MIRDC, 8 Private Makers Ally to R&D Aluminum Extrusions

Taipei, Aug. 8, 2008 (CENS)--As part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA)-sponsored project to upgrade the technological development in southern Taiwan's traditional industries, Metal Industries Research & Development Centre (MIRDC) recently signed an agreement with eight local companies to form an alliance to engage in R&D to add value to aluminum extrusions.

The alliance aims to develop more value-added products through cooperation within the alliance so as to create new industrial development opportunities.

H.C. Kuo, MIRDC's CEO, pointed out that his center has achieved fruitful results in helping local companies in traditional industries after winning Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs's long-term support. Currently, he said, about 60% of Taiwan's aluminum-extrusion products are exported, and the sector generated annual production value of NT$17.4 billion (US$570 million at US$1: NT$30.5) in 2007, a continuous growth for the seventh consecutive year.

Local aluminum-extrusion makers, however, Kuo said, have been facing fierce low-price competitions from rivals in mainland China and Southeast Asia in recent years. Another market change is, according to the CEO, that the demand for high value-added aluminum-extrusion products has been rising due to the increasing demands from electronics, machinery etc. lines for matching the global trends of environment protection and weight-cutting.

The alliance is expected to integrate all the up-, middle-, and down-stream resources in Taiwan as well as the government's help so as to better leverage the island's integral comptitiveness in the sector.

The major goal of the alliance, according to Kuo, is to develop high value-added aluminum-extrusion products with doubled or tripled values and upgrade the average selling prices (ASP) of each kg of such product from about NT$118 (US$3.9) currently to NT$300 (US$9.8). In addition, MIRDC hops to help private makers expand new applications and explore new markets including material, production processes, tooling etc.

A DoIT official pointed out that traditional industries play a vital role in contributing to a nation's economic stability and development, and the aluminum-extrusion alliance is expected to help local companies match the global market trend through team works. When small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) own advantages of flexibility, the resource integration could be more effective, he added.

The eight private companies in the alliance include Alex Global Technology Inc., Autoland Technology Co., Ltd., Crown Aluminum Co., Ltd., Wei Hsin Aluminum Co., Ltd., Zhi Fu Aluminum Co., Ltd., Fon Cin Aluminum Co., Ltd. etc.