Machine maker Chumpower Machinery Co (銓寶工業) and Germany-based Beckhoff Automation Co yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding at the fifth Taiwan-Germany Smart Machinery Online Forum.
The two firms aim to work together on smart manufacturing solutions and improve Chumpower’s polyethylene terephthalate blow-molding machines.
Chumpower chairman Bush Hsieh (謝樹林) and Beckhoff Automation Taiwan managing director Phylex Ong (王綏雋) signed the agreement.
“Beckhoff will be able to introduce advanced technology from Germany to help raise the level of competitiveness of Taiwanese machines,” Ong said.
Beckhoff makes automation systems based on computer-controlled technology.
Taiwan is Germany’s fifth most important trading partner in Asia, and this latest collaboration sets a positive benchmark for economic cooperation, Winfried Horstmann, the director-general for Industrial Policy at the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, said via a live video link.
A strategic collaboration between Taiwan and Germany in the area of smart manufacturing would also create value and boost business resilience, Horstmann said, adding that more cooperation and joint research and development would improve the digital transformation of Taiwan’s medium-sized manufacturers.
As Germany is a world leader in smart manufacturing, Taiwan would be very competitive in this space with the help of German technology, Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry chairman Alex Ko (柯拔希) said after the forum.
The Germans came up with the concept of Industry 4.0, but machines made in Germany are very expensive, Ko said, adding that the Taiwanese version of a German machine could be offered at an affordable price.
“Large companies such as Siemens produce very expensive solutions that are out of reach for medium-sized enterprises, even in Germany,” Ko said.
Taiwan is ideally positioned to take advantage of the realignment of global supply chains caused by COVID-19 and other geopolitical factors, he added.
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