Taiwan at its best

Taiwan sees itself as "the power house of the building material and fastener-related industry," as Simon Wang, executive vice president of the Taiwan External Trade Deve­lop­ment Council (Taitra), Taiwan's foremost trade promotion organisation, highlighted at the start of the webinar. The country's fastener industry generates more than USD 4 bn annually, the hand tool industry has an export value of more than USD 3.79 bn (EUR 3.13 bn), placing Taiwan among the top three in the world last year. Seventy per cent of the country's fastener output comes from small and medium-sized companies, often family-run, based on the outskirts of Kaohsiung.
Due to the success of control over Covid-19 in Taiwan, companies and factories have maintained daily operations. "Taiwan is like a bubble, enclosed by a series of successful prevention measures managed by the govern­ment and the people of Taiwan's discipline, following of the guidelines and Taiwan's technology, well applied to the prevention of the disease," said Wang. To help the country's hardware industry to maintain its contacts with international customers during the pandemic, Taitra has hosted several web conferences, such as the Building Material and Fastener Webinar. More than 200 buyers and media from around the world joined this live-streamed online event. It provided global participants with a closer look at Taiwan's top brands and their innovative building material and fasteners. Four award-winning companies were invited to present themselves and their latest products.
One of the speakers was Eva Hsieh from King Slide. The company specialises in slide tracks. It has geared itself up with a large investment in research and deve­lopment. Therefore, King Slide has obtained more than 1 000 patents on its products. It is the world's second-largest server rail brand and it is now making a strong push into kitchen and furniture slide rails. This new focus is particularly well chosen against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, as people are currently cooking and eating more at home. Eva Hsieh presented a simlead metal drawer system that only needs a soft push to be opened. This means that touching is no longer necessary, which is especially an advantage when considering infection protection. In addition, according to King Slide, the system is easy to install and offers vibration protection. This means that the drawer will not open, for example, even in an earthquake.
Sheh Kai specialises in high-end construction…