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Facing the threat of COVID-19, Taiwan has taken protective measures for the first time to prevent a large number of foreign infection cases from moving in, a benchmark for global epidemic prevention. However, as the epidemic continued to spread, the shortage of epidemic prevention materials - masks - became a potential peril. In response to the surge in demand for masks, the Executive Yuan invested US$5.9 million to establish 60 mask production lines by the end of February. Local machine manufacturers even assisted in the construction of production lines and quickly formed an unprecedented and powerful national team of "MIT surgical mask supply chain". The daily output of masks will reach 10 million pieces by mid-March.

Under the co-ordination of Mr. Shen, Jong-Chin, Minister of Economic Affairs, Mr. Hsu, Wen-Hsien, Chair of Taiwan Machine Tool ＆ Accessories Builders' Association, Mr. Yen, Jui-Hsiung, President of Tongtai, industry leaders are cooperating enthusiastically. The "MIT surgical mask supply chain" consists of research institutes: Precision Machinery Research Development Center (PMC), Metal Industries Research and Development Center (MIRDC), Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI); Machine tools and machinery companies: HABOR Precision Inc., Tongtai, TAKISAWA Taiwan, Contrel Technology, AVEX-SG Technology Inc., Hiwin, Keyarrow, POSA MACHINERY CO., LTD, SEYI, SUN FIRM, YCM, Awea, etc. Many of them are Taiwan Excellence award-winning enterprises. They assigned experts to assemble and distribute manpower using Taiwan's world-class technology and key components of mechanical motors to build a mask production line for the government. In addition, non-woven fabric companies including NAN LIU, KNH, MYTREX, Formosa Plastic, etc. gave priority to providing non-woven fabric to meet domestic mask production demand during the national epidemic prevention period.

The completion of 60 mask lines within a month is considered "Mission Impossible", but with the cooperation of the government and our enterprises, the mission estimated to be completed in half a year time was successfully delivered within a month. It is estimated that daily production of masks will be 100,000 pieces per production line in mid-March. With 60 mask production lines at its full power, the mask production will increase to 6 million pieces per day. Including the existing daily production of 4 million pieces, total daily output will reach 10 million pieces, making Taiwan the world's second largest mask manufacturer.

   Taiwan's machine tools and machinery industry contributed so much to mask production. These companies are willing to suspend operations temporarily and fully cooperate with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which demonstrates the unity, efficiency and crisis-handling capacity with our Taiwan industries. In terms of economic performance, Taiwan's machinery industry has produced more than US$35 billion over two consecutive years. And its export value exceeded US$26.3 billion. After the introduction of smart manufacturing, machine tools exported more than 100 billion masks, ranking fifth in the world in 2018. To promote Taiwan smart machinery industry, Taiwan Excellence will establish the "Taiwan Excellence Pavilion" and product launch press conferences at "Manufacturing Expo", Bangkok and "Automation Expo", Mumbai to demonstrate Taiwan's strong industrial strength to the world.