Attendees at TIMTOS 2005, held this March in Taipei, Taiwan, saw a host of new machine tool technologies.
As part of its strategy to become a forerunner in the global economy, Taiwan again hosted its biennial Taipei International Machine Tool Show (TIMTOS). The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) organized the event and reported it has become one of the major machine tool exhibitions in the world.
TIMTOS 2005 was held in March at the Taipei World Trade Center. Exhibition organizers stated that 32,720 worldwide attendees visited the 642 exhibitors that occupied a total of 2,664 booths.
Exhibitors from countries including Taiwan, Switzerland, Germany, the U.S., the U.K., France, Japan, Austria, the Netherlands, and Spain showcased products ranging from multifunction machining centers, lathes, milling machines, grinders, EDMs, and presses to various inspection and testing equipment, machine tool controls, and machine components and parts.
Companies participating included global names such as DMG, Mitsubishi Electric, ITI Ahfha Inc., Taiwan Dynamics, Mitsutoyo, Yamazaki, Takeda Chemical Ind., Big Daishowa Seiki, Heidenhain, Selco, Siemens, and Okuma.
According to TAITRA, the largest group of buyers came from Korea and represented companies such as Hwacheon, Doosan, and Hannkook. The group reports other top buyers came from Japan, Malaysia, Turkey, and India.
The President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian, visited booths and delivered a speech. He said, "In the face of a slowed global economy, Taiwan's machinery industry has established record growth, reaching 12.3 billion U.S. dollars. Thanks to the combined efforts of industry, government, and academia, the export value of Taiwan machine tools now ranks fourth in the world, next only to Germany, Japan, and Italy."
According to Chen, the machine tool industry forms a vital base for national defense, aerospace, marine, automobile, electronic, and machinery industries. That's why the Taiwanese government is promoting projects that integrate the machine tool, molding machine, and components industries to benefit from R&D alliances, boosting technology upgrade and transformation. He explained the country's long-term goal is to make central Taiwan into the R&D hub for precision machinery, nano mechanics, and biotechnology.
Representatives from machinery associations around the world remarked about the progress of the Taiwanese machine tool industry. All announced they plan on attending TIMTOS 2007. Kimura Mitsuo, director of the International Marketing Department of the Japanese Machine Tool Builders' Association commented, "TIMTOS is truly inspirational."
And Knox Johnstone of AMT — The Association for Manufacturing Technology in the U.S. said, "I am impressed with the quality of machinery manufacturing in Taiwan." Many Swiss companies exhibited, and Jose Feer, director of the Trade Office of Swiss Industries reported, "We are happy to have had a large presence at the show — 50% of total Swiss exports is machinery, so TIMTOS is important to us."
Exhibitors also benefited from TIMTOS 2005. A first-time exhibitor, DMG from Germany, said it was pleased at the opportunity to meet many Taiwanese buyers. And MST from Japan, another new exhibitor, said the show was a big success, providing a platform for Taiwan and Japan to cooperate with emerging markets in China.
Seminars at the show included machine and industry product-purchasing meetings attended by buyers groups from many nations. Entrepreneurs conducted machine-market seminars, featuring speakers from Korea, Brazil, Poland, Germany, Turkey, and Italy. There were also overseas-market seminars such as "The Tool Industry in Korea," "Focus on India," and "Insights into Foreign Markets," among others.
In addition, the Taiwan Machine Tool Foundation presented the Taiwan Machine Tool Industry Excellence in Research and Development Awards, which focused on linear-motion technology for CNC machining centers, NC lathes, and other machine tools. There was also a special award of excellence for NC machine tools.
For CNC machining centers, the first-place prize went to Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co. Ltd. for its VC-H 630 L high-speed HMC. Linear motors drive the HMC's three axes on precision guideways for rapid-traverse rates up to 262 ft/min, while the machine's spindle speeds run to 20,000 rpm. Also in this category, second-place prizes went to Awea Mechantronic Co. Ltd., and Kao Ming Machinery Industrial Co. Ltd.
Far East Machinery Co. Ltd. won the first-place prize for its HL-25 CNC lathe that features a 23-position turret with two disks that accommodate 12 O.D. and 11 I.D. tools. A servomotor drives the disks and provides random tool selection. The machine's toolholders accept front and back-side tools with a high positioning accuracy that the company reports does not require micrometric adjustment. Second place prize went to Goodway Machine Corp.
Falcon Machinery Tools Co. Ltd. got a first-place prize for its high-speed CNC grinder featuring hydrostatic technology, said to provide nano-finish surfaces. In this category, Ching Hung Machinery & Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., and Chin Fong Industrial Co. Ltd. received the second-place prizes.
Yeong Chin Machinery Industry Co. Ltd. collected the special award of excellence for NC machine tools with its high-speed VMC, the FP55A. The company reports the machine's linear motor features a high-damping, heat-isolation device. The VMC also sports a spindle-cooling system that reportedly ensures constant spindle temperatures at speeds up to 30,000 rpm.
