Despite the widely publicized global financial crisis, with even the three major automakers in the U.S-GM, Ford and Chrysler-floundering and trying to acquire official bailouts, some OEM/ODMs (original equipment/design manufacturer) in Taiwan have effectively tapped into their most sought-after skills-tenacity, flexibility, adaptability and capacity to learn to upgrade and survive. One reason ...

Manufacturers of parts and accessories for the base metal industry in Taiwan have benefited from strong support from the domestic iron and steel industry, giving them easy access to high-grade materials needed for high-precision parts. The industry has grown over the decades to supply parts for a wide range of demanding applications in the electronics, electrical engineering, computer peripheral,...

Many in Taiwan's manufacturing sectors are likely feeling confused, as if the carpet has been pulled from underneath them, especially after their considerable efforts to upgrade manufacturing skills and machine tools over the past few years. The global financial crisis to many in manufacturing in Taiwan and perhaps elsewhere seems to have happened overnight and without warning. Many decision make...

Taiwan-based makers of hand tools have, after devoting years to upgrading production capability and capacity, moved up from OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to ODM (original design manufacturer) in the global supply chain. Their current success-establishing an association between "made-in-Taiwan" with high-end hand tools globally-is attributable partly to consistent R&D and commitment to b...

Many years of effort spent on production capacity and R&D are enabling Taiwan-based hand tool makers to turn out better products versus their emerging rivals, hence helping them successfully build overseas footholds in the global supply chains. Statistics from the MOEA's Industrial Technology Information Services (ITIS) show Taiwan's hand tool sector produced NT$12.8 billion and exported...

Repeated reports of hand tool makers in Taiwan having been focusing on R&D to upgrade their role in the global supply chain are proving to be more than mere hype and words: a handful of hand tool makers from Taiwan have won IF Product Design Awards in 2008, confirming not only their globally-recognized innovative, product development capability, but more importantly their evolution from OEM (orig...

European and American producers of professional automobile repair tools have plenty of reasons to worry as Taiwan rivals steadily eat away at their global market shares. A combination punch of high-quality, reasonably priced and innovative products, rapid market response, and prompt delivery has enabled Taiwanese manufacturers to keep rivals in advanced countries on the defensive. The end to t...

As Taiwan's biggest exporter of high-end ratchet wrenches by volume, Chang Loon Industrial Co., Ltd. attributes its current status to long-term dedication to R&D, a key strategy that helps hand tool makers in Taiwan to keep at bay and stay ahead of rivals from emerging countries, who tend to emulate their more advanced counterparts. Chang Loon began as an OEM (original equipment manufacture...

Years ago, as Japanese cars in the 1970s, Taiwan-made exports, as confirmed by a local supplier recently, were often the object of taunts and jibes in movies and real-life, targeted by foreign users as examples of poor quality and design; but such negative stereotyping generally does not apply today to Taiwan-made exports, at least not automotive repair tools. After decades of earnest industr...

Trade show organizer Euroexpo Company has been for 10 years presenting the INTERTOOL exhibition-a specialized trade fair for machine tools, tools, metalworking, manufacturing and hydraulic technologies. In 2007 the show organizer renamed the event as MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL TOOL EXPO or MITEX, which will be staged November 11-14, 2008 at the Expocentr Krasnaya Presnya. The number of partic...