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SILICON SILIC CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD Production Manager Greg Swain, B.Sc. (Hons.) Technical Editor John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.) Technical Staff Ross Tester Jim Rowe, B.A., B.Sc Nicholas Vinen Photography Ross Tester Reader Services Ann Morris Advertising Enquiries Glyn Smith Phone (02) 9939 3295 Mobile 0431 792 293 glyn<at>siliconchip.com.au Regular Contributors Brendan Akhurst David Maddison B.App.Sc. (Hons 1), PhD, Grad.Dip.Entr.Innov. Kevin Poulter Dave Thompson SILICON CHIP is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 003 205 490. ABN 49 003 205 490. All material is copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Printing: Offset Alpine, Lidcombe, NSW. Distribution: Network Distribution Company. Subscription rates: $105.00 per year in Australia. For overseas rates, see our website or the subscriptions page in this issue. Editorial office: Unit 1, 234 Harbord Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100. Postal address: PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097. Phone (02) 9939 3295. E-mail: silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au ISSN 1030-2662 Recommended & maximum price only. 2  Silicon Chip Publisher’s Letter Taiwan’s booming electronics industry Back in June this year I visited Taiwan as a guest of the Taiwan Trade Centre, in Sydney, as a preview of the Taiwan International Electronics Show, to be held in October this year. The trip involved visits with a group of journalists from other countries to electronics companies in Taipei and Taichung. In all, we visited eight companies over three days and as you might expect, it was a pretty full program which began the same morning as I had arrived (very early) after a very drawn out and delayed journey from Sydney. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to these plant visits and perhaps seeing some state-of-the-art products and assembly techniques. As the days unfolded, I was not disappointed but at the same time, I was surprised that production line techniques have really changed very little since I was involved in electronics manufacturing in Australia almost 50 years ago. In fact, in some ways it was quite a nostalgic trip, seeing production lines employing mainly women doing quite similar work to that performed way in the past. Sure, they are now working with tiny electronic components and the test instrumentation is completely changed but the acceptance tests and methods used today are not much different from those used in yesteryear. And while the machinery used to mass-produce tiny components such as relays, connectors, DIP switches and others which use a variety of metal stampings and moulded plastic parts are more advanced, the processes were very similar, even though the machines tend to be smaller, much more automated and faster – much faster. So the dies used in the stamping presses are made by toolmakers using lathes, milling and grinding machines, just as they were 60, 70 and 80 years ago and you still need teams of technicians to set up, adjust and maintain all these machines so that they can keep running over two or three shifts. Even the design process does not seem to be all that different. Sure, nowadays designers and engineers are using high-definition screens, CAD/CAM and simulation software instead of working with slide rules and drafting boards but the basic methods are still quite similar. The quest is always to produce a good performing design at low cost – that has never changed. But while there was a fair degree of nostalgia for me, there was also the grim confirmation that what I saw in three days was but a very tiny picture of what is happening all over Asia and particularly in China. In simple terms, Australia and most other western countries simply cannot compete with mass-produced products from Asia. Nor should you think that products made in Asia are produced in sweatshop conditions by poorly paid workers. They are not. We cannot compete largely because our wages are much higher than in most of Asia and our currency makes it very difficult for Australian exporters. And of course, it seems that there are many hurdles for anyone trying to set up a manufacturing business in Australia. All of that said, it is a wonder that Australia is still such a rich and fortunate nation. No, we cannot compete with cheap, mass produced items but really, why would we want to? The rewards go to those companies and organisations who play to their strengths and so many of our businesses do exactly that. And if they don’t, they cease to exist. Finally, there is much to admire in Taiwan, a country with virtually the same population as Australia but lacking our enormous resources. While their GDP is less than half that of Australia’s, they have some very impressive infrastructure, including their High Speed Rail which has been running since 2009. By contrast, Aust­ralia’s roads and rail systems (apart from those run by mining companies) seem rooted in the 19th century at worst and possibly the 20th century, at best. Leo Simpson siliconchip.com.au