TAMI Calls for Manufacturers of Machining Centers to Boost Competitiveness

Taipei, Feb. 15, 2008 (CENS)--Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) recently called on domestic manufacturers of horizontal machining centers to boost their international competitiveness by enhancing the functionality of peripheral equipment.

The TAMI warned that Taiwan-made horizontal machining centers are forced into bottom-end price brackets due to offering relatively less functions than those made by rival manufacturers in Japan, Germany and South Korea. To enhance the capacity to tap the business opportunities in the fast-growing automotive sector in mainland China, TAMI noted that domestic manufacturers in this line have to raise the value of products to compete against those of rivals.

According to statistics compiled by the TAMI, the world's major machine-tool manufacturing nations shipped 1,580 units of horizontal machining centers valued US$534 million to mainland China in 2007. Of this, Japan stood at the first place and accounted for 51.2% of the total by shipping 809 units of the products worth US$273 million, translating into a unit price of US$338,000. The second place went to Germany, followed by South Korea and Taiwan.

The TAMI tallies showed that Taiwan shipped 161 units of the products worth US$26.16 million to the mainland in 2007, with average unit price reaching only US$162,000.

Over the past several years, domestic manufacturers in this line, including Dah Lih Machinery Industry Co., Quaser Machine Tools Inc., Tongtai Machine & Tool Co., Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co., Yeong Chin Machinery Industries Co., Roundtop Machinery Industries Co., Leadwell CNC Machine Mfg. Co., and Goodway Machine Corp., have been doing everything within their power to develop horizontal machining centers dedicated to the automotive industry.

Although the above-mentioned manufacturers have made considerable progress in developing horizontal machining centers, their products still lag behind those made by Japan, Germany and South Korea in terms of functionality, which is reflected in the relatively lower average unit price.

TAMI vice president C.C. Wang said peripheral equipment is critical to the practicality, desirability of horizontal machining centers, in that such gear enables machine centers to be operated unmanned for prolonged periods. Wang attributed the relatively low average prices of domestically made horizontal machining centers to the lack of matching peripheral equipment.