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O n a recent trip to Taiwan, sponsored by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), I was provided the opportunity to tour 10 of the country's top machine tool manufacturers. Most of the companies I saw are in Taichung, which is a particularly industrial city. On the last day, we headed south to Chiayi and Kaohsiung. Taiwan's machine tool industry has been playing a significant (and growing) role in the global market for quite a while. e country is the fifth largest machine tool exporter (behind Germany, Japan, Italy and China), shipping out as much as 80 percent of its production (about $4 billion annually) to 138 countries. Manufacturers in Taiwan are focused on the develop- ments relating to Industry 4.0. In fact, the country has recently established a Smart Machinery Promotion Office in Taichung, under the Ministry of Economics' Smart Machinery Promotion Program, to help strengthen Industry 4.0 developments. Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, has proposed several such programs to upgrade Taiwan's manufacturing operations into an intelligent machinery industry. e goal is to create jobs, expand the By Chris Felix Manufacturing Continues to Advance in Taiwan export of turnkey solutions and make the country a leading hub for smart machinery. is article consists of short observations about each company that was part of the tour. Hartford First established in 1965, the Hartford complex in Taichung now includes three production facilities covering 860,000 square feet. It boasts 95-percent in-house production capability with 500 employees, 20 percent of whom are dedicated to R&D.; More than 300 sales and service offices are also scattered around 65 countries, including eight in the U.S. Specializing strictly in machining center technology, Hartford claims to have the largest in-house manufac- turing facility in Taiwan and has placed more than 46,000 machining centers around the world. R&D; efforts are heavily focused on advanced controls, with its i-Factory structure aimed at providing customers with intelligent functionality and automation to achieve Industry 4.0. e Hartrol Plus controller uses the technology of smart devices (smart phones and tablets) for intuitive operation. 30 PRODUCTION MACHINING :: SEPTEMBER 2017 SPECIAL REPORT