Value-added Products and Technologies Shine at MT Duo
2010/05/24 | By Ben ShenThe 2010 Taipei CNC Machine Tool & Manufacturing Technology Show (MT Duo), the ninth of its kind, was held on May 8-11 at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1. With state-of-the-art production equipment attracting the enthusiastic attention of international buyers, it was the most important machine tool exhibit in Taiwan this year. 
A total of 248 companies from Taiwan and overseas occupied 703 standard booths at the show, which was co-organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI). The economic recovery helped boost attendance to 18,000 domestic visitors and 1,000 foreign buyers.
According to a report compiled by the Department of Industrial Technology, a unit of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan's machinery industry is expected to regain momentum this year and achieve an overall annual production value that will break the NT$1 trillion mark in 2014. Machine tools will play a vital role in this achievement.
Leading machine tool manufacturers in Taiwan showcased their latest products at the recent show as a means of getting an early hold on some of the business opportunities that are sure to come in the years ahead. Among the exhibitors were the Accuway Machinery Co., Anderson Group, Chien Wei Precision Technology Corp., Ching Hung Machinery & Electric Industry Co., C-TEK Technology Co., DMG Machinery Taiwan Ltd., EYAN Machine Tools Co., Hiwin Group, Oscar EDM Co., and Peiping Precision Enterprise Co.
Ben Chan, general manager of the Taichung-based Precision Machinery R&D Center (PMC), shared the center's technological achievements of the past few years by holding a special presentation that focused on micro-machining equipment and related materials.
The show's major exhibition categories included CNC machine tools and micro-nanometer-scale ultra-high-precision machines; automation, components, appliances, and materials; pneumatic, hydraulic, and transmission components/systems; tools, molds, and dies; design engineering and quality control; material handling/storage systems; and industrial robots.
TAITRA notes that Taiwan has become the world's fourth-largest exporter and fifth-largest importer of machine tools. Manufacturers in the field enjoy the advantages of cluster production, flexible manufacturing, and rapid response, and have used these advantages to develop customized, relatively inexpensive products that attract customers from around the world.
Large Wire-cut Machines
One of the most eye-catching exhibits at the show was put on by Ching Hung Machinery, with a series of RX-series ultra-large wire-cut machines, including flushing and die-submerge models, which have been especially designed for the production of large molds for the home appliance and auto industries.
Ching Hung is known for its ability to design customized products, and each of its machines has a specific mechanical structure and column-moving system to sustain large molds. The machines have a highly rigid mechanical structure that ensures their integrity.
The company was founded in 1975 and is one of Taiwan's largest manufacturers of a wide range of electric discharge machines (EDMs) and wire-cut machines. It is known in the global EDM market for its own "CHMER" and "GENSPARK" brands.
Ching Hung recently introduced its latest new-generation products: the MV series of wire-cut machines, which feature enhanced performance thanks to direct linear-motor drive that helps boost performance. The company claims that it is the first in Taiwan, and second in the world, to apply linear-motor technology to wire-cut machines. The machines also employ Taiwan's unique ESL technology that provides about 15% in power consumption.
The firm says that its in-house R&D department has made major breakthroughs in developing user-friendly CNC controllers and EDM power-supply systems that also save production costs. Chung Hung can also provide end-users with specific software for special applications.
Alliances Boost Recognition and Know-how
The Quick-Tech Machinery Co., a frequent trade-show exhibitor of CNC lathes, entered into a strategic alliance with the Mitsubishi Electric Corp. of Japan in February of 2008 and has since constantly expanded its international recognition. In June of 2008, it moved to gain advanced operating and management know-how by inviting Muga of Germany to become a major shareholder.
With Muga's participation, Quick-Tech has begun using two brands: "Muga-Tech" (on products made with Muga technology) for the German market, and "Quick-Tech" (on products developed by Quick-Tech itself) for markets in other parts of the world.
The company showcased its latest TT-42 "Quick-Tech" CNC lathe at MT Duo 2010. This new lathe features eight axes and four spindles, including a sub-spindle with X and Y positioning functions. Its new design reduces the machine's footprint while significantly increasing its machining and cutting capabilities. Large linear guideways increase stability and accuracy, and high-torque Mitsubishi servo motors and directly coupled to the precision ballscrews to provide steady, heavy-duty cutting with superior accuracy and repeatability.
"As a professional manufacturer of machine tools," commented K.C. Jacky Huang, Quick-Tech's managing director, "I always think of launching international cooperation with well-established foreign manufacturers to enhance product quality."
Another advantage of the company's products is that they are made with such advanced materials as titanium and platinum to ensure light weight, long durability, and high precision.
Huang said that Quick-Tech is now in a period of transition, moving toward a concentration on multi-tasking CNC lathes that require more powerful CNC-control systems to carry out their sophisticated machining functions.
The managing director reported that his products have high exposure in such markets as South Africa, Egypt, Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico.
Chip Conveyors for Every Purpose
Another prominent participant in MT Duo 2010 was Fongei Industry Co., a specialized make of machine-tool peripheral equipment such as chip conveyors, which hoped to boost its corporate image by displayed its latest products. Company officials said that their sales performance closely follows the ups and downs of machine-tool manufacturing, as most of its products are supplied to the industry.
Fongei was founded in Taiwan's central county of Taichung in 1975. Today it holds ISO9001 and CE-mark certification and has set up an integrated production model to focus on high-end chip conveyors made with large laser-cutting and other machinery from Germany. This advanced machinery has helped the company to extend its markets to sectors other than machinery.
The company's chip conveyors, which are designed especially to meet the needs of the metal-cutting industry, are suitable for CNC lathes, machining centers, milling machines, presses, screw-making machines, and other specialty machines. The product lineup includes steelbelt and scraper type chip conveyors (standard, precision, magnetic, and precision magnetic), roller type tiny chip conveyors (internal, external), dual belt chip conveyors, and magnetic conveyors.
All of the products can convey metal-cutting chips of any shape, including super-fine and power-type chips, and can work with curly iron chips, metallic chips, non-curly chips, foundry chips, curly aluminum chips, aluminum chips, brass chips, and non-metallic chips.
The FCF-2050 magnetic conveyor, for example, is designed for conveying iron pieces, silicon steel pieces, and screw parts; it magnetizes the pieces, then proceeds to transport them. It can be matched with press and screw transportation.
Fongei assistant manager Ricky Cheng noted that steelbelt models are used mainly by machinery makers, and magnetic conveyors by manufacturers of industrial products such as screw and iron products. All of the company's conveyors are 100% custom-made; if necessary, they can be developed specifically to meet the needs of different customers.
Thanks to its long-term development of a wide range of chip conveyors, Fongei has captured 80% of the Taiwan market, which takes 80% of its total output. The remaining 20% is exported to more than 200 clients worldwide.
His company, Cheng said, has built up a good reputation overseas, especially in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Japan, the United States, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and Iran. "We're the island's first manufacturer of chip conveyors," he explained, "and we still retain the position as the manufacturer with the largest production capacity in this field."
Cheng conceded that recent times have been hard ones for Fongei: "We're closely tied to the ups and downs of the domestic machinery industry, which has been severely battered by the global financial tsunami. Its sales were down over 60%, year-on-year, in the first half of last year. But I'm happy to report that our sales have grown substantially since the beginning of this year, as the global machine-tool industry, of course including Taiwan's, has been undergoing a rapid recovery." (May 2010)