Hon Hai Group Kicks Off Manufacturing Automation Plan in Central Taiwan Science Park
2012/01/17 | By Steve ChuangTaipei, Jan. 17, 2012 (CENS)--Terry Gou, chairman of the Hon Hai Group, now the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics by revenue, announced the group's grand investment of NT$100 billion in setting up fully automated production lines in Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP), indicating his ambition to build the world's largest kingdom of precision automation and robotics on the island.
To facilitate its manufacturing automation plan, the group has allied seven local universities to jointly develop automation technologies, while joining hands with related companies, including Hiwin Technologies Corp., a machine tool maker, Lead Year Enterprise Co., Ltd., a switching power supplies producer, and MicroLab Precision Technology Co., Ltd., a spindle supplier, to develop new manufacturing technologies and products.
With the group poised to venture into industrial automation and robots by establishing a base of smart automation in central Taiwan, Gou stressed that his group aims not to compete against existing companies, but to play a resource coordinator and distributor in the line in the future. He continued that his group won't have its investment overlap with those by partners, considering the fact that each allied company has its own core competency.
Noteworthily, Gou also invited Hiwin to jointly explore overseas markets in Germany, Brazil and mainland China, saying that Hiwin, which aims to challenge the world's second-largest supplier of transmission-control devices and systems in 2012, will hopefully gain more growth momentum through cooperation with his group to become the world's No.1 supplier of its kind soon.
Gou's plan to build a smart automation base in central Taiwan begun in 2011, when his group announced an investment of NT$10 billion in establishing a factory engaged in making key parts and components for automation and system integration equipment at the CTSP. The investment now has been increased to NT$100 billion to further involve the group in developments of precision automation and robots. With the grand investment, the group is expected to turn out NT$120 billion of related products annually in the next three to five years.
Despite persistent worry of the EU debt crisis, Gou also revealed several overseas investments to be launched in the short term. For example, his group intends to invest in the sector of automated agricultural instruments in Brazil, as the country possesses about 25% of the total effective agricultural land in the world. The huge business potential of the market, Gou said, is worth his group's efforts to explore.