A Veteran Steelmaker Goes Sustainable: FEMCO’s Green and Smart Manufacturing Pay Off
▲ FEMCO’s headquarters in Chiayi City; the group is Taiwan’s longest-established integrated steel manufacturer.
Founded in 1949, the FEMCO group joined two Ministry of Economic Affairs programs in 2024, one promoting smart manufacturing in the electromechanical industry and one supporting smart, low-carbon upgrading in the metals industry, both aimed at energy saving and decarbonization. Working with Dr. Tai Tzu-chun of the Department of Mechanical and Smart Manufacturing Engineering at Wufeng University, FEMCO completed two years of voluntary ISO 14064-1 greenhouse gas inventory reports, the internationally recognized standard for organizational emissions. This shows how seriously the group takes carbon issues and lays the groundwork for its future reduction strategy.
Developing green-collar talent
FEMCO believes business growth and environmental sustainability must go hand in hand. It fully supports employees in earning relevant certificates such as the MOEA’s iPAS net-zero carbon planning manager (entry level); more than ten employees earned it in 2024, giving the company in-house carbon management expertise.
FEMCO is also responding to new climate policy. With the amended Climate Change Response Act and the introduction of carbon fees, companies face stricter emission requirements. The group has begun adopting low-carbon technologies and innovations in its manufacturing processes to cut equipment energy use, while preparing for future carbon pricing on the road to net zero.
Deeper industry–academia cooperation for a low-carbon future
To strengthen carbon reduction further, FEMCO joined the Industrial Development Administration’s advanced manufacturing “Heat 2.0” program to develop smart, high-efficiency medium-frequency welding for ERW carbon steel pipe, a major gain in process efficiency with lower energy use and emissions. It also upgraded its green shot-blasting equipment and improved carbon management across its supply chain, laying the technical foundation for low-carbon transformation along the whole value chain. Subsidiary FATEK built energy-saving technology into its new BMC-135FTS high-load mill-turn boring machine, which won the Energy Saving & Smart Product Innovation Merit Award and the Supreme Excellence Award of All CNC Machine Tools at TIMTOS 2025.
FEMCO sees sustainability and talent development as inseparable, and its partnership with Wufeng University keeps growing. In 2024 the two signed an industry–academia agreement to train specialists in smart manufacturing and low-carbon technology. Students will intern at FEMCO, taking part directly in carbon inventories, smart manufacturing and low-carbon development to bridge the gap between school and work, while FEMCO provides lectures and corporate mentors so they understand industry needs.
▲ The BMC-135FTS high-load mill-turn boring machine at TIMTOS 2025, winner of the Energy Saving & Smart Product Innovation Merit Award and the Supreme Excellence Award of All CNC Machine Tools.
Smart manufacturing for green production
FEMCO is pursuing green production and smart manufacturing side by side. Beyond the BMC-135FTS, it was among the first in the industry to bring the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to smart aluminum wheel lines, markedly reducing energy loss and raising utilization to strong customer acclaim. It is also developing an automated data-monitoring system that uses AI to analyze the carbon footprint of its processes and drive energy optimization and emission cuts.
FEMCO will keep deepening its green production strategy and, with Wufeng University, propose concrete low-carbon improvements in processes, environment and transport, with net zero as the long-term goal. Low-carbon manufacturing will remain an R&D priority, and industry–academia cooperation will help build a green supply chain that strengthens “Made in Taiwan” worldwide.
Source: ESG TIMES
2025-04-10 · ESG TIMES / Lee Chiao-chih
FEMCO: +886-5-276-6171 · www.femco.com.tw
FATEK: +886-5-213-3166 · www.fatek.com.tw