With intelligent production, the machine industry in Taiwan is helping to stem the spread of the corona virus.
What do Industry 4.0 and respirators have to do with each other? Recently a lot. Because of the fear of the corona virus, respirators are sold out in many cities around the world. And Industry 4.0, digitalized production, can help to end the bottleneck quickly. The example of Taiwan shows just how important a digitalized supply chain can be in times of epidemics. The Taiwanese machine tool industry has redirected production capacities in no time at all and invested in the manufacture of masks. Companies such as Tongtai Machine & Tool Co, TPI Bearings and Hiwin Technologies have set up production lines and reduced the lead time for mask production from typically 45 to 60 days to 25 days. Production has shot up from 3.2 million units per day to 10 million units, and the enormous demand in the Asian markets has been at least partially satisfied.
The corona coup shows how efficient and flexible Taiwan's industry has become in the meantime. From being a manufacturer of classic mechanical processing machines, the machine industry of the small island state has developed into a supplier of precision machines and solutions for digital networking, who delivers all over the world and in many places modernizes entire branches of industry. In 2018, Taiwan's industry produced machines with a record value of 36 billion euros, and exports rose by 7.3%.
However, the greatest threat to Taiwan's industry is not the corona virus, but the trade war between the USA and China. In 2019, exports therefore fell by 8%, but the total value of production remained almost constant. "In 2020, we expect exports of machinery equipment to increase by 5 to 10%," says Ba-Xi Ke, the chairman of the Taiwan Machinery Industry Association. Many companies are starting to develop Southeast Asia, South Asia and other new markets for factories and production lines. They are benefiting from the fact that the governments in these countries are massively promoting industrial automation and Industry 4.0, which will lead to further and higher demand for intelligent machine products.
The Taiwanese machinery industry is currently undergoing rapid transformation from a manufacturer of traditional production machinery to a provider of production services. One example is Equiptop HiTech Corp. with the intelligent precision grinding machine TD-ADC. A digital control system improves accuracy and precision, and via the Internet of Things it can use information from other equipment to work more precisely and efficiently. Another example is the Axile ART intelligent machine monitoring system presented by Buffalo Machinery. It collects production data, optimizes the energy consumption of the production line and significantly reduces downtime. And ACME Machinery's AM-ICD dyeing machine uses intelligent control systems to shorten textile dyeing time and significantly reduce water consumption and CO2 emissions.
"Taiwan's machinery industry helps customers to set up precise, efficient and flexible production lines," Ba-Xi Ke emphasizes, "and when necessary, it also overcomes global crises such as the outbreak of the corona virus.
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