Understanding Purchasing Managers' Index

1. One of the most reliable leading indicators for assessing the state of the  economy is the PMI, formerly known as the Purchasing Managers' Index.

2. Members receive a monthly questionnaire that asks them to identify month-over-month changes for the following ten business activities that also constitute individual indexes in the Report on Business survey。

3. The most common answers include:

-Improvement
-No change
-Deterioration

Consolidation in the Solar Energy Industry

1. One of the biggest electricity infrastructure suppliers in the world is throwing up its hands and giving up on solar energy. ABB is unloading the solar inverter business, formerly known as Power-One, that it acquired in 2013 for $1.03 billion, which included $266 million in acquired cash. 

2. The company isn't just taking a loss on the deal, it's reportedly paying Fimer $470 million to take the business off its hands.

Pengerang refinery to start commercial operations in 4th quarter

1. The Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Pengerang, Johor, will be fully operational in the fourth quarter of this year (Q419).

2. The US$16 billion (RM66.76 billion) project between Petronas and Saudi Aramco will see 300,000 barrels produced per day, turning Malaysia into a net exporter of refined fuels for the first time since 2008

3. The facility will produce refined products including gasoline and diesel that meet Euro 5 fuel specifications and provide feedstock for the integrated petrochemicals complex with a capacity of 3.3 million metric tonnes per year.

4. in 2009, 42.3% of government revenue came from petroleum sources.But in 2019, only an estimated 19.5% of total revenue came from petroluem sources, not counting the special divided from Petronas used to finance GST and income tax refunds.

Japan's Model for Economic Revival

1. Starting in the early 1990s, Japan was in an extended economic slump. It first endured a prolonged period of bad debt and deflation. Then it began to face a range of serious structural problems including poor productivity, low birth rates, and an aging population—all of which led to demographic challenges such as labor shortages and a loss of confidence in the future. Over the past several years, however, Japan has embarked on its longest period of sustained economic expansion in the post-World War II era. 

Reinsurance Basics - Part 4 - Additional Info for Treaty and Facultative reinsurance

Continuation from below:

https://levelnineatwork.blogspot.com/2017/07/reinsurance-basics-part-1-factreaty-and.html

https://levelnineatwork.blogspot.com/2017/07/reinsurance-basics-part-2-pro-rata.html

https://levelnineatwork.blogspot.com/2017/07/reinsurance-basics-part-3-quota-share.html

China Increases Review For Foreign Investments

1. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is now charged with reviewing foreign investments to ensure they are in line with “economic security”, which has been made a top governmental priority. The state planner has had its authority beefed up in the process.

2. The new security review procedure was introduced through a brief notice published online in April by the NDRC. The note stated that its public service department would start accepting applications for national security reviews of foreign investment deals because of an “adjustment of departmental responsibility”.

Japan's Foreign Investment Policies - Part 1 - 'Quality Infrastructure'

1. Japan has acknowledged that it cannot prevent China from using its economic might to help the region’s middle-income countries meet their infrastructure needs. Yet by articulating new principles for investment, enlisting new partners, and bolstering its financial commitments, Japan has developed an alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative that could limit developing countries’ dependence on Chinese lending. 

Certificates of Origin, Certificate of Free Marketing, Certificate of Free Sales

1. There are two types of chamber of commerce certificates of origin that can be issued:

2. Non-Preferential Certificates of Origin
The main type of certificate chambers issue, this is also known as an ordinary or generic certificate of origin. These certificates declare that the goods’ country of origin does not qualify for any preferential treatment under a free trade agreement (FTA), because many FTAs have their own types of documents.

3. Preferential Certificates of Origin
This type of certificate declares that goods are subject to reduced tariffs or exemptions when they are exported to countries extending these privileges through a specific document located within the Free Trade Agreement. Preferential certificates are especially important when free trade agreements are in effect with a specified certificate of origin.

Product Spotlight - Carbon Steel

1. Carbon steel is steel in which the main interstitial alloying constituent is carbon in the range of 0.12–2.0%.The term “carbon steel” may also be used in reference to steel which is not stainless steel; in this use carbon steel may include alloy steels.

Japan still leads in Southeast Asia infrastructure race, even as China ramps up belt and road investments

1. Japanese-backed projects in the region’s six largest economies – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – are valued at US$367 billion, compared with China’s US$255 billion.

Why China’s belt and road loans may not be the debt trap other countries fear

1. China is inclined to renegotiate or write off debts incurred by other countries for its belt and road infrastructure projects and only rarely seizes assets, a study by a New York consultancy has found.

2. The Rhodium Group’s research looked at 40 cases of external debt renegotiation between 2007 and this year and found there was only one confirmed case in Sri Lanka.

Benefits Of Distributed Manufacturing

1. The traditional electronics manufacturing process works well for large organizations that want to produce hundreds of thousands of products for the lowest price possible. 

2. But it is not as friendly to small businesses or newly developed products. 

3. The distributed approach to hardware manufacturing improves the process and makes it possible for more innovators to get products to market.

4. Distributed manufacturing, sometimes called distributed production, cloud based producing or localized manufacturing, is a form of decentralized manufacturing practiced by companies using a network of geographically dispersed facilities that are coordinated using information technology. It is

5. the manufacturing landscape of conversion from closed ended and restrictive to transparent and agile. It permits companies to access their supply chain locally with more flexibility, higher quality, faster service and lower costs.

6. Instead of relying on just a single headquarter location or third party overseas manufacturer; organizations that have evolved their business to a distributed manufacturing model are able to be more nimble in how they operate.

7. Distributed manufacturing is quickly reinventing the manufacturing industry from something monolithic and closed to something transparent and nimble. It allows builders to choose from a variety of machines, materials, and quantities, all located nearby, with unparalleled flexibility, quality, and speed.

8. By relying on a network of producers in a specific geographic area, rather than a single overseas manufacturer, distributed manufacturing can deliver superior results in three key ways: speed, quality, and cost-effectiveness.

The Industrial Lubricants Market is Evolving with Sustainable Driving Forces

1. The industrial lubricants industry, particularly in Asia, is reshaping its supply channels and marketing strategies. 

2. Over the past five years, greater internet penetration among the region’s populations has brought about a tremendous growth in online retail usage, wherein lubricant marketers are finding a viable retail platform.

Product Spotlight - Powder Coatings

1. No matter whether you’re using a single gun and small oven or a large fully automated line, the process is basically the same. 

2. A powder spray gun is used, which when triggered gives an electrostatic charge to the powder particles passing through it. 

3. As the parts to be coated are grounded, the powder is attracted towards the part via the electrostatic process.

4. Once the powder is applied the parts are cured in an oven, which melts and cross-links the powder over the surface of the part and creates a tough, scratch resistant and beautiful finish.

Product Spotlight - Metal Additive Manufacturing

1. There are 2 main families of additive manufacturing technologies

2. Powder bed technologies

- Selective Laser Melting (SLM) where the metal powder is melted by a laser beam

- Electron Beam Melting (EBM) where the metal powder is melted by an electron beam after a preheating step

- Precision inkjet printing where the metal powder is mixed with a binder: after the printing operation, the part is consolidated by sintering.

3.  Blown powder technologies, also known as Laser Metal Deposition or Laser cladding
In this process, the metal powder is blown coaxially to the laser beam which melts the particles on a base metal to form a metallurgical bond when cooled.

Product Spotlight - Silicon Wafers Cleaning - RCA Cleaning & Piranha Solution

1. The RCA clean is a standard set of wafer cleaning steps which need to be performed before high-temperature processing steps (oxidation, diffusion, CVD) of silicon wafers in semiconductor manufacturing.

2. It involves the following chemical processes performed in sequence:

- Removal of the organic contaminants (organic clean + particle clean)
- Removal of thin oxide layer (oxide strip, optional)
- Removal of ionic contamination (ionic clean)

Paint and Coatings Industry in Vietnam (Q1 2019 report)

1. With one of the fastest growing paint and coatings industries in the South East Asian region, Vietnam has attracted a number of regional and multinational paint and coatings producers to set up their manufacturing base in the country. 

2. With a current low per capita consumption of paint and coatings, Vietnam is expected to register a very steady growth of paint and coatings in coming years.

Product Spotlight - Steel Coil

1. Steel coil- a finished steel product such as sheet or strip which has been wound or coiled after rolling. Steel coils can be classified into  hot and cold- rolled types, or  stainless steel coil, carbon coil and Galvanized Steel according to current products and international standards.

Slight growth in Malaysia general insurance premiums (As at March 2019)

1. Motor continued to drive the local general insurance sector, which recorded a 1.5% growth, underpinned by the jump in car sales during the tax-free period from June to August.

BRI update 2019– Recalibration

Having already transformed large swathes of the developing world over the past five years, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) now looks set to make its mark on the more prosperous regions of Europe.