Stamp of approval

Taiwanese press producer, Lien Chieh Machinery Co., Ltd., has specialised in the manufacture of different types of hydraulic presses for over sixty years. Founded in 1947, it has focused on the development of a comprehensive range of technically advanced hydraulic, hydroforming, deep drawing and forging presses designed to offer high levels of performance. As it turns its attention to a range of new hot forming and mechanical press developments, International Metalworking News for Asia (IMNA) talks to Patrick Wang, its sales manager.

IMNA: Please give us some background history on Lien Chieh?

Wang: We started in 1947 and now specialise mainly in hydraulic presses. Our current capacity is for presses ranging from 50 tonnes to 15,000 tonnes. Our 10,000 - 15,000 - tonne press range is generally for large forging presses. Lien Chieh is a family-owned company and supplies many industry sectors such as aerospace, marine, automotive and electronics. The factory is based in Yang-Mei which is about 35 minutes south of Taipei’s international airport and 50 minutes away from Taipei City.

In the early days, we manufactured basic hydraulic equipment such as table lifters for plywood. In the 1950s, the plywood industry was very popular so LCM really grew in that market. Later, we moved into hot forming presses for manufacturing plywood.

IMNA: What are your thoughts on current markets for sheet metal formers and fabricators? How do you see global markets developing in 2013?

Wang: The overall market for this year is a little slow, I would say. This is especially true for the electronics industry which we have found to be very slow over the last couple of years. The automotive sector is our main market. Globally, the automotive market is doing quite well. Automotive customers are still buying equipment and planning ahead. High capacity forging presses are still in demand for 2014 and 2015 and will be built to manufacture aluminium wheels from 20-24 inches in diameter.

China is the strongest market for us – we also sell into Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Our second biggest market is North America.

Most people are saying that 2013 will not be as good a year as 2013, in financial terms, but I believe that our results will be slightly higher this year than in 2012. The main reason I say that is because we have already secured some high value project work, which is now coming in.

IMNA: Please outline current trends, technologies, and developments in the sheet metal pressing sector? How are you responding to them?

Wang: Our latest development is in hot stamping press technology using boron steel, which is mainly used for automotive structural and safety components. It’s not a new technology but it is a relatively new market for us and has become much more popular. We are seeing strong demand for it. The ultra-high strength process vs. conventional steel enables cars to withstand higher impact speeds. Many automotive OEMs are using this technology to manufacture the bodies of their vehicles.

For cost reasons, boron steel (22MnB5) is not applied throughout the entire car body structure – instead, it is used in critical side impact areas to increase safety.

Over the next five to ten years, I believe that the majority of automotive manufacturers in China will adopt this technology. We are continuously making process improvements to our hot stamping press technology – our engineers look at issues such as reducing the cycle time spent making components, overall processes and improvements etc.

The hot stamping process involves high temperature sheet metal forming, followed by immediate cold quenching of the sheet metal inside the tool. The process ensures high mechanical strength properties of the metal as well as significant weight savings (30-50%), therefore stronger and lighter vehicles can be manufactured.

IMNA: What are your main objectives and targets over the next few years? How do you intend to achieve them?

Wang: We intend to increase the marketing of our hot stamping presses in the Chinese and Indian markets. These are the two biggest markets in Asia and, if the hot stamping technology could be applied to smaller vehicles, then this will certainly increase passenger safety.

Our next major objective is the development of large mechanical stamping presses. We will devote a lot of focus to this over the next three years. These presses will range from 1000 tonnes to 2500 tonnes. These are in development now and will be launched in a year or so. We are developing eccentric, link motion as well as servo technology mechanical presses.

IMNA: Please outline your main successes and achievements over the last two years, as well as any current or ongoing initiatives that are particularly noteworthy.

Wang: We have had great success with sales of our large single-cylinder forging presses (8000 tonnes to 15,000 tonnes) to automotive customers for aluminium wheel manufacturing. Our customers sell onto German and Italian automotive OEM customers. We have been making these large forging presses since 2008. However, smaller capacity forging presses i.e. 1000-5000 tons are also doing well in the aerospace industry. Our R&D department has increased by around 7% over the last four years so our engineering expertise has been growing in line with greater demands for more sophisticated press design. We have also increased our total workforce by around 10- 12%. We have a service centre in China and distributors in all the major markets around the world.