APF was recently invited to Taipei by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council alongwith media personnel of four other countries. TAITRA as it is known, was founded in 1970 to promote Taiwan’s foreign trade and competitiveness in world markets. Over last 40 years they have played a key role in development of Taiwanese economy. The council is jointly sponsored by the Government of Taiwan and commercial associations to promote Taiwan as a gateway to business for the international business community.
I was taken on a five day trip across Taiwan, where I got the chance to visit the manufacturing facilities of eight top companies and get an insiders view of their production techniques and processes. On the first day, I attended a meeting with the executives of TAITRA at their office lounge and discussed on the various aspects of promotional activities done by them on behalf of the industries in Taiwan.
The first company I visited was TBI Motion at Taichung. The proceedings started by meeting Daniel Chen, sales director and Louis Chou, sales executive who gave presentation about their company followed by factory tour at both of their factories. Their new factory is a state of art manufacturing centre developed as per the international standards. Established in the year 1986, they are pioneers in ball screw, linear guide, ball spline, precision ball screw/spline, single axis robot, linear ball bearing, coupling and support Unit. The range of product applications include automatic controlling machine, semi conductor industry, general industrial machinery, medical equipment, solar energy equipment, machine tools and parking system.
They are one of the leading brand in the market with more than 30 years of experience in linear and motion products with exports to different countries. They have a team of highly trained professionals who constantly upgrade their products to meet international standards with on time delivery and high quality. They specialise in manufacturing cold-rolling and ground ball screw (size from 4mm -100mm, accuracy level upto JIS CO standard), Liner guide(standard and miniature,size from 7 – 65mm),Ball spline (size from 6-50mm)and accessories of coupling and support unit as their extended service.
On the second day I visited Fair Friend Enterprise.Group and AutoCam. At Fair Friend Enterprise Group Andy Hung,Assistant Manager,Sales Dept.gave the presentation of their company. Established in the year 1979 they are pioneer in Machine Tools Division, PCB Division, Industry Equipment Division and Green Energy Division. Product ranges start from CNC machine tools, power tools & equipments, forklifts, construction machinery, parking garage equipment, pneumatic equipment, printed circuit board, LCD monitors and TV, Solar cell conductive adhesives, LED lighting. 
They have 74 production and operational bases worldwide to meet the demand. FFG has become the world’s largest machining centre manufacturing group and largest machine tools group in greater China (Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Southeast Asian countries). They have 40 manufacturing bases worldwide and 26 machine tools brand under the conglomerate.By 2018, they will play vital role on the global stage based on the strategy of Rooting in Taiwan, Market cultivation in China and business expansion worldwide.Their philosophy of business are innovation, brand marketing, human resource development, joint venture and acquisition.
Their machine tools division started in the year 1985 with products like sawing machines and grinding machines.Gradually they developed CNC machine tools in the same year realising the trend toward high automation and unmanned operations in machine tools industries with the brand name FEELER for overseas marketing. In 1986, the first moving column vertical machining centre in Taiwan was built and it was highly regarded in the market.
AutoCam was established in the year 1995. They are masters in the field of CNC Rotary Table, High Speed Indexing Unit and Machine Tools Changer Unit. They adhere to three ideas of insistence, innovation and growing that leads them to advance at a faster pace.
The Cam can extend the development and application limitlessly as their customer relies on machine tools manufacturers in initial stage.They researched, developed and produced the automatic tool changer unit. In the first month they sold 60 units which increased to 600 per month.
Their brand new application technology is numero uno in Taiwan and is developed with world class standards. They employed large amount of manpower and materials during the course of testing and exhibiting the practical Tilting Rotary Table products at TIMTOS for the first time in 2007. They again exhibited the Rotary Table and Tilting Rotary Table of the whole series at TIMTOS in 2009.
The third day of our visit was again dedicated to the tour of two companies – Yinsh Precision Industrial Co.Ltd and Roundtop Machinery Industries Co.Ltd.
Guo-Hua Lin, president of Yinsh Precision Industrial Co.Ltd established the company in1989 as a family based processing plant, which produced precision component parts. With changes in time and needs of the machinery industries in Taiwan, General Manager You-chong Wu and Deputy General Manager You-jie Wu joined the operational decision making team developing product strategies to deliver sustainability, growth, excellence and sincerity. In the process, they have earned the approval and recognition of large scale companies around the world and have achieved the objective of market expansion. Their products include locknuts, inner thread, outer thread, precision machine track scraper which are exported to all major markets of Europe, UK, USA and Southeast Asian countries, including India.
Roundtop Machinery Industries Co.Ltd was established in the year 1979. It grew steadily and became a publicly listed company in 1992. With over 20 years of experience in the design and manufacturing of precision machine tools, they have maintained a leading position in Taiwan through innovation, quality and flexibility.
Their products include vertical machining centers, double column multi-axis 5 face machining centers, turning centers, boring and milling centers, flat bed CNC lathes and CNC screw cutting machine. Over the past 20 years, they have established a worldwide sales network.
TJR Precision Technology Co. and Accuway Machinery Corporation Ltd. were reserved for the fourth day.
TJR Precision Technology Co. are pioneers in the field of CNC rotary tables with specialisation in 4th and 5th axis technology. The MD of the company is himself an experienced technocrat who has worked with Chinese companies for many years before starting his own venture. His company has become quite successful in a short period of time, primarily due to the innovative design of the rotary table.
Their main products are CNC rotary table, CNC index table and other accessories with high precision and stability. Their products are mainly used in aerospace industry, high tech electronics industry, automobile parts manufacturing, multi-faceted spiral manufacturing and other mechanical industries. They maintain a high quality and service standard for their products and export it to countries like China, Thailand and Vietnam.
Accuway is a well established producer of accurate vertical machining centers and CNC lathes for various divisions of the industry. The company was founded in the year 1986 and started manufacturing moulding tools and trimming/forming machines of LED, transistors and DRAM for semi-conductor packaging industry in Taiwan.
They have achieved wide range of successes as OEM supplier of CNC lathes to local machine tooling companies. Furthermore, they began offering their unique vertical machining centers and CNC lathes to Taiwanese market in 2003.
Since then they have won wide reputation and honours within Taiwan, Southeast Asia and Europe.In a competitive market, Accuway has gained leadership in precision machining tools by constantly upgrading technology through innovation and focusing on customer satisfaction on a priority basis.
Excetek based in Taichung was visited by me on the final day of the trip. Started in the year 2006, they have grown in a very short span of time in manufacturing Wire Cut EDM. They have a state-of-the-art factory which produces world class Wire Cut EDMs with latest technology.
It has participated in the evolution of wire cut EDM technologies such as Submerged Type in 1998 followed by AWT at the point of wire breakage in 2000, 1000 mm of table in 2004, machining with a thickness of just 500 mm in 2004.
They have a prominent team in the field of wire cutting EDM with sales network all over the world. Their products are built on international standards, they believe in quality and do not compromise with the price.
Taiwan was founded in 1912, thus making it the first democratic republic in Asia. This small mass of land is spread over an area of 36,000 square kilometers and has a population of 23 million. Over time, it has developed in to a burgeoning metropolis boasting of excellent infrastructure, convenient transportation system, and high-quality communication services. It has achieved a remarkable record of economic development and political democracy through the perseverance and unrelenting efforts of its people.
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