Sweet music is made in Taiwan

When it comes to saxophones, most people think of the sound of jazz drifting through the streets of New Orleans, or the popular Grammy-winning artist Kenny G. But they would be surprised to know that many of the best-selling saxophone records, ranging from classics to modern, were performed using instruments made in Taiwan, home of one-third of the world's saxophones.

In Houli (后里), a small town in northern of Taichung County, a group of people have worked hard to produce the world's finest saxophones from generation to generation and make the countryside here the homeland of saxophones.

"It's a family tradition, and I'll be proud to pass it on to my children," said Chang Chun-jei (張俊澤), vice chairman of the Saxophone Manufacturing Association in Houli. Chang's family set up Dong Sang Instruments (東聲樂器工廠) 55 years ago and all his family members are devoted to the business.

Relationship

The relationship between Houli and saxophones can be traced back to 1947, when a group of young music lovers, including Chang Lien-chang (張連昌), organized a light music band. However, the only saxophone they had was accidentally destroyed by fire.

As musical instruments were luxuries at the time, Chang decided to make his own replacement saxophone.

After years of research and tests, he developed the first saxophone to be made in Taiwan. Though he lost his right eye during the process, Chang started the production of Western musical instruments in Taiwan, and now he shares his skills with people who have a passion for saxophones.

Out of the 25 musical instrument manufacturers in Taiwan, 15 are based in Houli, with annual production of about 30,000 saxophones, Chang Chun-jei said. These companies are also authorized to produce musical instruments by many global famous musical instrument companies as their original equipment manufactures (OEMs), he said.

The OEM business faced its first challenge in 1998, as at the time many of their main customers decided to switch orders to China, where the price was around half that of Taiwan, Chang said. The orders were back the next year, however, as the companies found that the quality of the Chinese instruments, like their prices, was much lower.

"Nevertheless, we still need to be alert, as our Chinese competitors will probably catch up with us within five years," Chang noted.

Challenges

Like the high-tech sector in Taiwan, the charismatic local industry is eager to transform in order to meet upcoming challenges. Making their own brand names and adding more value is one solution.

Thanks to help from the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Industrial Development Bureau and the government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院), saxophones produced in Houli now have a new name, "Saxhome."

ITRI started a "Houli Saxhome Family" project to revive the industry in July last year.

Besides creating a brand for made-in-Taiwan saxophones, the institute plans to inject NT$25 million (US$750,000) into the project over three years, said Thomas Chang (張燦輝), a divisional director of ITRI's Mechanical Industry Research Laboratories that leads the project.

Quality control

The project aims to introduce industrialized production technology to achieve standardization and improve the key production processes. By introducing standard inspection procedures, intelligent tuning technology and timbre (pitch and volume) matching, saxophone makers can greatly improve their quality control, which can help them to decrease costs and enhance competitiveness, Chang said.