For Taiwanese manufacturers of plastic-extrusion equipment, the key to staying ahead of lower-cost, price-undercutting competitors at a time when competition has become especially intensive is to present high-added-value models that are hard to copy.

Over the past 40 years or so, the fast-growing demand for plastic products worldwide has helped boost Taiwan's plastic-extrusion equipment industry. The island's well-developed component-processing industry has also laid a good foundation for local equipment manufacturers dedicated to making new models.

In spite of the price-undercutting competition, Taiwan-made plastic-extrusion machines remain popular in developing and even some industrially developed economies for their good quality, reasonable prices, and availability in custom designs.

Over the past few years, local equipment suppliers have diversified into new overseas markets to reduce risks resulting from over concentration on few markets.

PET Care

Cheng Wu-hsiung, chairman of Sengar Machinery Works Co., Ltd., is very proud of his company's PE/PET co-extrusion laminating machine and EPS foam-sheeting making machine--two of the company's latest products in the company's recent strategy of rolling out high-added-value equipment to escape price-undercutting competitors.

Cheng claims that his company was the first equipment supplier in Taiwan to make PE/PET co-extrusion laminating machines for producing lamination films that can withstand high temperatures of up to 200 degrees centigrade. "Machines supplied by our competitors on the island can tolerate 100 degrees centigrade at best," he claims.

The company acquired the technology for this machinery for around US$700,000 from an American supplier a year ago, Cheng says. This machine can be used to make microwave package films and freshness-preservation films.

Its EPS foaming machine can produce 15-centimeter-thick foam boards for use as temperature insulators and shock absorbers in buildings. The boards are three times thicker than the five-centimeter boards delivered by the company's rival machines, according to Cheng. Like the company's PE/PET co-extrusion laminating machine, the foaming machine is made with foreign technology. However, Cheng says his foaming machines are sold at a competitive price of around NT$30 million (US$880,000 at US$1:NT$34.1) apiece as compared with similar American-built machines, which cost around NT$100 million (US$2.9 million) a unit.

Cheng opened his business around 20 years ago to produce extrusion machines for lamination film, flat yarns, and fishing string. Today, its product lines include double-slide laminating machines, PP/PE/HIPS embossed sheet making machines, PET sheet machines, CPP film-making machines, PP/HDPE flat yarn making machines, PE/PET co-extrusion laminating machines and EPS foam sheet-making machines.

The company has primarily focused on overseas markets including Indonesia, the Middle East and Latin America. It numbers Indonesian paper-making conglomerate Sinar Mas among its major customers.

Sengar's high-end product strategy has kept the company's revenue growing. Cheng estimates his company will rake in revenue of NT$500 million (US$14.7 million) next year, compared with this year's projected NT$200 million (US$5.8 million).

In spite of the pressure from low-cost rivals, Cheng is confident of his company's business prospects, emphasizing that buyers interested in quality stay loyal to quality equipment suppliers. The low-cost competitive threat mostly comes from mainland China. The mainland has also emerged as a promising market, but Cheng has no immediate plans to tap that market, which he considers risky.

User Friendly

Jenn Chong Plastics Machinery has recently made its JC-MNN65 monofilament extruding line more user friendly by installing a co-speed control system. "This device eliminates unnecessary manpower to control this line, largely reducing the operating costs of a factory," says James Huang, the company's sales manager.

The JC-MNN65 consists of an extruding unit, cooling unit, annealing unit and take-off machine.

Huang says his company's business in the first half this year was better than that in same period of last year. "It must be the recent economic recovery that has increased procurement interest in new machines," he muses. His company shipped around six monofilament extruding lines and 10 blown-film machines in the first half this year.

Established in 1992, the company now has four major product categories--blown film machines, woven bag plant equipment, monofilament extruding lines and net-making machines. Its blown-film machine family is composed of an HD/LDPE super high-speed machine, HD/LDPE mini type, LD/LLDPE machine and PP blown-film machine.

Its JC-HS65A super high-speed blown-film machine can put out a maximum of 150 kilograms of 1,000 millimeter-wide film per hour with a screw diameter of 65 mm. Its JC-HS50A super high-speed machine has a maximum output speed of 95 kilograms of 750 mm-wide product per hour with a 50mm diameter screw. The company's JC-HM40B HD/LPDE mini blown-film machine puts out 35 kilograms of 450 mm-wide product per hour with a 40mm diameter screw.

In the woven bag plant equipment category, the JC-FY120H high-speed flat yarn extruding line is Jenn Chong's major product. This line uses a screw with a 120mm diameter to turn out 280 kilograms of products in fiber specifications ranging from 800 denier to 1,800 denier.

Jenn Chong's monofilament extruding models include the JC-MNP65 PP/PE, JC-MNV65 PVC, and JC-MNN65. Its JC-NB55 PP/PE/EVA net-making extruder is the flagship unit of the company's net-making machine category.

Huang says that competition in the market of plastic-extruding machines has heightened with the rapid rise of mainland Chinese and Indian producers. "Manufacturers in Taiwan should put more efforts into improving their products," he says.

In its own quest for self improvement, Jenn Chong He has four specialists in charge of product development.

Jenn Chong is an ISO 9002-certified producer, attesting to the company's product quality. Good quality and user-friendly designs, according to Huang, has helped the company break into the European market. He says the company's exports to Europe, all under the "Jenn Chong" brand, have increased sharply in recent years.



Internet Monitoring

Cheer Young Machinery Works Co., Ltd. Has been heavily promoting its three-layer co-extrusion blown-film machine and two-layer co-extrusion blown-film machine.

The three-layer co-extrusion model is high-tech laden unit, featuring a touch-screen panel for controlling the extruder's drive motors and an Internet-connected camcorder on dies. With a personal computer, machine users can send processing data to customers over the Internet or by fax.

According to Cheer Young's sales manager, Teresa Kuo, the three-layer co-extrusion machine is designed for producing package films for industries that require films of highly uniform thickness. She notes that her company's machines can provide the type of real-time processing data often demanded by film users in these industries.

Unlike the three-layer extrusion machine, Cheer Young's two-layer co-extrusion blown-film machine is equipped with a patented stand-alone rewinder. The rewinder has a unique front-flying cutter, which can prevent the front side of the film from jamming into the extrusion system's rolling bearings when the film is cut. "It is a cost-efficient design because it helps reduce waste film," Kuo stresses.

The rewinder, which is patented in Taiwan, comes in two models--one for 30cm-wide film and one for 50cm-wide film. This machine automatically feeds, rolls and cuts films as well as changes rolling tubes on its own.

The two-layer extrusion system is an ideal machine for making PE stretch and cling films for food and industrial-product packaging as well as making agricultural-purpose and coating-purpose films. The system uses a German-made liquefied glue to bind the two film layers together, significantly cutting production costs.

According to Kuo, Cheer Young rolled out pioneer versions of its two-layer machine and three-layer machine around four years ago. The two machines were first equipped with touch-screen control panels around two years ago.

One of the company's highlight products is a cast PE waterproof sheet extrusion machine. This unit can produce waterproof sheet for diapers, sanitary napkins and toothpaste tubes. According to Kuo, her company's machine is as good as German-made models.

Other leading other product lines at Cheer Young include PVC shrinkable film-making machines, six-color flexographic printing machines, PE/PP film whole-plant equipment, T-die PE/PP normal sheet and PE foam sheet-making equipment, PE/PVC shrinkable film-making machines, LDPE zipper-bag whole-plant equipment, 2/3/4 color blown film machines, PP pearl ribbon making machines, and recycling machines.

Kuo stresses that in order to build high-precision machines, her company uses dies, gearboxes and screws made of special-purpose alloys imported from Japan. Quality manufacturing earned the company Germany's TUV certification and the European CE mark. "We are the first Taiwanese plastic-extrusion equipment supplier to win these certifications," she claims.

Kuo attributes her company's quality accomplishment partly to its long-term cooperation with major suppliers of plastic materials at home and overseas. "Pilot production with their latest materials enables us to ensure that our machines work well with these new materials," she says. Every year, her company spends 7% to 10% of its revenue on product improvement.

Cheer Young exports all of its output to such markets as Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America and mainland China. The company has increasingly counted on the Internet to promote its machines worldwide.

Kuo says her company's business has improved this year, with revenue up by 15% in the first half, compared with the same period last year.

Cost Trimming Trim-Free Machines

Poly Machinery Works Co., Ltd. Recently rolled out expanded SPS foamed blank board machine, PE non-wavy foamed sheet machine and PE earless (edge-trimming free) laminating machine.

"We have spent millions of NT dollars over the past two years developing the three machines," says company chairman Chang Jin-chiu.

The blank-board extrusion machine, which is developed based on Poly Machinery's PS container foaming machine, is designed to produce boards for use as temperature insulators in buildings in high latitude and low latitude countries, cushions inside packages and refrigerator insulation. According to Chang, the machine comes in two specifications--one able to turn out 300 kilograms of boards per hour, and one with a maximum output of 500 kilograms pre hour. Boards from both machines have a density of 30 kilograms per cubic meter and thicknesses ranging from 20 to 60mm. "We are developing lower-density machines to lure more customers," he says, adding that lower density means lower production costs.

The company's non-wavy PE foamed sheet machine can turn out 300 kilograms of non-wavy sheets one-meter wide and 20 mm thick per hour for use as cushions for protecting household appliances and packaged electronic devices. According to Chang, non-wavy sheets require more sophisticated production techniques than do wavy boards. Sheets from this machine have a density of 25 kilograms per cubic meter.

Poly Machinery recently added an edge-trimming free type laminating machine to its product line. Chang notes that this type of machine largely eliminates producers' material cost because it does not generate waste as edge-trimming types do.

His company equips its machines with screws made of Italian chrome-molybdenum steel and dies made of German or Japanese alloys.

Poly Machinery exports its products to Britain, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Southeast Asia, mainland China, and Japan under the "Poly" brand.

Chang expects his company's business to be better this year than last year based on its 20% year-on-year rise in the first half this year.