Bangkok--19 Nov--YIM Exhibitions
The Thai automotive industry has been in development for more than 50 years and is known as the Detroit of the East. It was ranked number one in the ASEAN for global automobile production in 2017, and more than 50 of the world's top 100 OEM parts suppliers have set up production bases in Thailand. Thailand is also the world's primary production site and the largest market for one-ton heavy trucks, as well as manufacturing large quantities of transportation vehicles. This has driven up demand for machinery and equipment. The Thai government has promoted its Thailand 4.0 Project which seeks to transform and upgrade ten key industries, including next-generation automobiles, smart electronics, smart machinery and automation, as well as aviation and aerospace. It is therefore expected that the demand for medium- and high-end manufacturing machinery will increase in the future.
The global manufacturing industry has set off a wave of Industry 4.0 innovation, gradually putting smart systems into the overall manufacturing process. This enables the entire manufacturing system (including individual enterprises and the whole supply chain) to select a more appropriate and efficient way to work or handle emergency situations. In particular, the degree of intelligence in metalworking machine tools has become an important issue for global machine tool suppliers. This affects manufacturing process upgrades for end-manufacturing customers and creates improved competitiveness.
ICT and the automobile industry are Thailand's most important export industries, and they are also the main downstream applications for Thai machine tools. In 2017, Taiwan's export of machining centers; lathes and CNC lathes; boring, drilling, milling, and tapping machines; as well as grinding and CNC grinding machines was second only to Japan. Ultrasonic laser machines; gear planning, broaching, and cutting machines; forging, stamping, and molding machines; other molding machines; and machine tool components were also ranked third or fifth. This shows Taiwan's machine tool products meet the demands of the Thai market.
Mr. Chen Chao Hsiang, Project Manager, Corporate Synergy Development (CSD) said that "Taiwan's machine tool manufacturers use their solid ICT, cell phone and tablet technologies to provide end clients with remote management and monitoring as well as competitive intelligent functions. This is in addition to providing storage, processing, and analytical services for the data collected from machines and sensors in different industries (such as aerospace, automotive, textiles, printed circuit boards, and plumbing). This comes through the National IIoT PaaS (NIP) platform and provides intelligent service design solutions for the applications market. At the same time, the Taiwanese machine tool industry already provides automated manufacturing cells and production lines with standalone machines featuring intelligent functions (such as thermal compensation, anti-collision, and manufacturing process optimization). In addition, integrated machine tools with automated facilities (such as robotic arms) have also been deployed in the Chinese automotive industry. Therefore, the Taiwanese machine tool industry is an indispensable partner for global metal machining, manufacturing, and equipment providers thanks to its rich metal machining and manufacturing technology, as well as its international service experience."
Mr. Chen Chao Hsiang added "The machine tool industry has the most production value in Taiwan offering a complete value chain system, including R&D, component machining and manufacturing, and even assembly, testing, sales and after-sales service for the whole machine. Taiwan has a global market share of 5–6% and is the seventh largest machine-tool producer in the world. In addition, Taiwan's machine tools are mainly exported. Up to 79% of sales go abroad, meaning Taiwan is the world's fifth largest exporter of machine tools. This means catering to the global market, and providing international customer service, are vital to Taiwan's machine tool industry.
The development of Taiwan's machine tools is mainly based on machine centers and CNC lathes which have a competitive cost advantage. Applications include the manufacturing of automobiles, motorcycles, planes, railways, consumer electronics, molds, and various mechanical parts and components. Thus Taiwan's machine tools have a considerable influence in the international market."
Mr. Chen Chao Hsiang added "The Taiwan Smart Machinery Industry Booth (Hall 105, 5C33) is showcased three zones: IoT, Smart Services – Virtual Machine Tools, and Smart Manufacturing – Automotive Workpieces. The IoT zone highlights the achievements of Taiwan's National IIoT PaaS (NIP) platform and Smart Machine Box (SMB). This provides advanced solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises moving toward 4.0 Smart Manufacturing. In addition, it also exhibits SkyMars remote monitoring technology, which can integrate different device controller interfaces to provide a unified information delivery platform. This breaks the shackles of closed machine tool systems and facilitates quick IoT deployment to easily obtain equipment information (such as machine process parameters etc.). This helps to achieve seamless integration of production information through a standard communication interface, which in turn facilitates the integration of various systems (such as MES, ERP etc.) to quickly establish a smart factory infrastructure. The exhibition site is also equipped with high-precision surface grinders from Equiptop and Delta controllers for live demonstrations of remote monitoring production management."
The Smart Service zone exhibits L&L's multi-axis complex machining center with VR. L&L has introduced intelligently designed product lifecycle management (PLM) to develop its LLS multi-axis machining center. This integrates design information to develop virtual machine tools with remote monitoring to connect with clients through IoT. This helps to respond to customer service information quickly and forms a collaborative design channel between the design team and client team.
Mr. Chen Chao Hsiang concluded "The Smart Manufacturing zone has invited seven well-known Taiwan machine tool manufacturers to exhibit their machining methods and finished products for automotive components. This includes Yeong Chin Machinery's (YCM) automotive wheel rims; Shieh Yih Machinery's (Seyi) sheet metal stamping for automobiles, including B-pillars and body sheet metal; SOCO Machinery's (Soco) car headrests, seat frames, and trunk hinges; PALMARY Machinery's (Palmary) camshafts for electric engines and hydrodynamic shafts; Fair Friend's (Feeler) tire molds, brake calipers, and brakes; Supertec's transmission gears, crankshafts, inboard CV joints, journal crosses, gear shafts, camshafts journals, and car crank shafts; and Chin Fong's gears, buckles, bevel gears, and connecting rods."
Let Taiwan's high-quality intelligent technology and program solutions create a manufacturing process for Thailand's automotive component machining and manufacturing industries, and become the best partner in achieving Thailand 4.0. Please visit Booth 5C33 in Hall 105 during the Metalex Thailand 2018 exhibition (November 21–24).