Triumph for Local Engineers

Among the 10 major construction projects now nearing completion in Taiwan, the development of the petrochemical industry occupies a position of great importance. The private sector has invested a large proportion of the capital needed to build plants, but not all of them were unqualified successes, at first at any rate. A striking example is provided by the Taiwan VCM Corporation's Toufeng plant in northern Taiwan. A joint venture of six private chemical firms, the plant was completed in May 1973, with a total capitalization of NT$320 million (US$8 million). Equipped with ultramodern machinery, it was designed to produce Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) for use by the local plastics industry. Because of climate and technical problems, however, the machinery did not work satisfactorily, and by 1975, operations were halted except for four or five months a year. By the time losses had built up to NT$120 million (US$3 million) alarmed investors decided to invite a foreign consultant group to help find a way out of their troubles. The group soon discovered the cause of the difficulties, but their asking fee of US$4 million to correct the faults in the machinery was considered prohibitively high. It was at this point that the investors decided to turn to technicians within Taiwan. Dr. Wu Cheng-ching, chemical engineering professor at the National Taiwan University, took up the challenge, and left his classroom to lead a group of college graduates to work out a purely local solution. Eventually, the group pinpointed all thedefects in the original design and drew up a new plan which called for an expenditure of only NT$70 million (US$1.75 million), or less than half of the figure the foreign group demanded. The investors approved the plan, and the Chinese engineers set to work. Very soon they had corrected all the structural faults and put production on a sound basis. Taiwan VCM's success has become a legend among industries in the Republic of China. Dr. Wu Cheng-ching's achievement has changed the attitude of Chinese investors who are no longer under the illusion that Chinese engineers are inferior to Western engineers. As a result of his success, Dr. Wu was appointed general manager of the corporation and received an award as one of the outstanding engineers of the year. After operations settled into a smooth routine, Dr. Wu embarked on a new program-to increase the plant's productivity. The steady output of the plant helps the rapid development of related industries.