Largest Ever Taiwan Auto Parts Delegation Visits Detroit on OEM Mission

The largest delegation of representatives from Taiwan original-equipment manufacturing (OEM) auto-parts makers to ever call on Detroit recently landed in the automotive citadel. A series of seminars with international procurers were staged in the town to introduce the island's strengths.

The delegation, which consisted of representatives from over 30 local companies, was led by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), a quasi-official trade-promotion organization. The initiative was commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' (MOEA) Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT).

These included two leading Taiwanese automakers, Yulon Motor Co. (in partnership with Nissan) and China Motor Corp. (Mitsubishi), four leading auto-electronics parts suppliers, Delta Electronics, Compal Electronics, Bcom Electronics, and Whetron Industrial, and many other major auto-parts makers, including Tong Yang Industrial, National Aerospace Fastener (NAFCO), Dainty Electric, Ton Rong Machinery Factory, Chian Hsing Forging Industrial, Nan Hoang Traffic Instrument, Sumeeko Industries, Safety Control Cable Industry, Hota Industrial Manufacturing, World Known Mfg., Nitring Enterprise, and Pro Fortune Industry.



Members met procurement officials from 28 international auto-industry companies and organizations, including DaimlerChrysler, Visteon, Original Equipment Suppliers Association (OESA), TRW, T1 Automotive, Valeo, Lear, Intier Automotive, Isuzu, Dana, Arvin Meritor, Tenneco, Siemens, Metaldyne, Aisin, Thyssen Krupp, and Faurecia.

Interest, members report, was intense. A number of local metal-parts suppliers report especially promising prospects, in large part due to skyrocketing steel prices, which have forced the big internationals to accelerate outsourcing plans to cut costs.

After the one-day seminars, representatives from individual companies were invited to visit a number of companies for more intimate discussion and exploration. Time was spent at the facilities of the Big Three automakers, Ford, GM, and DaimlerChrysler, as well as at Johnson Control Inc., a leading auto-electronics parts supplier, and American Axle & Manufacturing Holding Inc., the tenth-largest tier-one parts supplier in North America. Ford and Johnson Control each mobilized over 20 procurement officials for negotiations with delegation members, while at GM a team of eight ranking officials conducted individual face-to-face negotiations with Taiwan-firm reps.

According to TAITRA, the Detroit initiative was the first step in a series of projects commissioned by the BOFT to promote Made-in-Taiwan auto parts in the international OEM market. The Michigan state government dispatched ranking economics-affairs officials to greet the delegation.

In his introductory speech on the first day of the seminars, Chao Yung-chuan, secretary general of TAITRA, said that the Big Three are facing fierce competition from South Korean and Japanese makers and are losing market share, which in turn is affecting the profitability of their parts suppliers. Seventeen of the top 150 tier-one parts suppliers in North America, he added, have applied for bankruptcy protection. In North America manufacturers in this line are facing an unprecedented challenge.

In Chao's opinion, all tier-one auto-parts suppliers will from necessity accelerate outsourcing to Asia in their battle for survival. As a result Taiwan parts makers, with a firm international reputation for high product and service quality made even more attractive by reasonable prices, are expected to experience a surge in business.

The secretary general also declared that TAITRA will continue in its plans for overseas promotional activities shining a spotlight on Made-in-Taiwan auto parts and, specifically, helping qualified local makers more deeply penetrate the OEM market in North America.