ITRI Starts 4-year WWP to Keep Building Taiwan's Faucet Industry

Improving on Toto's water-recyclin

Commissioned by the Industrial Development Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs to build global status of Taiwan's faucet industry, the government- funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) launched the Water Ware Project (WWP) in 2007. With a couple of industry insiders' participation, the WWP has realized positive results from 2007 through 2009, with more work planned this year to continue tapping synergy.

Led by C.H. Chen, project manager of the Mechanical and Systems Research Laboratories of ITRI charged with the development of technology and products, the WWP has benefited from Chen's leadership and efforts by the other participants, who have helped to achieve several improvements on key production processes as well as product innovations, not to mention the inauguration of The Changhua Water Ware Industry Development Association (CWWIDA) on Sept. 27, 2008, uniting over 150 upstream and downstream companies in Changhua County, central Taiwan, to set an industrial milestone.

Not to let the WWP's success lose steam, Chen and teammates are launching another 4-year project, which has been approved by the MOEA to start this year to focus more on developing new technology applications and innovations.

Project manager Chen and team members Y.B. Gun and C.C. Chiang, both researchers at ITRI's Intelligent Robotics Technology Division, talked to CENS about the second WWP.

Unmatched Clustering

Faucet manufacturing is one of the oldest trades on the island, originating in the town of Lugang, Changhua County to have flourished over half a century. The core difference and advantage of the sector is the clustering: Up to 700 faucet and subcontractors are clustered within a 30 kilometer area, where such density of suppliers is unmatched elsewhere, according to Chen. The sector is also noted for enormous export potential, averaging over US$2 billion a year, a majority of which going to the U.S.

The WWP was ITRI's first effort to help a traditional manufacturing industry, which was a challenge for its forte had been typically focused on developing information technologies and high-tech applications. But eventually Chen's team proved that the ITRI's expertise can be tweaked to suit other R&D applications.

To optimize the use of the WWP's limited financial resources of US$312.5 million, Chen says they decided to focus on gravity casting lines and trivalent chromium surface treatment, two key technologies for upstream and midstream production of faucets, as well as water-recycling power generation systems. Backed by insiders' help, three years of hard work achieved progress, with Chen's team ultimately being awarded for their contribution.

“The three-year WWP has given us ample experience and insight, so now we understand more about insiders' true needs to boost core competitiveness. Building on the last WWP's achievements and know-how, we aim to, with the new 4-year project, develop more value-added technologies and applications for bathrooms, kitchens and gardens,” says Chen.

Specifically, Chen says, they will develop antibacterial color coatings via PVD (physical vapor deposition), water (or hydrokinetic) power generation system-incorporated water heaters, ultra-low-voltage solenoid flush valves and smart sprinkler systems, some of which will be completed by the end of this year at the earliest.

Coating Technology

C.C. Chiang has played a key role to make coating technology more eco-friendly since the WWP began, helping some operators replace hexavalent chromium with trivalent chromium to reduce use of hazardous chemicals.

Another success has been applying thin film coating to faucets. “Since the prototype of the thin-film-coated faucet was debuted last year, a number of faucet makers have expressed intense interest to adopt such technology, for the coating enhances visual attraction and functionality,” says Chiang.

Besides, Chiang has also been working on PVD, a coating technique that deposits micro-thin film on metallic surfaces, as often seen on watches, to enhance properties as antiseptic and performance of tools and mechanical components. The downside of PVD is the considerable investment required of coating companies in Taiwan, especially subcontractors of faucet makers, who generally have to minimize cost to stay competitive.

As a counter strategy, Chiang adopted titanium oxide as PVD ingredient instead of silver, cutting the cost considerably. So the coating subcontractors ultimately succeeded in introducing ITRI's improved PVD process, as well as being determined to procure the required machinery, valued over tens of million NT-dollars. “I think the faucet sector in Lukang is silently going upmarket driven by insiders equipped with improved surface treatment technologies,” says Chiang.

The improved PVD coating aside, Chiang has already made another breakthrough by developing more color options for such surface treatment, further enhancing the added-value of the new WWP.

Also trying to streamline the faucet supply chain, Chiang has also been busy negotiating with the NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) International over the possibility of setting up a branch lab in Taiwan to expedite certificating faucets destined for the U.S., which involves testing for toxicity and functionality. “Not yet reaching consensus, NSF International has shown willingness to subcontract functionality tests to ISO17025 certified Taiwanese agents,” says Chiang. So the future seems promising: NSF International, without having set up overseas labs in Asia, is willing to license labs in Taiwan to conduct functionality testing, which will help local faucet makers cut certification cost.

Automated Die Casting

On another front, Y.B. Gun has been focused on gravity die casting, a technology arousing concerns among Taiwanese molders about improving defect rates and work environment.

Most Taiwanese molders have historically used sand die casting, hence neglecting metal die casting and gravity die casting, which are standard techniques used by European faucet makers, says Gun.

Helping boost the molding sector's technology and faucet industry's competitiveness, Gun has assisted local molders in upgrading to gravity die casting from 2007 through 2009, succeeding so far with four molders. Along the way, Gun also overcame incomplete solidification of metal in complex molds by adding very thin layers of ceramic to reduce defect rate, as well as set up an R&D lab in ITRI's Taichung branch to help molders with computer-aided analysis and simulated molding.

Meanwhile, Gun has also prioritized automation of gravity die casting, which is key to improving work environments and efficiency in the sector. Trying to use robotics to automate gravity die casting since 2007, Gun has yet to succeed for technical reasons, such as formation of zinc dioxide. “Though automation can improve production efficiency and help control metallic mold characteristics with computers, the technique is costly, so we will continue the research in the coming four years…semi-automation may be a feasible alternative,” says Gun.

Positive Association

Believing innovation is critical to building in buyers' minds positive association between quality and Taiwan-made faucets, the WWP team is emphasizing creation of innovative products, one of which is the IR faucet integrated with a water-recycling power generation system.

ToTo, the Japanese bathroom ware brand, invented the world's first water-recycling power generation system, which still needs a battery as backup power when water flow is inadequate to generate enough power for the next use of the faucet, mainly because the capacitor can't effectively store electricity, according to Gun. So, he developed a super capacitor, one of the team's significant inventions, to address such drawback.

The super capacitor outperforms conventional models in electricity storage and allows the system to work without lithium battery. The team has further enhanced the performance of the system by designing and installing an extremely energy-stingy sensor and low-inertia miniature power generator for IR faucets. According to Gun, the supplier of the IR faucet, already UL certified, admitted that shipment of the innovative product has exceeded 1,000 units per month since the beginning of this year.

Total Integration

“In the coming four years, we will develop more applications for the super capacitor, and integrate into one unit the super capacitor, IC controller and power generator,” says Gun. “Besides, the team, eyeing huge business potential in the U.S. for smart sprinklers, has been developing a smart sprinkler system integrated with our water-recycling power generation system. The U.S. imports over one million sets of the system a year, so we will help Taiwanese companies to explore this segment.”

Chen claims that most Taiwanese faucet makers have been moving up the supply chain to become ODMs (original design manufacturers). “What they need is stronger R&D capability in the increasingly challenging market. So, we aim to build more positive momentum into the industry by attracting more young staffers, and overseas Taiwanese enterprises. Ultimately we hope to put Taiwan brands atop the global supply chain of high-end faucets and kitchen products.”