Taipei, March 8, 2007 (CENS)--The 2007 Taipei International Machine Tool Show (TIMTOS 2007), organized by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry, will be held March 12-17 at the Hall I, II, III of the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC).

The biennial show will comprise 713 exhibitors occupying 2,778 standard booths, both at home and abroad, up 10.5% and 4.3%, respectively, from the previous session and hitting all-time high records.

TAITRA predicted a total of 3,800 overseas buyers to visit the show, with the number of domestic visitors expected to exceed 35,000. During the exhibition period, a spate of activities and symposiums will be held, including approximately 1,000 procurement talks with domestic manufacturers.

With the assistance of overseas representative offices, TAITRA has invited 65 machine-tool distributors of 24 nations, including India-based Consort Ium Tech and Russia-based Robur, to make procurements at the show. In addition, the Spanish machine-tool industry association will lead five local distributors to visit the TIMTOS; another 16 machine-tool concerns of Chile will procure Taiwan-made lathes, drilling machines, and tube bending machines.

TAITRA predicted foreign buyers to bring in business opportunities of between US$200 million and US$300 million at the show.

To help domestic manufacturers explore overseas business opportunities and advanced manufacturing technologies, TAITRA will sponsor seven market information presentations focusing on Russia, Brazil, India, Republic of South Africa, Malaysia, Japan and Turkey.

The show organizer has also invited the non-profit Precision Machinery Research & Development Center (PMC) to hold a flurry of industrial technology upgrading seminars to introduce the design, technology, application and prospective development of the machine-tool industry.

TIMTOS 2007 will showcase a wide range of state-of-the-art products, including metal-cutting and forming machine tools, machine-tool components, tools, cutters, and inspection instruments. Represented exhibitors include Awea Mechantronic Co., Yeong Chin Machinery Industries Co., Tong-Tai Machine & Tool Co., Goodway Machine Corp., Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co., Fair Friend Ent. Co., DMG Machinery Taiwan Ltd., Taiwan Dynamics Corp., Simens AG., Heidenhain Co., Sony Corp., Mazak Corp., Okuma Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Taiwan Co., Sodick Corp., and Fanuc Corp.

Manufacturers of Switzerland and Germany will showcase their latest products at the show in the form of national pavilions, marking the globalization of the show.

In line with the global development trend toward high speed, high precision, and high efficiency, domestic manufacturers of machine tools are concentrating on linear motor-based machine tools with high-speed spindles, and multi-tasking complex machine tools incorporating the advantage of NC lathes and machining centers, which will become the mainstay of the TIMTOS 2007.

Taiwan is the world`s fourth-largest machine-tool exporter, only behind Japan, Germany, and Italy. Taiwan saw exports of machine tools grow 11.5% year-on-year to reach NT$96.3 billion, or US$2.96 billion, last year.

According to statistics compiled by the Precision Machinery Development Association of Taiwan (CMD), the overall production value for Taiwan-made machine tools and components will break the NT$400 billion mark in 2010.

Billed as one of Asia`s top-three machine-tool shows, TIMTOS is encountering shortfall of exhibition space. To meet the need of populous exhibitors, the TIMTOS 2009 will move to Nangang International Exhibition Center in Nangang District of Taipei City, where exhibition space will be double that of the TWTC.

(by Ben Shen)