Taiwan’s Tool Industry

[CGarage]

Unlocking the secrets of Taiwan’s hand tool kingdom​

Permission deny

Edit: Trying to post link to TaiwanToday article and as soon as I paste the link, my post says
“Permission Deny”.

 

[retDAC]

Is this it?

Permission deny

Still is clickable though.

Edit: Try this one: https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?uni...-tool-kingdom:-Constant-pursuit-of-innovation

 

[zendriver]

Makes sense. Source of very good steel.

Before Taiwan embarked on its Ten Major Construction Projects in the 1970s, most local firms in the steel industry relied on breaking ships and making steel out of the scraps. The ship-breaking business and hardware manufacturing know-how left by the Japanese from the colonial rule (1895-1945), as well as the availability of raw materials, provided the foundation for the development of the local hand tool industry in central Taiwan.

 

[tez929rr]

Very interesting article.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Good article. I have plenty of Taiwanese tools. Doesn't really matter where things come from, it's the quality and utility at your price point that count.

 

[Madjik Man]

Good read. Thank you.

 

[Odd-job]

Thanks OP. Interesting on the volume of tools Taiwan produces estimate at 50% of the market vs 47,000 estimated jobs. Does the 50% market share of medium to high end hand tools sound right?

 

[Wrench97]

The article is from 2017?

 

[qqzj]

Their hand tool business is inherently small potato though, mostly making tools for other companies. With big players like Great Star from China, after acquiring so many US companies with their IPs and market network, these small companies don't look like they can survive next round of cost reduction or innovation. Big companies in China, thou, can set up factories in south east Asia and keep moving production to lower cost countries.

 

[dnschmidt]

Steve Fisher, the owner of Fisher Tools (which you know as Astro Pneumatic) lives full time in Taiwan. That could be a hint as to where the new tools, and more significantly the ability to make them, come from.

 

[four.cycle]

as is the case in Japan, many of the hand tool manufacturers in Taiwan are relatively small operations - they don't all have to be giants.

Taiwan Hand Tool Manufacturers' Association(THTMA)-MEMBERS | TaiwanHandTools.com.tw

Taiwan Hand Tool Manufacturers' Association(THTMA) 台灣手工具工業同業公會。

www.taiwanhandtools.com.tw

 

[tester19]

Gotta love foreign articles translated into English! Always a few things a bit off? Here they mention the types of tools made.
"and are categorized as electric, manual or steam". Steam has to mean pneumatic or air tools but I sure would like to operate at least one steam powered tool in my lifetime!

Yes very small industry at $3.5B. A quick look and Harbor Freight alone has an estimated $6.5B in annual sales. SBD sells over $16B a year.
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[dogdog]

Yes very small industry at $3.5B. A quick look and Harbor Freight alone has an estimated $6.5B in annual sales. SBD sells over $16B a year.

you might be comparing apple to oranges here. These are manufacturer, not direct to consumer sales. probably different metric.

 

[Professional Tool User]

Their hand tool business is inherently small potato though, mostly making tools for other companies. With big players like Great Star from China, after acquiring so many US companies with their IPs and market network, these small companies don't look like they can survive next round of cost reduction or innovation. Big companies in China, thou, can set up factories in south east Asia and keep moving production to lower cost countries.

Small and medium enterprises in Taiwan collaborate when they can't handle a project on their own. I wouldn't be worried about them. Some of them actually have operations in China. Outsourcing to Vietnam makes sense from a human resources perspective. If I were to stereotype Vietnamese people, I'd say they are hard working, humble, willing to get their hands dirty, and are willing to suffer. Young people in Taiwan and China look down on blue collar jobs.