Shining Star Of The Far East: Taiwan

Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) As a country with more than 5 billion dollars’ worth of machine export value, Taiwan has accomplished to be among the world giants with the international brands that it created. The trade of equipment that manufactures the means of production increase day by day in the country. During the media promotion event that was held between 5-12 May 2019 and to which World Media Group attended with its Industry 4.0 Magazine, we came together with the authorized officers of the country’s large machine manufacturers. Having a deep interest in the Turkish market, Taiwan machine manufacturing industry deems the region as a bridge between Europe and other developing markets. Turkey can indeed serve as a bridge due to its location.

Even if Taiwan is approximately at a 10-hour flying distance from Turkey, cultural, economic and commercial relations between the two countries have already narrowed this gap. The exports to our country by Taiwanese manufacturers, which are represented by their distributors in Turkey, currently account for 10 percent of total machine exports. With its 5 percent share, Turkey ranks the 3^rd after China and USA among the total machine export of the country that is worth 5 billion dollars. The officials we met mentioned that they plan to increase this figure to a higher level together with increased production in Turkey and enhanced confidence in Taiwanese manufacturers. The officials lean towards the idea of manufacturing in Turkey in case the necessary conditions and subsidies are put in place. Taiwan has an outward-looking structure not only in terms of commerce but also with regard to culture, and there is a great interest for Turkey in this country.

If we look at its endeavors in terms of production in the last 15 years, Taiwan seems to be the shining star of the Far East Asia. In making this observation, I do not ignore Japan and China (their development and magnitude). I would like to mention that in view of its development pace in the fields of machinery and manufacturing technologies with a production concept increasing both quality and the use of advanced technologies, Taiwan’s success has long exceeded the sizes of its surface area and population.  Certainly, comparing three different countries in terms of their populations and locations on a one-to-one basis is not possible; however, Taiwan is the rising star of its region on a global scale. It also plays an effective role in meeting the quality of machinery needs of China.

Taiwan’s success in the machinery industry has been accomplished thanks to the adoption of the right strategy. With a 60-year long background and an export value steadily increasing every year, Taiwan’s machinery industry features a standard and quality acknowledged by customers in different parts of the world. Among the important machinery exported, power lathe, printing machine, and milling machine stand out, and such machinery finds buyers in China, USA, Turkey, Germany, Russia, Netherlands, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and many other countries in the world.

Taiwan’s machinery industry is deemed as a production industry as a whole because manufacturers have a separate expertise for each part and a production line network in which they can procure parts from each other. Each plant has an R&D and management know-how which was combined with the knowledge obtained both in the country and abroad. Besides, the sector provides a quality assurance that was granted many awards and certificates in terms of machinery standards by domestic and foreign organizations. Since it is a machinery industry country, of course, support and cooperation of the government is a must.

Taiwan increased the pace of its 60-year development process during the last fifteen years. Innovations have been adapted to production technologies and machinery in line with Industry 4.0 and preliminary results were obtained in a short period of time. As an island state of the Far East Asia, Taiwan has made and continues to make, a great leap forward in the areas of smart machinery, smart production and smart industry, as it carried the integration of science-education, technology and industry to a very high level. Development is reflected from the industry to economy, and then to culture.

Media Day Drew Deep Interest

Media Day organized on 6 May 2019 by TAITRA attracted heavy attention of international industrial technology journalists.

Yeh: “We will be before you with new and different machinery at TIMTOS”

Having made the opening speech of the Media Day, Walter Yeh, President of TAITRA Board of Directors, said: “Production sector has been undergoing a deep change. We have been facing an industrial revolution. We need to re-design our production and machinery accordingly. Taiwan has been realizing this change. We are renewing our production industry in this way. Our Union was established in 1945. Nearly three thousand of our companies from each point of production sector are members of this Union. Our role is to establish a network of machinery manufacturers in the country and create markets for such entrepreneurs. Our products are being sold to various parts of the world. We organize activities to allow manufacturers in our country to display their products both domestically and abroad. The most important segment of these activities is TIMTOS (Taipei International Machine Tool Show), which is organized in Taiwan. Turkey’s market has a high demand for machinery produced in our country and the export rate that is increasing each year is the most important indicator of this fact.” Production technologies set industry-specific standards. You will witness the change and development being realized in the production sector as well as the smart machinery at TIMTOS 2020. We will be before you with new and different machinery at TIMTOS. We would like to thank all our journalist friends who participated in our media day.

Hung: “We Have Established a Strong Production Industry”

On the other hand, Andy Hung said that as Taiwan, they have established a strong production industry and are among the few machinery manufacturers of the world. Hung continued: “As one of the reasons lying behind the success of its machine tools-metal working sector, Taiwan displays its practical background in providing integrated machine tools that are equipped with smart functions, automation units such as automatic robotic arms and production lines to China’s automotive industry. With its global share of 5-6 percent, Taiwan ranks as the seventh among the world’s machine tools manufacturers, and as the fifth in the world export ranking with its production at a rate of 79 percent. Besides meeting the needs of their own domestic market, manufacturers of Taiwan’s machine tools sector also serve as suppliers to their customers, which are the world’s major machine tools manufacturers (China, USA, Japan, and India). For instance, in ball screw exports, Taiwan ranks as the third. Marketing on a global scale and providing services to international customers is an important feature of Taiwan’s machine tools and accessories production sector.”

Samuel Hsiesh: “Machine Tools Became Smart”

Taking attention to the fact that global industry is tending towards smart production and applications in line with Industry 4.0, Hsies said in relation to the ongoing works: “For example; innovative works are being done and applied in order to both increase the production efficiency and product quality and reduce costs with regard to big data, IOT-Internet of things and related equipment. Therefore, the machine tools sector, which has a key role in the production sector, needs to make use of the emerging big business potential. Rendering machine tools smart ensures the use of Taiwan’s smart manufacturing capacity in the endeavors of machine tools manufacturers to provide their customers-buyers complete solutions, while it links the industry to global smart production trends and strengthening end-users’ competitiveness. Addition of smart factors-instruments into all manufacturing processes gradually by the global manufacturing industry, allows manufacturing systems (including managers of manufacturing system-only one enterprise and the whole supply chain) to complete their works or to select proper and efficient methods to address unexpected situations at the right time in a sufficient way.”

Alex Ko: “We are on the Verge of an Industrial Revolution”

Alex Ko started his speech saying that we are on the verge of digital plants and a new industrial revolution. Having mentioned that important changes are being realized in production processes, Ko also emphasized that global production processes have become different. Stressing additionally that changing the manufacturing system and product manufacturing process will end up with the development of new mechanical systems and relevant required equipment as well as software in the new manufacturing system (smart manufacturing system), Ko said: “Such development will be applicable particularly for smartness level of manufacturing equipment (for example; CNC machines for metalworking). That is because this development will become an important indicator for global equipment suppliers who want their products to be better in competition. Therefore, main machine manufacturers all over the world would like to benefit from this situation in product development, in parallel with the aims of increasing competitiveness of customers in end-users’ manufacturing processes and furthermore, ensuring machine manufacturers to maintain the desired competitiveness with a view to satisfying their customers.”

Environment-Friendly Smart Systems in Production

After Media Day, we visited leading production facilities of Taiwan Industry. The general impression we had during our visits to such production bases is that Taiwan manufacturers use smart technologies with the aim of environmental protection and energy-saving. They meet the requirements and standards with regard to environmental protection in the international production sector. While the global production system is leaning towards smart applications, environment-friendly systems matter as well.

During the study trip, I have found the opportunity to visit approximately ten facilities, to see and examine closely what they have recently done and obtain information on their innovations. Taiwan firms explain their production sincerely and this constitutes a significant opportunity for Turkey’s industry, as it is the case for the entire world. You incidentally understand that in making their production they not only aim to sell products; but also to become solution partners. The firms that we visited, the list of which is provided below, told us about their latest technologies and showed their facilities and production lines. These firms and their web addresses are as follows:

Techman Robot Inc.:

Techman Robot Inc. This brand, which manufactures robotic arms and equipment for industrial facilities, is one of the most important robotics manufacturers of Taiwan…

For detailed information about the firm, you may visit: www.tm-robot.com

Delta Electronics, Inc.:

Delta Electronics is a leading power source and electronic equipment manufacturer. Main production groups are Power Electronics, Energy Management, and Smart Green Life. Most of the products manufactured are used in the automotive industry, medical equipment, and telecommunication systems.

For detailed information about the firm, you may visit: www.deltaww.com

Tongtai  Group  / Apec CNC

Tongtai  Group is making the production of latest technology CNC Machine in the metalworking sector. Its machines are used in the Aviation, Automotive and Mould sector.

For detailed information about the firm, you may visit: www.apeccnc.com

Fair Friend Ent Co. Ltd. ( FF Group)

FF Group, which works on machine manufacturing, machine equipment and green energy, contributes to Taiwan Industry and economy by improving its corporate structure day by day.

For detailed information about the firm, you may visit:www.feeler.com

 Hıwın Mikrosystem Corp.

For detailed information about the firm, you may visit: www.hiwinmikro.tw

For detailed information about the firm, you may visit:www.goodwaycnc.com

For detailed information about the firm, you may visit:www.fcs.com.tw

For detailed information about the firm, you may visit:www.seyi.com

For detailed information about the firm, you may visit:www.multiplas.com.tw

Author

İlker Kaplan

World Media Group 

Editor in chief