Quality Rises as Producers Automate

Taiwan is an ideal place to source office furniture parts, especially metal parts that require the sophisticated processing capability which local makers excel in thanks to their long experience and state-of-the-art automated production equipment.

Over the past decades, some manufacturers of office furniture parts have followed office furniture to production sites outside of Taiwan, especially to mainland China, to cut costs and be closer to end markets. Still, many companies are keeping their roots in Taiwan in order to tap the huge pool of talented designers here to support their development of innovative products.

Diversity, production automation, and high quality have become the trademarks of office furniture parts and accessories suppliers in Taiwan as they seek to distinguish their product lines from the lower-end items of rival competitors in the region, while also keeping costs down.


The quality gains have come in several forms, including improved designs and better performance. Automation has also helped in this area by ensuring more consistent quality, as has the introduction of new and more durable materials.

For instance, several domestic manufacturers in this line are using zinc-aluminum alloys to make high load capacity casters for large furniture pieces and shopping carts. Some of these new items have a loading capacity as high as 100kg.

Casting Wide

Tung Tien Enterprise Co., Ltd. Is one of Taiwan's most comprehensive manufacturers of casters. Established in 1975, the company today provides a full range of casters for office furniture, luggage, medical instruments, shopping carts, industrial applications, and other types of products.

The company has integrated production capacity for making all kinds of casters at two separate production facilities in Changhua County, central Taiwan. These plants can handle all of the manufacturing processes for casters, from design, stamping and plastic-injection molding to product finishing and packaging. They can also produce industrial-use wheels based on original customer designs.

At present casters command more than 95% of Tung Tien's total output. The company has steadily invested in developing advanced manufacturing techniques and innovative products with an aim to make casters with ever higher maximum load capacities.

The company currently sells four types of casters, including ball, light, heavy, and medical instrument models. Its ball and light casters have a load capacity of 50kgs, its medical instrument casters can handle 100kgs, and its heavy casters support from 150kgs to 300kgs.

To date the company has developed more than 1, 000 different types of casters, but its in-house research and development department is always adding new models to the product line at a pace of several new items every quarter.


With three decades of manufacturing experiences, Tung Tien has cultivated considerable expertise in making high-end casters. The company says all of its products have to pass a very strict durability inspection procedure before they are delivered. "Our casters maintain their original quality in tests involving 38, 000 rounds of continuous load moving, " says Liang Ming-tung, president of the company.

According to Liang, the key to making a durable caster rests with the location of the support point. "We have become proficient in designing special mechanisms thanks to our long-term experience in the business, " he says.

Liang also attributes the success of his company to its strict quality control system, which is made possible by handling all processing operations in-house. This quality reputation, he says, has helped Tung Tien steadily expand its overseas sales in recent years. The company currently turns out around 50, 000 casters per day on a double-shift work schedule.

Tung Tien exports its products on OEM, ODM and OBM (original equipment/design/brand manufacturer) basis, with major overseas outlets including Japan, the U.S., Europe, mainland China, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

In the past, Tung Tien had to heavily rely on trading companies to market its products overseas. In recent years, however, the company has set up its own trading department to handle such sales directly.


Chair Specialist

Founded in 1986, Fuh Shyan Co., Ltd. Specializes in the production of office chair parts and components, including polypropylene (PP) armrests, casters, back covers, seat covers, chair bases, and other chair mechanisms and components.

Fuh Shyan currently has four production facilities, three in Taiwan and the other in Guangdong Province, mainland China. The company's mainland plant is devoted to high volume production of lower-end furniture parts.

The output of the company's Taiwan plants goes to customers around the world while the mainland plant mainly supplies products to Taiwanese furniture manufacturers there. The company also ships some parts from the mainland back to its Taiwan parent plants to reduce costs.

To ensure the quality of its mainland products, Fuh Shyan provides all of the raw materials for its plants there, including the materials for plastic-injection parts. As the quality and supply of raw materials improve in the mainland, the company is considering directly procuring the materials there to reduce shipping costs.

Most of the company's products have passed stringent inspections by SGS Taiwan Ltd. And many are patented in Taiwan, Britain, mainland China, the U.S., Japan and Germany.

Fuh Shyan designs most of its own products but also accepts original customer designs. The company notes it has a lot of experience in making molds based on customer designs. In recent years, it has also shipped many sophisticated molds to foreign buyers. In fact, molds have become one of the company's major export items.


Over the past several years, Fuh Shyan has shifted the production of simple molds to mainland China to reduce costs.

Fuh Shyan has an in-house R&D department in Taiwan to develop innovative products, such as its one-piece PP armrests produced with molds made in Taiwan.

Between 70% and 80% of the company's output is exported. Major overseas outlets include the Middle East, Australia, Britain, Thailand and Malaysia. The company has overseas marketing offices in Malaysia and Thailand.

Integrated Production

Shenq Yeong Industrial Co., Ltd. Has over a decade of experience in manufacturing hardware parts for furniture and interior decorations. The company makes all of its products at an integrated plant in Changhua County using die-cast aluminum, brass and zinc alloy. It develops its own production molds and can also supply molds to customers around the world.

According to company president Shang Yen-wen, Shenq Yeong handles all of the processing procedures for die-cast products in-house, except for electroplating, which is outsourced to specialist subcontractors.

"Thanks to our sophisticated mold-making ability, we can turn out products that meet the strictest requirements. Our products are especially welcomed in Europe thanks to their innovative designs and high quality, " Shang says.

Shang notes that his company also has an in-house quality control department to ensure consistently top-notch results.

Shenq Yeong currently exports 70% of its output to Europe, the U.S. and mainland China. The mainland has been a particularly fast growing market for the company's high-end die-cast parts over the past several years.

Shang says his company has a strong competitive edge over mainland competitors since its products are not labor intensive, erasing the mainland's traditional advantage of low wages.

"Mainland China has cheaper labor costs, but out products are mostly produced with automated die-casting equipment, " Shang notes. "In addition, we can source raw materials in Taiwan at the same prices as our mainland suppliers."


High-end Casters

Founded in 1993 as a trader, Leiming Industrial Co., Ltd. Began manufacturing office furniture parts about seven years ago. Furniture casters account for about 95% of its total output, but the company is developing larger furniture parts, such as office-chair back covers.

Beyond casters, the company also turns out a wide range of plastics parts using state-of-the-art plastic injection molding machines.

Leiming produces all of its casters at a 36, 000-square-foot factory in Changhua County, central Taiwan. Company president Jack Sung says his plant is currently short of capacity, but instead of expanding in-house the company has found a more cost-effective solution by cooperating with satellite factories.

While Leiming contracts out some of its processing operations, the company insists that it keeps a close eye on quality. The company's quality control experts inspect all of the products sourced from other suppliers to ensure they meet the company's high standards.

Most of Leiming's casters are aimed at the mid- to high-end range of the market. Nylon, PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and zinc-aluminum alloys are the main materials used in these items, which also feature one-piece brake mechanisms. "In general, our casters have a load capacity of 45kg to 50kg, " Sung says. "But our zinc-aluminum alloy casters can support up to 100kg."

Leiming makes its high-end zinc-aluminum alloy casters with Japanese and European production technology. It has also registered several new patents for such products in Taiwan, Sung says.

The company currently exports one-third of its total output and sells the remainder to domestic furniture manufacturers. One-fourth of the domestic shipments are destined for firms that have moved their furniture plants to mainland China. The company's major export outlets include Europe, the U.S., the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia.