More visitors plus extra exhibitors adds up to a strong fourth edition of the Taiwan International Fastener Show. Torque examines the statistics and gets the views from the show floor…
This year’s edition of the Taiwan International Fastener Show (TIFS) scored a significant rise in exhibitor numbers, indicating that the industry is finding it an ever-more essential fixture in the trade calendar.
Now claimed to be the third largest show of its type globally, TIFS saw 402 exhibitors showcase their wares across 1,002 booths – representing a rise of 18% over the last edition. Visitor numbers were up too: 1,996 international buyers from 75 countries traversed the halls of TIFS, which saw a total of 28,586 visits. Overseas visitors were up 13.7% and according to the show organisers, 90% of those were satisfied with this year’s event.
Set in bright new exhibition halls in the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center, most of the available capacity was used up – which may prove a conundrum for the show organisers if the clamour for exhibition space continues to increase for future editions – though admittedly that’s the kind of challenge most show organisers wouldn’t mind tackling.
British visitors, including Torque, made up 2.4% of international visitors, which puts them tenth on the table of overseas attendees – mainland China, Japan and the USA took the top spots.
The strategic location of the show no doubt bolstered the growing numbers, with visitors combining trips to the show with trips to companies during their stay – the show is set close to industrial centres like Luchu and Gangshan, where a whopping 700 fastener companies are located.
THE VIEWS FROM THE HALLS
Visitors told Torque Magazine that they found there to be a number of attractive, good size stands at the show.
“It was a good show, bigger and better than two years ago,” said Timo Scholle, General Manager of Achilles Seibert GmbH. He told Torque: “Instead of travelling to various locations, we can conve-niently meet with our Taiwanese partners at the exhibition. I was pleased to see a number of new exhibitors, especially suppliers of special fasteners which is interesting for us.”
Other visitors were equally impressed. Proconnect Director Clayton Lynn told Torque: “The show was well worth visiting with several interesting
products on display.
“The exhibition centre itself was really impressive with excellent air conditioning throughout. The Taiwanese people are always very hospitable and appreciate the effort when visiting their country. We were made to feel very welcome and wouldn’t hesitate to return for both business and pleasure.”
This fourth edition of the bi-annual show saw machinery suppliers form a substantial presence and for the first time Chinese exhibitors took part, mere months after the EU repealed its anti-dumping measures for steel fasteners from the country.
The vast majority of Taiwan’s fasteners, meanwhile, are exported to the US and Europe (80% of total export value) and most of the fasteners are exported for industrial and automotive use. Many of the exporting companies were at the show.
The Taiwan International Fastener Show itself was split over four main sections: the Fastener Products Area; the Machine, Material, Mold and Hand Tool Area; the Foreign Companies Area and the Cross-Strait Area. Over the last 10 years, Taiwan has been aiming to produce products with
higher value for a number of sectors, including the aerospace, medical and railway markets. Tapping into that trend – in the Fastener Products Area – was Chun Yu, a manufacturer that focuses on special automotive fasteners and railway fastenings, developing lightweight titanium screws for the aerospace industry and high-end automobile fasteners and assembly. Also in the Fastener Products Area was San Shing Fastech, which supplies nuts to OEM manufacturers of car brands including Benz and BMW. Sticking with the automotive theme, Sumeeko Industries is a Tier-1 supplier to Tesla Motors and General Motors, providing automotive fasteners for shock absorbers, chassis systems, the interior, sheet metal, exhaust pipes and more besides.
National Aerospace Fasteners, along with Alcoa Fastening Systems and Rings Aerospace, Bristol Industries and SPS Technologies, are key aerospace engine fastener manufacturers. Toward the end of last year, San Shing Fastech and Ying Ming Industry both obtained orders with Boeing for trial productions, giving them the opportunity to break into the fastener market for elemental aircraft components and aircraft interiors.
Other prominent Taiwanese exhibitors at the exhibition included the furniture fastener manufacturer Zyh Yin Enterprise – who took up a large-sized booth, as well as Ray Fu Enterprise, Taikyu, Sheh Fung Screws, Tycoons Group, Unitech Products, Fang Sheng Screw,Chong Cheng Fastener, Homn Reen Eneterprise, Hwa Hsing Screw Industry, Sheh Kai Precision, Lu Chu Shin Yee Works and others.
Meanwhile, the Machine, Material, Mould and Hand Tool Area showcased future trends in fastener manufacturing equipment (“larger in scale and with a higher level of accuracy”, according to the show organisers). Exhibitor Chun Zu Machinery Industry and its signature brand Lion displayed its innovations in multi-operational coldforging machinery.
The show aimed to host manufacturers from all aspects of the fastener production process to allow buyers access to a ‘one-stop-shop’ including firms like Jern Yao Enterprise, Nufast Logistics, Ching Chan Optical Technology, Wen Yang Machinery and more.
Perhaps in a move to broaden the appeal of the show, an area was dedicated for overseas companies for the first time, including booths for the UK, Japan, the US, Austria, Italy, India, China and other countries.
The Taiwan International Fastener Show is put together by Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, co-organised by
the Kaohsiung City Government and run by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) with the Taiwan Industrial Fastener Institute
(TIFI). That collaboration is no doubt pleased with this fourth edition of the show, from those significantly higher visitor and exhibitor numbers, positive comments from the show floor and showcasing a greater breadth of the industry. Based on that, and the fact that the show halls were nearing capacity, they’ll have their work cut out for show number five.
www.fastenertaiwan.com.tw
SPEAKER’S CORNER
The Taiwan International Fastener Show isn’t just about sales, new product and industry hob-nobbing – this year it played host to a Global Fastener Leader Summit at the start of the show. The summit featured industry luminaries like Dr. Volker Lederer from the European Fastener Distributor Association (EFDA), Marc Strandquist from the National Fastener Distributors Association (NFDA) in the US, Dr. Gian Marco Dal Pane from the Italian Union of Fastener Distributors (UDIB) and Taiwan’s TIFI chairman Anchor Chang. Covering future industry trends and methods to tackle trade challenges, around 300 representatives from around the globe heard the words of the industry speakers, with around 3,199 viewers tuning in via live broadcasts on the event’s official site.
This article was first published in Torque Magazine.