Taiwan’s Manufacturing Future Takes Shape with Advanced Tech, Next-Gen Leaders | Manufacturing News Desk | advancedmanufacturing.org

Feb 19, 2025

Manufacturing is transforming at an unprecedented rate. To keep pace, companies must continually adapt, plan and expand—including taking some calculated risks. Success requires strong leadership, as well as fresh ideas. This was evident at IMTS 2024 (Sept. 9-14) in Chicago, which hosted thousands of innovative companies and industry leaders. The roster included dozens of leading Taiwanese companies.

One of the top producers of machine tools in the world, Taiwan has a long history of developing and supplying high-quality equipment to global manufacturers. Now, as the industry continues to rebound from the aftereffects of COVID-19 and supply chain disruptions, a new generation of Taiwanese leaders are emerging to guide their companies, with a clear focus on helping North American manufacturers improve their efficiencies and bottom lines.

SME Media spoke with four Taiwanese companies at IMTS. Highlights include:

“The nature of work is continuously changing, which manufacturers and their employees are embracing,” notes Joseph Chen, general manager of Honor Seiki (www.honorseiki.com), which specializes in CNC vertical lathe turning centers. This is especially true in the wake of the ongoing labor shortage and skills gap. Taiwan-based Honor Seiki is facilitating such transformation with AI-enhanced solutions that maintain high quality and production efficiency, while enabling manufacturers to quickly meet customer requirements—including increasing demand for customization in North America.

Honor Seiki specializes in vertical lathe turning centers. Its VL-160CM machine is shown here.

“Manufacturing systems incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), allow us to offer better equipment and tool monitoring,” Chen says. “AI also increases each operator and engineer’s value, improving operator processes, writing data automatically, ensuring alignment and accuracy, and providing many other benefits.”

AI also allows equipment manufacturers to be more proactive to meet and exceed customer requirements. “A machine’s most important attribute is that it provides value for its users,” Chen says. “AI and everything Honor Seiki does is to optimize value.”

In addition to high-quality advanced technology, companies must foster collaboration and trust with customers and other industry partners. “Face-to-face interactions, analyzing customers’ processes and providing much-needed expert knowledge all are very important,” Chen says. “At Honor Seiki, we embrace our new slogan every day: ‘It is an Honor to be your partner.’”

Product innovation goes hand-in-hand with workforce development and strong leadership. With this mind, Campro Precision Machinery Co. (www.campro-usa.com/about-us) is focused on upskilling and training its people while continuing to enhance its products.

As part of the ongoing industry transformation, customers are demanding greater customization, notes Zachary Tsai, Campro’s general manager. Rather than a single machine, he adds, customers require more automation and multiple machines working together.

Campro offers vertical machining and multi-tasking turning centers, CNC lathes and automatic gantries.

In the United States, Campro sells a wide range of products, such as vertical machining centers—both 3- and 5-axis—and 2-axis CNC lathes and multi-tasking turning centers, as well as automatic gantry systems. And the company aims to expand its product lineup in coming years, while further expanding into aerospace, semiconductors and other new markets.

But Campro is taking a calculated approach to its growth. “We want to ensure that any investment or other changes bring new value to our customers,” Tsai says. “So in the past three years, during the pandemic, we used this time to develop four new machines, including turning and milling technology.”

Campro has a support team and warehouse in the U.S., as well as an R&D team in Taiwan to develop new machines. To support existing and new customers—and increase inventory—in the U.S., Campro is doubling its North American headquarters in Pennsylvania.

Electric-discharge machining (EDM) requires high precision and reliability. But as industry continues to transform, eco-friendly solutions and integrated automation are steadily becoming more of a consideration for customers, according to Brad Wang, general manager of Chin Hung Machinery & Electric Industrial Co. (CHMER; www.chmer.com).

CHMER is committed to sustainability, and high-quality, precise and reliable machine tools.

“At CHMER, we are focused on helping our customers transition to sustainable operations by providing energy-efficient and high-performance solutions, such as our green machine tools certified under ISO 14955,” Wang explains. “They significantly reduce power and water consumption.”

To ensure quality and drive innovation—including software and hardware—CHMER designs and manufactures the main components for its high-performance sinker and wire EDM machines in-house, Wang says, citing controllers, linear motors and automatic wire-threading systems.

CHMER provides a range of pre- and after-sales services. The latter, which includes machine installation, repair, regular maintenance, processing consultation, troubleshooting, product training and tour visits, are crucial to building customer relationships, according to Wang. “We have expanded our service team and offer more robust digital support tools, including real-time diagnostics and remote maintenance options,” he says, which allows the company to respond quickly to any issues, with minimal downtime.

“CHMER has a long history of providing high-quality, precise and reliable machine tools, but what truly sets us apart is our commitment to sustainable machining solutions,” Wang asserts. “We not only meet but often exceed industry standards in terms of both performance and environmental impact.”

Maintaining the status quo is not a good recipe for success. As the world continues to evolve, companies must continually adapt, plan and expand—which, in some cases, involves taking calculated risks.

Quaser Machine Tools Inc. (QMT) has had plenty of success since its founding in 1991; and its growth was accelerated with the acquisition of Winbro Group Technologies to form Quaser Group (www.quaser.com), until the world changed at the onset of the global pandemic in 2020.

Quaser and Winbro can provide complete solutions. The MF700 Cell is shown here.

But the disruption hasn’t deterred Startin Hsieh, Quaser’s co-CEO, who has even bigger plans for the future—to be a global leader in industrial applications solutions. The son of QMT’s co-founder, Hsieh’s plans start with a major expansion into North America to build on the company’s success in Asia and Europe.

The multi-prong strategy involves a mix of strategic investments, product and customer diversification, rebranding, acquisitions and adding local distributors and service support.

Quaser also aims to better leverage its relationships. In addition to supplying parts for Winbro’s lasers, EDM and multi-axis grinding machines, Quaser wants to tap into its subsidiary’s global network of distributors and customers. Meanwhile, Winbro can benefit from Quaser’s high-volume expertise and cross-industry connections to expand beyond aerospace, semi-conductors and clean energy.

Together, Quaser and Winbro can provide complete solutions—combining conventional and non-conventional manufacturing systems, according to the partners. The growing partnership promises to position Quaser more as premium brand with greater growth potential.

Subscribe to our twice-weekly, free eNewsletter for the latest manufacturing news and technical information, including new technologies, educational webinars, podcasts and more.