TAIWANESE MACHINERY AND TECHNOLOGY
and 11.9% of market share. The remaining countries are the US – 8.2%, France – 3.2% and the Netherlands – 2.2%. The top three countries of origin dominate 80% of the business. Prospects The global production for the machinery industry is US$25 billion a year. The major players in this industry are Germany, Italy, France, UK, Switzerland, USA, Canada and Asian countries, such as, Japan, Taiwan, China and Korea. By analysing statistics data from each country, China claims to have taken over Germany’s position, becoming the largest plastics and rubber machinery production country in the world. Germany, Japan, Italy and the US are still in the leading group, with Taiwan ranking sixth. In 2010, after the two-year recession, Taiwan will recover from this dark period and may step back to its 2007 level. Challenges Indeed, the industry in Taiwan is standing at a crossroads: facing more business opportunities but tougher challenges, such as the following: Imbalanced market distribution Taiwan exports 31% of all its production to China, and another 25% to the Southeast Asian countries. Obviously there is too much concentration in these two regions, and therefore, spreading out the sales to other countries is a key task to reduce business risks. The new emerging consuming power from the Middle Eastern countries or Eastern Europe is worth exploring. The present situation is that the Gulf region and Central Asian countries occupy 8.8% of the market share, African countries 7.7%, Latin and South American countries 7.4%, while Middle and Eastern European countries only occupy 1.4%. There are still many potential areas to be developed. Material costs Cast iron and steel are the most important ingredients for plastic and rubber machines. Each year, Taiwan requires 20 tonnes of cast iron and steel for this industry. The steel price is manipulated indirectly depending on the demand from China and the rapidly changing prices increase difficulties for manufacturers in cost calculation. In the meantime, Taiwan is an island without any abundant natural resources. Iron sands are imported from outside: the purchase cost is at least 20%-30% higher than what Chinese or South Korean competitors pay. The cost gap is fatal, especially for conventional or low-cost machine builders, exacerbated further by the insufficient labour force and high wages in Taiwan. These factors have forced Taiwanese manufacturers to move to China. Looking at the future trend, it will not be easy to solve this problem in a short period. Taiwanese machinery makers will have to diversify their business patterns and seek more solutions for long term competitiveness.
38
QSB
OCTOBER 2010
Main stream product: All-electric injection machine All-electric injection moulding machines feature low noise levels, low vibration, power and water savings and, ultimately the most important point, a low operation cost. Though the unit price is relatively higher than hydraulic machines, all-electric injection moulding machines fit the demands from high-tech industries, such as semiconductor, computer, multimedia and optical electronics. In 2008, 1,169 units of injection moulding machines were imported to Taiwan, with a value of US$96.22 million. Each machine cost on average US$82,300, which is 2.7 times higher than Taiwanese machines. Of these, 48.7% come from Japan, 19.6% from South Korea and 10.3% from Germany. This is concrete data that indicates the current market trend. According to the Association of Japanese Plastic Machinery, more than 80% of all production of injection moulding machines is all-electrics. Market observers predict that in the next ten years, 70% of the injection moulding machines below 1,600 tonnes coming from Japan, Europe and the US will be all-electrics. This is not only because of the machines’ environmental-friendly features but also because of their high-speed efficiency. Technology for key components and its applications i) Servomotors Servomotors will gradually replace the present complicated mechanical structures, especially because these sophisticated precision parts may wear over time. Therefore, service and maintenance costs will be an inevitable burden in the future, hence the servomotor will be the best solution. ii) Key components from Europe “Assembly in Asia, key components from Europe” – this is how business works at the moment. In order to increase profit and reduce cost at the same time, both sides must cooperate with more flexible and efficient ways so as to create a win-win situation for Asian machine makers and European component suppliers. Taiwan machine makers have organised a technical innovation alliance to develop a new generation of allelectric injection moulding machines, from the initial concept to commercialisation. The first results were seen at Taipeiplas 2010. More and more manufacturers will introduce new small or medium-size models. From the supply chain side, Japanese or German servomotor suppliers are quite confident of Taiwan’s ability to innovate; from the buyer’s side, the demands for these machines are increasing steadily. In all aspects, we see an optimistic future for the plastics and rubber machinery industry this year and there is no reason to be pessimistic in the years to come. U