IMTS 2014 Suggested Bright Market Outlook for The Island's Machine-Tool Makers

The International Manufacturing Technology Show 2014 (IMTS 2014) of Chicago, held Sept. 8-13, brought Taiwan's exhibitors some US$50 million of orders on-site, suggesting bright market outlook for the island's machine-tool makers at least in Q4, 2014 and Q1, 2015.

The Taiwanese exhibitors included Tongtai Machine & Tool Co., Ltd., the Fair Friend Group, Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co., Ltd., AWEA Mechantronic Co., Ltd., Goodway Machine Corp., Kao Fong Machinery Co., Ltd., and Falcon Machine Tools Co., Ltd., all of whom reported seeing more buyers than expected relative to the 2012 edition.

Industry executives say China and USA are the top two export destinations for Taiwan's machine tools. However, the market in China has become very volatile since Beijing implemented macroeconomic adjustments to curb its over-speculative property market.

In contrast, the American market for machine tools has grown sharply thanks to economic recovery and the American government's policy to encourage "reshoring" of overseas American manufacturing businesses.

Falcon sold out all its nine machines on display, including heavy-duty vertical lathes, heavy-duty double-column milling machines, heavy-duty double-column grinding machines, and horizontal boring machines, in just two days for over US$5 million, which was equaled by Tongtai at the event.

Fair Friend received US$30 million of orders at the show. Group chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Jimmy Chu, said the group promoted 26 brands from its subsidiaries worldwide, including the Italian subsidiaries SIGMA and S.M.S.

Kao Fong executives said the company sold four midsize double-column machining centers and a vertical machining center for some NT$20 million (US$667,000), higher than  expected, with some NT$400 million (US$13.3 million) of unfilled orders to keep it humming until this October.

Kao Fong is in talks with China's carmakers about selling vertical machining centers valued at hundreds of millions of NT-dollars, with potential orders to be filled as early as Q3, 2015.

The Goodway Group, which includes AWEA, won at least NT$100 million (US$3.3 million)  of orders at the show to exceed expectations. AWEA still has NT$1.4 billion (US$46.6 million) of booked orders to keep it busy until early next year.

Victor Taichung executives said the company won sufficient orders at the show although America is not the company's main market, and that NT$1 billion (US$33.3 million) of orders remain booked to keep the company busy for two to three months. (KL)