Taiwanese Lock Suppliers Attractive to International Buyers

Taipei, March 21, 2006 (CENS)--Taiwanese lock manufacturers have appeared to become major contract suppliers to high-end international buyers with their production advantages, including competitive costs.

Tung Long Metal Industry Co., Ltd., currently Asia' s No.1 supplier of grade-one locks, has been contracted to supply Black & Decker (DBK) high-performance products while Taiwan Fu Hsin Industrial Co., Ltd. Has entered into alliance with Ingersoll-Rand (IR) and co-opened production facilities in mainland China and Malaysia to crank out grade-three locks.

Although European and North American lock suppliers still hold proprietary technologies for making precision and electronic locks, they are inferior in production costs as compared with their Asian rivals. Besides, many rising Asian suppliers are catching up quickly.

In light of the competition reality, many international heavyweight lock suppliers have outsourced to Asian suppliers including those operating in Taiwan. For instance, Assa Aboly, supplier of the world' s No.1 brand "Yale" locks, has contracted Tung Long as its OEM-based supplier.

Assa Aboly, IR, Kaba and BDK are the world' s top four lock suppliers, together bagging up to 26% of the world market. The annual global production value of locks has ranged from US$27-30 billion, for an annual growth of 3% to 5% over the years.

Tung Long' s executives pointed out that Taiwanese lock suppliers would lose competitive edge if they fail to develop grade one and grade two locks. A grade-one lock is double the price of a grade-three product and a grade two is 1.5 folds the price of a grade three, they noted.

Although Tung Long began operation with grade-three locks, grade-one and grade-two wares now account for 14% and 37% of the company' s revenue, respectively. The company' s president, P.C. Chen, said Tung Long is already Asia' s No. 1 supplier of grade-one and grade-two locks and will tap more OEM-based orders by making most of its manufacturing advantages.

The Taiwan' s No.1 lock supplier plans to use its Philippine factory to make grade-three wares and open a facility in mainland China to produce this type of locks. At its headquarters in Taiwan, technology research and development as well as production of grade-one and grade-two locks will become its major activities.