Taiwan woodworking machinery makers are feverishly trying to integrate more efficient design features into products to enhance precision, degree of automation and output, as the most savvy way to stay ahead of the competitors in mainland China is to maintain technological superiority. Meanwhile, moving upmarket is the way to keep sales lead over mainland Chinese woodworking machine tool s...

Founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden, IKEA is a privately-held, international home products retailer with a wide-ranging line, including all kinds of furniture, upholstered furnishings, hardware, lighting, ornaments, bedroom dressing, bathroom accessories, kitchenware, office furniture, and related accessories at stores around the world. And one often neglected albeit interesting feature ...

A Tendency to Natural, Black, & White The modern world clearly wants products, which are high in quality, ethically correct and, above all, of emotional value. Young, alternative suppliers now provide serious competition for manufacturers of mass-produced goods in the high-end price segment. Their work is rich in ideas as well as being market-oriented. They have the courage to try something...

Imm cologne 2008, running from Jan. 14 to 20 in Cologne, Germany, is considered one of the world's leading furnishing shows and a centerpiece of the furniture sector in Europe. The world-class event drew to a close successfully amid ample praise from high-profile visitors and industry professionals, who generally rated the show as the standard by which others should be measured. Wolf...

Perhaps not totally due to their willing sense of social duty to the world but more likely, at least in part, waken up by the obvious manifestations of global warming-where many parts of the world have been torn by unusually severe weather events-increasingly more makers of furnishings have been turning to look for natural materials in production to minimize their carbon footprint. The general co...

Between low-cost rivals and rising material costs, Taiwan's metal furniture makers are finding profits increasingly elusive in their once mainstay OEM (original equipment manufacturing) business. Many have responded by moving to cheaper production sites, notably mainland China, but others are sticking it out, and succeeding by adding value where others are cutting costs. A clear indic...

Despite the obvious downsizing of Taiwan's furniture industry in recent year due to the massive outflow of production lines to neighboring Southeast Asia and China, mainly caused by less favorable conditions at home-rising labor rates, land prices and clearly more competitive counterparts offshore-a significant number of manufacturers and suppliers of office furniture (often labeled as OA or offi...

With shipment growth to the Chinese market slowing down and that to developed markets stagnating, Taiwanese exporters are discovering new avenues for export growth in emerging markets other than China. Taiwan's exports to the mainland Chinese/Hong Kong market grew 9.5% year-on-year to US$62.6 billion in the first eight months of 2007, 40% of its overall export figure. The total included US$37...

With their share of the Japanese market being severely eroded by rivals in mainland China, Taiwanese furniture makers are struggling to hold their position by switching to higher-end products. This effort paid off in a favorable response from Japanese buyers at the recent International Furniture Fair Tokyo (IFFT) 2002. IFFT 2002 took place at Tokyo Big Sight, a sprawling exhibition complex ne...

Taiwanese leisure-chair manufacturers are pulling out all the stops to turn out function-rich products to win over consumers in a time of keen competition. The increasing focus on multifunctional designs reflects the evolving role of what was once a piece of furniture for just sitting down. Today's high-tech chairs not only meet the needs of sitting comfort, but may also feature such plush extras...