TSMA Yearbook 2018

36 2018 Yearbook own OEM companies in Taiwan. Allied Market Research indicates that by 2022, global fitness and health equipment market is projected to reach 12.8 billion US dollars, with the U.S. taking 60% of market share as the largest consumer market for fitness equipment and largest export destination for Taiwan. This implication can be illustrated by Johnson Health Tech. Co. Ltd., whose products have been marketed in more than 60 countries worldwide. Thus far, Johnson has seen a continuous revenue growth over last several years, and it reached 20.16 billion New Taiwan Dollars in 2016, surpassing its main Italian rival Technogym and becoming the second-largest fitness equipment manufacturer in the world. The 2017 annual fitness trend forecast report by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) points out that wearable technology will be the top future fitness trend because wearable technology equipment can collect health data, inform users of their current physical fitness index, and help them to make better health choices. It points out a direction for future fitness product research: cross-industry alliance for products such as body sensors and ergonomics control. It will enhance products’ accessibility for users, increase products’ added value, and successfully help businesses entering higher-end fitness equipment market. As to perfecting product technologies, Taiwan Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association established Taiwan’s S-Team Elite League (S-Team) 6 years ago, aiming to transform Taiwan into a “research and manufacturing center for global high-end fitness equipment”, based on principles of “standardizing key components” and “high-quality management”. In recent years, the government has provided much assistance to all industry sectors moving towards “smart manufacturing”. The aims include: communication between machines and equipments through Internet of Things (IoT), linking data with material suppliers, and helping firms to learn with ease the production status within the entire process, so that firms may shorten delivery time, lower their inventories, avoid unnecessary spending, and grasp business opportunities. Indeed, over the past few years, the fitness equipment industry has adopted “smart manufacturing” technologies as recommended by Taiwanese government, and the industry has witnessed an increase in production efficiency and much more stable quality. I sincerely wish that this will bring forth new opportunities to our nation’s sports and recreational manufacturing and service businesses.