Customers Improve Products, Reduce Costs With Taiwan Machines

To cope with the increased global demand for automated manufacturing facilities, Taiwan's manufacturers of drilling, tapping, and thread-rolling machines have spared no effort developing computer numerically controlled (CNC) models over the past several years. By drawing on more than four decades of development and manufacturing experience, Taiwan's drilling-machine manufacturers are proving themselves quite capable of turning out quality automated products to meet the specific demands of customers from around the world.

Domestically made large-sized, complex CNC drilling machines are mainly exported to industrialized nations such as the U.S., Germany, France, and Japan. The manufacturers of small-sized machines, on the other hand, concentrate on Southeast Asian nations and mainland China.

Major product categories rolled out by domestic manufacturers in the line include CNC and conventional drilling machines, CNC drilling/tapping machines, vertical and horizontal drilling machines, bench-type drilling machines, radial drilling machines, multi-spindle drilling machines, complex machines with drilling and milling functions, complex machines with drilling and tapping functions, turret center drilling machines, and tapping machines for nuts.

According to statistics compiled by the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI), Taiwan exported US$251.291 million worth of drilling, boring, and milling machines in the first 11 months of last year, down 5.1% from the S$264.746 million registered in the corresponding period of 2004.

Some drilling and tapping machine makers in Taiwan believe there is ample room to develop an automated transmission system on their machines in order to enhance the automatic manufacturing functions of their products. The manufacturers have pledged to continue researching and developing more automated machines to meet the diverse demands of customers worldwide.

Other producers believe Vietnam will offer the most promising market in the next few years because the nation is rapidly developing its economy and requires a wide range of production equipment, including drilling, tapping, and thread-rolling machines.

One Taiwanese manufacturer of turret-center drilling machines boasts his company has recently successfully developed a high-speed machine featuring a 0.2 second tool-to-tool changing speed, which is faster than other general machining centers.

Some CNC drilling machine manufacturers are dedicated to developing price-competitive operating system on their machines, such as Windows CE and Linux. They says the adoption of Windows CE and Linux operating systems will help them develop more price-competitive machines than those using the more-sophisticated industrial CNC control system.

Wellcam Machinery Corp., founded in December 1989, is one of Taiwan's specialist manufacturers of tapping and drilling machines. With an in-house R&D department, the company constantly pursues strengthening its product quality.

The company's major product lines include hydraulic tapping machines, vertical air tapping machines, universal air tapping machines, multi-spindle drilling machines, and collets. All the company's products have received safety certifications including the Germany TUV mark and the European CE mark.

Thanks to its long-term efforts to develop multi-functional tapping and drilling machines, the company has won a good reputation both at home and abroad. "Our products are reasonably priced and our quick after-sale services prove we deserve our good reputation, " notes company president Liu Shin-nan.

Wellcam says its air-tapping machine is specially equipped with an easy-to-operate interface to help customers increase production efficiency. Liu says his company has never stopped developing innovative, high-value-added products to meet the ever-changing demand of customers from around the world.

Recently, Wellcam debuted the new version of its vertical hydraulic tapping machine, which features higher productivity, stronger torque, and a wider working range than previous models. The company boasts the new machine can replace CNC machining centers for tapping work and that it is priced lower than CNC machines.

Wellcam says it now can make more than 80% of the key components for its tapping and drilling machines in-house, demonstrating its ability to control product quality. "In addition to talented R&D specialists and a strict quality-control system, we have also installed very advanced production equipment, " says Liu. "That's why we can make state-of-the-art machines with high performance and a zero-breakdown rate."

At present, the company uses the Wellcam brand to distribute its products worldwide, but orders on an OEM or ODM (original equipment/design manufacturer) basis are also welcomed. "As we have an experienced R&D department, we can make machines in accord with customers' specifications, " says Liu.

Thanks to the increased demand from foreign customers, the company has enjoyed substantial year-on-year sales growth over the past three years. The company's major export outlets include mainland China, Southeast Asian nations, European Union nations, and Canada.

With a work force of 17, Wellcam currently is capable of rolling out four vertical hydraulic tapping machines and 40 vertical air-tapping machines per month.

R&D Pays Off With Sophisticated New Machines

Chen Fwa Industrial Co., Ltd. Is another leading manufacturer of high-precision automatic drilling and tapping machinery, and also makes multiple-spindle heads. The company was established in 1964 and is proud of its R&D capability and reputation as a dedicated developer.

The company currently supplies a wide range of machining products, including conventional drilling machines, drilling/tapping machines, presses, multiple-spindle drilling and tapping heads (adjustable and fixed types), automatic-drilling units with air/hydraulic feeds, lead-screw automatic tapping machines, rotary index-table boring and tapping machines, and various types of special-purpose machines.

Chen Fwa has a strong R&D team with extensive design and manufacturing experience and has established close cooperative ties with Taiwan's prestigious Mechanical Industry Research Laboratories (MIRL) under the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to jointly develop sophisticated new machines.

Thanks to technology transfers from MIRL, Chen Fwa is able to build drilling and tapping machine models on both a mass-production and small-batch, large-variety basis. In addition, the company enjoys international fame as a developer of special-purpose machines that meet a wide range of production and processing needs.

The company boasts its R&D team has the full ability to develop state-of-the-art drilling and tapping machine models with the most advanced functions, highest quality, and longest durability for various industrial customers. With a long-term reputation for function, performance, and quality, Chen Fwa says that its machinery products have won the long-term support of customers worldwide.

Currently, most of Chen Fwa's machines are distributed to domestic processors and Taiwan-based companies in mainland China. The company also exports some equipment to different nations in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia and Thailand.

Over the past several years, Chen Fwa has been developing and refining machines that can further simplify processing procedures, upgrade operational efficiency, and reduce production costs. Such strong R&D capability has won the company a solid reputation for constant innovation and quality improvement.

Chen Fwa's machines are equipped with multiple-spindle heads, which will increase machine efficiency five to 10 times that of general-type drilling and tapping machinery, according to the company's managers.

Chen Fwa currently sells its machines under the "Chen Fwa" brand. In its bid to provide the best after-sales services to customers around the world, the company guarantees inventory for spare parts and components so that its customers are assured of prompt repair and maintenance services.

Lian Feng Sheng Machinery Co., Ltd., with a manufacturing experience of more than two decades, is one of Taiwan's most professional manufacturers of special-purpose machines. The company is devoted to developing advanced and high quality drilling, reaming, and tapping machines.

The company has an in-house R&D department staffed with experienced technicians in charge of developing a variety of products suitable for applications in the sectors of sanitary and bathroom accessories, components for air pressure and hydraulic products, piping components, bicycle parts, and woodworking machinery parts.

Lian Feng Sheng says it gives first priority to developing special-purpose machines that can help customers improve product quality, increase production capacity, and keep production costs down.

The hottest-selling products developed by Lian Feng Sheng include a six-spindle lift-type reaming and tapping machine, and a three-spindle, rotary-type servomotor reaming and tapping machine.

The company's six-spindle, lift-type reaming and tapping machine features a tap spindle motor and comes with several optional components, including a brake, a human/machine interface, and a spindle with a 110mm external diameter. This machine is targeted at helping users reduce processing costs.

The company's three-spindle rotary-type servomotor reaming and tapping machine features the ability to change motor horsepower according to the size of the piece being worked on. To ensure high accuracy in the machining process, the machine adopts a servomotor and a ball screw to drive the spindle.

Powerchannel Manufacturers Corp., established in 1976, is one of Taiwan's leading manufacturers of thread-rolling, thread-cutting, and wire-working machines.

With a well-trained, in-house R&D team, the company has developed many kinds of thread-rolling and thread-cutting machines to meet the special demand of international customers.

At present, the company's major product lines includes bar thread-rolling machines, pipe thread-rolling machines, pipe and bar thread-cutting machines, bar straightening machines, auto pipe-cutting machines, and gear-grinding machines.

Powerchannel's hydraulic pipe thread-rolling machine is suitable for tubular threads up to 204mm in diameter. The machine is equipped with a powerful gearbox, which can perform through-feed (continuous rolling) and in-feed (plunge rolling) production just by changing rolling dies.

The machine can be used for manufacturing oil pipe connectors, automobile and motorcycle parts, radiating pipes, oil tank covers, art lamps, scaffolding systems, and nipple threads.

The company uses the "PMC" brand on its exported products. Major export outlets include Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, mainland China, the U.S., and Western European nations.