Taichung Plastics Processing Show Adds Dedicated Aircraft-processing Zone

The new zone to underline Taiwanese machine-tool makers' growing involvement in global aircraft industry

Compiled By KEN LIU

This year the biennial Taichung Plastic and Rubber Industry & Manufacturing Technology and Facility Show (TPMS), to be staged June 25-29 in the Greater Taichung International Expo Center, Taichung, central Taiwan, will install a new zone dedicated to aircraft-processing equipment manufacturers.

According to the co-organizer of the show, the Economic Daily News of Taiwan, the aircraft-processing zone is intended to increase the cooperation between the island's aircraft-processing industry and other processing industries to create mutually beneficial business opportunities.

Citing projections from Boeing Co., the Machine Tools Technology Center of the Taiwan government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) says that over the next 20 years the world will need at least 36,700 regional airplanes valued around US$5.2 trillion, with the Asia-Pacific region alone accounting for the largest share of 37 percent, including mainland China's demand for 6,020 aircrafts.

To help the island's equipment suppliers tap the market of aircraft-component processing, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has set in motion a plan to coordinate the island's equipment suppliers to form a consortium to develop aircraft-processing machines, with the group consisting 12 members—Goodway Machine Corp., AWEA Mechantronic Co., Ltd., Kao Fong Machinery Co., Ltd., Fair Friend Mfg. Enterprise Co., Ltd., Falcon Machine Tool Co., Ltd., Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co. Ltd., Dahlih Machinery Industry Co., Ltd., She Hong Industrial Co., Ltd., Vision Wide Tech Co., Ltd., Kova Precision Industrial Co., Ltd., Chun Hsin Electric & Machinery Mfg. Co. and Royal Precision Tool Co., Ltd.

The exhibitors of the aircraft-processing zone include Taiwan's aircraft assembler Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, and equipment manufacturers as Hiwin Technologies Corp., Goodway Yeong Chin Machinery Industries Co., Ltd., WELE Mechantronic Co., Ltd., Litz Hitech Corp., CNC Technology Machinery Co., Ltd., Shenq Fang Yuan Technology Co., Ltd., Gentiger Machinery Industrial Co., Ltd., Eumach Co., Ltd., CHMER EDM, Oscar E.D.M Co., Ltd., and Joen Lih Machinery Co., Ltd.

These exhibitors are categorized into three groups: processing equipment including five-axis machines, boring and milling machines, vertical lathes, and milling/turning machining centers plus testing equipment, materials, cutters, and hardware accessories; visual presentation highlighted by components for military aircraft; consultation by representatives from industry, academia and business.

Eric Chuo, chairman of the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA), says that central Taiwan is the home to not only the island's plastics-processing and rubber-processing industries but also precision-machinery industries, including machine tool, woodworking machine, and hand tool, whose suppliers have formed clusters and make up the backbone to Taiwan's machinery sector competitiveness on international markets.

The 2015 TPMS has so far booked 269 manufacturers who have signed up for some 800 booths, compared with 312 manufacturers occupying 770 booths at the 2013 event. According to Economic Daily News, the 2013 show drew close to 50,000 visitors and created hundreds of millions of NT-dollar of business opportunities during the five-day run.

The upcoming show will be divided into rubber and plastics machinery peripherals, machinery and equipment, auto-controlled and testing equipment, hardware and components, and aerospace processing zones.

The trade show, besides being located within proximity of the precision machinery hub of Taiwan, is designed to highlight the potential of Taiwan's plastics and rubber machinery industry, which generates revenue up to NT$50 billion (US$1.61 billion) a year. This year, the dominant technology for plastics and rubber equipment industry remains all electric-controlled machines driven by servo motors.

The leading exhibitors of plastics and rubber machinery include Forwell Precision Machinery Co., Ltd., Taiwan Dynamics Corp., Litz Hitech, Victor Taichung Machinery Works, Yeong Chin Machinery, Lien Fa Injection Machinery Co., Ltd., Pulian International Enterprise Co., Ltd., Vision Machinery Mfg. Co., Ltd., Chen Hsong Machinery Taiwan Co., Ltd., KWT Machine Systems Co., Ltd., John Huah Machinery Factory Corp., and Force Top Ltd.