After nearly 20 years of operations in supplying commercial-use electronic scales, Shang Chuen Weighing Machine Co., Ltd. Has recently shifted its business emphasis to individual-user scales, and has enjoyed great success especially in body fat-monitoring scales.

The company recently introduced a patented fat-monitoring scale that displays weight, fat index, age, and height simultaneously on a book-size LCD screen. Former models only displayed this information one item at a time.

Users enter their age, sex, and height to allow the device to calculate the individual's appropriate fat index. Weight is measured with a load cell inside a pad at each of the four corners of the scale base. Calculation begins when a sensor on the surface of the foot-board senses body temperature, and an indication of whether the user is underweight, overweight, or in the normal range appears along with the fat index.

The formulas used in the calculation are different for Asians and Westerners. For Asians the formula was developed by Taiwan's Department of Health, for Westerners by the World Health Organization.

This unique scale is protected by at least five patents until 2022, in Taiwan, mainland China, Germany, the U.S., and Japan. An average of 100,000 of the scales, tagged at up to US$60 each, are currently being shipped every month.

The company's switch in emphasis to individual-user scales, which now account for half of its output, has led to an average annual increase in business of 20% in recent years, according to company chairman Lee Woo-hsiung, who served as chairman of the Taichung Weighing Scale Association between 1998 and early 2004. Lee states that the market for this type of device is much larger than for commercial-purpose models. "We're the only maker of scales in Taiwan that produces individual-user scales," he claims.

Shang Chuen today supplies over 100 types of commercial-use electronic scales, ranging from pocket-size models for weighing valuable items such as jewels to huge truck-weighing scales. The company claims that its "SATRUE" brand name is No. 1 in Taiwan, and is affixed to items that are shipped to more than 100 countries.

The company enjoyed a major technological breakthrough in 1994, when it became a contract supplier to Shimadzu Corp. of Japan. "The Japanese company helped us improve our manufacturing techniques, especially our load-cell technology, and also asked us to set up a computerized temperature/humidity testing chamber," Lee states. The chamber, supplied as a complete unit, cost NT$2 million (US$58,000), and according to Lee remains the only one on the island.

Technology acquired from Shimadzu enabled Shang Chuen to become Taiwan's only electronic-scale maker capable of producing core parts on its own. To keep its load cells from losing accuracy because of metal fatigue, the company imports aircraft-grade aluminum from the United States for the bodies. Today the firm produces its own cells, also supplying other companies.

The company has two production facilities, both in southern China-one in Xiamen and Dongguan--with a combined work force of 1,000. Lee stresses, however, that its product development and design unit remains in Taiwan. This unit has a team of 20 design specialists, with about 5% of annual revenue devoted to R&D.

Like the company's name, which means "precision" in the local dialect, the company's scales never disappoint in supplying precise figures to users in their personal quest to maintain precision figures.

Caption: Shang Chuen impresses its customers with a wide variety of electronic scales, both for commercial and individual use.

For more information, please contact the company at: No. 53, Liao Yang 4th St. Taichung City, Taiwan; Tel: 886-4-2245-3226; Fax: 886-4-2243-5042, 886-4-2244-4918; E-mail: www.satrue.com.tw; E-mail: satrue@ms12.hinet.net.