International Metalworking News for Asia

The October issue of International Metalworking News for Asia takes a forward-looking view of the forces reshaping ASEAN’s manufacturing sector — from automation and AI to sustainable energy and digitalisation.

We begin with Renishaw’s Steve Bell (p.12), who stresses that staying competitive today means producing parts rapidly, efficiently, and with uncompromising quality. This theme of speed and precision carries into our Machine Tools feature (p.14), where AI is no longer a futuristic concept but a daily reality, transforming production processes and redefining operator roles. Continuing this conversation, our Dialogue section (p.16) highlights perspectives from Sebastian Heinz of statworx and Prof. Michael Zäh of TU Munich, exploring how AI will reshape customer value in the next five years.

From there, we spotlight HSG Laser’s milestones in Japan and South Korea (p.18), showcasing how intelligent manufacturing advances with localised innovation. Sustainability also takes centre stage in our Executive Interview (p.22) with Lin Daowei of ENGIE SEA, who emphasises why decarbonisation strategies are now business essentials.

On the tooling front, Sandvik Coromant’s Mikael Carlsson (p.24) introduces a breakthrough in high-volume drilling, while our Software & Control feature (p.26) reflects on digitalisation’s long history and its newest evolution with Industry 4.0, IoT, and AI. Finally, we preview METALEX Thailand 2025 (p.42), a premier platform for ASEAN’s metalworking future.

This issue captures a pivotal moment where technology, sustainability, and competitiveness converge — shaping not just factories of the future, but the very future of manufacturing in Asia.