Taiwan Machine-Tool Makers Launch Linear-Motor Models

Thanks to the assistance of a research and development alliance, Taiwanese manufacturers of machine tools, especially those focusing on the production of machining centers, have recently brought advanced linear-motor-based machine tools to market. The new tools were first showcased at the six-day Taipei International Machine Tool Show (TIMTOS) held last March at the Taipei World Trade Center. These new models will also be displayed at the EMO show slated for Sept. 14-21 in Hanover, Germany.

The alliance, led by Taiwan's Mechanical Industry Research Laboratories (MIRL) under the guidance of the government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), was established in 2003. The alliance is composed of nine domestic large-sized manufacturers of machine tools; universities including National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, National Tsinghua University, and National Chung Cheng University; and the government-financed Precision Machinery Research and Development Center.

The leading firms involved in the introduction of the advanced linear-motor-based machine tools at the 2005 TIMTOS include Tong-Tai Machine & Tool Co., Leadwell CNC Machine Mfg. Co., Kao Fong Machinery Co., Yeong Chin Machinery Industry Co., Ltd. Dah Lih Machinery Industry Co., and Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co. At TIMTOS, Tong-Tai displayed a high-speed, linear-motor-based horizontal machining center; Leadwell debuted a high-speed, linear-motor-based vertical column-moving machining center; Victor Taichung showcased a high-speed, linear-motor-based horizontal machining center; and Dah Lih exhibited a high-speed, linear-motor-based bridge-type machining center. Yeong Chin also launched a high-speed, high-precision linear-motor-based machining center.

The linear-motor-based machine tools, which feature high performance and high precision, will account for 40% of the overall production value of machine tool products worldwide in 2010, estimates Wu Tung-chuan, general director of the ITRI's MIRL. Wu based his remarks on a survey publicized by a Japanese machinery specialist at the beginning of this year.

Wu says the alliance has assisted domestic manufacturers in differentiating their product lines by way of horizontal integration, to ensure that they won't compete with each other in the same target markets.

Tong-Tai president Yen Jui-hsiung notes the R&D alliance will help transform the domestic machine-tool industry into being a technology provider instead of a technology seeker. He says the linear-motor-based machine tools produced by domestic firms have the same quality level as those developed by such world-renowned firms as DMG of Germany, and by Mazak, Toyoda, Mori Seiki, Okuma, and Sodick of Japan.

Yen predicts that the acquisition of the sophisticated technology for the production of linear-motor-based machine tools will help Taiwan's domestic machinery industry create business opportunities worth NT$6.3 billion (US$203.23 million). This figure includes NT$5 billion (US$161.29 million) for the metal-cutting machine-tool sector, NT$500 million (US$16.13 million) each for the grinding machinery and conventional machine-tool sectors, and another NT$300 million (US$9.68 million) for peripheral equipment suppliers.

He stresses the automotive, molds and dies, and 3C (consumer electronics, communications, computer) industries would also help boost the demand for high-speed machine tools to a net worth of between NT$30 billion (US$967.7 million) and NT$50 billion (US$1.61 billion) per year.

As Taiwan currently holds less than a 10% share of the global machine-tool market, Yen calls for domestic manufacturers to make all-out efforts to develop high-value-added products like the linear-motor-based machine tools.

According to statistics compiled by the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI), the production value of Taiwan-made machine tools amounted to US$2.85 billion last year, outstripping the U.S. as the world's fifth-largest producer for the first time ever.

TAMI vice president Wang Cheng-ching notes Taiwan, with an anticipated 20% annual growth in production value, would have a great opportunity to edge out Italy as the world's third-largest machine-tool exporter this year. He says Taiwan has made great strides in developing such emerging markets as India and Turkey over the past few years.