Hypertherm APAC VP insights on metal cutting

Today’s industrial cutting solutions are significant with its speed and accuracy, but the future may hold even more compelling uses for this technology in the Asia Pacific region (APAC). In an interview with Hypertherm Inc. Vice-President of International Business for APAC Peter Vickers spoke with IMNA regarding his insights on the metal cutting industry as a whole, and what Hypertherm has to offer in the region, and beyond.

IMNA: As the Vice-President of International Business handling APAC, what areas do you see as requiring more focus, and what are you bringing to Singapore headquarters that will ensure you meet these objectives?

Vickers: Hypertherm is constantly focused on supporting our customers. We call it our “customer lifecycle value”. We want to ensure our channel partners and end users have the right programs and tools they need, so as to maximise the performance and life cycle of our products, thereby increasing our end customers’ satisfaction. Our belief is that if customers are happy and satisfied, they will remain loyal to Hypertherm.

Another area of increasing focus is counterfeit products. Though the loss of sales is an issue, our larger concern is that customers are purchasing a product they think is genuine when it fact it is a poorly manufactured knock-off. Because the counterfeit item doesn’t have the patented and proprietary technologies found in our products, it will not provide the expected life and performance of our cutting systems, which then reflects poorly on Hypertherm. Another issue is that counterfeiters engage in unethical business practices that harm our communities and society at large. So for all these reasons, we are currently involved in extensive programs to educate our sales teams, channel partners, and end users on how to detect counterfeit products and their producers.

IMNA: In your position, how can you help the company evolve and be stronger in APAC? Where do you see the greatest opportunities for growth in this region?

Vickers: Hypertherm has a wide regional footprint; we have offices in India, the Far East, ASEAN, and Oceania countries. Within the Asia Pac region, Hypertherm products are well represented in several emerging economies, including India and several of the N-11 countries, like South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Over the next 5 years, we expect that these markets will produce rapid growth and in response, we will put in place the correct infrastructures to capitalise on these opportunities. Hypertherm will continue to invest in people, infrastructure and processes within these vibrant rapidly growing markets. To date, we have close to 40 associates in the Asia Pacific region and our expectation is that the number will continue to grow over the next few years.

IMNA: Are there emerging technologies that Hypertherm is uniquely positioned to provide or support?

Vickers: Absolutely. One emerging area we think we are uniquely positioned to support is automation. Since we engineer the cutting system—whether plasma, laser, or waterjet—along with the CNC and THC, and CAD/CAM software for both 2D and 3D cutting, our engineers can work together to automate and streamline that process for our customers. We can engineer a closed-loop process in which all of the process parameters are embedded in the software, sent to the motion control, and then on to the torch or cutting head. For our customers, that means they can concentrate more on the overall running of their business rather than the day-to-day operational issues.

IMNA: What are you excited about when you think of the future of Hypertherm in APAC?

Vickers: We see the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the maturation of the Asia-Pacific market as a very exciting development for our business. We expect growing investment in markets like oil and gas, and we foresee increasing demand for high quality cutting processes, such as those provided by Hypertherm, amongst the large industrial companies.

IMNA: In addition to machines, torches and consumables, what other services do you provide? In what sense do these enable users to be successful in the long term?

Vickers: As I mentioned earlier, our goal is to support our customers. We see ourselves as more than just a provider of machines, torches / cutting heads, and consumables, but as a trusted advisor, who is always there to help our customers navigate industrial challenges. As such, a large part of what we provide lies in education so as to ensure that our customers can keep abreast of developing technologies and improve on what they are currently doing.

For example, we have 3 cutting technology centers in Asia designed to showcase and provide training on our latest technologies. In addition, we constantly provide system optimisation services to end users. Finally, in-region support is very important to us so that if a customer should have an issues pertaining to our products, we endeavor to address them quickly. This support ties back to the vision and mission statement of the company. We exist because we want to provide customers with world leading industrial cutting solutions, and not just a cutting product.

Internally, we are also very invested in promoting the well-being and development of our associates, while enriching our external communities and environment at the same time. On that last point, we have actually set tangible environmental sustainability targets for 2020. A few of our goals are to decrease the carbon impact of our global logistics network by 50%; attain zero waste on our business operations; and increase the energy efficiency of our product portfolio by 20%. These measures will ultimately benefit our end users, for instance, through reduced energy bills and higher ease of recycling parts from old products.

IMNA: What can we expect from Hypertherm this year? Any new products/facilities/acquisitions?

Vickers: As we invest heavily in research and development, Hypertherm is always coming out with new products and technologies that will enhance the cutting process for our customers. So far, we have introduced our Powermax 30^® AIR, a compact yet powerful plasma system with an integrated air compressor; along with HyAccess™ extended consumables that are specially designed for better visibility and accessibility when cutting or gouging in hard to reach areas. We’ve also expanded the capabilities of our True Hole^® technology, which now includes more thickness, amperage, and consumable options, and offers greater versatility in cutting.

As far as acquisitions go, we are excited to announce the addition of Jabez Technology to our team. Jabez develops Robotmaster, a software that simplifies complex robotic programming. Robotics is an area we see as increasingly important, as more companies turn to lean and flexible manufacturing as a cost-effective way to produce high quality products. Bringing Jabez into the fold will enable us to bring even greater value to our customers.