Saw 24% Growth in Visitor Number on Day 1

Sep 20, 2008

The Once-Every-Other-Year TAIPEI PLAS 2008

Saw 24% Growth in Visitor Number on Day 1

Organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI), the 2008 Taipei Int’l Plastics and Rubber Industry Show launched on September 18th. It is the first time for this show, held every other year, to use the newly operative Nangang Exhibition Hall, bringing both the exhibiting manufacturers and visitors brand new feelings. On this first day, the show attracted 3,300 visitors in total, a drastic 24% growth compared with TAIPEI PLAS 2006, among which nearly 800 were international visitors.

At the opening ceremony, Mr. Y. C. Chao, President & CEO of the organizer, TAITRA, indicated that this year’s TAIPEI PLAS would see a total of 429 domestic and international manufacturers, who would use 2,466 booths.  Both the number of manufacturers and the booth occupancy have grown from those of the previous show by 14% and 22%, respectively, and have set a new record. Vice President Vincent Siew, a special guest at the opening ceremony, said that, as a person who initiated planning of a new exhibition hall in the district of Nangang 18 years ago, he was very proud to see the success of the Nangang Exhibition Hall in housing large shows.

At the Press Conference of TAIPEI PLAS 2008 in the afternoon, Tung-Pin Hsiao, Convener of the Plastics & Rubber Machinery Committee of TAMI, held that Japan has a long history in manufacturing machinery. However, its technological development has become more predictable. On the other hand, the development in Mainland China is extremely rapid. Nevertheless, obstacles remain for the country’s precision manufacturing industry to reach a certain quality. Different from these two countries, Taiwan has been developing the core technology for 35 years and hence enjoys advantages of partial differentiation and scale economy. For this same reason, Taiwanese manufacturers can

produce highly valuable and high-performance equipment for their customers and make the maximum profits for the customers. Mr. Larry Wei, CEO of Fong Kee International Machinery Co., Ltd. also indicated that the performance of the extruders and blow molding machines the company produces is about 90% of their German counterparts but the price is only 50% to 60% of German machines. China is still known for its lower end production machines. On the other hand, machines manufactured in Japan are too pricy. All of these have added to Taiwan’s competitive advantages in the manufacture of machinery to be utilized by the plastics and rubber industry.

To help domestic plastics & rubber machinery manufacturers develop the international market, TAITRA especially invited heavy-weight international buyers to visit the show and make purchases. The TAIPEI PLAS – Trade Meeting was organized, with participation from 40 major buyers, including Hamilton Avtec Inc. from Canada, Drukarnia “Serix-bis” Waldemar Kitala from Poland, and Eksim Plastik Makina San. Tic. Ltd. Sti. from Turkey.  There were a total of 197 rounds of trade meetings on this first day of the show, indicating infinite business opportunities. In addition, there is the talent recruitment section on the showground, where detailed industrial background and jobs information are provided, resumes are collected, inquiries are answered, and preliminary interviews were arranged between exhibiting manufacturers and job seekers onsite. Those interested are very welcome to visit the section and hold onto possible opportunities.

TAIPEI PLAS 2008 will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day from September 18th to September 22nd.  It is open for international visitors, domestic industrial professionals with visitor passes and the general public with a purchased ticket to visit all day long.  (Ticketing service is available every day till 4 p.m. during the show. Each ticket costs NT$200.) Students of machinery-related departments and schools from domestic colleges and universities are welcome to visit the show with a permit exchanged with their student ID.  During the show, the organizers have also set up free shuttle buses traveling between the Nangang Exhibition Hall and Kunyang Station of MRT and TWTC Exhibition Hall 1 to be utilized by visitors.

SOURCE: TAITRA News

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