From Golfing Green to Green World Class Machinery

There was a lot more than an aroma of a Taiwanes enight market in the air at Far East Machinery Companyheadquarters in Chiayi last December 12. A sense of history with milestones of achievement floatedjust as lightly in the breeze as foreign clients sat down to wine,dine and toast the company抯 diamond jubilee in the glow of atropical sunset. 揥e wanted our foreign guests, with little time on their hands,to take away the memory of one of our local and popular traditions,so we cooked up a night market for the occasion,?said genial CEOWilliam Wong, under whose leadership during the past seven yearsthe company has taken bold strides into what, he claims, it doesbest. And that happens to be making superlative machinery at acompetitive price. Many of those guests from the far-flung corners of fourcontinents, seated at tables canopied by a mild December sky, hadalready 憈asted?the value added quality of FEMCO machinery. Machinery that has , over s ixt yyears, gone from bicycle rims to ISO9002 and European CE certified productsThey get the breath of life in FEMCO抯five production divisions and affiliatedcompani e s , a s sur ing a l iving for aworkforce of more than a thousand souls. Some stretch of the imaginationtracing the corporate history back to ahumble bicycle rim producing shop in Chiayiwhere J.M. Chuang founded the 揊ar EastRim Works?in 1949, the same year Chinesenationalists landed on the island. It was where hede signed the company抯 first machine and saw thenascence of a Taiwanese multinationalsynonymous with some of the modernworld抯 finest machinery. The Chuang 慸ynasty?continues withhis two sons, the younger, K.H. Chuang, ascurrent chairman of the FEMCO board andolder brother Dr. K.C Chuang (Ph.D MIT) an honorary Chairman. 揂 mind blowing achievement,?Wong exclaims. 揟heengineering blueprint, personal example and dynamics laid downby founder J.M. Chuang remain an abiding inspiration as wecontinue to grow and prosper in a number of new areas.?Theseinclude Engineering and Construction with massive projectscommissioned by leviathans of industry like China Petroleum andTaiwan Power Company.? Winning ways Al though the manufacture of bicycle r ims has beendiscontinued at the Taiwan factory it has been transferred to theKunshan Pearl Steel and Tubular Goods factory in Mainland China揳t about the time Giant moved across the Straits 15 years ago.? Here it churns out rims for any application - trekking,mountain bikes, road racing or BMX ?with Giant still among its major clients.?A good move too,?saysWong 揵ecause we were on the losing sideby putting all our eggs in the Rim basket.? There came a point when the company was 搊ver diversifying?and 搃twas at this stage that we decided to dowhat we did best and that happened to bemaking the best machine tools and steelgolf shafts in the market.? The latter might not be the mostprofitable business, but, he chuckles 搃tsure gets our name around the world ona golf shaft.?During the past few years,with its own private label and a number ofprofessional golfers using its own brand KBSsteel shafts, FEMCO has become a name tobe reckoned with on the PGA circuit. 揥e抳e really hit a birdie with this.Some golfers who stumbled on our shafts were not the most recognized on the PGAcircuit. But when they began using oursteel shafts most of them saw their averageper round improved almost overnight.? One well known American golferusing KBS shafts won three tournamentsin a single season, prior to which he hadonly won a few in his whole career.?Itwas only after getting quite literally intothe swing with our steel shafts杢ubes varyfrom the smallest diameter 0.335-inches toas big as 80- inches杢hat he bounced intothe headlines.? Steel golf shafts are well accepted byPGA players and sell well in the US, Europeand Australia markets but this is not so muchthe case in Asia because Asians tend to usegraphite shafts 揳ndKids Running Shoes