Case Study Of Stresstech Company
Background
For over three decades, Stresstech has been offering non-destructive and destructive residual measurement technologies to metal industries all over the world for process control and quality check. They have been providing high end services to industries like aerospace and automotive. In addition to that, they also manufacture products for schools and research institutes for experiments and case studies. Residual stresses are inevitable. However, there are ways to control or measure them to prevent their unwanted results. The most important way to control and analyse residual stresses is to measure them.
Key technologies
Barkhausen noise, X-ray diffraction and ESPI (electronic speckle pattern interferometry) hole drilling are the three types of key technologies they use to measure residual stresses. Their business started with Barkhausen noise analysis, a non-destructive testing analysis. When an external magnetic field is applied to a ferromagnet, the magnetic domains within the ferromagnet will change. The sudden change of the magnetic domains will create a noise, which is called the Barkhausen effect. This was discovered by a German physicist named Heinrich Barkhausen in 1919. This analysis will be perfect for finding of grinding burn damage and heat treatment defects.
X-ray diffraction is an extremely good tool for material characterization. Material characterization is necessary to define the residual stress in the material. X-rays were also discovered by a German physicist, named W.C. Röntgen in 1895. X rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation. They have much shorter wavelength than visible light and therefore, are more energetic. With the additional energy it has, it can measure the inter-atomic distance in crystalline materials at a depth of 1-10’s of microns into the surface, which results to measuring the absolute stress without having need for unstressed samples calibration. Machines using this method are fast, accurate and easy to set up. X-ray diffraction can be used to determine the shot-peening process of gears in the automotive industry. ESPI (electronic speckle pattern interferometry) hole drilling is also used to measure residual stress. This method removes stressed materials by drilling a small blind hole in the focused area. The machines measure the changes in the part’s surface created by the drilled hole.
Stresstech’s partnership
Stresstech has partnered with many leading edge companies since the start of their journey. They are a manufacturing firm that aims to procreate cost effective manufacturing products and services pertaining to testing of equipment, process control and quality inspection. As a manufacturing company, Stresstech understands that modern industries have their expectations and has solutions to meet them. Typically, the modern industries deal with components that are high in cost with extremely high demands of quality, safety and durability. Stresstech has the answers for meeting their high demands.
Stresstech has representatives all around the globe. DKSH Technology Private Limited is the representative of Stresstech in Singapore. DSKH Singapore’s moto is to assist companies to grow their business in existing markets and expand into new ones. DKSH helps Stresstech to market and supply their products to reliable outsourcing companies in the Aerospace, Automotive, Defence, Die & Mould, Education & Academics, Electronic, Machinery & Manufacturing, Medical, Mining & Minerals, Oil & Gas, Semiconductor, Solar & Electronics and Shipbuilding industry. DKSH provides brochures about their products on their website to potential customers so that they the customers will get a better understanding on the product that they are buying.
Business potential
The manufacturing sector has always been one of the most essential part of Singapore’s economy because it has been adding value and contributing to approximately one fifth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. Materials are key to manufacturing. Every manufactured product has a product life time. Every manufacturing company needs to get their equipment checked for quality time to time. With the various type of high end technologies Stresstech has to offer, many companies would like to work with Stresstech.
By capturing most of the global market, Stresstech has already built their foundation strong. Singapore is known as a leading manufacturing hub. Electronics and Precision Engineering has been the key industries in the manufacturing sector in recent times.
I strongly believe that there are three key success factors for Stresstech’s manufacturing business – productivity, understanding of the industry and connections. These three factors are intertwined with each other. For manufacturing businesses, productivity is a very important factor because providing more services and products to the customers on time means increasing greater profits and market value for the company. With greater profits, the company will have more chances to maximise productivity especially for Stresstech, since they have forged many connections all around the world. They are expected to produce their goods with high quality. This also means that they have a bigger responsibility to deliver quality goods to their partners on time without compromising each other. Delivering quality goods to their partners on time will translate to the increment of trust which will earn them more customers. Ultimately, leading to more profits for Stresstech. This ensures that the company stays competitive within the industry. Stresstech understands that modern industries have expectations and they have solutions to meet their needs. Stresstech’s products are all easy to set up and user friendly. Having simple machines will help the industry cut costs on wages. They can reduce the number of skilled operators per machine as they require very little preparations to start and use the machines.
Preparing for the future
The future is here. The fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0 is a name given to the rising digital transformation of the industrial technology. Everything around the industry is working towards to become autonomous.This growth will largely impact the traditional production relationships among the suppliers, producers, and customers – as well as between human and machines.
The manufacturing firm is now heading towards new technologies. With this ongoing rapid shift, the industry is expected to keep up with the demands of high quality, safety, durability and quick turnaround times. It is promised that this change will make it easier to collect and analyse data across machines, enabling the improvisation of the efficiency of manufacturing processes to manufacture better quality goods at reduced costs. This will also lead to higher production rates and foster industrial growth. Companies will have to have a deeper understanding about the industry 4.0, know its implications for their businesses and be prepared to adapt to the new technologies immediately if they would want to maintain their lead in this race of digital transformation of the industrial technology.
Stresstech will have to implement new manufacturing technologies that will be beneficial to their customers and profitable to the market. Since Stresstech has gotten hold of the global market and has been working with industries around the world for over 30 years, it is very important for them to know and understand the new needs of the industries that they are working with, keeping in mind that the other industries also working towards the industrial revolution and they are not all the same. Apart from the technologies and products, the employers and employees are to ensure that they are keeping up with the industries’ demands. The implementation of new technologies also mean that the workers in Stresstech will have to upgrade themselves to attain higher level of skills as manufacturers and gain more knowledge about industry 4.0 so that they can help to improve the technologies used and implement new technologies in manufacturing Stresstech’s products. They have to work very closely with their customers to get a deeper understanding of what are their customers’ needs. With the broadened knowledge of industry 4.0, they can then assist to improve the current industry to become a more industrial revolutionized industry. To attain that level of skills, workers are to be sent for workshops, trainings and courses to gain knowledge and experience. The company has to invest money and time for the benefit of the long term goal, which is to be prepared for the industrial revolution. Time will be taken to learn and make productive use of the new technologies but its best to implement this early and stay ahead of the competitors.
