Taiwan Continues to Move Forward

Earlier this month I attended the 4^th edition of Taiwan’s International Machine Tool Show in Taichung. It is hosted biennially by the Taiwan Machine Tool and Accessory Builders’ Association (TMBA).

The location in Taichung is in the heart of the country’s machine tool building industry with 80 percent of the industry located within a 60-km radius of Taichung. According to the show sponsor, more than 650 companies exhibiting precision machine tools, components, accessories, cutting tools and automation booked 78,000 square meters of exhibition space. Attendance exceeded 70,000, with 2 percent from overseas.

The theme for this year’s show is a strong move by Taiwan’s machine tool industry into five-axis machining primarily focused on the aerospace industry. Many of the exhibitors showed various versions of five-axis machining center capability, including A over B tables, tilting spindles and combinations of both.

Included in the trade show activities are several factory tours of builders in the Taichung area. Obviously, this is convenient, but more important, seeing the continued development of the country’s manufacturing capacity and capability is best seen on the factory floor.

China is still Taiwan’s best customer for machine tools and accessories, while the United States is in position number two for Taiwanese exports. Most of Taiwan’s machine tool and accessory builders are small- to medium-sized enterprises and through associations such as TMBA, cooperation and pooling of non-proprietary resources is encouraged for competitive reasons. For more information about Taiwan’s machine tool industry and the TMTS show, click here.