Yihawjet Enterprises Co., Ltd.

MOLDMASTER Variety of electric discharge machines

Although Taiwan is reputedly one of the world's top manufacturing nations of electric discharge machines (EDMs) in terms of production volume, only a few domestic manufacturers have been able to establish in-house R&D capability, with many still dependent on outside institutions. Most manufacturers agree that, without independent R&D skills, they are at the mercy of those possessing tech know-how. Many Taiwanese exporters are OEMs for they lack the expertise to be ODMs. A ready example is the car sector in Taiwan, where a fully home-grown car has yet to achieve market success.

Yihawjet Enterprises Co. is an exception among EDM makers in Taiwan, being one of the few to have cultivated seasoned technicians to build sophisticated manufacturing technologies in-house.

After cooperating for a short period with the government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Yihawjet has managed to come into its own, tapping such partnership experience to continue R&D in-house to develop innovative products with unique characteristics. The ISO9001, CE-certified company believes self-developed technologies can help innovation, enabling the creation of products that achieve differentiation, hence the maker has been driven to steadily invest in R&D.

Global Distributor

Founded in 1975 with only five workers, Yihawjet has expanded many times in terms of production scale over three decades, realized by consistent R&D and quality improvements. Plus the company has succeeded to become a global distributor after starting to export in 1979.

Even in its early years, Yihawjet was growing alongside the rising demand worldwide for automated production in the tooling sector. Recognizing such global trend and to better meet demand, Yihawjet in July 1990 set up an in-house R&D department to upgrade its line-focusing on the production of CNC (computerized numerically controlled) EDMs. Backed by a team of seasoned mechanical, electronic, computer, communications and software design engineers, Yihawjet was firmly on its way to develop high-grade CNC EDMs.

Independence-minded

Despite having to invest heavily in making self-developed products, Yihawjet has always positioned itself as a manufacturer competing with in-house R&D, without resorting to copying products. Being determined to survive with only independent technologies, the company has weathered rough goings, compromising occasionally when backed into a corner. Sometimes the company has to ask for technical assistance, to offset its R&D deficiency, from the Mechanical Engineer Department of the National Cheng Kung University in southern Taiwan.

Besides having upgraded product precision with CNC EDMs, the company also stamps each machine with codes to streamline after-sales tracking and improve service.

Recognizing that R&D and innovation is the core strategy to achieve sustainable operations, Yihawjet has trained technicians who can integrate mechanical and electrical systems to significantly boost machinery functions.

With 10 of its 70 workers engaged in R&D, Yihawjet budgets every year between 5% and 7% of revenues for R&D. "As a modestly-sized firm without vast capital, we invest in R&D steadily. That has helped us to concentrate on the development of CNC EDMs when we began building wire-cut machines five years ago," says Tung Ta-tang, general manager of the company.

Word-of-Mouth

Despite the seeming risk of focusing on only one product type, the company has achieved good reputation by supplying wire-cut machines due to their quality and powerful functions, crediting mostly word-of-mouth for such success. "Currently most of our clients are Taiwanese-invested firms in China who specialize in computers, consumer electronics and communication devices," says Tung. "Our products are designed to work according to customers' special requirements. For instance, our self-designed PC-based CNC EDMs work effectively to perfectly suit the needs of makers of 3C products."

Although many Taiwanese manufacturers have marketed wire-cut machines, Yihawjet persists to temporarily delay mass commercialization of such machines until their accuracy and reliability are proven through long-term usage. "I don't rush to widely promote the wire-cut machines so as not to compromise our solid reputation built from producing CNC EDMs over the past years," states Tung. "I believe wire-cut machines will become one of our cash cows once they are globally marketed."

Super-high Performance

The company's R&D department is headed by Tung Chin-juei, a Ph.D. from the National Taiwan University, who has been busy with the development of innovative technologies for CNC EDMs and wire-cut machines. "Always aiming to develop high-performance machines, we aspire to build super-high-performance machines to replace Japanese counterparts. In fact, our super-high-performance CNC EDMs have forced Japanese rivals to slash their prices, which has benefited domestic mold makers in purchasing production equipment, and we have seen our market share rapidly surge in China with our own MOLDMASTER-branded CNC EDMs."

Besides offering CNC EDMs priced a half or one-third and yet featuring 80% of functions of those developed by Japanese manufacturers, Yihawjet boasts its CNC EDMs are capable of machining tolerance within 10_m. Tung aims to build all machinery that achieves 90% of machining accuracy in counterparts from top-notch Germans and Japanese.

Tung believes the company has to invest despite the recession, so that it can compete when the economy improves: "Today's spending on R&D may plant the seeds of innovation that will sprout during economic recovery."

Innovative Technology

The most significant R&D achievement is seen in Yihawjet's high-quality super polishing (HQSP) EDM. The company says that the HQSP series achieves technological innovation in terms of machining breakthrough in G7-3C molds, applying graphite electrode for machining to achieve enlarged polished surface, increased micro-machining speed, and minimized surface cracking.

The company says this all-new EDM with extra fine powder added to the working fluid provides a revolutionary machining method. The "MOLDMASTER" new HQSP series is perfect for large mold machining which requires uniform finish on the machined surfaces. The HQSP series not only increases micro-machining speed, but also saves time and effort in manual polishing.

The HQSP series is widely applied in making consumer electronics as mobile phones, notebook PCs, backlight panels, and LCD (liquid crystal display). Over the past one year, Yihawjet has made a substantial breakthrough in electric-discharge technologies, including the application of mirror-finishing process without powder additive on the molds requesting minimal tolerance, high-quality mirror surface of Ra 0.2_m on the mold with machining range of less than 30 square centimeters.

Plant Modernization

To better fill growing orders from abroad and underpin the R&D for wire-cut machines, Yihawjet moved two years ago the old factory from downtown Tainan City to the Tainan Technology Industrial Park, where it built a 82,800 square feet factory. To ensure maximum steadiness in manufacturing environment, the company built a foundation consisting of five concrete sections, each measuring 10x10 meters at 750cm deep, which minimize trembling.

Yihawjet exports 75% of its output, with the major outlets including mainland China, Germany, Spain, Italy, Columbia and Chile. And the precision of its machines are proven by the fact that many Taiwanese 3C firms are among its buyers, including Mitac International Corp., Quanta Computer Inc., AU Optoelectronics Corp., Asustek Computer Inc., Ju Teng International Holding Co., In Win Development Inc., Coxon Group, BenQ Corp. etc.

Yihawjet Enterprises Co., Ltd.

No. 10, Keji 1st Rd., Tainan Technology Industrial Park, Tainan 70955, Taiwan

Tel: 886-6-384-0370

Fax: 886-6-384-0375

E-mail: yihawjet@ms13.hinet.net

http: www.yawjet.com.tw