Industry and Government Cooperate to Promote Global Business Opportunities for Smart Machinery

Leader Lu, Chih-Hau of the Smart Machinery Project Office explained the smart machinery policy and the current progress in TPCA on June 30.

First, Leader Lu explained the practice of the world’s leading manufacturers with a focus on the smart manufacturing trend. For example, Mercedes-Benz transformed its mass customized production into a value-added business model; Siemens’ Electronic Works Amberg increased its production capacity by 8 times with the same area and number of employees; Fujitsu’s Shimane factory produces 20 million customized high-end laptops annually through human-machine cooperation.

Leader Lu believes that the five major development trends of smart factories are: (1) flexible and transparent supply chain management; (2) decentralized industrial clusters; (3) an operational management model of “local production and local consumption” instead of “local production and global consumption”; (4) a production model of design/production/service, instead of single production, in order to meet the different needs of regional markets; and (5) improved bargaining power of brand manufacturers.

Next, Leader Lu pointed out the challenges faced by Taiwan’s manufacturers, such as global manufacturing movements, intense competition in Asian markets, Germany, the U.S., and Japan getting ahead, and the emergence of the red supply chain. Therefore, the government is aiming to introduce smart technologies to precision machinery and export the whole package of factories and production lines. Furthermore, the government has set up application centers in Northern, Central, and Southern Taiwan to develop smart machinery and manufacturing talents and has worked with trade unions and associations to deploy cross-field supply and demand.

Leader Lu indicated that smart manufacturing can be achieved at the corporate level through the following methods: (1) introducing digitalized production management (from Industry 2.0 to Industry 3.0); (2) setting up a public online service platform (PaaS); and (3) developing application service modules (SaaS). Leader Lu also shared some successful cases, such as TECO Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. and Everest Textile Co., Ltd. Finally, Leader Lu showed that the government provides industries with guidance and assistance for such areas as brand marketing, intellectual property, creative design, innovative research and development, technical assistance, quality management, financing, information management, sustainable development, and tax concessions. Industries in need of such guidance and assistance can contact the Smart Machinery Project Office (Source: TPCA).