Author: admin

Oklahoma’s Department of Commerce (ODOC) reached out to Mint Turbines, a 30 year old company who specializes in engine MRO services and engine repair/maintenance, to inform them that due to their industry sector, they can qualify for a grant from the Manufacturing Reboot Program that Governor Kevin Stitt rolled out. Under the Reboot Program, companies apply for a grant that is intended to assist in either retooling to develop products to help combat COVID-19 or to allow the company to expand current capabilities.

Located halfway between Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Mint Turbines is facilitated in Stroud where they operate as an turbine engine maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. “The state is very proactive in helping business grow here in Oklahoma,” said Chris Van Denhende, CFO of Mint Turbines. Van Denhende always stated that within 10 short days of applying for the grant, they were notified of acceptance.

As an awardee of the grant money, the company received $150,000. Additionally, a coordinate-measuring machine, typically known as CMM equipment, was sought after. CMM machine, typically weighing in at an astonishing 20,000 pounds, uses smart technologies to decrease measurement cycle time. A single CMM cost around $250,000 and with $100,000 of the Reboot funds going to this important purchase – $50,000 is left to be assigned to employee growth. With 45 current employees, Mint Turbine expects to see their employment double within the next three years. With labor intensive hands-on roles needing to be fulfilled, a pipeline of highly skilled individuals are sought after. The CMM machinery will also allow Mint Turbine to bid for work.

Furthermore, the funds allow Mint Turbines to expand on their product offerings while simultaneously boosting the quality of life in their city by filling numerous positions at the manufacturing facility.

Source:https://industrytoday.com/mint-turbines-awarded-grant-for-equipment-and-workforce/

One of the positive points to come from the global coronavirus pandemic has been the ingenuity of some businesses to keep operations going throughout what could be described as the ultimate stress test. The need for social distancing and the resulting widespread supply chain disruption often means turning to technologies which may not have previously been deployed, out of necessity rather than choice. In fact, recent IFS research on business responses to the global pandemic found 52.5% of businesses plan to increase spending on digital transformation.

When a large proportion of revenue generated by providing direct aftermarket services to a widespread customer base comes under threat, it’s obvious that continuity is key to ensure they still receive the highest level of service possible in a difficult time. This is exactly what IFS customer Munters – a global leader in sustainable, energy-efficient air treatment solutions – realized at the very beginning of the pandemic. It strategically pinpointed remote assistance technology as the key to serving customers and supporting in-field and factory-based operations.

On-site challenges – global scope
Munters manufactures, sells and maintains specialist equipment for demanding industrial sectors where controlling temperature and humidity is mission-critical. To reduce reliance on site visits, the company looked to remote software tools and merged reality to create functionality enabling teams to interface remotely with customers and improve efficiency by being able to perform remote resolution and diagnosis—a critical step in its journey to servitization.

The company wasted no time when it realized its servitization efforts could be in danger, creating a level of urgency to make remote assistance technology operational in the shortest window of time possible.

The challenge was how to go global with the solution in such a short time window. With five production units in the United States and over 20 locations worldwide, the company’s business model relies heavily on completing on-site visits—including even before the initial installation of equipment.

A remote helping hand
The chosen technology needed to transcend location, skillset and environment. The goal was to both provide remote support to field technicians and to support a new manufacturing production line without sending experts to the site.

IFS Remote Assistance makes it possible for teams to be anywhere, instantly—this includes field technicians and third-line support using the solution on their mobile devices, as well as experts guiding the opening of the new production line using Vuzix smart glasses. It provides opportunities for remote customer support and resolution, remote diagnosis to increase first-time fix rates, better utilization of valuable resources, as well as more rapid employee training and knowledge transfer.

Merging reality to provide real business benefits
Munters technicians can now take advantage of the features and hands-free collaboration opportunities offered by merged reality environments. This means users can collaborate and interact in real-time while telestrating, freezing images, using hand gestures and even adding real objects into the merged reality environment—whether that’s technician to third-line support, technician to customer, or expert to manufacturing facility.

With modern remote assistance tools, time to value can be rapid and what minimal user training is required is extremely intuitive. In the case of Munters, a pilot was underway in just six days and training took less than two hours. The company has now extended the solution to more than 200 users globally in just two weeks.

Merged reality becomes the new normal
The example of Munters successfully adapting to unprecedented circumstances demonstrates not only how remote assistance technology can ensure business continuity during a global pandemic, but also the immense potential to further leverage the solution once business returns to a more normal state.

When considering how this technology can modernize operations, the benefits are clear to see. Efficiency gains come from the ability to perform maintenance inspections remotely, improve first-time fix rates as a result of remote diagnosis, reduce the number of technicians sent to sites and provide remote support to manufacturing facilities.

Make the jump now to future-proof service success
Although a necessity in the current global environment, transformational technologies will prove their value long into the future. Merged reality and remote assistance for example, will change the way customers interact with service providers, setting in a new bar in terms of service levels and satisfaction.

Those who stay on the side-lines may find themselves out of the game and playing catch-up for years to come. Those challengers, like Munters, who act now to differentiate their service offerings will put themselves way ahead—not just in the current climate but into the future as well.

Source:https://industrytoday.com/giving-the-service-sector-a-virtual-helping-hand/

Recovering prices, strong demand from the transportation industry and modern developments of oil and gas exploration and production activities are some of the factors driving Brunei oil and gas market growth.

Increasing exports and imports of oil and gas on the account of surged demand across the world are fuelling the market growth. Global oil demand is estimated at 104 MMbbl/d in 2025 and natural gas continues to expand its share across major markets. Oil and gas companies will need to expand their production to meet emerging demand in the foreseeable future.

The oil and gas industry is undergoing rapid transformations across the world. The innovation of new technologies has allowed unconventional drilling that enhances oil & gas production. New business models and services are rapidly evolving and assisting to reduce the cost of operations in upstream oil & gas, which in turn promoting the market growth.

Sustained growth in the consumption of natural gas, petroleum, and petrochemical products is one of the major growth drivers for oil and gas companies in Brunei. Companies operating in the industry can benefit from this opportunity through investing and participating in the oil and gas trade. The major Brunei companies are undertaking various oil and gas pipeline projects and contracts to expand their production capacities and sustain their position in the oil and gas industry.

In Brunei, future oil and gas consumption will increase due to key factors such as a strong economy, population growth, and fuel economy. The dependence on oil and gas is further expected to increase as the country’s infrastructure continues to heavily rely on petroleum-based products.

The market players are also undertaking several investment plans to cater to the increasing demand for oil and gas products. Government policies and support related to the exploration and production of oil and gas are playing a major role in the industry and encouraging the companies to boost Brunei oil and gas investments.

Brunei Oil and Gas Market research identifies that the competition continues to intensify year-on-year. The report covers the 2019 scenario and growth prospects of the Brunei Oil and Gas market for 2020-2026.

Source:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191205005820/en/Brunei-Oil-Gas-Market-Size-Share-Outlook

The leadership of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is on its first official visit to a Member State since restrictions on travel were introduced in response to COVID-19. The four-day trip to Italy (1-5 July) comes as the United Nations specialized agency for tourism guides the sector’s restart and destinations across the Schengen Zone open their borders to tourists once again.

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, UNWTO has led tourism’s response through a series of high-level virtual meetings, uniting the sector, advocating for political and economic support and working with Member States to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and lay the foundations for recovery. Now, as borders in some parts of the world are carefully re-opening back to tourism, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili is meeting face-to-face with political and tourism leaders to change gears. The official visit to Italy marks the start of this shift, comprising a series of high-level meetings in Rome, Milan and Venice.

Italy “world tourism leader”
Secretary-General Pololikashvili said: “Italy is a world tourism leader, a strong ally of UNWTO and committed to making tourism a pillar of sustainable economic development. We must build on the determination and solidarity that characterized our joint response to the crisis to grow back stronger and better with sustainability and innovation among our most important guiding principles.”

In Rome, Mr Pololikashvili held meetings at the highest levels of government. To further strengthen the bilateral collaboration on the road ahead to reactivate tourism and its economic and social benefits, was the connecting thread of the meetings held with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Ministers of Culture, Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Dario Franceschini and of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio, and the city’s Mayor Virginia Elena Raggi. The UNWTO delegation also met with Cardinal Parolin of the Vatican City, building on last year’s audience with Pope Francis.

In Milan, the Secretary-General met with Mayor Guiseppe Sala – advancing the 2nd UNWTO Sports Tourism Start-Up Competition as the city prepares for the 2026 Winter Olympics – and with the President Attilio Fontana of the Lombardy region.

In addition to learning of Italy’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the official visit also offered the opportunity to look to the future and further UNWTO’s priorities of making tourism more sustainable, resilient and innovative. On the opening day of the trip, Rome Fiumicino Airport was presented with a special plaque as UNWTO recognized its commitment to sustainability. Furthermore, all three cities were formally invited to become part of the UNWTO League of Cities for Sustainable Tourism Initiative.

New Special Ambassadors for Responsible Tourism Appointed
The official visit also presented the opportunity for UNWTO to highlight the role gastronomy and fashion, two of Italy’s most celebrated industries, can play in growing tourism and making the sector more diverse and relevant. In recognition of their work, acclaimed chef Gino Sorbillo and fashion designer Giorgio Armani were appointed UNWTO Special Ambassadors for Responsible Tourism. In their new roles, they will use their status and influence to promote UNWTO’s work in guiding tourism in these challenging times and highlight the sector’s important role as an economic driver, leading employer and promoter of unique cultural heritage.

Source:https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/unwto-and-italy-look-ahead-as-official-visit-marks-restart-of-european-tourism

Business activities formally begin today, the first day of ATF 2020 TRAVEX, between top travel and tourism suppliers across all 10 ASEAN destinations – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam – plus India, and global buyers.

Held in conjunction with official meetings by ASEAN NTO, ministerial delegates, association boards and tourism groups that began since 12 January, TRAVEX is ATF’s 3-day Travel Exchange component. The business-led exhibition is dedicated to showcasing ASEAN destination products and services and promoting inbound and intra travel within the region, coupled with structured appointments between ASEAN sellers and buyers from 43 countries including Australia, Azerbaijan, China PR, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Latvia, Macedonia, South Korea, Sweden, Poland, Russia and United States.

“Visit Malaysia 2020 will be featured at ATF 2020 TRAVEX. We are eager to invite all industry players to unite and welcome 30 million tourist to Malaysia through the focus on sustainability tourism, arts and culture” commented Mr Noran Bin Ujang, Director of International Promotion – South East Asia of Tourism Malaysia.

Said Kyaw Pyay Oo, Managing Director of Asian Tour Co., Ltd., Myanmar, “Our purpose for attending ATF 2020 is to seek partnerships with adventure and incentive travel suppliers, DMCs, green product & service providers and establish connections with hotels and resorts and travel management companies.”

Among this year’s event highlights is today’s business speed-dating segment – a newly-added feature to the TRAVEX programme – provided plenty of opportunity for delegates to build their lead generation network ahead of exhibition and appointment days that commence on 15 and 16 January.

To optimise on-site efficiency, all exhibitors and buyers were able to schedule up to 100% of their appointments prior to arriving in Brunei.

Also debuting at this year’s ATF TRAVEX is Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) Campfire Sessions focusing on Muslim Travel, taking place tomorrow morning and afternoon at the Singapore-branded Buyers Lounge within the exhibition hall. Co-Founder of Have Halal, Will Travel, Mr Mikhail Melvin Goh and Chief Executive of CrescentRating & Halaltrip, Mr Fazal Bahardeen will be touching on topics spotlighting Singapore as a Muslim-friendly travel destination, as well Muslim-Travel trends, alongside moderator Ms Dawn Ng, STB’s Area Director of Malaysia & Brunei.

Anticipated networking highlights encompass luncheons by Tourism Malaysia and Tourism Promotions Board, Philippines and reception and dinner by Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia. Host Country, Brunei Darussalam will also be leading numerous functions such as luncheons for buyers and media, as well as the Opening ceremony and welcome dinner for all delegates taking place on 14 January evening.

Complimentary pre-show tours of Brunei on 13 and 14 January provided delegates an insight into Brunei’s abode of peace. Post-TRAVEX days, the experience continues beyond the show floor with charming optional tour itineraries such as a cruise along Brunei River or outdoor adventures at the Ulu Temburong National Park from 17 January onwards.

More than 109 international and local media representatives are also in attendance to cover the latest insights and first-hand destination developments by all 10 National Tourism Organisations and ASEAN Secretariat through the media briefings starting from 14 January.

Said Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, Brunei, Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Apong, “As we look towards the next decade of a more prosperous and relevant ASEAN, member states must continue to collectively innovate and seek meaningful initiatives to increase tourism growth while retaining the heritage, tradition and identity that make us unique for future generations. This 2020, with Brunei Darussalam hosting the ATF, we welcome you to explore a country where you can trek into unspoilt rainforests and experience the tranquil beauty of our lush greenery, as well as dive amongst abundant coral reefs and historic shipwrecks. Your Bruneian adventure awaits!”

Source:https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/atf-travex-2020-opens-for-business-in-brunei-darussalam