ITRI Forms 'A+ Machine-tool Technology Alliance'

Taipei, July 8, 2008 (CENS)--To push domestic manufacturers of machine tools to develop high-value-added products, the government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has recently cooperated with six makers of CNC (computerized numerically controlled) machine tools to form an "A+ Machine-tool Technology R&D Alliance."

The six domestic manufacturers joining the alliance are Tongtai Machine & Tool Co., Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co., Kao Fong Machinery Co., Dah Lih Machinery Industry Co., Falcon (Chevalier) Machine Tools Co., and Long Chang Machinery Co.

The alliance will introduce advanced techniques from Germany, hoping to escalate the accuracy of domestically made machine tools to the submicron level. The ITRI said it has already developed all the technologies for assembling the ultra-high-accurate machine tools which will be debuted in the middle of March 2009.

To promote the application of the high technologies, the ITRI recently sponsored an international symposium by inviting such foreign cooperative firms as R+P, GMN and RAMPF to share the development experience of submicron vertical machining centers with relevant local manufacturers.

T.C. Wu, director general of ITRI's Mechanical Industry Research Laboratories (MIRL), said Taiwan is the world's sixth-largest producing nation of machine tools with overall production value amounting to NT$133 billion (US$4.38 billion) in 2007, up 18.5% from the year earlier.

Taiwan-made machine tools are warmly welcomed in the international marketplace because of their good quality and cheap prices. But over the past three years, manufacturers of machine tools of South Korea and mainland China have been threatening domestic manufacturers who focus on medium- and lower-level products.

Accordingly, the ITRI advised domestic manufacturers of machine tools to quickly establish high-level manufacturing technologies and concentrate on high-value-added product ranges.

The ITRI said it would disperse the submicron machining technologies to domestic relevant manufacturers to help escalate the technology level of domestically made CNC machining centers, lathes, milling machines and grinding machines.