The PLASCOM TAIWAN show is another new show that Taiwan would like to introduce to the plastics, rubber, and composite industry.
While many people question how the result may turn out its very first edition, Mr. Allen Lai from Chiao-Fu Materials shared an alternative side of these thoughts. Instead of conflicting with the long established TaipeiPLAS show held biennially in Taipei, he suggested that holding the PLASCOM TAIWAN show in Kaohsiung every other year has a good possibility of bringing new momentum to Taiwanese industry.
The show represents products ranging from upstream raw materials to the final end products, making it a compact platform to match the needs of the manufacturing clusters in Southern Taiwan. These manufacturing clusters are mostly the traditional factories for making sports goods, machines, automotive parts, etc., and many of them are usually smaller in scale and production compared to the high-end manufacturing for electronics and their related components. When businesses are packed with orders, the factory procurement personnel may not have time to visit the trade show far away in Taipei. Allen pointed out that since PLASCOM TAIWAN is being held in Kaohsiung, there are good advantages to it being close-by distance with users, and its full coverage on all aspects of products and services also provides good opportunities. These opportunities are not only for visitors but can also Chiao-Fu and other exhibitors to explore and share the most up-to-date developments in the industry.
The mission that Chiao-Fu Materials aims to accomplish at PLASCOM is to present their newest composite products and to exchange feedback with other exhibitors and visitors. |
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High value and circular economy production are the two major topics for recent developments in the plastics industry. High value production refers to efforts to decrease product weights by replacing metal parts with plastics and composite materials, and it helps open a wider range of product designs. Circular economy, refers to processes involved in recycling plastic waste and transforming them into new products to achieve production cost reductions and decreasing the carbon footprint during production (producing metal emits much more carbon than using plastic, rubber, or composite materials).
As a material producer, Chiao-Fu has been devoted to green production and has delivered environmentally friendly plastics and bioplastic materials. This has added better value onto its final products and has extended the materials’ application for various markets. For instance, the sporting brands like Nike and Addidas have all started incorporating recycled materials into their products. These globally-renowned brands also established strict standards and inspection procedures to ensure the best product quality. When this trend spreads through the industry, it will undoubtedly provide huge encouragement to those manufacturers like Chiao-Fu that are devoted to new materials research.
Even though every product line is crucial for Chiao-Fu’s future plans, creating more eco-friendly products is what Allen shared as the most important future trend in the industry. Now, aside from their stable supply of Nylon 6, Nylon 66, Nylon 6/66, and PP composite materials, Chiao-fu has established a new focus towards bio-friendly materials and PLA 3D printing materials. While there are still many manufacturers considering recycled and eco-friendly products as second-grade materials, there is a gap between producers and buyers in pricing them. Allen pointed out that the recycled and eco-friendly materials should not be considered as incomparable to other materials but they are excellent materials with high capability in providing different outstanding features with different additives. Some of these new materials can be highly shock resistant, anti-wear, cold proof, and can even provide the option of being electrically conductive or anti-static. Allen wishes that Chiao-Fu can take the lead and alter this misconception about recycled and eco-friendly products. In the future, these new composite materials may even replace the metal-alloy materials in some aspects of manufacturing and lead to a more environmental-friendly product.
To further enhance the value of materials and their application, Chiao-Fu is emphasizing the development of new materials for high-end manufacturing in 3 different industries: electronics, automotive, and medical fields. For electronics and automotive products, materials are emphasized for their hardness and lightweight features; whereas for the medical field, the quick and naturally degradable features may come in handy. For instance, a naturally dissolvable nail can be highly applicable for surgical use reducing the need for secondary surgery, and this will help save patients from additional pain and possible danger. There are still many possibilities to discover in the plastics, rubber, and composites industry. Allen Lai from Chiao-Fu believes that Taiwan's industry and manufacturers will be able to compete in global markets, presenting more high-end products for the world.
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