Mold and Die Production Expected to Grow 10% in 2003

To help with the transformation and technological upgrading of domestic mold and die manufacturers, the Taiwan Mold and Die Industry Association (TMDIA) has decided to set up a task force to carry out the creation of a five-industry cooperation system--encompassing backlight panels for liquid-crystal display devices, cases for desktop and notebook computers, cases for cellphones, automotive lamps, and molds for auto-body parts.

The association will also strive for the establishment of an innovation and design park for the mold industry, a training center for mold specialists, and a mold databank.

Local manufacturers are expressing solid interest in the design park. The TMDIA says that it will select an appropriate site in southern Taiwan for the park, and predicts that it will encourage domestic manufacturers to expand their production and R&D facilities into the southern part of the island. The association goes on to report the possibility of its setting up a second and third such park in central and northern Taiwan.

This would help Taiwan develop into a training center for mold specialists, and a product certification center.

"The collaborative operating system will help upstream materials suppliers and downstream parts and components suppliers in our mold and die industry to form a strategic alliance," comments Tsai Chiang-hsin, TMDIA's secretary general. "The alliance will have a shared e-commerce operating platform for upstream and downstream suppliers, and it will help to shorten product delivery times, reduce production costs, and elevate product quality. In this way, I hope, our industry will be able to offer more sophisticated products and connect more closely with high-tech industries."

After experiencing several consecutive years of shrinking production value, Taiwan's mold and die industry managed to turn upward again last year. This year, TMDIA predicts, the overall production value of the industry will grow 10% because of a switch of foreign orders back from mainland China, partly because of the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the mainland in the first half of the year.


Production Up, Exports Down


Statistics compiled by the association show that the industry's production value rose 7.8% last year to reach NT$42.58 billion (US$1.23 billion at NT$34.4:US$1). Exports, however, continued falling; outbound shipments contracted 1.02% from 2001, to NT$18.31 billion (US$532 million).

Taiwan's mold and die industry has developed in two polarized directions over the past three years, with manufacturers that concentrate on high-end products still being able to secure foreign orders for products manufactured in Taiwan. Other manufacturers have moved their production facilities to mainland China and focused on low-end products, and these companies are now quietly moving their factories to other developing-economy countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

TMDIA chairman H.S. Chen, who is also president of Gloria Material Technology Corp., states that Taiwan should create an environment more conducive to the incubation of more mold and die specialists. Even now, he says, local manufacturers in the line are strongly competitive internationally, as seen in the success of the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.



"Originally a mold manufacturer," Chen explains, "Hon Hai has grown into an international company by using its core competence to expand into the production of many sophisticated electronic products. The establishment of the proposed design park will provide a shortcut for the cultivation of mold specialists like Hon Hai's founder, Terry T.M. Gou. I hope we can develop more such specialists in the near future."

Chen estimates that the park will cost N$10 billion (US$290 million) to develop, including the acquisition of more than 70 hectares of land. Once completed, it will accommodate at least 70 manufacturers of precision molds. His own company, Chen reports, will set aside NT$100 million (US$2.9 million) to build an R&D center there.