Machine tools are the foundation for machine industry development. During the 1960s, the Taiwan government listed the machine industry as a development focus in its economic development projects, starting the formation of the machine tool industry. With the rapid development of heavy industry, Taiwan’s industries shifted from labor-intensive to capital- and technology-intensive in the 1970s, allowing the machine tool industry to gradually prosper.

At that time, Taiwan lacked manufacturing technologies for complete machine tools. To increase capacities in this area, ITRI set up the precision machine tool demo plant in 1977, laying the foundation for Taiwan’s precision machine tool and automation industries, and signed a technology partnership contract with the US company Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing in the same year. Through this partnership, ITRI introduced manufacturing technologies for precision knee-type milling machines (general type), horizontal and vertical universal milling machine designs, and manufacturing, processing and relevant accessories.

To further bridge the industry’s technology gap and overcome the market monopolization by European and Japanese manufacturers, ITRI actively worked on controllers, the brain of machine tools, and successfully developed domestically produced machine controllers from scratch. To establish a new EDM industry, ITRI transferred a wire-cut electrical discharge machining (EDM) control technology to local companies including Chmer and Accutex. These initiatives enabled Taiwan to become the world’s third largest supplier in wire-cutting machine production.

In 1994, ITRI developed the first-gen motion control and I/O control chips and launched the second-gen Exquisite Position Control and Input/Output ( EPCIO) control chips in 2000, galvanizing the development of Taiwan-manufactured controller core modules. In 1996, ITRI developed the turning controller and transferred high-end turning controller technology to Delta Electronics in 2014. These actions gradually established Taiwan’s controller industry as well as giving better price advantages for machine tool plants, which made Taiwan’s precision machinery industry smarter.

ITRI also began to upgrade technologies in the key modules of the full machine to strengthen machine tool manufacturing and technology capacities. In 1994, ITRI completed Taiwan’s first set of hidden high-speed spindles for motors. This new technology increased conversion efficiency, significantly reduced spindle size, and stimulated applications of high-speed spindles. Keeping up with the evolving technology, ITRI assisted industry in developing technologies for two-axis, three-axis, and five-axis machine tools. In 2010, ITRI completed and unveiled the five-axis controller Tool Center Point ( TCP ) function, which is the most crucial function for five-axis synchronous control.

With the arrival of smart machine tools, ITRI leveraged its accumulated technologies to help industries keep up with global markets. In 2015, the five-axis micro-precision imputation control technology was transferred to Fair Friend Group to build five-axis controllers for its processing equipment. This technology not only enabled precision in milling and producing workpieces with complex shapes but also reduced costs by over 50%. In 2017, ITRI further aided Fair Friend Group in integrating industrial robotics control modules and rolling out a smart five-axis processing system solution, which created the world’s first smart “robot-inside” five-axis machining control systems and equipment. ITRI continues to support the company with Taiwan’s domestic controller technology in building the company’s digital milling controllers, FETROL M100 Touch. With Nexcom’s expertise in automated production lines, this new controller was integrated with domestic mold processors as well as drilling and tapping machines, resulting in the establishment of an Industry 4.0 smart demo plant. In 2020, ITRI supported Hartford with domestically produced digital five-axis gantry controllers and high-power servo in constructing a multi-million-level five-axis gantry machining center. Taiwan’s aircraft component machining industry utilized this novel gantry machining center in processing and mass-producing aircraft wing parts, verifying the reliability and quality of domestically produced advanced controllers in aerospace applications.

More than 30 machine tool manufacturers have incorporated ITRI’s controller technologies. Its application ranges from million-level two-axis turning centers and three-axis milling centers to multi-million-level large-scale five-axis simultaneous machining and multi-axis turning-milling compound machine centers. Moreover, benefiting from these technologies, three leading Taiwanese manufacturers have increased their production to 8,0000-100,000 sets a year, with their production value estimated to exceed 5 billion NTD. In addition, ITRI’s domestically produced five-axis machining controllers along with other advanced controllers were showcased at TIMTOS × TMTS 2022, the leading machine tool trade show in Taiwan and a flagship show for the global manufacturing industry.