TMTS 2024 Dual Axis for Intelligent Manufacturing
Published on : Thursday 02-05-2024
TMTS 2024 brought together more than 600 exhibitors and 3,350 booths in Halls 1 and 2 of the Nangang Exhibition Centre for five consecutive days.
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The 8th edition of Taiwan International Machine Tool Show (TMTS), concluded successfully in the last week of March 2024. Organised by the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builder's Association (TMBA), the apex body of machine tool manufacturers in Taiwan, the event was held at the Nangang Exhibition Center (TaiNEX) in Taipei from March 27-30, 2024.
TMTS 2024 had a grand opening ceremony on March 27th in Hall 2 of the Nangang Exhibition Centre. The technological sound and light effects on the stage, together with the wonderful performance of the Taipei Yuehfu Drum & Bugle Corps and the main visual of the exhibition's dual-axis theme of ‘Digital x Green Transformation’, brought a feast for the senses to guests from the United States, Germany, Switzerland, India and other countries.
The Opening Ceremony especially invited Mr Chen Chien-Jen, Premier, Executive Yuan, Mr Lin Chia-Lung, Secretary General to the President, Mr James C F Huang, Chairman, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), Mr Chih-Ching Yang, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Mr J Andrew Yeh, Vice Minister of Public Construction Commission Executive Yuan and representatives from commercial offices and trade associations from various countries, who also came to cheer for the machine tool industry.
Patrick Chen, Chairman of TMBA, stated that although the global economic recovery in recent years has not met expectations and Taiwan machine tool industry exporters have faced significant challenges due to geopolitical factors, the products and technologies showcased by Taiwanese exhibitors at this TMTS exhibition have demonstrated remarkable performance in the fields of digitisation and green energy conservation.
Creating a fusion exhibition space
Based on the theme of ‘Dual Axis Intelligent Manufacturing and Sustainable Future’, TMTS 2024 is the first exhibition space to use the concept of an ecosystem to create a fusion exhibition space under the dual axes of digital transformation and green transformation. It also aims to convey the possibilities of diversified industrial applications through different exhibition themes.
The five major elements of digital transformation are:
· Smart Manufacturing
· Data Analytics and Cloud Computing
· AIoT
· Digital Twin/Human-Machine Collaboration, and
· Blockchain Technology.
The five major elements of green transformation are:
· Smart Energy Conservation
· Environmental Certification
· Resource Recycling and Reuse
· Green Supply Chain, and
· Sustainable Product Design.
The main products in this exhibition demonstrate the determination of Taiwan's machine tool industry to continue pursuing technological innovation, transformation and upgrades.
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TMTS 2024 was held on an unprecedented scale, with not only the gathering of well-known domestic manufacturers, but also the enthusiastic participation of 17 guilds and public associations. Meanwhile, top companies from Germany, Switzerland and other countries were invited to participate in the exhibition, bringing visitors the latest industry trends and technological developments in the international arena. From hardware to software, the exhibition offered integrated services and complete solutions across industries, providing comprehensive purchasing options for professionals.
Among the Index Exhibitors who attended the TMTS 2024 event were Goodway, Hiwin, Yeong Chin Machinery Industries (YCM), Taiwan Takisawa, Victor Taichung, Tongtai, Quaser, Tung Pei, Fair Friend Group, Buffalo, Siemens, Heidenhain, Fanuc and igus.
YCM displayed its T11 Ultra Performance T-base Vertical Machining Center at TMTS 2024. The entire manufacturing process of the T11incorporates energy saving and carbon reducing principles with low pollution materials. Notably, with the AI and IoT intelligent control, YCM keeps leveraging key technologies of Industry 4.0 like cloud computing, big data analytics and IoT, with intelligent robotics to align with the demand.
Winson Machinery, with the concept of zero waste, adopted the 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) principle as the practice of this exhibition, abandoning traditional woodworking materials and instead using recyclable wooden pallets and recycled paper honeycomb boards for decoration, which not only made the exhibition more environmentally friendly, but also encouraged more companies and individuals to join the green transformation. These practices not only make the exhibition more environmentally friendly, but also encourage more companies and individuals to join the green transformation and work together for sustainable development.
The ‘Energy Saving Label for the Machine Tool Industry’ evaluation was held for the first time. 18 Golden Label products and 29 Silver Label products were evaluated by professional examiners, and a ‘Golden Guided Tour’ was organised to guide buyers and professionals to the relevant excellent green products.
German pavilion
The German Trade Office Taipei (GTO), along with its service unit, DEinternational Taiwan Ltd, had organised a ‘German Pavilion’, the largest single-country exhibition area in this year's machine tool show, with 23 top German companies participating.
Mr Axel Limberg, the Chief Representative and Executive Director of GTO, stated, "German companies have a long-standing reputation for innovation and quality, and high-quality machine tools and equipment are indispensable to the industry. This year's TMTS focuses on digital transformation and green transformation, showcasing the digital achievements and sustainable products of German enterprises to the world. We are eager to see the industrial exchanges between Taiwan and Germany on machine tools and look forward to sparking more collaborations at the event."
The German Pavilion showcased a diverse range of products and services, including metal cutting machine tools, metal forming machine tools, various machine tool components and accessories, as well as control systems and smart manufacturing systems. This includes industrial robots, 3D printing technology, and other equipment, materials, and technologies related to machine tools. German exhibitors also demonstrate their leadership in technology and innovation in this field by developing new materials or innovative components aimed at achieving carbon reduction and high efficiency for sustainable goals. Through this exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity to experience these cutting-edge technologies firsthand and engage with industry experts.
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Digital transformation forum
With the new trend of digital intelligent manufacturing and AI driving infinite future, there were two sessions held on March 28th and 29th, under the auspices of the Department of Industrial Technology, Ministry of Economic Affairs, TMBA, and TechOrange co-hosted the ‘2024 AI Intelligent Large Factory Forum – Machine Tool Industry’, a special session to invite a number of domestic and foreign experts from the world of digital manufacturing viewpoints.
This year, TMTS 2024 also introduced the Umati Zone, the first of its kind in Taiwan. In this connection, TMBA organised an appreciation ceremony and invited Jui-Hsiung Yen, Chairman of TONGTAI, to represent TMBA as Honorary Chairman, and Dr Alexander Broos of VDW, as well as 26 domestic machine tool and accessory manufacturers, schools, and public associations. Other organisations, including the Precision Machinery Research Development Center (PMC) and the Smart Machinery Center (IMTC) of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), provided their technical support.
The theme of the Digital Transformation Forum on 28 March was ‘New Trends in Intellectual Transformation from a Global Perspective’, and the speakers were mainly foreign experts. Dr Alexander Broos mentioned that Taiwan is the second largest partner of umati in the world, after Germany. From umati, the communication protocol that underpins digital transformation, he explained how tools and peripherals can be linked together through umati to create a cross-industry intelligent ecosystem, echoing the ecosystem concept and umati zone presented at the exhibition. Kevin Williams, PTC's vice president of global sales, began with sustainable product lifecycle management, from design that reduces environmental impact, to manufacturing visualisation and integration, to just-in-time supply chain management for energy efficiency and raw materials.
Recently, the topic of AI technology application has been very popular. The 2nd Digital Transformation Forum was held on 29 March, with the theme ‘In the first year of AI application explosion, driving smart manufacturing transformation and innovation engine’. Microsoft Taiwan and Leadtek were invited to present solutions on how to achieve dual-axis transformation by applying AI technology in the tooling industry. For example, Ian Yen, manager of Microsoft Taiwan, presented the Copilot AI application, and Chia-Hao Liu, manager of Leadtek, explained that the solution with NVIDIA is based on generative AI to create new production, remote collaboration and visualisation process to create a new state of smart factory. However, the process of digitalisation is inevitably equated with information security, so this time Fortinet's technical consultant, Mr Ted Wen, was also invited to illustrate how companies can use AI technology to better identify and prevent information security threats as OT and IT become more connected.
Forum for green transformation
Keeping with the core theme of ‘Dual-Transformation Intelligent Manufacturing, Sustainable Future’, the forum theme was planned from multiple perspectives, focusing on market trends, digital transformation, green transformation, human resource sustainability, and industry-academia cooperation. On the opening day, the forum kicked off with ‘Analysis of End-Use Market and Business Opportunities for Machine Tools’, inviting experts from key application markets in the machine tool industry, including aerospace, new energy and electric vehicles, to share their views.
Mr Chris Lin, Manager of the Committee of Aviation and Space Industry Development (CASID, MOEA) explained that according to Boeing's forecast for 2023 to 2042, the global commercial new aircraft will be explosive growth, mainly from Europe and Asia, Mainland China, North America, Southeast Asia and other regions of strong demand, and the global output value of old aircraft maintenance services of about US$3 trillion. However, since the Russian-Ukrainian war, the application of drone technology has been highly anticipated, and the establishment of the ‘Asia R&D Centre for Drone AI Innovation and Application’ by the Chiayi County government is expected to establish a domestic drone industry cluster.
The domestic offshore wind power industry has been promoted for many years, and machine tool builders (e.g., GOODWAY, AWEA, HONOR, KingFong, etc.), have already developed relevant processing equipment to cope with it. Mr Cai Shugen, Vice Chairman of Yeongguan Energy, cited data published by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) in 2023, which explains that the global offshore wind power market will continue to grow until 2027, and that China, Europe, and North America will still be the main markets at the current stage. He also explained the characteristics of the major domestic wind power processing machinery and the corresponding equipment processing needs and provided an in-depth analysis of the energy industry's demand for tooling equipment from the perspective of end-users.
Jack Cheng, CEO of MIH EV Research Institute, who has more than 40 years of experience in both the automotive and EV industries, was invited to share his views on the development trend of EVs in light of the increasing demand for renewable energy in various countries as a result of the 2050 net zero carbon emission target. He pointed out that by 2023, the global EV market will be led by China, followed by Europe and North America, with the potential demand for BEVs and PHEVs increasing. The hottest AI technology has already been applied to the field of autonomous driving of electric vehicles and integrated with user experience (UX) related services, which is worthy of reference for the development of ecosystems in the machine tool industry.
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Talent and skills
Attracting good talent is a common concern for all companies, and how to retain them is an even bigger concern. TMTS 2024 Talent Forum had invited the consultant of DDI Taiwan – Jenny Yao; the founder of Guan-Hao Management Consultant – Yi-De Zhu; and the co-founder of ATHENA OD Consulting – Gwen Wu to share their views on the topic of sustainable talent development.
On the topic of ‘Five Behavioural Models to Build a Healthy Organisation, Focusing on Cohesive Teams’, the speaker, Gwen Wu, shared her insights on how to build a healthy organisational culture and a solid team of talented people by focusing on the five behaviours – Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Responsibility and Results – in a fast-changing business environment.
Trust: A trusting relationship must be built on open and good communication. Members can only support each other in the face of challenges and difficulties if they have established mutual trust.
Conflict: Recognising the value of constructive conflict, encouraging team members to be courageous in voicing different opinions, and finding the best solution through open and respectful discussion.
Commitment: Ensure that all team members have a clear understanding and commitment to the common goal and that, even in the face of disagreement, team members are willing to work towards the common goal in the best interests of the organisation.
Accountability: When everyone agrees on a clear plan of action, members are more likely to take responsibility for each other.
Result: Teams with the four cultures of trust, conflict, commitment and accountability are more likely to achieve common results.
Gwen Wu said: "A result-oriented work culture is critical to the success of a team". The views and strategies provided valuable references for the participants and is expected to help companies to build strategies for the sustainable development of intellectual talents, thus ensuring the continuous renewal and upgrading of their human resources, enabling them to adapt quickly and maximise their competitiveness in the changing market environment.
A successful conclusion
TMTS 2024 brought together more than 600 exhibitors and 3,350 booths in Halls 1 and 2 of the Nangang Exhibition Centre for five consecutive days, coming to a perfect close on 31st March 2024. According to TMBA statistics, the exhibition attracted nearly 70,000 domestic and overseas visitors, including 3,319 foreign buyers from 68 countries/regions, with the top 10 buyers coming from India, Japan, China, Malaysia, Philippines, USA, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Turkey, and a number of other countries organised buyer groups to visit the exhibition and make purchases. Even after the closing of the physical exhibition, the TMTS 2024 online marketing promotion will continue until March next year. During the show, there were 110,000 visitors from 123 countries logged in. This year, both the physical and digital exhibitions of TMTS were full of people and business opportunities!
This year's TMTS received unanimously positive feedback from exhibitors, who said that the influx of international buyers and actual orders placed exceeded their expectations, and estimated that TMTS would generate US$1.5 billion in post-show business opportunities.
The next Taiwan International Machine Tool Show, TMTS, is expected to be held in March 2026 at the Nangang Exhibition Centre in Taipei, Taiwan.
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