Industry 4.0 Wave, Taiwan's Rubber and Plastics Industry Develops Innovative Business Opportunities Towards Circular Economy

Taiwan's Rubber and Plastics Industry Develops Innovative Business Opportunities

The international trend of Industry 4.0 recreates the development of the rubber and plastics industry. Germany is the most important production and export country for rubber and plastics machinery manufacturing. Although the European rubber and plastics machinery market is mature, Asia will still be a global manufacturing production base in the future. Along with the relatively fast economic growth rate in Asia, the demand for rubber and plastics machinery is increasing, and it is estimated that Asia will be the focus of the rubber and plastics machinery market.

Rubber and plastic machinery are one of the four major machinery industries in Taiwan. About 98% of Taiwan's rubber and plastic machinery manufacturers are small and medium-sized enterprises, and 90% of these enterprises are concentrated in Tainan, Taichung, Hsinchu and other regions. The main export markets are still in Asia, including mainland China, Southeast Asia, Japan and other countries. Taiwan is one of the world's top six exporters of rubber and plastic machinery, with an export value of 1.17 billion US dollars in 2018.

Over the past 40 years the Taiwan government has encouraged the development of upstream chemical plants, along with private middle and downstream basic raw material industries, in order to form a complete industrial chain that will promote the vigorous development of downstream plastics, rubber, chemical fiber, and chemical industries. One major focus of the rubber and plastic industries is the automobile industry, which on the average uses approximately 200 kgs of rubber and plastic materials in the tires and interior for each car.

With the rising awareness of environmental protection, along with the rise in global crude oil prices, rubber and plastics manufacturers are introducing green designs, energy-saving processes, and using and recycling biomass materials.

Improvements in process efficiency and pollution reduction of plastic products has become an important issue for the rubber and plastics industry. As a result of the global pandemic, due to the reduction of personnel contact, mechanical automation and cloud services have become the new normal in the industry. Taiwan Rubber Plastic machinery manufacturers quickly took precautionary measures to introduce the Industrial Internet of Things and environmental protection processes, creating new opportunities for relevant global players to shape the industry.

Taiwan's rubber and plastic machinery industry is export-oriented. After years of development, the injection molding industry has moved into a new phase of change, adopting Industry 4.0. Research and development is focusing on reduction of waste, reduction of energy consumption, improved manufacturing efficiency, and improved quality of recycled raw materials. Identification, analysis, and application of biomass composite materials, as well as energy saving technology and green energy (wind energy, solar energy) technology, etc., are creating new business opportunities.

Development Trend of New Plastic and Rubber Materials

In the past ten years, international plastic processing and material technology has seen new innovations in many application fields. Five important areas being focused on include: Green - environmental protection, Recycle – recycling and reuse, Advance – advanced innovation, Smart – intelligent design, Safe – safety and sustainability. These technological development concepts, although independent, are interrelated, and the many high-value products being created will deeply affect our future lifestyle and quality.

Green - environmental protection

The so-called green process covers at least three manufacturing areas: more efficient production processes, more cost-effective designs, and more environmentally friendly material applications. Developments represents a commitment to saving resources, and using less materials, less energy, and less manpower. With the implementation of Industry 4.0 smart manufacturing, many applications of biomass materials and technologies for energy saving and carbon reduction came into use.

Recycle – recycling and reuse

To promote a more circular economy, the 6R principles of product Reuse, Recycle, Reduce, Recovery, Repair, and Redesign were introduced to enhance the green value of products and prolong product life cycles. It is not just a slogan or method to reduce costs, but a way of ensuring sustainability, improving technology, and creating value. Recycling and reuse of low-carbon, new materials (low pollution, low toxicity, low carbon emission) have become an important part of supporting the circular economy.

Advance  – refinement and innovation

More and more chemical material technologies are being used in the development of high-end, high-value, new materials, and are being integrated into more convenient designs, smarter manufacturing processes, and more advanced green energy technologies. Typical examples are: high-end elastomers widely used in sports and leisure that emphasize recyclability; biomedical materials using cutting-edge, fiber-reinforced composite materials that are lightweight and energy-saving; rail vehicles using construction material originally used in aerospace and defense. These higher-value industrial components are impacting people's lives.

Smart  –  smart design

If we look around, we see that we are surrounded by polymer materials. Whether food, clothing, housing, or transportation, we are immersed in colorful polymer materials. If the 20th century can be known for synthetic materials, the 21st century will be known as the era of intelligent materials. As the name suggests, new material design will escape traditional thinking and cleverly uses various molecular structures or materials to seemingly impart “wisdom” into ordinary plastic materials. The material can respond to various external stimuli such as light, electricity, pressure, humidity, acid-base, etc. and make a corresponding response.

Such materials can memorize, restore or even change the original configuration, and can also produce specific changes in function, such as: viscosity, fluidity, color, mechanical strength and even volume. This new generation of plastic materials will bring product designers another imagination space where they can be creative and make break-throughs in existing applications.

"Smart" chemical materials such as shape memory polymers can aid in medical corrective applications. Traditional, thick, non-recyclable materials such as gypsum have been replaced with smart glue that can change its viscosity, greatly improving the ability of products to be disassembled, classified and recycled.

High-strength, shape memory polymers can be made into baffles, bumpers, and other components for use in cars. After the car crashes, the deformed part can be restored to its original shape by heating it with hot air. Shape memory materials can be designed to regulate insulin release for controlling blood sugar concentrations in implantable arterial stents. It can be used it designing artificial skin, artificial organs and other medical applications. Materials that improve flight and driving efficiency, smart building materials that reduce climate dependence, multi-functional textiles, memory materials and biological passports are other shape memory polymer applications.

Safe  –  safe and sustainability

In recent years, turbulent food safety incidents have affected consumers' confidence in food supplies, and consumers are paying more attention to food quality and safety. Due to changes in environment, temperature, and humidity during transportation, storage, and use, microorganisms multiply, and active ingredients are decomposed or oxidized and deteriorated. Food containers and packaging materials are being designed that will provide more reliable lines of defense against food contamination.