5 things I have learned at Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific 2019

The Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC (ITAP) 2019 is Asia Pacific’s leading trade event for Industry 4.0. The event brings together manufacturers, government agencies, and businesses ranging from multinational corporations (MNC) to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to shape and support their transformation initiatives.

This year, ITAP showcases cool, transformative technologies that will help shape the future of the manufacturing industry. Here are the 5 things I learned at ITAP:

1. Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 is the combination of digital processes such as the Internet of Things, automation, robotics, and additive manufacturing that most manufacturers use today. This allows them to make better products more efficiently and react quickly to shifting consumer demands.

Since traditional manufacturing are mostly designed for mass production and not customization, Industry 4.0 takes place to provide both mass production and high-quality products.

The concept basically includes smart manufacturing, smart factory, lights out manufacturing (also known as dark factories), and industrial internet of things. In short, it makes manufacturing faster and less prone to error.

2. RS Components (RS)

RS Components presents the start, scale, and sustain adoption of Industry 4.0 processes and solutions. It features new products and brands presented by experts. However, what really caught our eye is the online platform called ‘DesignSpark’. DesignSpark aims to help students and engineers in designing electronic, electrical, and mechanical designs.

Registering on DesignSpark is completely free, and all members gain instant access to:

• DesignSpark PCB – a professional-grade schematic-capture and PCB design software package
• DesignSpark Mechanical – an advanced 3D CAD tool based on direct modelling techniques
• DesignSpark Electrical – a fully specified electrical CAD package for the design of control panel, machinery and electrical systems
• PCB Part Library – a library of schematic symbols and PCB footprints, which are compatible for all leading PCB software packages including Altium, Zuken, Mentor Graphics, Cadence, Target, Pulsonix, Eagle and DesignSpark PCB
• 3D Model Library – thousands of 3D models available to use in CAD designs
• DesignSpark Toolbox App – the Android and iOS app for engineers, including 27 calculations tools, comparison tables, news, projects and much more
• Zerynth Studio – the middleware for IoT, which enables the most popular 32-bit microcontrollers to be programmed in Python or C/Python and connect to the top cloud platforms
• Obsolescence Manager – a tool enabling engineers and purchasing professionals to monitor and review the lifecycle status of products within a bill of materials and select alternatives

Members can share their projects and opinions and connect with other engineers and students. See here for more information.

3. SMC Corporation

SMC Corporation, a company that specialises in pneumatic control engineering to support industrial automation, presents its Energy Saving Software.

The software aims to create awareness of the energy consumption of pneumatic equipment and to encourage optimisation of its air consumption so companies can save on cost while reducing CO2 emissions at the same time.

The Energy Saving Software has been designed to provide a basic understanding of air parameters such as air consumption, flow rate, pressure, and humidity. It includes:

• 20 mathematical ways to calculate both air and energy savings using six SMC model options.
• Develop pneumatic line (circuit piping) performance calculations including compressed air tank fill and discharge (pressure response).

4. PBA Robotics and Automation

PBA is a Robotics and Automation enabler which focuses on building robotics products and offering automation solutions to help businesses scale up with Industry 4.0 technology.

The company provides factory and warehouse automation solutions using its Advanced Manufacturing Systems (AMS). The software gathers real-time data to position and control solutions, which results in both maximizing production and minimising downtime. Basically, it helps accelerate production process capabilities.

AMS has a Collaborative Robot Arm that replaces repetitive tasks, Internet-of-Things that extracts real-time data, Vision Inspection Systems – a substitute to manual quality checks, and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) which assist in material handling.

5. Belden

The adoption of Industry 4.0 is not limited to only production activities but also to the intralogistics process.

As the interconnection of intralogistics equipment with communication devices becomes more common, Belden develops tools that make systems talk to each other, send data into clouds, and create significant data volume. This greatly improves production efficiency and quick troubleshooting in case of technical problem. And, of course, minimize human error.

Belden has solutions for almost every market including:

• Automotive
• Cyber Security
• Industrial Internet of Things
• Machine Building
• Oil & Gas, and Transportation
• Energy, Water/Wastewater

iTap 2019 is backed by the Singapore government agencies such as the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*Star), Economic Development Board Singapore (EDB), Enterprise Singapore (ESG), JTC Corporation, and Singapore Tourism Board (STB).