THE LARGEST SOLIDWORKS INNOVATION DAY IN ASIA PACIFIC

KUALA LUMPUR, October 3 – IME SOLIDWORKS Innovation Day 2020 was held at Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), which was organised by IME Group of Companies in collaboration with Majlis Rekabentuk Malaysia (MRM) as Strategic Partner, with the key objective of promoting and driving design and innovation of Malaysian products in the new digital space.

IME SOLIDWORKS Innovation Day (IMESWID) is a platform to gather industry’s thought leaders namely government, industry players, engineers and academia to share on the key trends and spearheads design and innovation. The event also aims to explore innovation and technology creativity with the participants and embark on the digital transformation journey together. It is an annual event organised by IME throughout Malaysia, touring to multiple states including Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Melaka and Sarawak.

Back to its root, IMESWID is also the most prominent event to introduce new capabilities. SOLIDWORKS 2020 helps to get business and engineers going from design to manufacture faster and also reduce costs, meet customer demand as well as optimise designs. This is a big event of SOLIDWORKS that is taking place in October every year, held in every corner of the world. SOLIDWORKS Innovation Day 2020 with the participation of SOLIDWORKS experts in domestic or foreign country will bring various of new enhancements to users.

Digital continuity is the theme of the event this year, putting emphasis on the importance of extracting, analysing and connecting data throughout design and manufacturing cycle: from machines in manufacturing and throughout the enterprise both horizontally and vertically. Digital Continuity in multi-discipline is essential in modern day manufacturing for complete visibility in manufacturing efficiency.  Software and applications play a major role in enabling this to provide connectivity in the entire design to manufacturing process for instance, design optimisation, real-time manufacture feedback and analytics, virtual factory, assembly simulation, collaborative engineering platform among many others.

In the technology showcase featured at the event, a comprehensive data-driven design and manufacturing ecosystem that has shown seamless digital continuity in the production floor by integrating different systems at multiple stages product development.

Other than that, real-life applications provided audience a clear picture of digital continuity from the design environment to the manufacturing shop floor.

Product Design & Development

Virtual Reality (VR)

Additive Manufacturing – Metal 3D Printing

Virtual Factory

Industrial Automation

Quality Inspection

Reverse Engineering

Data analytics and dashboards

By leveraging on the right solution, business owner can easily automate data collection and turn them into meaningful insights that accelerates decision-making process, making it effective, purposeful and on-point. Visibility and accessibility to every system including machines, people, resources help to stay in control and to identify pain-points easily thus closing loopholes, maximising resources utilisation, increasing operational efficiencies, and of course, lower operational cost.

Nearly 600 participants from various organisations attended the event that seeks to assist them in understanding and learning ways to incorporate the key elements of Industry 4.0 into businesses.

The event also endorses home-grown companies and local products that are locally designed and manufactured. The synergy between IME and MRM strongly advocates Buatan Malaysia embodying world-design capabilities that we are always unquestionably proud of. Innovative products can be designed and manufactured given the design freedom comes with the integration of emerging technologies.

Thinking that Smart Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and factory modernisation are only for large multinational companies is a general misconception. For positive impact on the entire supply chain, large and small medium enterprises alike, are to be aligned in their transformation to reflect a seamless and continuity in the effectiveness of operations. 2nd tier & 3rd tier vendors or manufacturers are not to adopt a wait-and-see mindset if we want to remain relevant.

According to Mr. Teoh Tuan Ka, Chairman and Founder of IME Group of Companies, the synergy between all parallels namely the government, industry players and academia is crucial to spearhead Industry 4.0 adoption in Malaysia. “Synergy bridges the interconnection and fill the gap in collaboration to ensure seamless knowledge sharing and effective skills transfer, and that makes the team stronger at times of a transformational change. SMEs and local businesses have to be at the forefront of digital transformation to gain competitive advantage and stay attractive for global investors at worldwide scale,” added Mr. Teoh.

At the event,  it also addressed how local companies can leverage on Digital Transformation Lab Partners in digital transformation journey with an insightful session on Digital Transformation Acceleration Programme (DTAP) that is part the initiative of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) that aims to help these companies to adopt Industry 4.0 and thereby increases productivity, reduces foreign labours and exploit new opportunities in the digital space. The programme involves pilot of implementation plan and scale up of not more than 5 years. Mawea Industries, a member of IME Group of Companies was appointed as one of the DTLs to lend its expertise to the IR4.0 adopters. Through DTL, companies are able to set out a digital transformation journey of their own.

Productivity and its improvement are both a political imperative and a business necessity. Hence, lifting productivity can be an imperative role played by public sector as well as private sector. This approach should be adopted by the local industry, government, and academia to boost productivity to greater heights.

Download the key takeaways from the event below:

#1 SOLIDWORKS 2020 What’s New

<Click here to download slides>

#2 Digital Transformation Acceleration Programme (DTAP): Futureproof your business

<Click here to download slides>

#3 Virtual Commissioning & Virtual Reality using Emulate3D & SOLIDWORKS

<Click here to download slides>

 

About IME Group of Companies

IME (Group of companies) is a local business established since 1980, that aspires to play a role in the growth of the local industry, by providing a platform for the industry and educational sector to collaborate, share, and close the knowledge and skill gap. Founded as a CNC service and repair centre, IME has now grown into the leading product design and manufacturing solution provider in Malaysia, with a vast clientele from local and multi-national corporations, government sectors and academia; IME has established strong presence locally and expanded business coverage to ASEAN.

Apart from being recently appointed as the DTL by MDEC, IME is also The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) Industry 4.0 Committee Member, and The Fourth Industrial Revolution Committee Member for National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM).

IME FUTSAL CUP 2018

Congratulations, France!

The FIFA World Cup 2018 has come to a glorious end in Moscow as France has made history and took home the trophy for the second time since 1998. While the world is falling over the game that happens once every four years, it was no surprise that every national team tried the whole bag of tricks only to claim the almighty world cup trophy and bring home the nation’s pride along with the cheers and chants of jubilant that could last a century.

In the event of the universal sport that unites and brings people around the world together to celebrate teamwork and triumph regardless of skin colour, nationality, races and religions, we did not want to miss the boat to relive the spirit in our team.

A football player can never pull off a game without each imperative teammate playing different roles in the field. At IME, we cherish team spirit and togetherness too as a driving force to get ahead and score in all fields we are specialising in.

A futsal game was just in time and perfect for the season of FIFA World Cup. It was not a common occurrence that we teamed up against other team which was also made up of our own. However we believed sometimes a good game brings us together even closer and better.

At the game, fatigue and weariness can never kill our spirits as we play a number of rounds just to pave our way to the final and claim our very own World Cup trophy – a 3D-printed FIFA World Cup Trophy replica.

It was a work of art that sent us chills. All kudos to our team for crafting the trophy and bringing it to life!

Check out some of the facts and let’s walk through the process of creating the 3D-printed trophy.

The concept of the IME Futsal Trophy 2018 was based on the FIFA World Cup Trophy; only differences were the dimensions and title. The printed concept was less expensive and had a very solid touch from the FDM Technology. It did not require any support material in the process; and as the space of the printing bed was limited, the tall structure was printed into 3 divided parts (as identified above).

 

To enhance its aesthetic, it was recoloured in green and gold, resembling the FIFA World Cup Trophy. The trophy was placed into the Memmert oven to dry the paint out and a 3D-printed World Cup Trophy was brought to life.

As much as the effort we put in delivering quality at work, we are not settling for anything less when it comes to play. Seeing the importance to balance work with play, we strive to bake work-life balance into our company’s culture in all unique ways to fit our organisation. Not to mention, sometimes we find as much fun in 3D-printing a World Cup as printing a wind turbine!

You can now print your own World Cup Trophy or customise your own in any way you like. Click <here> to go behind-the-scenes of the making of this 3D-printed World Cup Trophy.

Industry 4.0 : Are You Ready?

When industry 4.0 is emerging, it is crucial to understand all the key elements of Industry 4.0 and the ways they are impacting the industry we are in. From there, we are going to see tremendous positive effects to our business by smartly implementing them.

The twelve pillars of Industry 4.0 established on MIDA are:

1. Big Data Analytics
2. Automation
3. Artificial Intelligence
4. Digitisation
5. Augmented Reality
6. Cybersecurity
7. Additive Manufacturing
8. Internet of Things
9. Simulation
10. System Integration
11. Cloud Computing
12. Autonomous Robots

Despite the fact that many companies have already implemented some of the technologies supporting Industry 4.0, however they are being practised in isolation instead of interconnected autonomous system. To achieve greatest results and to stay competitive, these technologies have to be connected and communicated freely amongst each other as well as across various functions in the organisation.

The development process requires effort but it is not impossibly difficult with the help of government initiatives and solution providers in catering different needs in line with diverse business natures. Moreover, we are glad to be part of the movers in upholding Industry 4.0, in hope of stimulating growth  and development in the industries. Earlier this year, we have participated in a number of Industry 4.0 events which allowed us to speak with more people on Industry 4.0 and ways to implement it.

Some of the key events we joined:

1. MITI Malaysia Digital Economy Forum
2. MCA Belt and Road 2.0
3. MITI/MPC Showcase on Innovation for Productivity (SHIP) 2018

MITI Malaysia Digital Economy Forum

KUALA LUMPUR: The International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) is targeting to increase the number of companies coming onboard the Digital Free-Trade Zone (DFTZ) e-commerce platform to about 10,000 by year-end from 1,998 last November.

Its minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said since the DTFZ pilot project was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak last year, there had been growing interest among local and international e-Commerce players.

“We will work towards ensuring the sustainability of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are already DFTZ-listed, and assist more SMEs to list on the platform to ensure that the SMEs are future-ready and equipped to venture into cross-border eCommerce,” he told a press conference after delivering his welcoming remarks at the Malaysia Digital Economy Forum here.

The Star Online. (2018, 9 Feb). Miti eyes 10,000 e-commerce companies for DFTZ [Press Release].

MCA Belt and Road 2.0 

KUALA LUMPUR: MCA’s newly launched Belt and Road 2.0 will serve as a centre to assist the formation of stronger bilateral ties between Malaysia and China in many different areas, says Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

MCA Belt and Road 2.0 is built on five strategies – business transformation and young startups, SME Go-Global, trade and investment promotion platforms, Belt and Road policy coordination platforms, and education and training.

MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said MCA was the first political party from abroad to respond to the Belt and Road initiative.

Liow said bilateral trade between the two nations amounted to RM264.62bil in the first 11 months of last year, which accounts for 16.3% of Malaysia’s total trade.

“We need to seize these opportunities,” he said.

The Star Online. (2018, 10 Feb). MCA launches Belt and Road 2.0 [Press Release].

MITI/MPC Showcase on Innovation for Productivity (SHIP) 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is on track to achieve the target of 3.7 per cent labour productivity growth annually valued at RM92,300 per worker by 2020.

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the country achieved labour productivity growth of 3.6 per cent in 2016, reaching 87.8 per cent, or productivity value of RM81,039, of the 2020 targeted level.

“With the nine Productivity Nexus initiatives led by industries and supported by government and academia (in placed), we believe the country’s productivity will be further improved.

“This year, the Nexus has planned over 42 projects, among them documentation of best practices, industry profiling and development of online productivity tool kits,” he told reporters after officiating the Showcase on Innovation for Productivity (SHIP) 2018, here today.

The Productivity Nexus is a centre of excellence relating to productivity and is the catalyst in implementing productivity initiatives.

Industries are encouraged to participate in the programme offered by the Nexus to further increase productivity.

SHIP 2018 showcases best practices from four strategic innovation partnership platforms, namely the Ministry of Higher Education’s Public-Private Research Network, SIRIM-Fraunhofer Partnership, AIM-Steinbeis Foundation Malaysia, and SME Corp Bhd–PlaTCOM Ventures Sdn Bhd.

During the 2015-2017 period, SHIP has spent about RM200 million, benefitting 1,600 small and medium enterprises.

SHIP is an initiative under the purview of the National Oversight Productivity Council, which is part of the governance structure of the National Productivity Council.

New Straits Time Online. (2018, March 22). Malaysia to reach RM92,300 productivity growth value per worker by 2020 [Press Release].

At times of a big move around, we hesitate to adopt new ideas and technology because we think we are doing fine with the old ones and we are already making profits using existing methods; why replace something we know so well with something we don’t?

It might be safe game waiting for the first movers in the industry but little did we know, as soon as it happened; we are officially lagging behind. The process of change is not difficult but the courage to take on the flight is.

Make your first move now: CLICK HERE

“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”

George Herbert