Thai-Taiwan supply chain collaboration

The event was supported by the Bureau of Foreign Trade, organised by the Corporate Synergy Development Center and Taiwan External Trade Development Council. The occasion was aimed to drag closer the relations of automotive parts manufacturers from Thailand with the machine tools/equipment providers of Taiwan. The organiser invited three selected Taiwan machine tool, press, and grinder companies, namely Tongtai, SEYI and Jainnher, to be presented at the auto manufacturing industry event and further introduce their companies and products.

Key institutions

While company to company relations are fundamental for practical cooperation, the governmental and associations have also shown their strong support to this event. The director of economic division at Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand Jason Hsu, and the first economic secretary Benjamin Lin attended the event, while associations (Thailand Auto Parts Manufacturing Association –TAMPA, Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry- TAMI) from both countries sent representatives to attend. Jason Hsu highlighted Thailand’s high-flying position as an industrial production base in South East Asia. He stressed Thailand has become a major offshore manufacturing base for global auto manufacturing, and that the nation is valued for exceptionally talented labour force.

The president of TAMPA Mrs. Achana Limpaitoon gave her sincere encouragement to the organisers. In her own company, she tells employees if they cannot find machines locally they should look for Taiwan machines mainly for their reasonable price, fine quality, and that Taiwan’s expertise in engineering is comparable to that of Japan. She also shared her opinion about how the two countries could work together in focusing on smart devices, accessories and electronic parts.

Keynotes addressed demands imminent in the Thai market

During the keynote speeches, Mr. Allen Chen, manager of overseas sales department of Tongtai Group, focused on the capacity of Tongtai in producing a wide ranges of machineries that include vertical/horizontal CNC lathes, multi-tasking machining centers, ultrasonic-assisted machining center, transfer center, additive manufacturing equipment, PCB machines and laser machines. He also emphasised on the Metal Powder Direct Energy Deposition and Subtractive Manufacturing Machine, in which the technology the technology is a combination of Laser cladding plus CNC 5-axis machining plus Laser surface treatment that are extremely beneficial to the new generation automotive manufacturing industry. Finally, Mr. Allen Chen highlighted Tongtai’s ability in providing total solution. With diverse production lines with advanced technical applications in machining, “we have proven to be successful in a number of industries but particularly in the automotive manufacturing sector as it is where we was established on since the early days and still remains the biggest demands of Tongtai’s equipment today”, Allen Chen remarked.

The second keynote speech was delivered by SEYI’s vice president of sales and service division Mr. Steven Lee. He used a number of solid statistics to explain the efficient, intelligent and environmental-friendly servo press tandem lines they supply. It was clearly presented to the audience that with SEYI’s equipment clients are able to reduce the number of machines needed traditionally down to one single station, and with better qualities in terms of spring back control. Steven Lee used case-study videos and photos to explain how their press lines integrate into clients’ factory –SEYI shown great dedication from innovating the presses’ frame and structural design, refining the energy saving motor drive, as well as user-friendly interface. “All of these attempts are aimed to practically and instantly generate improvements in the clients’ factory, the value that clients will see from using our tandem lines will only escalate in time – in other words, this will be a cash printing machine for your factory!” Steven Lee exclaimed.

The final presentation of the event was delivered by the sales manager of export department Mr. William Lee. He proceeded his keynote speeches with abundant videos of real-time machining examples, particularly to underscore that the company provides solutions that target each part of automotive components and system machining. William Lee gave a comprehensive review on what internal grinders, cylindrical grinders center hole, double spindle, vertical grinding machine, and centerless grinders could contribute to transmission gears, oil pumps, universal joints, engine valves, shock absorber, and so on. The full automatic loading and unloading system, and in-house developed software system will be suitable for Thailand, where intelligent 4.0 and upgrading have just begun. Apart from automotive manufacturing, Willian Lee emphasised that the company is also active in supplying other industries such as electronics, medical, recreation, home appliances industries and so on.