Taiwan Showcases Innovation at 2012 Automechanika Frankfurt

Local makers of auto repair tools grow high-end market share with quality gains

Over the past 10 years or so, Taiwan has made major advances in producing auto repair tools with high durability and functionality. These higher-end tools are helping the local industry to escape price-cutting competition as they open up new possibilities in the industrial and professional markets.

With their move upstream, Taiwan's hand-tool makers are rapidly grabbing the high-end market share originally dominated by Japanese and European brands, while also distancing their products from cheaper offerings from China.

Evidence of this trend was easy to find at the 2012 Automechanika Frankfurt, the world's leading auto-parts, accessory, and repair equipment exhibition, held on September 11-16, 2012 in Frankfurt, Germany. Only a handful of Japanese names were among the exhibitors at Hall 9 of the show, where the auto-repair equipment and tool makers gathered to show their latest products to global buyers from about 180 nations.

According to Automechanika show organizer Messe Frankfurt, the 2012 biannual fair attracted about 4,600 exhibitors and some 158,000 global visitors.

Among Taiwanese companies, big and small, the verdict is the same: Japanese and European counterparts are losing share to them in the higher-level professional repair-tool market. Made-in-Japan and made-in-Europe auto tools have been well-known for their high quality, durability, precision, and functionality. But Taiwanese players have matched those qualities and are now winning the field on price, and, just as importantly, satisfactory services achieved by unmatched new-product development speed, product comprehensiveness, and prompt delivery.

The majority of Taiwanese companies at Hall 9 exhibited innovative, functional products for the professional market and an even-higher segment--industrial applications. This steady rise of the industry value chain is the result of long-term investment in upgrading product quality and functionality to meet the most stringent requirements of production lines in various industries.

Own-brand Pioneer
One of the best examples of the rapid advancement among Taiwanese hand-tool companies is Tian Fu Industrial Co., Ltd., the largest maker of all kinds of high-level sockets in Taiwan.

Tian Fu is one of the few hand-tool makers in Taiwan that have set out to create its own brand. After more than 20 years of hard work, the firm's Genius brand has become a globally respected name in the professional and industrial auto tool and hand-tool markets.

Terence Tsai, executive assistant to the chairman at Tian Fu, says that his company produces the best-quality hand and pneumatic sockets. The company has been able to lead the pack on quality and durability with the help of top-end equipment, extensive know-how, top-level materials, and high-end processing techniques, including special heat-treatment procedures.

Tsai acknowledges that branding can be a costly affair. Moreover, many makers have been hesitant to follow this path for fear of offending trading companies. “However, Tian Fu has succeeded in its own-branding efforts, though, like most local hand-tool own-brand makers, we still keep a certain rate of OEM/ODM production,” Tsai says. “Now, the global professional auto repair tool market has recognized that the quality level of Taiwan-made auto tools has pulled ahead Japanese counterparts, leaving only German products ahead.”

Tsai says that Tian Fu's insistence on quality, prompt delivery, and keeping promises to customers have been the keys to the company's branding success. “We always keep an ample inventory of finished and semi-finished products so we can promptly ship items," he says. Tian Fu also maintains an industry-leading automated warehousing system to help the company keep inventory costs and has even established a subsidiary, Genius Automated Warehousing System Co., Ltd., to redevelop new warehousing technologies and equipment.

Another core competitiveness of Tian Fu is the production of both metric and SAE sockets, making it the most comprehensive supplier in the industry. In addition, the firm closely cooperates with a large group of high-quality hand-tool suppliers in Taiwan in order to provide a full-range of Genius-branded auto-tools.

Currently, Tian Fu sells its tools to more than 80 nations, and has set up branch offices to directly serve customers in the U.S., Canada, and Europe (in Belgium). The firm's revenue and profits have been enjoying stable growth for more than 10 years, thanks mainly to the company's established brand image among global professional-tool users. In more recent years, Genius tools have been rapidly replacing Japanese and European counterparts in the professional and industrial market. “Almost all users of our tools worldwide know that Genius tools come with a lifetime guarantee. This is the major indicator of our confidence that we provide the highest quality and durability," Tsai says.

Tian Fu supplies more than 10,000 types of professional tools to global professional users in auto repair shops and production lines, including sockets, pullers, wrenches, and specialty tools. With a solid foothold in major professional-tool markets, the company is now aggressively developing new markets, especially emerging nations.

Videoscope Specialist
M.I.T Corp. (Mitcorp) is the most specialized maker of videoscopes in Taiwan. At this year's show, the firm won intensive attention from global visitors for its highly innovative products.

Certified by the major international automobile brands such as Audi, Skoda, Volvo and Volkswagen, Mitcorp's videoscopes embody a new approach to non-destructive inspection. The firm's general manger Snow Zhan believes that videoscopes should be more widely accessible, challenging the view that reliable and accurate inspection products are the domain of companies with deep pockets. “We believe that the best technology should be available to our customers for practical, everyday business needs,” Zhan stresses.

Since its establishment in 2003, Mitcorp has been driven by a passion for innovation. The company has accumulated over 170 patents since it was spun off from the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) under Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense. It also maintains a strong R&D team recruited from the institute. With a strong focus on end users, a highly agile approach to business, and a reputation for the very highest levels of quality and dependability amongst its key distributors, Mitcorp is poised to become a leading name in next-generation non-destructive inspection solutions.

“Under the slogan ‘Inspection Redefined,' our company is pioneering new ground in the videoscope industry," Zhan says. "We are the most innovative company in this field worldwide. We also have had 170 global patents, trailing only Olympus of Japan among counterparts in Asia.”

In addition to the global auto market, Mitcorp has been making headway in selling its high-end but affordable videoscopes to airline companies in Taiwan and Japan for fleet inspection.

Mitcorp's videoscope products have many advantages unmatched by its counterparts, even at the priciest levels, Zhan says. These include super-clear image quality, such as the company's super-mini 3.9mm-diameter probe with miniature camera; a 4.9mm probe with two cameras (front and side); and a probe with size-measurement functions.

“The core value of Mitcorp is to find customers' problems and needs and solve them, rather than follow the established ways of existing big brands,” Zhan claims. Currently, Mitcorp employs about 60-70 people at its headquarters in Guishan, northern Taiwan. Over half of its staff are engaged in R&D staff, helping Mitcorp pump out seven to 10 new products per year.

One of the latest R&D coups made by the company is the patented “hyperion” technology. This technology enables probes to capture super-clear images in totally dark environments. That, according to Tsai, is only one of a big group of Mitcorp's strong abilities in hardware/software integration.

Thanks to their high stability and durability, Mitcorp's quality videoscopes are widely adopted by professional users for demanding industrial, construction, rescue, and national defense applications. The company sells its products worldwide, about 60% on an ODM basis and 40% on an OBM basis.

Hydraulic Tool Innovator
Jon Tai Industrial Co., Ltd. is one of the most innovative hand-tool developers and makers in Taiwan, with a specialization in pipe cutters, plumbing tools, and tube benders. The company globally markets its innovative and high-quality tools under the “Handpaw” brand.

Roger Lee, president of Jon Tai, points out that his company has been enjoying rapid sales growth thanks to the continued rollout of high-quality and durable specialty auto tools made with the company's advanced hydraulic techniques.

A few years ago, Jon Tai unveiled its patented Professional Tube Cutter. This innovative tool has a dual-tone (white and red) exterior and eye-catching streamlined form. The cutter's lightweight aluminum alloy construction allows for easy operation. Furthermore, the tool features a spring-load mechanism that enables cutting with a single turn of the bottom knob.

Strong market response to the cutter inspired Lee to follow up with another revolutionary new tool: the ratchet exhaust cutter. A ratchet mechanism makes it easy to use the cutter in tight areas and is therefore suitable for cutting thin-wall exhaust tail pipes from 1-1/8 to 2-5/8 inches in diameter. Like the tube cutter, this tool has become favored by professional users worldwide.

Jon Tai's first hydraulic tool product is a grease-hydraulic spindle for puller systems. The spindles are oil-leak-proof and have a maximum loading capacity of 12.8 tons, compared to only three to six tons for conventional spindles.

At this year's Automechanika Frankfurt, Jon Tai showcased its latest hydraulic ball joint separator: the first such product in the world. Brake pile flaring tools and hydraulic-spindle puller systems were also on show at the company booth.

“We work harder than others, and we pour more energy into developing and innovating newer and better tools,” claims Lee. “Many people ask me about how Jon Tai's small and simple hydraulic mechanism can achieve such powerful pushing force. The answer is simple: we work harder and harder.” The president explains that the pistons, cylinders, and sealing components in his company's hydraulic mechanism are expertly designed, manufactured, and processed.

High-level Vacuum Systems
Kae Dih Enterprise Co., Ltd., the biggest maker of high-level vacuum systems in Taiwan with over 30 years of experience, showcased a trolley-style work station replete with vacuum system, pneumatic sander system, locators for extended pipes, and other hand tools.

James Tsai, general manager of Kae Dih, points out that despite the global economic doldrums, his company expects to chalk up 20% sales growth in 2012. In addition, the firm is venturing into new product lines, such as electric sanders.

Kae Dih markets its high quality products globally under the ‘Jeson' brand. The label has been gaining attention in the industry and winning more and more market share from strong rivals in Japan and Europe. In addition to models sold under its own-brand, Kae Dih is also a major OEM/ODM vacuum-system supplier to many big international nameplates such as 3M, Snap-On, and Norton. The firm sells to 35, mostly advanced, nations.

Kae Dih's vacuum systems are widely used by auto body repair shops to collect putty powder ground from sanders. The systems have many advanced designs and functions, such as an automatic switch, wet/dry application, strong suction/low noise, and the ability to suck dirty oils, iron filings and other shop materials.

In addition to its comprehensive range of models for professional and industrial applications, Kae Dih is the only company in Taiwan offering centralized vacuum systems that can simultaneously be fitted with 16 (or up to 64 on custom-made models) suction working arms within a diameter of five meters, or up to 100 meters with piping.

Some special features of Kae Dih's centralized vacuum systems, according to Tsai, include remote services. Kae Dih's professional engineers can check and test the company's vacuum systems online and dispatch regional distributors to provide repair or maintenance services to customers as needed. The systems also have a wireless communication link between the central control system and working arms to save space and eliminate wire tangle. Another feature is an intelligent brushless motor control system that automatically detects the operation hours of the main-system motors, collecting needed data for maintenance or analysis, as well as to switch motors on and off to maximize system efficiency.

Successful Own-branding Road
Already the one of the world's most innovative and major tool-storage solution provider, Machan International Co., Ltd. showcased its ‘BOXO' brand jointly established with its European partner.

Machan's display at 2012 Automechanika Frankfurt featured big booths, big logos, and several-meter tall wall display showcased all kinds of professional auto repair tools with eye-catching color schemes. Machan also has announced its ambition to become a leading international brand in the high-level professional tool market over next few years, in addition to being a leading tool-trolley brand.

For the past 20 years of its 35-year history, Machan has focused on tool storage products. It is rapidly growing in line with the booming hand-tool industry in Taiwan. Currently, the company operates three plants in Taiwan making hand-tool storage, medical storage, and hand-tool organizing (supplier-chain integration) products. Another facility in China makes toolboxes on mainly an original design manufacturing (ODM) basis for sale to international names like Stanley, Danaher, and KS-Tools.

At its customers' request, Machan decided to go down the own-brand road by leveraging its established strength in the tool-storage market. Jessy Chang, marketing manger of company, says that her company plans to set up a product warehouse in the Netherlands by 2015 so customers can operate flexibly without keeping inventory.

The BOXO line includes all kinds of professional and industrial auto tools, tool case, tool trolleys, and special tools for passenger car and truck/bus repair and maintenance. The brand has rapidly grown in the past few years and today commands a solid foothold in Europe, inspiring Machan to eye high potential markets in Asia and the Middle East.

Machan has been aggressively developing systems that organize all kinds of tools into well-designed portable tool boxes for easy carrying. Tool can be easily taken out from the storage boxes and put into BOXO tool trolleys. The company says the system enables a cleaner and simpler working environment and higher work efficiency.

Liner Sander Pads
Kymyo Industries Co., Ltd., a leading maker of pneumatic polishing and grinding tools sold under the “Combest” brand, showcases many new products at this year's show.

The firm's president Stanley Lu introduced innovative liner sanders that the company claims improve finishing quality and can increase sales revenue.

The new liner sanders are available in 14 types, sizes and shapes to fit a wide range of work requirements including most furniture or interior-decoration wood polishing tasks, Lu says. Each of the 14 sander pads is clearly numbered so their shape and angle can be easily identified by professional users.

Other new products showcased by Kymyo included industrial-grade belt sanders with widths of 10mm, 20mm and 60mm. Lu claims that his company has been aggressively expanding its product lines. Currently, Kymyo is a major supplier of industrial and professional polishing and grinding tools for the automotive, furniture, yacht industries.

According to Lu, Kymyo's air tools have a patented "oil-less" advantage: the sanders and grinders made by the company don't require added lubricant oil. This prevents tool oil from soiling work objects and prevents dust from building up on the tools. The company's sander/grinder mechanisms also have a honeycomb-structure design to protect bearings from hardener powders and other types of dust that can reduce the lifespan of such products, especially in auto repair shops where putty dust is rife. The patented innovation uses air from the air cylinder to blow out dust, Lu says.