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Ding Shen Machinery: Aiming to supply full 4.0 production line for the next generation shoe manufacturing sector
——Exclusive interview with Leo Hou, President of Ding-Shen Mechanical Co.Ltd
Ding Shen has gone through the heydays of Taiwan’s footwear manufacturing sector in their 36 years of establishment, from the flourishing business of domestic demands and export, to the shifts of global manufacturing bases. Arrivals of new technologies and the changes in political-economy have shaped the current state of footwear manufacturing sector. “In the 80s, Taiwan has housed more than 2000 manufacturers of footwear industry, while later most either closed down or moved abroad to Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and China where labor power is affluent” General Manager Hou remarked.
However, with the changing demographic structure, increase of educational attainability, expectation in workplaces and technological refinement, “footwear manufacturing can no longer rely just on intense labor power, but the imminent need for automation and break-through in the production lines must replace the traditional production style” General manager analyzed.
Aiming for a precise and edge-cutting footwear production line
Ding Shen has shown outstanding results in its DS-138 automatic recognition spraying system and DS-898 modular production line equipped with PLC control panel system. The modular design production line enables quick change over shoes models while the chamber temperature can be regulated via smart auto programmed temperature control system. This is designed for flexible production arrangements. The automatic recognition spraying system facilitates six axis robot for spraying to all sorts of angles. The scanner ensures that molding is accurate and efficient, while the database could store models for further productions on other machines.
General Manager Hou shared his vision in the intelligent technology development in shoe manufacturing, first – the importance of vertical and horizontal integration in the footwear supply chain; and secondly he encourages labor power to move to areas with innovation and knowledge-prone job places. Hou stated that the footwear manufacturing sector is a vast sector that incorporates long supply chain including industries such as leather, raw materials, chemical engineering, metal working, molding, hard-wares, plastics, and post processing. This indicates that the sector will require vast amount of resources to generate sustainable strategies for Industry 4.0.
The challenge in transforming traditional manual power to mechanized production needs all these sectors to come together and formulate technologies that intertwine, which is of great complexity. However, if the transformation begins, there will be new forms of demands and opportunities created from the long supply chain. Experts in designing, researching, marketing and other jobs that requires creativity will then dominate the new footwear industry, by that, the eco system of the footwear industry will be much more sustainable and easier to tap into Industry 4.0.
Naturally, understanding the concept of Industry 4.0 itself is difficult to begin with, let alone forming plans for it in sectors that rely on traditional form of production. Hou shared their experience in collaborating with several institutions like the ITRI, III, and PMC. These successful cases could be an example for future manufacturers in combining resources domain knowledge and the expertise of manufacturer itself. Hou emphasized the future of footwear sector is the infusion of technology from other disciplines. On a personal level, General Manager Hou believes in the capacity of sectors in Taiwan to come along and facilitate these creative combinations after his global experiences. It is a symbolic moment for manufacturers in Taiwan to gather at ShoeTech, it signifies the return of many senior manufacturers.
Ding Shen is keeping the exhibit theme confidential for now, they routinely exhibit new models in international exhibitions, so this time we can surely expect the fascinating technology they will reveal at ShoeTech. Hou certainly wishes that this is the beginning point of a renewal and revival of Taiwan’s footwear industry.
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