

Display of a 3D wire harness wired to a terminal strip

3D wire harness installation for an automatic door drive.


Caliber offers Breather Valves for enclosed bulk storage Tanks in the Petroleum and other Industries. These Valves as a safety measure to prevent the tanks rupturing or collapsing during filling in and draining out and also to take care of thermal wxpansion of fluids and consequent pressure build ups.

These Valves are constructed out of conventional Materials and based on the fluids being storage, the valves can be offered in other materials like AISI 304/ 316 etc. Basically this Valves is a combination of Pressure Relif Valve and Vacuum breaker put together in a simple and convenient pack. These Valves are

offered in space saving simple designs. These valves are offered in both Flanged and Screwed constructions and come inSizes from 50 mm to 150 mm NB.

Breather Valves can also be furnished with Flame Arresters and Desiccators as per the requirements of the customers.

For further details please contact Caliber Valves Pvt Ltd, No.28, (New No.6), 1st Street, E – Block, Anna Nagar East,

Chennai – 600 102. Tamil Nadu, Phone : 044-43500192 / 43500193 / 43500143 Fax: 044-43500143 Email Id : [email protected], [email protected] Website : www.calibervalves.com

Breather Valves


The company and products

Leader Evaporator Company, a 125-year-old company located in Northern Vermont, is the largest manufacturer of equipment used to produce maple syrup in the United States. And although Leader Evaporator makes equipment for an industry hundreds of years old, the equipment it uses couldn’t be more modern. In fact, up until three or four years ago, the technology the company now uses didn’t even exist.

The problem

Leader Evaporator was faced with quite a bit of system downtime. The company estimates its old system was down 15 to 20 percent of the time, so in a typical five-day work week, one full day could be wasted. All that downtime, plus a cutting method that wasn’t as fast as it could be, really impacted Leader Evaporator’s production causing orders to pile up. In some cases, Leader Evaporator found itself having to turn away work.

The solution

Leader Evaporator turned to Fiber Laser for a number of reasons. First, they liked the fact fiber laser could cut a wide range of different materials including the polished stainless steel, mild steel, and aluminum it uses to build its evapora-tors. The ability to cut polished steel was a real selling point for the company since traditional CO2 laser is unable to cut highly reflective materials. In addition, the company was impressed with the speed and cut quality delivered by the fiber laser system.

“The combination of our Hypertherm system on an AKS AccuCut table pro-duces very precise cuts for clean welds when assembling our evaporators,” said Alan Ball the project engineer at Leader Evaporator. Another thing, Leader Evaporator liked about fiber laser was its price. Fiber lasers offer the speed and cut quality of more traditional CO2 lasers, but cost significantly less to purchase, operate, and maintain which

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is exactly what Leader Evaporator was looking for.

The benefits

Another benefit of the solid state fiber laser technology is that they require little to no maintenance since they have few moving parts and don’t rely on mirrors for beam delivery. This is in contrast to traditional gas lasers which require regular maintenance. Mirrors need to be maintained and calibrated, resonators and turbines that move the gas need to be replaced, and the lasing gas needs to be cleaned out regularly because of its tendency to collect impurities. All of this maintenance adds up. One CO2 system can cost $40,000 per year just to maintain.

That’s all changed now. Today, Leader Evaporator is enjoying record business.

It posted its best year ever in 2011 and expects to meet or beat that record in 2012. Although fiber laser is responsible for much of the increased capacity since the system experiences virtually no downtime and the cutting method is so fast, Leader Evaporator’s

usage of what is called an “integrated cutting solution” is also helping. By using other Hypertherm components along-side its fiber laser system – in this case a computer numerical controller (CNC) that controls the x-y motion of the cut-ting torch, a torch height control (THC), and advanced nesting software – Leader Evaporator was able to be up and run-ning quicker thereby realizing the laser system benefits sooner.

“The critical components (fiber laser, CNC, THC, and software) have been

engineered to work as a single system making it easier to integrate, operate and get consistently high quality results operator to operator, shift to shift or week to week,” explains Hypertherm’s Shuda.

With Hypertherm’s fiber laser sys-tem, Leader Evaporator was able to increase the capacity of its business.


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As a result, Leader Evaporator is able to take on more work since it is now able to cut more parts – in some cases up to twice as many parts as what was other-wise possible. Another benefit is that the company can now cut perfect holes that are ready to accept bolts in seconds.

“We are doing so much more today, than we’ve even done before. The ability to make precise cuts on thin stainless steel, galvanized steel, and aluminum, perform fine feature cutting, and cut perfect holes is enormous,” continues

Mr. Ball, the project manager at Leader Evaporator.

“On top of that, we are saving so much time because the cuts are so good, we don’t have to spend time cleaning or do-ing weld prep with any of the fiber laser cut parts.”

Mr. Ball was also impressed by how easy it was to get his new system up and running. “It was much quicker and easier than I anticipated since all of the components (that defined the cutting

system) used were from Hypertherm and designed to work together.”

For Leader Evaporator though, the switch to fiber laser and an integrated cutting solution means much more than better quality cuts, increased capacity, and lower operating cost. It means that instead of juggling orders and outsourc-ing jobs, the company is able to once again concentrate on the job it feels is most important: making the best evapo-rators in the business.

MART NOVEMBER 2012

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