Parts Makers Race to Develop More Efficient Products for Taiwan's Machine-Tool Industry

Manufacturers strive to offer uniquely efficient products that outpace the low-price competition

By KEN LIU

At a time when machine-tool makers are rushing to introduce machines that are more durable, more precise, faster, and more energy-efficient, Taiwan's parts makers are rushing just as fast to offer the improved components they need.

Marox Tools Industry Co., Ltd., founded back in 1976, specializes in making tool holders for cutting tools used in the machine-tool and mold-making industries. What makes this manufacturer stand out is the impressive 2,000-plus specifications that it offers for its produces, making it perhaps Taiwan's top manufacturer in this respect.

“In this industry, a wide range of specifications is a decisive factor in success because it suggests that you're very experienced in the manufacturing process and knowledgeable about the specification details of the tools made by big international names,” says the company's sales manager, Charlie Yu.

Products with around 200 of the 2,000-plus specifications offered by the firm are tailor-made for big-name contract buyers like the U.S. tool maker Kennametal Inc., the world's No.2 cutting-tool maker.

According to Yu, Marox Tools was Taiwan's first manufacturer to turn out holders for insert-type cutters, and it began working with American and Japanese contract buyers as soon as it was founded. “So," he says, "we have almost all of the specifications that are used throughout the world."

The company depends on overseas markets, notably Australia, Americas, Italy, and England, for over 70% of its revenue. It ships around 30,000 holders a year, 60-70% of them contracted by brand-name suppliers.

Yu points out that with no international standards to regulate the quality of expendable holders, manufacturers have to prove their quality themselves. To do that, he reports, “We use top-grade alloy steel, not carbon steel, completed with annealing treatment, to make our holders, so they are much more resistant to wearing out. Our quality keeps our customers loyal to us, although mainland China's manufacturers try to lure them with holders at much lower prices.” The company makes its holders using five-axis machining centers outfitted with tailor-made components.

Strong Development Capability

Yu is proud of his company's strong development capability, which enables it to deal with the issue of diversified specifications and low-volume production. “This is our strength,” he stresses.

Unlike machine-tool makers, which are often caught up in shifts in the business cycle, the cycle is not so clear-cut in the tool-holder industry, according to Yu. “Since holders are expendable items," he explains," suppliers need to keep restocking the components all the time.”

Yinsh Precision Industry Co., Ltd. is currently Taiwan's No. 1 manufacturer of precision nut lockouts for spindle bearings, ballscrews, and thrust bearings used in machine tools. “We supply 80% of the domestic market for these parts,” claims the company's vice general manager, Jack Wu.

What makes the company's lockouts unique is that they assure ultra noiseless and balancing performance of the bearings they fasten onto. “To make this assurance," Wu stresses, "the lockouts must have excellent torque capability, and this has been proven by our TAF-certified laboratory.” The TAF (Taiwan Accreditation Foundation) is Taiwan's only national accreditation body. Wu says that Yinsh is the world's only bearing lockout maker to operate a certified laboratory--it won certification in May this year--for big bearing lockouts ranging from 50mm to 150mm in diameter.

“Although we have proven in our laboratory that the quality of our lockouts is as good as that of German- and Japan-made lockouts, some may question the impartiality of the testing results,” says Wu. To overcome such doubts the company worked with the government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to develop its inspection system, which it later had approved by the TAF.

Wu notes that the company's inspection system was developed primarily for mass-produced items, which he stresses tend to run into quality inconsistency on the production lines of most of the island's manufacturers. “Usually, local manufacturers do not have much difficulty in controlling quality when making a product at a low volume," he comments, "but the same cannot be said about products in mass production.”

Impressed by Yinsh's quality, the DMG Mori Seiki Group of Germany, Fanuc Ltd. of Japan, and the Yamazaki Mazak Corp. of Japan have designated the company as their supplier.

Different Brand Names for Different Products

Yinsh ships its products under the brand names “YINSH,” for mid-range products, and “SBL” and “SGL,” for high-end items. “SBL” is short for “Superfine Balanced Locknut” while “SGL” is short for “Superfine Grinding Locknut.” “With machine-tool makers racing to roll out ever-speedier machines," Wu says, "noise arises from the high-speed spindle bearings because of imbalances in the spindle. We developed the SBL lockout to fix this issue; we're the world's exclusive supplier of this lockout, which we say is the 'Mercede Benz class of  lockouts.'”  "SBL" is now a patented series.

Following the release of its noiseless lockouts, the company is now developing easy-to-install lockouts for machine-tool users.

With his high-end products, Wu says, he is not worried about competition from low-end mainland Chinese manufacturers. This lack of concern is apparently justified; the company's revenue grew 30% last year.

Sanjet International Co., Ltd., a leading Taiwanese maker of automatic tool changers (ATCs) and tool changing systems, has introduced a series of high-speed variable-frequency automatic tool changers (ATCs) under the name "SKDI."

The series is noted for saving energy, boosting output, and protecting spindles from being hit by tool arms when cutters are being changed. Thanks to a simple mechanical structure, the series is also easy to maintain.

"SKDI" products have a variable-frequency driver which controls the motors that drive the tool magazine and changer. Thanks to an electronic brake, this driver is much more accurate in positioning tools than are traditional drivers, which use linear brakes. The changers can change a No. 40 cutter in 1.4 seconds and a No. 30 cutter in 1.2 seconds.

These products are compatible with off-the-shelf vertical and horizontal machining centers and can work with PC Base, Fargo, Heidenhain, Siemens, Fanuc, and Mitsubishi controllers.

Sanjet developed the "SKDI" series to keep up with the growing demand from mainland Chinese and Southeast Asian makers of car parts, motorbike parts, and molds for machine tools that need to operate for long hours and have efficient ATCs.

Proactive Role

The company's proactive role in the industry is illustrated by its pouring of considerable resources into researching the problems of engineering tolerance that are common with material feeders and assembly lines, and providing of the results to customers for use in optimizing their processes and technologies.

Following its establishment in 2002, Sanjet worked with Japanese manufacturers to design and develop ATCs. Basically, the resulting ATCs feature light weight, efficient transmission, and refined exterior that accord with the company's idea that the most efficient ATC is the one that is smallest and lightest, and that has the biggest number of tools.

Founded as a lamp maker in 1986 in Taichung, central Taiwan, Eminent Main Industry Co., Ltd. has released multi-mode LED work lamps aimed at improving the working environment of machine-tool machinists with features including waterproofing, resistance to lubricants and coolants, and good heat dissipation.

The lamps are IP673-rated in terms of dust-proof, waterproof, and impact-resistance performance, and have a well-designed aluminum structure that is corrosion-resistant and very user-friendly. Compact dimensions allow the multi-mode lights to work in tight spaces.

The company has received orders from European and American buyers, and its big clients include WEST of Italy, S.E.I and GEKA of Spain, OKK and DNE of Japan. FKB of Germany has even contracted Eminent Main to supply ODM (original design manufacturer) products.

Its excellent R&D team has helped the company win over 20 patents for innovative designs. It makes its products in-house and brands them with the “EM” mark. Some of the own-brand lamps carry CE, TUV, GS, NEMKO certification, and others come with CE approval.