Taiwan's No. 1 Forklift Truck Maker Aims to Double Combined Revenue to NT$20 Bn. in Next 5 Years

Taipei, Feb. 6, 2012 (CENS)--Poised to further enhance its global business deployments, the Taiwan-based Tailift Co., Ltd., the largest forklift truck manufacturer on the island, aims to double its combined revenue to NT$20 billion in the next five years to rank as one of the world's top 10 suppliers of this kind, according to X.W. Lin, the company's chairman.

The company started out by making radial drilling machines, and then ventured into forklift trucks and CNC turret punching machines. At present, the company operates several production factories across Taiwan and China, employing a total of over 1,500 workers. In 2011, the company sold more than 17,500 units of various forklift trucks across the strait as Taiwan's largest supplier of its kind and the world's No. 16, and raked in combined revenue of NT$10.2 billion, sharply up 70% from a year ago to hit an all-time high. Despite the persistent EU debt crisis, the company is expected to keep pushing up its revenue this year.

After witnessing combined revenue exceed NT$10 billion last year, Lin confirmed that his company is determined to speed up its global business deployments, planning to set up branches and logistic centers in emerging countries such as Russia, Vietnam and Thailand.

The company, which has been exploring the Chinese market for 11 years, will boost its focus in the market and has invested RMB1 billion (about NT$4.5 billion at RMB1: NT$4.5)) in constructing a manufacturing base of forklift trucks in Qingdao, northern China, which is estimated to achieve annual output of 50,000 units when completed. For the moment, the company has operated over 100 outlets nationwide, ranking as the largest foreign supplier of forklift trucks in China.

Noteworthily, Lin also said that his company decided to step up developing CNC machine tools three years ago, in an effort to firmly seize the huge business opportunities generated by the cross-strait economic cooperation pact, ECFA (Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement), which has come into effect since January 2011 to open China's domestic market wider for Taiwanese firms of some kinds.

Since then, the company has worked out several cutting-edge products, including newly unveiled CNC vertical and horizontal milling machines, both of which are scheduled for launch in February. Besides, the company has recently invested NT$1 billion in building a new factory of precision parts and components for CNC machine tools and forklift trucks in Taiwan, which will become operational in 2013. Lin noted that his company's CNC machine tool business unit will challenge annual revenue of NT$2 billion in the short term.