Taiwan machine tools sector seeks diversity with domestic-made sensors

On the road to "smart production" in Industry 4.0, production equipment must be able to collect feedback data from the machine, such as vibration and temperature, in real-time to be aware of abnormal processing signals and estimate the service life of components. Sensors play an indispensable role as a result.

Between July 2020 to September 2022, the Industrial Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs promoted the "Project of Using Domestic-Made Sensors for Machinery and Equipment to Improve the Smart Functions of Machines," an industry-innovation-themed R&D initiative. The initiative combined the resources from the private sector, academia, and R&D to assist domestic companies in strengthening domestic production.

Sensor autonomy enables machine tools to have multiple intelligent functions through the value-added application of sensors. In turn, this enhances international competitiveness and, at the same time, realizes Taiwan's industrial vision of becoming an "Asian high-end manufacturing center."

Implementing this plan is an important milestone in developing the machine tool industry. A total of 7 companies have passed the review, including the application of Fair Friend Group's intelligent machine tools combined with sensor data analysis to create a competitive three-axis machining center machine; Leadwell's offering of installing key module sensors to build a dual-system turn-milling machine, and providing technical services with more processing application value. Hold Well Industrial built an intelligent processing monitoring production line through sensors to solve the integrated car caliper production line, to name a few.

The above-mentioned enterprises use the planning resources to introduce and apply domestic sensors when developing new equipment, laying a foundation for the improvement of quality and accuracy, thereby improving the reliability of products, extending the mean time between failures, and enhancing the external competitiveness of the enterprises.