Machinery company Exact, of Taichung, in Taiwan, says new product launches and new agencies in China and Europe facilitated turnover growth of 39% last year and it is expecting growth to be stable in 2015.
“Following the global economic crisis five years ago, the tools and machinery industry in Taiwan has found it difficult to regain its economic position in the market. However, in 2011, Exact witnessed its best turnover, which recorded local sales of NT$138-million and overseas sales of NT$92-million,” says Exact overseas department head Sabina Chen.
She adds that being such a good year, 2014 recorded a turnover of NT$124-million in local sales and NT$83-million in overseas sales, which were close to the turnover figures recorded in 2011.
Attributing the success of 2014 to new developments in the company, Chen notes that the high-torque and high-speed rotary table transmission system that the company launched earlier this year contributed significantly to the positive turnover.
“The current high-speed version of the rotary table is driven by a cam drive or motorised system. The motorised rotary table system cannot supply high torque adequately enough in the way a worm-gear-driven system can,” she explains.
Chen highlights that the disadvantage of the motorised systems is that they require extra cooling systems to control the temperature produced by rotors and stators. Owing to this, Exact’s research and development (R&D) department conducted tests over the past two years, which led to the successful development of the worm-gear-driven high-speed rotary table system. The system does not require an extra cooling system, as it has been designed to allow for the temperature to remain stable even after it has been warmed up.
The company notes that the production of machinery such as the new rotary table system is designed and manufactured on the premise of high stability and long product life qualities, with the enabling environment of its factory in Taichung allowing for efficiency in product manufacturing.
“Our factory produces major components and thrives on accuracy, as it executes strict production control during the assembling procedure before the components are sent to the next stage of production,” she points out.
The company plans to produce more high-speed rotary tables for machining technology, high-speed and high-inertia indexing tables for fast rotation speed and high inertia on special-purpose machines, and multifunction rotary tables for five-axes machining centres.
Moreover, Chen indicates that its R&D department will play a significant role in its future growth, owing to its technologically driven research and tests that enable the company to remain globally competitive.
“Holistically, the success of our business contributes to Taiwan’s overall machine tools industry, which is currently the fourth-largest exporter of machine tools globally,” she states.
In 2013, the value of Taiwan’s machine tool output was $4.537-billion, with exports comprising $3.548-billion of the value.
- Exact’s factory was visited during a media trip to Taiwan organised by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council in December