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TIMTOS 2013 Show Review

With more than 1,000 exhibitors, this Taiwanese event is now the fifth-largest machine tool show in the world

Posted on 02 May 2013. Edited by: John Hunter. Read 4964 times.
TIMTOS 2013 Show ReviewThe six-day Timtos 2013 machine tool exhibition — held at the Taipei World Trade Centre and the Nangang Exhibition Centre early in March — was another record breaker, surpassing the previous event in 2011, which achieved the status of the largest trade show in Taiwan’s history by topping the ‘double 5,000’ — more than 5,000 ‘booths’ and more than 5,000 overseas buyers.

This year’s event saw no fewer than 1,009 exhibitors using 5,400 booths covering more than 100,000m2 of show space; it also attracted 248 overseas companies from 16 different countries, including major players such as DMG/ Mori Seiki, Mazak and Siemens. Furthermore, the Swiss pavilion was back for the 10th time in succession; there were also a number of firsts, including the first ever German pavilion and the first time that China’s Foreign Trade Federation sent an exhibitor group to Taiwan.

To strengthen the international prominence of Timtos 2013, the organisers expanded the international association zone; those associations present included CMTBA from China, IMTMA from India, JMTBA from Japan, both KOAMI and KOMMA from Korea, and UCIMU from Italy. Overall, the event helped substantiate Taiwan’s position as the world’s third-largest machine tool exporter and an international player. In the first two days of the show alone, the number of overseas visitors increased by 56.9% and 53% respectively, compared with the previous event; the increase in Taiwanese visitors for the same days was 55.2% and 41.1% — trends that continued for the whole show.

In total, there were 6,583 overseas visitors from 94 countries — a 29.8% increase on the previous Timtos. The leading countries were PR China, India, Turkey, Russia, Indonesia and Vietnam — the very countries targeted by Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs for its 2013 marketing campaigns. The total show attendance was just under 47,000.

One of the event’s highlights was the 226 One-on-One Procurement Meetings on the first day of the show; these connected 55 major machinery buyers with top suppliers. Business was reported to be brisk, which is not surprising considering that TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) had mobilised its 57 overseas trade offices six months in advance to identify and invite key buyers. The Council’s efforts paid off, with leading buyers visiting from Germany, Spain, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Algeria, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine, India, Italy, PR China and Hong Kong. Between them, it has been estimated that they generated US$30.48 million in business.

Most of the exhibitors remain optimistic about this year’s prospects and reported good results in spite of the somewhat ‘fragile’ global economy. The Tso Wele Group confirmed that it had a good show and expects to win orders for 20 machines as a direct result of exhibiting, while a sales manager at Yang Iron Precision — which has exhibited at the last three shows — confirmed orders worth millions of US dollars.

TIMTOS 2013 Show Review 2Meanwhile Kuo Cheng-Ko, Tongtai Machine’s assistant manager, said: “We have fielded many inquiries from potential buyers and made more on-site sales than at the last Timtos show.” Speaking immediately after the show, Wang Fang-Chi, Chin Fong’s associate general manager, said: “In the span of six days, we had about 150 inquiries from buyers who came from Russia, Turkey, Thailand, the Middle East, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brazil. We expect to secure orders worth 100 million NTD — New Taiwan dollars — as a result.”

Gentiger vice-president FC Wang said that the company had seen many more international buyers this year, mainly from Spain, Korea and Brazil; he was also pleasantly surprised to see potential European buyers from France, Russia and Ukraine visiting his booths. Other leading domestic companies — such as Fair Friend, Far East Machinery and Roundtop — reported positive results.

Multi-billion-dollar industry


According to Alan Lu, chairman of the machine tool committee of TAMI (Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry), the value of Taiwan’s machine tool output in 2012 (January to December) was US$5.43 billion, of which exports comprised US$4.23 billion — up 5.9% compared with the previous year.

“China and Hong Kong together was our largest market,” said Mr Lu, “with exports totaling US$1.43 billion — some 33.8% of exports and a 1.2% increase on 2011. The USA ranked second, with an export value of US$530 million. This represents 12.6% of exports and a 50.6% increase compared with 2011. Thailand was ranked third, with an export value of US$260 million — 6.3% of total exports and an increase of 50.2% compared with 2011. We expect 2013 will see another increase in exports — albeit just 5-10% — with a key variable being the exchange rate between the NTD and the USD. The depreciation of the Korean won and the Japanese yen against the US$ is another key factor that affects the competitiveness of Taiwanese machinery.”

This last point was also highlighted by TAMI’s chairman John Hsu, who said that the devaluation of the Japanese yen presents Taiwan with both opportunities and challenges. “Taiwanese manufacturers enjoy reduced prices when buying Japanese components, but because of the lower yen, Japanese machine tools are now cheaper and competing with us. Japanese products used to cost some 30-40% more than ours, but with the devaluation of the yen, the difference is now about 20%.”

TAMI remains cautiously optimistic about the global market. In Europe it expects to see growth in sales of Taiwanese machines in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK (last year ranked 12th with sales of US$84 million, a 25.2% increase on 2011) and Turkey. It also expects an increase in sales of 5-8% in Brazil, 10-15% in Russia and the East European markets, 5-8% in India, and 10-15% growth in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam in the South East Asian market. Japan and Korea in the north Asian market are expected to achieve a sales growth of 5-8%.

Competitive pressures


TAMI also points out that the machine tool industry is increasingly global and competitive, with Asian countries having rapidly taken over from European countries and the USA as major manufacturers — especially mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Indeed, output from Asian countries already accounts for 60% of global machine tool output. With regard to global consumption, Asia, Europe and North America are the top three markets, taking 90% of total output. That said, the level of consumption in Asia alone exceeds the combined consumption of Europe and North America.

TIMTOS 2013 Show Review 3Taiwan’s machine tools currently compete against Japanese and German technology at the higher price levels, while facing fierce competition from Chinese manufacturers at the lower end of the market. TAMI’s chairman adds that Taiwanese companies are encountering serious challenges from around the world with “the best products now getting cheaper while the cheapest products are getting better. We are facing increasing competition from manufacturers in mainland China — plus competitors are setting up in China, whose machine tool consumption is growing significantly.

“From January to June 2012, mainland China imported machine tools to the value of US$2.5 billion, a year-on-year growth of 9.3%. Moreover, 74% of this import was from Japan and Germany, showing that China is now needing more high-end products. In comparison, Taiwan’s share of China’s imports was 8.6% — a decline from the previous year.”

Alan Lu, chairman of TAMI’s machine tool committee, added: “To stand out globally, our machine tool industry has to work with government. It has to keep developing high-end products such as multi-tasking machines and five-axis machining centres — and acquire key control and software technology. The government should strongly support the on-going development of Taiwan’s machine tool industry by accelerating FTA negotiations and applying foreign exchange policies with greater flexibility.”

The need for Taiwanese machine tool manufacturers to raise the stakes on the technology front was also highlighted by Steve Lin, chairman of TAMI’s Metal Forming Machinery Committee, who said: “One thing that stands out is the rapid growth of flexible manufacturing systems in Asia — a growth mainly driven by rising labour costs in mainland China. Current trends show that sales of stand-alone machines will not reach previous levels, but sales of turn-key solutions will continue to grow. Taiwan is facing fierce competition from China, so we must provide products with stable quality, flexible features, a high level of customisation, and highly efficient and ‘intelligent’ automation.

In the area of metal forming, we are seeing an increasing use of all-electric technology, and laser technology — especially fibre laser — for processing sheet and tube.”

In the metal


At 1,200m2, the Fair Friend Group had the largest stand at Timtos 2013 (in fact, the largest stand ever at a Timtos show); and it will have the second-largest stand at this year’s EMO show in Hannover — second only to a major German manufacturer. FFG is also the only Taiwanese manufacturer with overseas production facilities (other than in China). The FFG machine tool division comprises 19 brands and has 31 production bases; in 2011, it had a turnover of US$1.2 billion, putting it in the top 20 of the world’s largest machine tool builders.

TIMTOS 2013 Show Review 4FFG company Feeler — represented in the UK by Engineering Technology Group company Feeler UK (www.feeleruk.com) — was showing its U-600, a five-axis vertical machining centre with linear scales, thermal compensation, a BT40 10,000rev/min 11kW spindle (12,000 and 15,000rev/min options), and rapids of 30m/min. Offering even greater speeds was Feeler’s TC-20a. This features 50m/min rapids, an acceleration rate of 1.2g, a 12,000rev/min 7.2kW spindle (speeds up to 20,000rev/min are available as options) and a 510 x 400 x 300mm work envelope. Changing the focus to heavy-duty machining was Feeler’s FVT-1000 CNC vertical lathe.

This offers a maximum turning diameter of 1,000mm, a maximum turned length of 850mm, a 37/45kW 1,500rev/min main drive and a BMT85 12-station turret. Meanwhile, satisfying the need for automated operation was the FMH-500 Auto. This FMS features a rail-guided vehicle, six pallets and a horizontal machining centre with a work envelope of 762 x 710 x 710mm, a 15/18.5kW 10,000rev/min spindle, rapid-traverse rates of 50m/min and a 120-tool ATC.

Five-axis machining was also a focus of FFG company Leadwell — represented in the UK by Lead Precision Machine Tools (www.leadmachinetools.co.uk) — which was showing its V-40iT. Capable of simultaneous five-axis machining, as required when producing complex aerospace components, the machine has a 350mm-diameter tilting rotary table (tilting range +40 to -120deg), a work envelope of 846 x 635 x 438mm, a 10,000rev/min spindle and a 24-tool ATC. On the turning front, Leadwell was demonstrating its LTC-25T2SMY, a twin-spindle twin-turret (12 stations) turning centre with a Y-axis capability, a maximum swing of 860mm and a maximum turning length of 1,020mm. Both the main spindle and sub-spindle have a maximum speed of 3,000rev/min; they feature a 12in and 10in chuck respectively.

Lead Precision Machine Tools also represents FFG company Sanco, which was showing its SHM-11024R CNC horizontal boring and milling machine with an extendable German-built spindle. The machine offers a 2,500 x 1,800 x 1,500mm work envelope (options of 2,000 and 1,700mm for Y and Z), a 500mm W-axis travel (700mm option), and a maximum table load of 7,000kg.

Bang on target


Pinnacle Machine Tool Co Ltd — from the heart of Taiwan’s machine tool industry in Taichung — was showing how its BX range of five-axis machining centres achieve optimum rigidity by separating the rotary axis and tilting axis. Available in the UK under the Target brand from Axe & Status (www.axestatus.com), the BX500 and BX700 feature a swivel head (±120deg) and an in-built direct-drive rotary table with a maximum rotation speed of 50rev/min.

TIMTOS 2013 Show Review 5Meanwhile, the BX300A, BX500A and BX700A feature a worm-driven rotary table that is removable, allowing the machining centres to work as four-axis machines. On all models, the BT40 spindle has a maximum speed of 15,000rev/min and features an integral cooling system. The BX700 has X, Y travels of 1,400 and 710mm respectively; Z-axis travel is 680mm with the spindle vertical and 810mm with it horizontal. Control is via a Heidenhain iTNC530.

L&L Machine Tool was demonstrating heavy-duty turning with its CLA950X5000. Available from Axe & Status under the Tuscan brand, this large-capacity machine has a maximum cutting diameter of 950mm, a distance between centres of 5,000mm, a 230mm spindle bore, an A2-15 spindle nose and a 30/37kW spindle motor that gives a speed range of 9-500rev/min. Also featured is a Duplomatic SMHTR32 turret with BMT85 tooling and a Y-axis capability (±75mm).

Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co Ltd, which has a UK subsidiary called Victor CNC (UK) Ltd (www.victorcnc.com), was exhibiting five new machines at the show, including the Vturn-Q200 turning centre and the Vcenter-AX350 five-axis machining centre. The Vturn-Q200 is a twin-spindle machine with three turrets designed to minimise the difference in cutting times between Op-10 and Op-20 machining.

It has two 8in chucks, a maximum turning diameter of 248mm, a 50mm bar capacity and a rating for both spindles of 22/25kW 5,000rev/ min. Each turret has 16 tool positions, all of which can be driven at up to 4,000rev/min by a 4.5kW motor. Meanwhile, the Vcenter-AX350 features a tilt/rotate trunnion with the company’s ‘Roller CAM Driver’ to eliminate backlash on the fifth axis, a work envelope of 650 x 480 x 540mm, a 12,000rev/min spindle and linear rapids of 48m/min. Moreover, a six-axis Fanuc robot can provide unmanned operation.

Victor also launched its Vcenter-H630HS — a high-speed high-power horizontal machining centre with a 30kW 10,000rev/min BT-50 spindle, hollow ball-screws, 48m/min rapids, 630mm pallets and a work envelope of 1,000 x 850 x 900mm.

A focus on five


Five-axis machining centres were a prominent feature of this year’s Timtos, and many of them — such as the GT630 from Tongtai — offered technology to ensure that the highest levels of accuracy were both achieved and maintained. Tongtai is represented in the UK by Matchmaker CNC (www.matchmakermc.co.uk). The machine features a roller-gear cam for both the A and C axes; these cams ensure zero backlash, a high level of positioning accuracy and high durability — even under long-term heavy-duty machining.

Other features that contribute to the GT630’s accuracy include spindle thermal-deformation compensation, spindle vibration monitoring, driving the Y axis through its centre of gravity, and minimising the weight of moving parts via the use of finite element analysis. Also featured are an integrated monitoring system, a 3-D interference protection system (in both manual and automatic modes, this stops the machine before a clash can happen) and tool monitoring. The machine has a work envelope of 760 x 820 x 560mm, accommodates workpieces up to 800mm in diameter x 500mm high, and has linear rapid rates of 48m/min.

TIMTOS 2013 Show Review 6Tongtai was also demonstrating the T51-USA — a rotary-type ultrasonics-assisted machining centre. This combines high spindle speeds (20,000rev/min as standard, 24,000rev/min as an option) with axial vibration of the tool at 15-45kHz. This allows the machining of hard and brittle materials to high levels of surface finish.

An ultrasonic-spindle machining centre was also featured on the stand of Hartford (She Hong Industrial Co Ltd), which is represented in the UK by TW Ward CNC Machinery Ltd (www.wardcnc.com). The USC-5 has a work envelope of 520 x 420 x 450mm, a 640 x 420mm table, a 20,000rev/min spindle, and an ultrasonic vibration frequency range of 18-30kHz. It can achieve surface finishes as fine as 0.2µm and finds application in the touch-screen panel, watch and jewellery industries.

However, TW Ward is probably better known for the larger machines in the Hartford range, such as the DBC3260H demonstrated at Timtos 2013. This double-column machining centre has an automatic, gear-type, 4,000rev/min A/C-axis milling head that effectively replaces several single-purpose milling heads and saves cost by eliminating the need for a head-storage compartment. The axis travels are 3,050, 3,400 and 1,000mm in X, Y and Z respectively, and the table measures 3,150 x 2,040mm.

Hartford was also displaying its PBM135B precision-boring-type machining centre. This features a 2,500rev/min four-speed gear-driven spindle rated at 37kW and 6,527Nm of torque. It has a work envelope of 2,500 x 1,900 x 1,500mm, a 1,600 x 1,800mm table and a W-axis spindle travel of 700mm.

Research and innovation awards


A highlight of the show was the annual Taiwan Machine Tool Foundation-sponsored Awards for Excellence in Research and Innovation. The Supreme Excellent Prize was awarded to Wele for its MT-16 — a bridge-type milling-turning machining centre.

This was a particular achievement for the company, as it is a previous winner of two Supreme Excellent awards. The machine, which can undertake five-sided milling and turning, features Wele’s own hydrostatic bearing for the rotary table; this accommodates heavy-duty loadings while ensuring long-term precise accuracy. Also featured is an automatic head/tool exchange system.

Grand Champion Award winners included: Fair Friend for its U-600A five-axis VMC in the ‘machining centre’ category; Far East for its NVL-12M CNC vertical lathe in the ‘CNC lathe’ category; and Ching Hung for its Q4025L gantry type linear motor drive wire-cut EDM in the ‘other NC machine tools’ category.

A full list of award winners can be found under Media News at the show Web site (www.timtos.com.tw).

Multi-tasking vertical machining centre


multi-tasking vertical machining centreDesigned to perform complex milling and turning operations in one set-up, the DMT-500 from Dah Lih Machinery Industry Co Ltd saves time and fixture costs, and it minimises the accuracy errors associated with secondary machining. Dah Lih is represented in the UK by Ward Hi-Tech (www.wardhitech.co.uk).

The machine base features a T-shape construction that provides support for the entire machine and travelling column, all designed using finite element analysis. The swivelling spindle head has 150deg of movement and features a direct drive to achieve an indexing accuracy of 3sec. The rotary table (C axis) also features a direct drive and has a maximum speed of 600rev/min; and as with the spindle head, it has a hydraulic disc brake.

The DMT-500 has axis travels of 1,000, 800 and 950mm in X, Y and Z respectively, a 12,000rev/min KM63 spindle rated at 11/15kW, spindle cooling, rapids of 30m/ min, and a 40-tool ATC. The maximum workpiece size is 730mm in diameter x 950mm high, and the maximum turning diameter is 730mm. Options include a 60-tool ATC, through-spindle coolant and a 15,000rev/min spindle.

Twin-turret twin-spindle turning centre on show


New from Chiah Chyun was a twin-turret twin-spindle turning centre. Available in the UK from C Dugard Ltd (www.dugard.com) and branded the Dugard 52 Twin Turret SY, this machine features a substantial 45deg slant bed and two specially designed 16-position oil-cooled turrets.

These are servo-driven for an indexing accuracy of 0.001deg, and each is equipped with a 5.5kW driven-tool capability in all turret positions. The upper turret features a Y axis with a stroke of ±35mm. Roller ways on all linear axes allow rapid-traverse rates of 48m/min. The maximum turning diameter is 190mm, the maximum turning length is 400mm, and the bar capacity is 51mm.

twin turret spindleBoth the main spindle and the sub-spindle are rated at 7.5/11kW 4,000rev/min (6,000rev/ min optional), and a C axis with hydraulic clamping is standard. Both spindles are fitted with a 6in chuck, and a gripper with finished-parts conveyor is standard. Control is via a Mitsubishi 720L, and a 140-bar high-pressure coolant facility is available as an option. A triple-turret version of the machine is also available.

C Dugard also represents You Ji, which at Timtos was demonstrating its HBM 110 horizontal boring/milling machine. This is a substantial machine with a work envelope of 2,000 x 1,500 x 1,250mm and a W-axis travel of 500mm; the rotary table features hydrostatic bearing technology and accommodates loads up to 20 tonnes.

Meanwhile, the spindle features triple cooling to ensure that high levels of accuracy are maintained: this comprises oil cooling for the external spindle sleeve; oil-mist cooling for the spindle bearings; and oil cooling for the spindle bore. Control is via a Fanuc 0i-MD; a Siemens 840D control is available as an option.