Industry Activities 

General Manager Arthur Chiang has been involved in the business of fastener trade for years, providing all-purpose services to customers. Entering the industry as a sales, he accumulated years of practices before the inception of the company, Therefore, after china provide cheap product, he decided provides construction screws and automotive screws as the major service range.

Competitiveness Can Be Only Attained Through Differentiation 

“Price cutting is not a good idea for long term business,” which Mr. Chiang has realized for a long time. This is a reason that ABS-Metal entered the business of construction screws and automotive screws, which will not only make its survival in the price-oriented battlefield, but also avoid the influence of ups-and-downs of prices in emerging markets like China, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and India, and which helps its early preparations to enter Europe and the U.S.

ABS-Metal communicated with local importers to sell its screws in the beginning. When the business structure of the global fastener industry started to change, ABS reduced the involvement in indirect trade and turned to active selling management. The direct investment in factories helped facilitate the flexibility of the company and effectively improved the financial status to achieve the manufacturing quality through a procedure of “Consultation-Supervision-Control,” providing a diversified portfolio of services to customers.  

65% of Volume and 50% of Value for Construction Screws Production 

35% of Volume and 50% of Value for Automotive Screws Production

We can easily see how the production of construction screws and automotive screws resulted in different volumes and values according to the grades of fasteners. “Are you going to develop fasteners for another new sector?” Following this question, Chiang expressed his recognition of other sectors.

“Electronic Screw”- a supply chain Taiwanese fastener manufacturers feel difficult to enter. Take Hon Hai and HTC, large tablets and mobile device manufacturers, for example, they have their own fastener manufacturing factories or long term fastener suppliers; “Aerospace Screw”-

it is an easy job to develop certain steels, however, only when they are stably supplied to the market at reasonable prices can Taiwanese manufacturers create their competitiveness in this sector. So our company still focus on Construction & Autom market. As far as materials are concerned, the demand for stainless steel in the market is shrinking because higher material costs forced users to seek replacements for applications. When replacements were gradually sought out and the mechanical property of stainless steel was not better than the hardness and strength of carbon steel or alloy steel treated with secondary process, even though the cost of stainless steel was much lower, it has lost its popularity in the market as it used to be.

Having Opponents is Having Opportunities 

Insufficient Influx of Labor is Not Only a Crisis of the Fastener Industry

In the market, having more powerful opponents means more frequent interaction. Take China as example, it is not only an opponent, but also an opportunity. Within the competition, Taiwan can focus on sectors different from those China wants to get involved, in prevention of the direct competition between each other. As for the bilateral cooperation, Taiwanese high grades of fasteners are what China actually needs. However, the 17% of import duty imposed by China inhibits Taiwanese fasteners from displaying the competitiveness.

In addition to existing economic conditions, the lack of labor into the industry is not only a predicament for the fastener industry, but also a crisis for the entire Taiwanese industrial environment. With the gradual transformation in factories, company owners are willing to disclose their techniques and insist on reasonable prices. If the government can carefully propose plans and fulfill them, that will be reciprocal to both sides and Taiwan fastener industry will not need to face the crises directly.