Members Form Advanced Auto-Lamp System Development Alliance in Taiwan

A total of 11 of Taiwan's research and academic institutes, high-tech companies, and auto-lamp makers recently signed an agreement to form the Advanced Auto-lamp System R&D Alliance (ALS), which is expected to further upgrade the global competitiveness of the island's already strong auto-lamp line.

The ALS was initiated by the semi-official Automotive Research & Testing Center (ARTC), the most important testing and R&D center for transportation vehicles in Taiwan, Other members are the top three local auto-lamp makers (Ta Yih Industrial, TYC Brothers Industrial, and Depo Auto Parts Ind.), two high-tech firms owned by local automaker Yulon Motor (Stark Technology Inc., involved in information-technology solutions and systems integration, and Sine Technology Co., in auto electronics and navigation-system integration), and research/academic institutes Electronics Research & Service Organization (ERSO) of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Plastic Technology Development Center, and National Central University, Da Yeh University, and National Taipei University of Technology.



Most local auto-lamp makers believe the alliance will help elevate the technology in local producers' advanced auto-lighting products, especially in the high-intensity discharge (HID) headlamp sector, and eliminate some of the need for expensive technology licensing from foreign lighting-source partners such as Philips and Osram.

Hsu Hsu-ming, chairman of Depo, said at the signing ceremony that local makers have to pay over US$100 for the patented HID lighting sources to Philips for each HID headlamp set, squeezing profit margins.

Yu Ching-liang, vice president of Ta Yih, the largest original equipment (OE) auto lamp producer in Taiwan supplying over 80% of the domestic market, said that most local auto-lamp makers used to concentrate on the aftermarket (AM) business, and the ALS alliance is expected to help them break through technical bottlenecks and further upgrade quality and functions.

ARTC president Huang Long-chou said that participants in the R&D alliance possess expertise and technical capabilities in optical design, humanistic engineering analysis, plastic materials, production processes, and electrical control and sensors. He said he is very optimistic about the alliance's prospects, with local auto-lamp makers no longer having to fight in isolation in the international market. They will integrate their resources and technical capabilities in systems-integration auto-lamp development projects, jointly solving problems.

In the past, Huang pointed out, most local auto-lamp makers spent all of their energies in the AM business, which requires lower technical levels and more traditional production processes, and neglected the importance of the development of such advanced auto-lighting products as HID and adaptive front-lighting system (AFS) headlights due to lack of scale and technology integration among them. That has led to key technologies being controlled by big international companies, according to the president.

Huang claimed that all ALS R&D results will be shared among members, cutting their development costs in key auto-lamp parts.

Depo chairman Hsu said that Taiwan currently exports about NT$15 billion (US$444 million at US$1: NT$33.8) worth of auto lamps per year, with the figure growing by an average of 20% to 30% annually in recent times. Most of the auto-lamp exports are made by the top three makers, which together account for 80% to 90%. Depo, for example, ships about 1.4 million sets of auto lamps per month, over 90% of which are for export.