Taiwan Rolled out 1,000 Double-Column Machining Centers in 2005

Taipei, Feb. 8, 2006 (CENS)--Thanks to the efforts of domestic manufacturers to explore such overseas markets as South Korea and mainland China, Taiwan rolled out 1, 000 double-column machining centers in 2005, representing a 70% year-on-year growth and making the island the world' s largest producer of the product.

According to statistics compiled by the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI), major domestic manufacturers of double-column machining centers are Awea Mechantronic Co., She Hong Industrial Co., Dah Lih Machinery Industry Co., Kao Ming Machinery Industrial Co., and Vision Wide Tech Co.

Despite their No. 1 position in output in the world, Taiwan' s manufacturers of double-column machining centers still have to upgrade their production skills as the machines they produced are inferior to those made by Japanese counterparts in sizes and machining accuracy.

TAMI said the increased demand for large-sized production equipment by domestic flat-panel manufacturers would bring in more business opportunities for the manufacturers of double-column machining centers. Domestic flat-panel manufacturers, including Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. and AU Optronics Corp., are demanding such large-sized production equipment as double-column machining centers to facilitate production of seventh-generation plants. Because of the increased demand of the flat-panel manufacturers, TAMI estimated overall output of domestically made double-column machining centers would surpass 1, 200 units this year.

Wang Cheng-ching, vice president of TAMI, said Taiwan has beat out such rival competitors as Japan, Italy and Germany for the supply of double-column machining centers to mainland China. At present, Taiwan accounts for over half of the imports of double-column machining centers in the mainland China market. But the machines sold by domestic manufacturers are priced only one-fourth of those supplied by the competitors of the advanced nations.

Compared to Japan' s focus on double-column machining centers with worktable reaching over 10 meters, Taiwan still concentrates on the production of the machines with worktable ranging from four up to five meters.

Wang said many Chinese manufacturers of molds and machine tools have gradually switched procurement from Taiwan to Japan mainly in consideration of high accuracy and high performance. But domestic manufacturers of machining centers in this field would continue to stand firm in South Korea as the manufacturers there don' t produce such machines.

To win the confidence of foreign buyers, noted Wang, domestic manufacturers of machining centers should begin producing five-axis double-column machining centers featuring higher accuracy for processing sophisticated mechanical parts.