High Quality Products with Technology Capability Promise - Walsin Lihwa Corporation (http://www.walsin.com)
Year | The full record of its QC development |
1994 | ISO 9002 certified |
1996 | Testing lab IEC 17025 certified |
1997 | ISO 17025 certified |
1999 | ISO 14001 certified |
2000 | DNV (Det Norske Veritas) certified |
2002 | PED/AD2000 certified |
2004 | Factory LR Lloyd's Register certified |
2010 | OHSAS 18001/TOSHMA certified |
2011 | ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) certified |
The company’s definition of “quality”: The following scheme is suitable for every production process: P (plan) à D (do) à C (check) à A (action). |
With Metallurgy Capability to Develop New Types of Steel Products
Walsin Lihwa Corp. has production facilities in Taiwan, China and Malaysia. Its products include billets, slabs, ingots, stainless steel hot-rolled bands, stainless steel wire rods, cold drawn bars, etc. It is the only steel factory that carries out all the relevant production processes in Taiwan (including steelmaking, rolling, annealing/tempering, chemical cleaning, cold-drawing, etc.). In particular, its sales of wire rods and bars rank the top in Asia. “Our steelmaking capacity has grown from 0.15 million tons in 2000 to 0.4 million tons in 2010. The 2010 revenue reached NT$33 billion and our clients’ complaint rate has dropped below 0.1%,” Sheng-Lih Kuan, Manager of Tech. Dept. explained. “After we receives an order from a client, first, a technical team is formed by our R & D staff, Metallurgical Division, QA Division and Technical Services Division; next, the team collects the specifications required by the client and converts them into MIC metallurgical system”. Moreover, Juei-Lung Chen, Sales Vice President of BG indicated, “To secure high quality, we have to be prudent in our production, sale and purchase at any time. This is our core value”. The company has laid a solid foundation in research and development and has developed various types of steel products. Table 1 illustrates its developmental history of various types of steel products used for fasteners.
Table 1. Developmental History of Steel Products Used for Fasteners
Year | Type of product | Advantages and applications |
2001 | XM7 | Developed to replace the 302HQ type of steel; service life of punching pin as long as that of 302HQ |
2003 | 409CB | Penetrating the aircraft fastener steel material market that was monopolized by the US, Japan and Europe |
2005 | Lower-priced type of steel material | Especially developed in response to the price increase of the 304J3S and A510 types of steel material |
2008 | M400 self-tapping screw (martensitic group) | May penetrate a stainless steel plate with the thickness of 2mm; anti-corrosion test > 500 hours |
2009 | F100 type stainless steel (4XX ferritic stainless steel group) | May be manufactured with the 3XX series of stainless steel in annealing treatment; torque strength > 60 kgf |
Now | 304J3D and 316N | Developed to satisfy market demand, reaching the goal of lowering cost and upgrading steel quality |
Attention to Quality and Details Is Incorporated into Each Employee’s Daily Life
Currently, there are 57 employees in the Tech. Dept. of Yan-suei factory. 77% of them are responsible for research and development, improvements of production processes, quality control and technical services; the other 23% focus on quality inspections, which cover all production processes, including checks for raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products. In addition, advanced testing equipments are used to facilitate material alloying design, chemical material analysis, OM/SEM/EDS, and other manufacturing simulation testings. “We do not use many quality-related slogans; the numbers speak for themselves. For example, when the purchase ratio on our products jumps from 10% to 90%, it proves that our product quality has continuous growth,” Chen further concluded.