Taiwan Tour

Insights picked up from manufacturers in Taiwan during a tour in December 2012 …………. A Template for South African Manufacturers Taiwan is a small country, with only 23 million inhabitants. South Africa may be geographically bigger and with double the population, but if our growth is to be export led, we can learn a lot from Taiwan. Taiwan was the template for the other Asian Tigers, such as , and Singapore, to emulate. Thailand, Malaysia, , , and others, have also joined the Asian boom, all by following the lead of an independent island, which took the decision to be something special.

by Austin Gamble Taiwan can thus be defined as a dynamic, significant foreign reserves and a strong capitalist, export-driven economy, with and stable currency.” all the good things that go with such an Not bad, and something that South Africa economy – freedom of the press, first s I said in the February 2013 issue can aspire to. In the next four issues of class health care, world class education, of aBr, “Taiwan’s economy is aBr, I shall give an overview of automotive economic freedom, religious freedom and heavily reliant on exports, and as component manufacturers that have A superb human development. such Taiwan’s advanced technology base cracked the world market, and a few allows it to be a key player in the global And because of its export orientation, insights about how they did it. First up is economy. Taiwan can also boast of having Tong Yang Industry Co. Ltd.

Two Bumper Decades In Taiwanese terms, the Tong Yang Group is an old company. Founded in 1952, Tong Yang launched automotive parts manufacture in 1976, and developed strong and integral partnerships with Taiwanese and overseas OEMs, including General Motors, Ford, Nissan, and Honda. Tong Yang now exports to OEMs in England, South Africa, Thailand, Philippines, America, and . Its offshore manufacturing facilities are in China, Thailand and Italy, and it has a joint venture in Japan. Its products include automotive plastics, sheet metal and cooling products, motorcycle plastic products, moulds and paints. Since inception, the automotive aftermarket proved lucrative, with a strong emphasis on reverse engineering and mass production, buttressed by a tooling development capability and a total quality assurance programme. Thus, by the year 2000, the group was exporting to 180 countries, and turnover consisted of 70% aftermarket and 30% OEM.

However, in 1994, with the opening up of the Chinese market, Tong Yang began its massive move into the Middle Kingdom and today it has 15 joint-ventures with Chinese OEMs, and 17 factories in China. This expansion has now made the Tong Yang group the largest bumper manufacturer in the world, and two decades of bumper growth has meant that the OEM/aftermarket sales split is now 50/50. Tong Yang is also recognised as a fully-fledged Tier One Supplier, with its R&D and design capabilities.

However, despite its technological prowess which has been built up over 40 years, the true essence of Tong Yang’s success When you enter the headquarters of Tong Yang you are greeted by the three words that encapsulate is its philosophies around people and the reasons for their success: Enthusiasm, Creativity, Honesty. This has allowed the company to community spirit. export across the world

| words in action 28 march 2013