Amidst geopolitical instability and supply chain restructuring, Taiwan's rubber and plastics industry must strengthen its global presence and adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. The "Edge-Cloud Engine Platform Technology" developed by ITRI aims to assist domestic blow molding equipment manufacturers with digital transformation through M2M connectivity and utilization visibility systems, enabling high-efficiency integration and remote monitoring of information across various brands and controllers (such as Fanuc, Mitsubishi, PLC). The Edge-Cloud Engine supports multiple communication modules (e.g., MELSEC, S7, Modbus) and establishes a data model based on the OPC UA protocol and EUROMAP standards, achieving cross-machine and cross-regional data synchronization to the cloud. Application services include a utilization rate visualization system, a host notification mechanism, and a WebAPI interface. Combined with remote container services, this platform significantly reduces maintenance costs, boosts production efficiency (OEE), and accelerates decision-making, transforming the industry into a provider of manufacturing, system integration, and software service TURNKEY solutions.

Taiwan, renowned as a global technology hub, boasts world-class semiconductor capabilities and numerous science parks such as Hsinchu, Central, and Southern Taiwan Science Parks, along with over 200 industrial zones and more than 100,000 manufacturing companies. Taiwan’s industrial technology and manufacturing capacity are highly competitive internationally. The machine tool industry, often called the “mother of all industries,” plays a critical role in sectors such as semiconductors, aerospace, energy, medical devices, automotive, and precision machinery. Machine tools enable the rapid production of high-precision, high-quality components and equipment, making them indispensable for innovation and development across industries.

In response to the dual transformation of machine tool digitalization and green manufacturing, most domestic companies integrate value-added digital twin solutions from major European and Japanese industrial control manufacturers. However, developing proprietary value-added features is difficult due to the closed nature of these digital twin platforms.

Theme of JIMTOF 2024 This year’s theme featured the Mobius strip (∞), symbolizing infinite possibilities, under the slogan: “Technologies passed down to the future offer unlimited possibilities.” The goal is to carry today’s manufacturing technologies into the future and foster limitless collaboration among academia, industry, government, and research institutions worldwide. This vision aims to expand the machine tool industry into diverse fields, integrating both software and hardware technologies and enabling innovative applications across various sectors.

Taiwan's machine tool industry, impacted by the depreciation of the Japanese Yen, faces price competition from both Japan and China. To overcome these challenges, domestic manufacturers must enhance the added functionality of their equipment and boost market competitiveness. The escalating issue of global climate change is driving countries to pursue Net-Zero Emissions by 2050, forcing companies to demand carbon reduction efforts across their supply chains. This makes energy-saving technology a critical competitive factor. Reducing energy consumption has become a key objective in the metal processing sector, requiring machine tool suppliers to integrate add-on software to help customers achieve carbon reduction goals. Consequently, the development of energy-saving technologies specifically tailored for machine tools is vital for future competitiveness.

According to Drone Industry Insights, the global drone market reached $30.6 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to $55.8 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of about 7.8%. Additionally, the Drone Readiness Index ranks Taiwan second worldwide in regulatory preparedness, highlighting its strong competitiveness in both regulatory framework and industry environment.

台灣與日本同為地震頻繁之區域，地震對工具機與精密機械之水平精度監測則相形重要，本研究開發一套長時間水平量測與監測系統，如圖一所示。透過持續且高精度的數據蒐集與分析，評估地震活動是否造成機台水平偏移，進而影響加工與量測精度。並且了解與分析地震對精密機械穩定性的潛在影響，並為未來的地震補償技術與精密加工設備設計提供參考依據。本研究證實地震與CNC工具機之水平精度關係時，其影響程度甚是輕微，其水平精度皆於0.02mm/m，消除地震發生後對於機台可靠度下降之疑慮產生。