With global trade unsettled and market demand shifting fast, Taiwan’s metals industry is under operating pressure it has not faced before. To help manufacturers use AI to strengthen their process efficiency and their ability to respond, the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre (MIRDC) continues to work with Intellicon Solutions on AI-driven upgrades for the sector. Three hands-on courses have run this year, each of them well received.
▲ Intellicon Solutions and the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre working together on AI-driven digital transformation for Taiwan’s metal materials, fastener and screw industries. Photo: Intellicon Solutions
Intellicon Solutions has spent recent years on the practical side of AI adoption in the metals industry, helping companies build AI Agents of their own and automate a range of tasks:
• Quotation and specification matching AI Agent: parses RFQ documents, ERP data and product specifications automatically and produces a draft quotation, cutting the work from 2 hours to 5 minutes.
• Complaint response drafting AI Agent: pulls together inspection records and internal SOPs and writes a standardized response report quickly.
• ISO quality manual summary AI Agent: organizes ISO process documents for the plant automatically, saving a great deal of paperwork.
• Equipment maintenance record analysis AI Agent: reads Excel maintenance records, flags frequent faults and suggests a spare parts purchasing strategy.
Demand keeps rising, and more and more fastener and machine tool companies are bringing in AI Agents to improve their daily work and their decision processes. Intellicon Solutions has observed that the leading companies have already moved first on AI SOPs, and the digital gap is widening visibly. A company that keeps handling complicated tasks by hand will struggle to stay flexible and efficient. As Intellicon Solutions puts it: “Adopting AI now is no longer an experiment. It is a basic part of running a business. Whoever builds the capability in first gets the advantage in decision speed and in cost.”
Facing a volatile international trade environment
With tariffs fluctuating and geopolitical risk rising, traditional industries such as auto parts and machine tools take the first hit, and Taiwanese suppliers have to answer quotation and specification requests from overseas OEMs more often than before. The quotation and specification matching Agent exists for exactly this: it reads RFQ documents, product specifications and ERP data, factors in material cost parameters and produces a draft quotation, turning what took 2 hours into 5 minutes. Decisions come faster, the manual load drops, and a company can hold on to its operating flexibility and cost advantage in a shifting market.
Since 如保興業 deployed it, the effect of the AI Agent on day-to-day processes has been plain to see. President 王文信 said: “Before, our people had to read the manufacturer’s material before they could pull the key specifications out of an order. Quoting has gone from two hours a quote to 10 minutes. We went further and asked the Agent to help organize fastener order scheduling as well, sorting item numbers, shipping dates and quantities, and checking whether orders had been deleted, changed or added. You give the AI an instruction and it is done.” Human-AI collaboration has not only improved efficiency; the accuracy and traceability of the data handling have improved with it.
▲ (Left) 呂純儀, Vice President of 如保興業, and (right) 王文信, President of 如保興業, working together on the company’s internal AI-driven digital transformation. Photo: 如保興業
如保興業 also works with TDEA (臺灣數位企業總會) on sustainability, digital transformation, AI-driven operations and internationalization, showing in concrete terms what a traditional manufacturer gains in international competitiveness by using AI.
Claudia Chen, COO of Intellicon Solutions, said: “With geopolitics and supply chain pressure both intensifying, companies have to make better use of AI. Through AI Agents, they can unlock the potential of colleagues who have the experience and the technical skill, letting those people put their energy into high-value decisions and innovation, which in turn makes the whole organization more adaptable and more resilient.”
A third invitation to teach from MIRDC
Intellicon Solutions and the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre have now run the “AI Agent Development Practicum” together three times this year, pairing theory with hands-on exercises and taking manufacturing managers and engineers through process mapping, organizing data, writing prompts and designing Agents. Registration fills as soon as it opens, which says something about how much the industry wants training of this kind.
The third workshop took place on 19 September in Tainan, built around use cases in the fastener and machine tool industries. That MIRDC invited Intellicon Solutions to teach again reflects the reputation the company has built for AI in manufacturing.
Intellicon Solutions says it will keep working with more metal manufacturers, helping them build AI SOPs systematically and make AI the operational core of the business.
Fastener and Turned Parts Innovation Program — Smart Applications Workshop
Time: Friday 19 September 2025, 09:30 – 16:30 Venue: Room A122, Cybersecurity and Smart Technology R&D Building, Executive Yuan National Science Council, Tainan Organizer: Industrial Development Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs Executed by: Metal Industries Research & Development Centre Registration: https://www.mirdc.org.tw/ProseminarView.aspx?Cond=13860