This major International event was held at Biopolis, in Singapore, on December 9th-12th 2014.

This is the second time this major USA show had been tempted to venture outside of the USA by SSEA and this achievement was the result of SSEA`s proactive work with the National Association of Surface Finishing (NASF) building a long and trusting relationship between the two associations. This activity has helped significantly to raise the profile of SSEA within the plating community and academia in Singapore, of course, but internationally too, specifically the USA and Asia-Pacific region.

 
Fig 1 and 2: Mr C P Kam and Mr Stewart Hemsley delivering their Welcome Address

 

The Technical conference attracted around 200 registered delegates and close to 300 people visited the exhibition. Conference delegates represented many countries including USA, France, UK, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. There were 16 Exhibition booths and 30 Technical presentations spread over the two days for a truly International event.

 

 
Fig 3 and 4: Delegates networking at the Exhibition

Tuesday December 9th 2014 a well-attended Education Course was held with training sessions as below.

Precious Metal Plating for Electronic & Industrial Applications.

Facilitator: Mr Steven Burling FIMF, Metalor Technologies Ltd.UK

Hull Cell : Benefits of this Plating Laboratory test.

Facilitator:  Mr Akiyama of Yamamoto-MS Co.,Ltd Japan   (Translation provided by: Dr Chang Jen Heng)

Challenge of Composite Sample Preparation.

Facilitator:  Mr Kenny Lim, Area Sales Manager, Struers, Singapore

Practical Surface Analysis for Industrial Coatings

Facilitator: Dr. R. Gopala Krishan, Physics Department, NUS, Singapore

 

   

Fig 4: Some of the Delegates at the Education Course

Fig 5 and 6 : Akiyama San and Steven Burling receive their Appreciation Awards from Mr Stewart Hemsley

Wednesday December 10th 2014 was the Opening Ceremony and the first day of the Exhibition and Technical Conference.

After the Opening / Welcome speeches an Award Ceremony was held.

Awards were presented by Mr. C.P. Kam and Dr Gopal Krishnan to our partners and our sponsors in appreciation of their valued support given to the SSEA, both for this event and previously.

 

Award recipients included

Mr Christian Richter

NASF Policy Group

USA

Mr Tony Evans

PAL Surface Treatment Systems Ltd

Hong Kong

Lee Foundation (Representative)

Lee Foundation

Singapore

Prof Andrew Wee

National University of Singapore (NUS)

Singapore

Dr Raj Thambirun

A*STAR

Singapore

Dr John Yong

SIMTech

Singapore

Mr Yaadhav Raj

A-IATs

Singapore

Mr Stewart Hemsley

Metalor Technologies Pte Ltd

Singapore

Mrs Pauline Shu

CEL Coatings Pte Ltd

Singapore

Mr Alex Wong

Fintex Industries Pte Ltd

Singapore

Mdm Kum Lai Yoke

Chemicals and Machinery Pte Ltd

Singapore

At the Opening ceremony we were very pleased to have Mr Christian Richter (NASF Policy Group USA) as our Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker. Mr Tony Evans (PAL Hong Kong) delivered an invited Environmental talk.

 


 

Guest of Honour and Keynote Speaker

Surface Technology, Regulation and the Global Manufacturing Value Chain

Dr Christian Richter

NASF The Policy Group (USA)


Invited Speaker on Environmental Technology

Energy and Waste Reduction Through De-Watering

Mr Tony Evans,

PAL (HK) Ltd Hong Kong


 

Fig 7 Mr Christian Richter

Fig 8 : Mr Tony Evans

Fig 9 :  The Exhibition was formally opened by (L to R) Mr Stewart Hemsley, Mr Christian Richter and Mr CP Kam.

There followed two busy days of Technical Conference and Exhibition with many opportunities to network with our distinguished guests from around the world. On Thursday December 11th the opening session featured our second Keynote speaker Prof Sow Chorng Haur from the Department of Physics National University of Singapore (NUS).

 


 

Keynote Speaker

A Focused Laser Beam: Useful Tool for Nanoscience Research

Prof. Sow Chorng Haur

Department of Physics : National University of Singapore


Invited Speaker on Environmental Technology

Passivation for zinc plate with a focus on cobalt free technology

(A look at the past, where we are today and a view into the future!)

Martin Gall, Columbia Chemicals (USA)


Leveraging on Open Innovation for surface engineering solutions

Dr Ryan CHAW Kuan Chun, IP Intermediary (IPI) Singapore

 


 

On Wednesday December 10th evening the SSEA / SUR/FIN Asia-Pacific Annual Dinner was held at Resorts World Sentosa. There were around 300 participants who had a wonderful evening with a dinner and entertainment, plus of course a further opportunity to network with colleagues and friends from the surface engineering family worldwide.

Finally on Friday December 12th a number of delegates were pleased to participate in an SSEA visit to two of the leading A*STAR research establishments SimTECH and ARTC. The visits were led by Dr. Qi Guojun , Mr. C.P. Kam and Dr Andrew Soutar.

  Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech)

The Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) is a research institute of the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). SIMTech develops high value manufacturing technology and human capital to contribute to the competitiveness of the Singapore industry. It collaborates with multinational and local companies in the precision engineering, electronics, semiconductor, medical technology, aerospace, automotive, marine, logistics and other sectors.
For more information, please visit: www.SIMTech.a-star.edu.sg

  Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC)

The Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) is a public-private partnership led by the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in partnership with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

The ARTC is an industry-led centre that focusses on close collaboration with industry member companies in developing solutions for their remanufacturing and manufacturing challenges.  Presently there are 21 member companies, including global MNCs, global equipment suppliers and SMEs, including IHI, Rolls-Royce, Siemens, ABB, Trumpf, 3M, EOS, and many more. By combining production expertise and innovation, ARTC will drive the future of advanced remanufacturing and manufacturing.

The ARTC is housed in a state-of-the-art industrial-scale facility in CleanTech 2, just outside the NTU campus where it develops capabilities in the areas of adaptive machining, additive technologies, surface enhancement, non-destructive testing, metrology and product verification. 

For more information, please visit: www.a-star.edu.sg/artc

Photographs and more details from all SUR/FIN Asia-Pacific events will follow shortly.

Stewart J HEMSLEY January 2015