In recent years, the global manufacturing industry has faced severe disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions between the United States and China, supply chain shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the energy crisis triggered by the Russia–Ukraine war. Under these pressures, Taiwan’s machine tool industry has encountered unprecedented challenges. This paper explores how smart and digital upgrading strategies, with a focus on customized development of high-end special-purpose machines, can strengthen the technological capabilities of Taiwan’s machine tool sector. The key technologies discussed include optimized design of transmission systems, lightweight structural design, and integrated response design of servo control and structural dynamics.

This article explores the growing importance of smart manufacturing amid pandemic and geopolitical shifts, highlighting the application of immersive interaction in remote collaborative engineering. By leveraging VR, AR, and Universal Scene Description (USD) technology integrated with IoT and engineering data, it enables real-time multi-user collaboration to reduce troubleshooting time for remote production lines and address carbon reduction and labor shortage challenges. ITRI has developed a task editor and immersive environments and will continue advancing digital transformation in smart manufacturing.