The digital transformation is an inevitable trend in today's business operation where operational processes, customer experience, and industry culture will all be integrated with digital technologies. For the traditional fabricated metal products industry, the first step to devise a precise digital transformation strategy is to realize what does digital transformation exactly mean. The digitization of technology and thinking process will improve work efficiency and entirely create new value to enhance competitiveness in the market. There are more than 20,000 factories in the fabricated metal products industry in Taiwan, accounting for a quarter of all manufacturing factories in the country. The 393,000 workforce ranks second in number only to the electronics component industry, while the overall revenue of NT$ 1.4 trillion places third in all industries in Taiwan, with metal processing, manufacturing of fasteners, and metal hand tools being the main contributors. The fabricated metal products industry mainly consists of small and medium factories.
In light of the low proportion of SME undergoing the digital transformation in the country, the Ministry of Economic Affairs launched in 2021 the Industry Digital Transformation in the Cloud Era - Digital Transformation Project for Small and Medium Manufacturing Industry. The project injects funding into the digital transformation of SMEs in the manufacturing sector, with emphasis on transformation over digitization. Organizations are recruited to form a digital transformation service group to offer manufacturers services such as consultation, diagnosis, and guidance, helping to identify issues and solutions during the transformation. The group also directly aids manufacturers to introduce digital technologies, usher in cloud services for the industry chain as well as assist manufacturers to overcome the challenges of digital transformation in the form of supply chain changes and technology upgrade. The project aims to increase revenue, expand the overseas market, and stimulate salary growth through digital transformation.
On April 22, 2021, the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre(MIRDC), together with Anchor Fasteners Industrial Co, Ltd. and eAI Technologies, hosted the Digital Transformation in Practice Seminar. Gan-Lin Chen, President of eAI Technologies, believes that the fabricated metal product / fastener industry needs the assistance of experts with ample experience in assimilating information technology (IT), operational technology (OT), and communication technology (CT) to simplify and focus key technologies and gradually help manufacturers undergo the transformation in a practical manner. Anchor Fasteners reported that, before introducing automated job reporting, the accuracy of production numbers reported from the factories were low and required repeated manual verification, thus indirectly affecting the accuracy of shipping. With the introduction of automated job reporting, lead times have been shortened, and delivery quantities have been accurate. The comprehensive information collection facilitates the continued improvement and analysis of incidents.
MIRDC is spearheading the industry, said Chiu-Feng Lin, President of MIRDC, as it established a demo line for smart manufacturing in the fastener industry, setting a systematic method of production for the industry. MIRDC not only helps SMEs choose the right digital tools for upgrading their technology with an eye toward entering the premium fasteners market, it further applies cloud technology platforms for real-time monitoring, analysis of production and sales information, aiding management decision-making to improve production performance and reduce operating costs. By consolidating resources, it helps to accelerate the realization of digital transformation.