碳纖維產業之科技與商業模式創新研究： 以永虹先進材料公司為例

The Research on the Technology and Business Model Innovation of Carbon Fiber Industry: the Case of UHT Advanced Materials

吳 垣(Yuan Wu)

指導教授 ： 游張松

國立臺灣大學/管理學院/商學組/碩士(2016年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU201601265

摘要

隨著人類需求的發展，複合材料產業已由合成纖維、玻璃纖維，逐漸轉向碳纖維複材發展。碳纖維自1970年代商業化後，一直都是美日聯合主導生產與市場。2008年碳纖維曾發生供應大缺料，之後土耳其、韓國、中國、印度、阿拉伯、俄羅斯、伊朗等國家均意識到碳纖維對下一世代產業之重要性，開始積極投入碳纖維生產競爭；加上能源產業成型、消費者需求提高、低階碳纖維產品削價競爭嚴重，均引導國外業者在產品開發上逐漸思考提高中高階碳纖維使用比例。
高科技產業是台灣經濟發展的重要引擎，在國際上主要競爭者除韓國外，近年來中國大陸業者藉著大量政府資源挹注，在科技領域的生產技術上快速崛起，台灣在高科技產業的國際競爭力日益下降。尤其在高新科技材料產業這個重要的關鍵領域，更可以說從來都不是台灣的強項，台灣在高新科技材料生產規模方面，與國際大廠相較，通常規模比較小，且對於研發與生產技術皆明顯落後。
永虹先進材料公司(UHT)作為台灣首家成功開發高階碳纖維材料的公司，擁有全球首創的創新技術，運用專利微波石墨化加熱技術，把一般市場上24噸級碳纖維重新石墨化，將碳纖維性能及等級大幅提升，製作成具有中高階等級特性之優良碳纖維，突破目前石墨纖維生產不易，設備需求嚴苛、成本過高之問題。UHT專利對於落實高機能的複合纖維材料開發及碳纖產業的節能減碳具有莫大的助益，可以大幅改善目前中高階碳纖維的供需失衡，並打破美國及日本壟斷高階碳纖維市場的局面，使下游高階複合材料產品能更普及、更能被消費大眾接受。
針對市場上中高階碳纖維的需求，台灣永虹公司與傳統業者最大的差異在於提供了一個全新的商業服務模式：將一般等級之碳纖維作為原料，此類碳纖維在市場非常普及且價位較低，再以永虹專利石墨化技術進行二次精煉方式，升級成高附加價值的中高階碳纖維，可同時提升碳纖維的強度與模數，提高其市場價值2-10倍以上。此製程不限原碳纖維廠牌(包含日本、台塑、美國碳纖)，不限纖維K數(3K~48K)，提供給客戶更符合成本及供貨需求的另一選擇。目前在全世界，並無相同製程或類似的商業模式，永虹為世界上首次提出碳纖維再次升級且確切實現量化的企業。

台灣企業如何在全球化市場激烈競爭的環境下，突破重圍，取得一席之地？UHT除技術的突破與專利的取得外，在高科技材料生產製程的良率提升、產量提升與生產成本的降低等生產管理方式，均取得重要成就，奠立未來市場全球化的基石。
本研究闡述『碳纖維產業之科技與商業模式創新：以永虹先進材料公司為例』，運用創新的生產技術，以破壞式創新創造出全新的商業模式，並藉由此創新商業模式，突破美日的長期市場壟斷，成為碳纖維上游產業重要的供應鏈，提高台灣高科技產業的國際競爭力，並帶動全球碳纖維產業的變革。

關鍵字

碳纖維 ； 商業模式創新 ； 科技創新 ； 先進材料 ； 永虹

並列摘要

As human needs evolve, the composite material industry has gradually evolved from synthetic fibers and glass fibers to carbon fiber composites. After being commercialized in 1970, production and sales of carbon fibers have been dominated by the US and Japan. The massive supply shortage in 2008 made many countries such as Turkey, Korea, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Iran realize the importance of carbon fibers for future industries and activate national-level investments in carbon fiber production. Advancements in the energy industry, growing consumer demands, and increasingly intense price competition for low-M(modulus) carbon fiber products have led companies from around the world to think about increasing the proportion of high and intermediate-M carbon fibers used in product development.
The high tech industry is a main driver of economic development in Taiwan. In addition to Korea, Taiwan’s other major competitor in the world market would be Mainland China, where large government investments have led to rapid emergence of production techniques. Taiwan’s global competitiveness in this industry is facing a gradual decline as a result of increasing competition. The high tech material industry represents a key area of focus, but this has never been Taiwan’s advantage. When compared to major manufacturers from around the world, Taiwan’s high tech material industry tend to have smaller production scales and lags behind in research and development efforts as well as production techniques.
UHT is the first company in Taiwan to develop high grade carbon fiber materials and has several world pioneering technological innovations. The patented microwave graphitization technology allows companies to re-graphitize 24-ton carbon fibers, greatly improving the performance and grade of the resulting material that allows it to function as intermediate to high grade carbon fibers. UHT has overcome the problem that graphite fibers tend to be difficult to manufacture due to stringent equipment requirements and excessively high costs. Energy saving and carbon reduction measures of UHT patents will be extremely useful in developing high performance composite fibers in the carbon fiber industry, greatly improve the situation of supply and demand imbalance of high and intermediate-M carbon fibers, and break the monopoly over such products by US and Japanese companies. The new techniques and technology will improve the prevalence of high-M composite material products at a price that consumers are more willing to accept.
To cater to the demands for medium- and high-end carbon fibers, the biggest differentiator between UHT and other more traditional businesses would be its novel business service model: General grade carbon fibers, which are extremely common and cheap, were used as the raw material. Such fibers would undergo secondary processing using the patented graphitization technology of UHT and then upgraded to intermediate and high grade carbon fibers with greater added value. The process increases the strength and modulus of the carbon fibers, allowing the upgraded product to obtain 2 to 10 times higher market prices. The graphitization process would not be restricted to the existing brand from Japan, the US, and Formosa Plastics or K number (range from 3K to 48K), providing customers with another alternative that is more cost-effective and capable of meeting their supply requirements. Given the only company in the world offering this processing technique and business model, UHT is the world’s first carbon fiber enterprise with re-upgrading and demonstrated mass production capabilities.
How would Taiwan’s companies acquire a market share in this increasingly competitive and globalized environment? UHT in addition to technical breakthroughs and patents, accomplishes many brilliant production management achievements that enhance process yields and volumes while reducing production costs.
This study, titled Innovations in technology and business models of the carbon fiber industry: A case study of UHT, analyzes how the company employed innovative production technologies and disruptive innovation to create an entirely new business model which is employed used to break the monopoly maintained by US and Japanese companies. UHT then successfully became an important upstream supplier in the carbon fiber industry. UHT's strategies enhanced Taiwan's competitiveness in the international market and led to the change of the global carbon fiber industry.

並列關鍵字

Carbon fibers ； innovative business model ； technological innovation ； advanced materials ； UHT

參考文獻

吳文演，2005，碳素纖維之研製與應用，科學發展，386期。

臺灣區複合材料工業同業工會，2015，兩岸CFRP 產業現況與發展，

鄭友義，2010，碳纖維製造之最佳化，成功大學化學系專班。

Bacon, R., and Moses,C.T. 2003, High Performance Carbon Fibers.

Chung, D. 2012, Carbon Fiber Composites.