Taiwan Machinery – Smart Move Forward
Published on : Tuesday 14-07-2020
Taiwans smart machinery solutions are designed to reduce human intervention, boost safe manufacturing in response to changing needs.
In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the disruption it caused in the manufacturing industry globally, the world has realised the need for industry upgradation. Machinery is said to be cornerstone of economic development and progress. Taiwan, with its reputation as a leading machinery manufacturer, ranks consistently among the world’s top 10 manufacturers and top 5 exporters of machine tools. In recent years, the country has built upon this capability with introduction of Smart Machinery, effectively demonstrating its ability to deliver outstanding products at competitive prices. With stress on quality, price and service, the country is known for its significant precision technology and massive ICT integration. Immediately after the outbreak of the pandemic, Taiwan’s machinery majors got into the act to enhance the production of face masks by quickly establishing 92 mask production lines, raising capacity from 1.8 million masks per day in January to 17 million in just 40 days! Taiwan has also been hugely successful in containing the Covid-19 spread within its borders without resorting to harsh measures like complete lockdown.
It is against this backdrop that Taiwan Excellence recently held an online press conference – Taiwan Excellence Smart Machinery – to familiarise global buyers with its prowess. Taiwan Excellence is an international campaign to promote the country’s superior products, promoted by the Bureau of Foreign Trade and Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). The e-conference saw eight of Taiwan’s most reputed smart machinery companies showcase their advanced smart manufacturing solutions in a bid to assist global manufacturers in managing industry upgrade and automation. The brands included iconic names like Chin Fong, FFG (Feeler), Grintimate, HIWIN, Manford, Solomon, She Hong (Hartford) and Tongtai.
Addressing the global trade media, Walter Yeh, CEO and President, TAITRA, said, “The Covid- 19 pandemic has shown the importance of industry upgradation, automation, and accelerated import-related solutions. We have demonstrated how Taiwan’s award-winning companies can assist by providing innovative solutions to meet manufacturing demands in the post-pandemic era. These companies will become reliable partners in the global industry upgrade. Taiwan Excellence will continue to present the best of Taiwanese technologies to the world even during these difficult times.”
Mr Guann-Jyh Lee, Deputy Director General, Bureau of Foreign Trade, MOEA said, “Once the Covid-19 pandemic situation slowly starts stabilising, industries around the world will gradually resume their economic activities. They will need to deploy smart manufacturing solutions to avert similar losses in the future. Taiwan can be the best choice for this industrial upgradation and to help revitalise the manufacturing communities in the post-pandemic period.”
The conference showcased products and solutions including precision components, digitally- controlled machine tools, automation equipment and smart controlling systems. A new concept ‘Taiwan Excellence Smart Machinery Virtual Pavilion’ was also launched at the conference, which displayed 60 innovative Smart Machinery products from 50 Taiwan Excellence brands. To add to the experience, buyers could also check out superb smart machinery products anytime and anywhere. At a time when most physical exhibitions are being postponed, digitalising the Taiwan Excellence Pavilion and usage of VR technique means buyers can virtually check products without graphic restrictions.
HIWIN, the world's No. 2 in market share in the field of linear transmission, introduced its precision components, which are able to deliver higher performance for automation equipment, with high accuracy and durability. In his presentation, Mr Simon Liao, Manager, HIWIN Technology Corp., referred to the 4 group companies specialising in mechanical products of the company’s core linear motion systems like ballscrews and LM guides; electronic components line servo motor drives and linear motors; grinding machines; and solar panels. Making use of its own components and technology, HIWIN today manufactures a range of advanced rotary tables, and industrial and medical robots.
FFG, one of the world’s top three machine tool groups, and the largest machine tool maker in Taiwan, showcased its solutions for automatic production in the automotive industry for improving the efficiency and flexibility of the production line. Mr Andy Hung, Sales Director, FFG, referred to the three business divisions of the group – machine tools, industrial equipment and green energy – together comprising 95 group companies spread across the world. The FFG is among the world’s top 3 machine tool manufacturers, well known for its aerospace and automobile solutions with its high precision machining solutions.
Solomon Technology Corp., which has 4 business divisions – Smart Automation, Energy and Power, Automation and Opto Electronics – demonstrated its Artificial Intelligence powered 3D vision technology can help automation equipment to make complex and precise pick-and-place tasks. Mr Henry Wu, Product Manager, elaborated upon the company’s four product ranges – AccuPick for random bin picking; Solmotion for vision guided robots; Solvision for deep learning for inspection; and Solscan 3D scanner. “The AI software platform from Solomon is like a platform that can communicate with different scanners – 3D camera technologies from Solomon and is compatible with leading brands of robots and cobots as well as PLCs,” said Henry.
Manford, a manufacturer of machining centres lathes and milling machines, owns three manufacturing facilities in Taiwan – Manford, Winford and Avemax and Automac Smartauto. During the presentation the focus was on the new energy-saving machining solution that will effectively reduce the use of electricity by 80 per cent, lubrication oil by 90 per cent, and still maintain (extremely) high performance. According to Ms Jacy Lin, Overseas Sales Executive of Manford, the company also offers turnkey solutions and customised automation engineering in line with the industry 4.0 concept for smart manufacturing.
Chin Fong, one of the world’s top four press makers, shared how it applies smart concepts to its press machines for better performance and service life. Ms Anny Lee, Regional Sales Representative, in her presentation elaborated upon the company’s iForming production management system – the pervasive application of intelligent forming – and how the art of stamping is digitalised and how it is helpful in times of Covid-19.
Grintimate demonstrated how it applies a unique hydrostatic technique in grinding solutions in order to simplify the production of automotive drive shafts. Mr Terry Hung, Sales representative made a presentation on the Grintimate advanced patented hydrostatic spindle technology. The company established recently in 2015, is a world-leading designer and specialised manufacturer of high-precision grinders and vertical lathes, equipped with its own advanced hydrostatic bearing technology.
Tongtai – the TTG Group – is a global manufacturer of machine tools with six leading brands including Tongtai, Honor, Quick-tech and APEC – all based in Taiwan and PCI-SCEMM in France and Anger Machining, Austria. Mr Jolly Wu, Assistant Manager presented an overview of the company and its intelligent solutions for smart manufacturing, sharing some examples to show how they help customers construct flexible production lines.
Hartford is the brand of She-Hong Industrial Company, a market leading manufacturer of intelligent machining centres. The largest machining centre manufacturer in Taiwan has introduced the ‘Hartrol Premium’ smart controller. Its friendly interface and easy operation allow operators to monitor and manage production more efficiently. Mr Nick Chang, Sales Executive, in his presentation said the company manufactures only high end intelligent machining centres which are 100% made in Taiwan.
For countries like India, the e-conference aimed to bolster the image of Taiwan’s Smart Machinery industry as a major global supplier of machine tools, equipment and key components. India is an attractive option for Taiwanese companies who have the potential to play a catalysing role. Also, in the current situation, as industries grapple with loss of migrant labour and in some cases, spread of the Covid-19 through human to human contact, the need for solutions to counter the absence of human supervision is very high. Taiwan’s Automated Smart Machinery with zero
human intervention will play a vital role in both the scenario. (https://www.taiwanexcellence.org/en/smart_machinery)