Taiwan -- From Plastic Toys to Industry 4.0

choi

Sarah O'Meara, From Plastic Toys to Industry 4.0: How Taiwan Is Using Science to Upgrade Its Manufacturing. The island is turning to smart machinery and artificial intelligence to improve the quality and flexibility of the products it makes. Nature, 577, S1-S3 (Jan 15, 2020) (S = supplement).
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00060-1

Note:
(a) "In 2016, industrial engineer Chen-Fu Chien was asked to lead a university research centre in Taiwan that would develop new manufacturing technologies using artificial intelligence (AI). * * * Chien, whose position at the NTHU is endowed by the US firm Micron Technology in Boise, Idaho [暨 美光講座教授] * * * In 2018, Chien and his team opened the Artificial Intelligence for Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (known as AIMS) research centre [科技部 人工智慧製造系統(AIMS)研究中心 主任; 科技部 Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) established 3 other AI research centers in 3 other universities eith slightly different names] in Hsinchu. The laboratory has more than 50 staff members  * * * It is part of a wider initiative begun in 2018 that includes three further facilities developing AI technologies in areas such as financial technology, health care and intelligent transportation systems. The whole initiative [AI小國大戰略] will cost the Taiwanese government around US$33 million over 5 years [2017-2021].
(i) 簡禎富  BS with double majors in Industrial Engineering and Electrical Engineering, National Tsing Hua Univ (NTHU) 1990; serving in military until 1992; MS (Industrial Engineering; 1994) and PhD (Decision Sciences and Operations Research with two minors in Statistics and Business; 1996) Univ of Wisconsin-Madison; currently Chair Professor, (ii) (ii) Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management 工業工程與工程管理學系 (工工系), NTHU -- plus Advanced Manufacturing and Service Management Research Center (AMSMRC). NTHU  先進製造與服務管理研究中心 主任.

(b) "When Taiwanese manufacturers began moving factories to mainland China in the 2000s, it harmed the development of smart manufacturing technology on the island, explains Stephen Su [工研院產業科技國際策略發展所所長 蘇孟宗], who runs a centre at Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) 工業技術研究院, a government-funded research and development centre in Hsinchu. The institute, founded in 1973, has acted as an incubator for several Taiwanese companies, including the TSMC."
(c) "Companies around the world are similarly re-evaluating where and how they make their products, says Jason Ho 何佩勳, general manager of Avectec 亞頌科技股份有限公司 [2000- ]in Zhubei City 新竹縣竹北市 (north of 新竹市, which is co-equal to -- and not under jurisdiction of 新竹縣] near Hsinchu, which offers conventional manufacturers a software platform to help create smart factories. In these, networked machines can detect their own faults, work more efficiently and reduce production costs."
(d) "Su also points to the 2018 launch of an industry-funded organization called the Taiwan AI Academy 台灣人工智慧學校, which started as one of the 11 project teams at the AIMS centre. It now has four campuses across Taiwan and runs 12-week courses for technical professionals or business managers working in the field who want to sharpen their skills. * * * As this article went to press, 168 companies had pledged to return from mainland China. William Tang, a spokesperson from InvesTaiwan 投資臺灣 — the government agency in Taipei that runs the project * * * Mechavision 原見精機股份有限公司 in Taipei City, a spin-off company from ITRI that specializes in industrial robotic arms, is one of those hoping to capitalize on a growing need for more advanced production equipment both at home and abroad.  The three-year-old firm makes robotic tactile sensing technology for use * * * Mechavision's chief strategy officer and founder, Camus Su 蘇瑞堯"