FuMaTalk｜Interview with Dr. Charles Chan, Chairman of The Hong Kong Mould and Product Technology Association (HKMPTA)

FuMaTech&IRACE 2022年8月15日 FuMaTalk

Q：This is the first collaboration DMP2022 with Fumatech & IRACE. What are your expectations for Fumatech & IRACE?

A：The Hong Kong Mould and Product Technology Association (HKMPTA) has been a supporting organization of DMP for many years. With the new highlight of Fumatech & IRACE this year, it is hoped that the latest information related to smart manufacturing such as robot automation, Internet of Things, big data and digital information integration can be bought to our members, so as to raise the technology level for both China and Hong Kong industries.

Q：Will your company invest in smart manufacturing? What are your considerations?

A：Our company produces home appliances and applies stringent control over quality. We improve quality through smart manufacturing, which also helps recruiting and retaining staff and labor.

Smart manufacturing is the integration of all aspects of the manufacturing process with the new generation of information technology, such as the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, etc. For most manufacturers, the implementation of smart manufacturing will undoubtedly increase costs. Therefore, the quantity of output is an important factor for consideration. “Large production orders” can significantly improve cost-effectiveness through smart manufacturing.

As for quality control, smart manufacturing can greatly improve the product’s quality passing rate and largely shorten the test time. For example, a product test can be shortened from 2.5 hours to 2 minutes.

Q：What is the application prospect of IoT ? Does your existing hardware equipped with IoT function?

A：The Internet of Things (IoT, The Internet of Things) is to connect items to the Internet through information sensing devices to achieve intelligent identification and management. China’s 5G technology is well developed and can effectively integrate IoT, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other elements to drive the application of IoT in industrial upgrading.Currently, we are applying IoT to injection molding machines and are considering extending the applications of IoT.

Q：What is the importance of real-time data for industrial production?

A：Real-time data can be combined with advanced information technologies such as cloud technology to connect every process of industrial production, and then further optimize the production process according to the actual scenario.

The purpose of real-time data is to realize industrial monitoring, and to a certain extent, it also strengthens the communication between various departments. For example, product development lead-time can be greatly shortened if potential problems are found at an early stage based on the data by the production and R&D departments.

Q：umati (universal machine technology interface) is a key promotion project of VDMA and VDW. VDW will bring umati on-site demonstration and technology sharing to the expo. What are your thoughts of umati?

A：Mr Calvin Leung, Chairman of Technology Division of HKMPTA, hoped that the German umati agency will be able to provide some standards or packages in advance before the Fumatech in November this year, so that more manufacturers in the Greater Bay Area can know and use umati.