From the 27th to the 28th of August, Hankook Delcam held the 27th UGC(the 27th User Group Conference) in Laviedor Resort in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do. During the conference, Hankook Delcam offered unique solutions to integrate the latest information technology, such as data analysis, Internet of Things(IoT) and cloud computing into manufacturing, in order to build a flexible and efficient manufacturing system.

Under the slogan, ‘Keep Changing, not to be changed’, around 1,000 people attended the event. Seungil Yang, the Hankook Delcam CEO, delivered his opening speech, and at the Autodesk session, Pete Baxter, the Autodesk Vice President, had a presentation on ‘Make Tomorrow Today.(Autodesk’s Vision for the Manufacturing industry)’ After the presentation was over, Handler interviewed the Vice President, Pete Baxter and the Director of Sales, Koji Tsujino. 

Pete Baxter, Vise President of Autodesk, Worldwide Digital Manufacturing Sales

How many times have you visited Hankook Delcam User Group Conference?

Personally, this is my second visit. Autodesk acquired Delcam in 2014, so it is the 3rd time Autodesk, as a company, has been involved. Personally, I have been running Autodesk for one and a half years, so this is my second conference.

Compared with your last visit, what is your opinion on this year's conference?

It is pretty difficult to compare with the conference 12 months ago, because things move so quickly. I think the area that is most developed is additive manufacturing which is 3D printing using plastics and metals. Now for example, a lot of our biggest customers around the world are starting to invest and investigate how additive manufacturing can change manufacturing process.

Could you deliver a message for the Korean CAD or CAM industry or market?

Delcam has been a company for 27 years, and on this market, it has always been very strong for us in the automotive and supply chain. I think our partner, Hankook Delcam is in a strong position. They continue to grow, so we see a lot of innovation and opportunity in this market, and we expect that we could continue to invest in the market.

Do you have a message for Korean users?

I think our customer base has got a lot of established relationship with Hankook Delcam. Also, our intentions are to continue to work very closely with them, and to support them. With Autodesk acquisition of Delcam, there are going to be a lot of interesting and exciting new developments, the products will become easy to use, and we are investing in new functionality that will make products work better together. We are also extending the access to some of the other Autodesk products such as simulation and additive manufacturing which I think will add value, and give a lot more value for the products the users have. I think over the coming period of the time, in 1 year or 2 years, they are going to see a lot of new stuff to make their jobs even easier to do.

Are there any conferences like this in other countries?

We do a combination. In terms of conferences organized by our partners, this is the biggest one in the world. They do a very good job, and have a very good relationship with their customers. Also, Autodesk has just had an Autodesk University event which is the brand we use for conferences. There was one in Seoul just earlier this week which 1,500 people attended. Autodesk does have an event in Las Vegas every year, and we get 10,000 people in that event which is a very large one, and a combination of technical presentations and training sessions. We have run in different locations in the world. There is one in India, and next week, there will be events in Japan and China. We have run them in every location. I would say in terms of events organized by our partners, this one is special.

On your presentation, you emphasized on additive design, and said it is significant in the future. When do you think bionic design in aero and automatic areas will be commercialized?

It has started to get commercialized now, so the plain partition that I mentioned is going into production. If we look at some of the large automotive companies, they are investing about a hundred million dollars, not just with us of course, with companies exploring the opportunity. It is their intention to go into the main stream production in the near term. Within 5 years, I think it will be mainstream. At the moment, to a large extent, it is a research project. Producing multiple identical components with additive manufacturing still has its challenges. However, even among some examples we showed you, 3D printing with metal has moved on significantly in last 12 months, and it will follow the same trends. As all other technology, where it starts relatively slow, then it grows at a steep rate, and that is our expectation for this as well. However, the important thing is that additive and subtractive manufacturing exist together. Additive manufacturing is not a single process, so it will be a true enhancement for the Delcam users that use subtractive products.

Do you attend other Autodesk events?

I have been working in Autodesk for 12 years, so I have attended a lot of these events. We had an event in China last year, and recently I have been Turkey, and oversea all around Europe based on the UK. In these events, customers realize the manufacturing market is changing, and the pace of technology change is accelerating. Since one of our challenges as a software company is that we have to try to predict where the technology will go in 5 years, and develop the product road map to use, we have got a lot of interests from customers who understand it. Even if I am not in design, I understand that generative design, and the way design is changing are going to really impact the manufacturing business. It is because they have to figure out how they are going to help the customers manufacture the increasingly complex things they design.

Do you attend a lot of exhibitions? and are you planning to attend any exhibition later this year?

We attend a lot of trade industry events. It varies from year to year. The biggest machine show in the world is IMTS(International Manufacturing Technology Show) in Chicago, and that is happening from the 12th to the 17th of September, and we will be at the show. Also, there are a lot of large customers and our large users from here who will be attending as well.

Pete Baxter, the Autodesk vice president(on the left) and Koji Tsujino, Director of Sales, APAC(on the right)

Koji Tsujino, Director of Sales, APAC Digital Manufacturing Group 

May I ask your task and position in your company?

I am in charge of the Asian-Pacific region, and report to Mr. Pete. My task is integrating Delcam into Autodesk, and increasing sales.

What are the countries included in the Asian-Pacific region?

Japan, China, Korea, Australia are included, and Delcam Hankook has subsidiaries in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. In Taiwan, we have another company called Delcam Taiwan.