Eternal Materials CEO Mao Hui-kuan, who began his career in R&D, believes that constant development of new materials and enthusiasm for challenges are core company values. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)
Founded 57 years ago as a producer of synthetic resins, Eternal Materials Co., Ltd. has transformed itself from contract manufacturer to innovator. As a leading producer of synthetic resins for the Asian market, the company went on to develop UV curing technologies that turned it into the world’s number-two supplier of related materials. Eternal then moved even further into the electronics sector by developing the world’s top-selling dry-film photoresist.
Has the company’s success led to complacency? Not a chance. With the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the world in 2020, Eternal expanded into biotechnology and medicine, diving into the development of rapid antibody testing. How has it come so far?
Established in 1964, Eternal Materials is one of Taiwan’s “hidden champions,” manufacturing products that are at the technological forefront of their markets, producing materials tailor-made for individual customers, and even getting involved with the rising 5G sector.
Sailing with the wind
Mao Hui-kuan strides over to greet us on a beautiful clear day in Kaohsiung. A tall man in a navy-blue suit, Mao started with Eternal Materials in research and development some 32 years ago. Now the company’s president and COO, his background in technology and research colors his view of everything. “I used to have a bad temper,” he says with a chuckle. “I studied chemistry, which is a field that doesn’t tolerate mistakes, so managing people wasn’t easy for me.” But it was precisely this commitment to getting things right that prompted him to adjust his management style as soon as he realized that his approach was not working.
In the 1980s, Eternal transitioned from the production of synthetic resins into providing materials to the emerging electronics industry. In those days, the government had only recently established the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to support electronics makers. As the electronics industry took flight, Eternal’s then-chairman, Kao Ying-shih, poured capital into hiring researchers and setting up the company’s Research and Development Institute. Mao got his start with the company working with this group. This pioneering research initiative was an unusual move for a traditional manufacturer, and laid the foundation for the company’s pursuit of transformation.
Mao recalls, “Our chairman in those days, company founder Kao Ying-shih, established the company with two goals: making it people-centric and ensuring that it would become more than just an importer of raw materials. He wanted to prove that Taiwan could develop internationally competitive products and become a world leader.”
Unlike the other companies that were going into electronics in those days, Eternal was determined to build on its background in synthetic resins to develop new products such as dry-film photoresists, which were just emerging at the time.
Local R&D
Virtually everyone in the world owns at least two kinds of products made using materials developed and produced by Eternal—everyday items containing synthetic resins, and consumer electronics utilizing printed circuit boards (PCBs). Eternal’s commitment to Taiwan-based R&D has been the foundation of this success.
But product development is far more arduous than most people imagine. “Even though we had foundational technology from ITRI as a basis, once we began our own research we realized that we were actually starting from scratch.” Mao knew that Eternal’s rivals were foreign businesses that were also pouring large amounts of capital into R&D. “They all began doing tech research long before Taiwan did, and had already won their customers’ trust. Taiwanese firms have always had to compete primarily with Western imports. That means that in addition to moving rapidly on R&D, developing first-rate tech, and quickly ramping up high-quality production, we also had to obtain international quality certifications, which can be a very complicated process.”
Eternal’s massive investments of time, energy and resources have paid off. While other companies were still focusing on developing and manufacturing PCBs, Eternal developed the dry-film photoresists essential to PCB production. This “invisible” but crucial material paved the way for Eternal to enter international markets.
Eternal shows off the fruits of its development efforts at a construction materials expo in late 2020, introducing new materials in an effort to break into the green construction market. (photo by Kent Chuang)
A new twist
“I’ve been involved with every tactical and strategic decision we’ve made since our transformation,” says Mao. But even as Eternal’s ambitions have grown, the company has retained its laser-like focus on the materials market. This strategy has enabled it to continue to develop other world-leading products.
Eternal’s first move to scale up involved opening a factory and branch office in mainland China. But Mao says that Eternal remained committed to advancing its core technologies, which meant that it had to keep its roots in Taiwan. Nowadays, the company makes products for four industries, employs more than 500 top-flight researchers in a variety of fields, and promotes technological progress through interdisciplinary work.
Mao says that in addition to continued growth, the key to the company’s becoming a hidden champion was “technological exchanges between disciplines, which we’ve been able to manage because even though we have developed different businesses, our product focus has always remained materials.” In developing each new product, the company draws on the flexibility of synthetic resins, which have a huge range of applications. By precisely targeting its development objectives within this broad field, Eternal has been able to enjoy steady growth.
In 2014, current CEO Kao Kuo-lun renamed the company from “Eternal Chemical” to “Eternal Materials.” He also established the long-term goals of expansion within the specialty chemicals industry, stable growth, and consolidation of the company’s leading position. Eternal has been a synthetic resins powerhouse for decades, taking advantage of technological progress to constantly improve its products and operations. This strong foundation has enabled it to withstand shocks that have rocked the global economy and markets, as well as competition from industry rivals.
Hidden champion
Eternal began its first foray into the international dry-film photoresist market by establishing a US subsidiary. “We wanted to compete against foreign dry-film photoresist technology, and setting up a US subsidiary was the first step. It was a high-risk move, but branching out beyond Taiwan was essential if we were to win market share and get to the top,” says Mao Hui-kuan. With the outlook for the electronics industry becoming ever brighter, demand for dry-film photoresist was growing quickly, and Eternal decided that the time was right for international expansion. Mao was then the head of the electronics materials division and was involved in setting the company’s strategy. In 2003, Eternal’s US subsidiary acquired the Shipley Company’s dry-film photoresist business, including its technology and production lines. The acquisition pushed Eternal’s dry-film photoresist market share to number one in the world, a spot it has retained ever since.
This success didn’t come by chance. Mao says that Eternal’s employees are the company’s most important, if invisible, resource. That became even clearer to him when he began his tenure as company president. “New product development is a difficult process. Optimizing older products is also challenging. Expansions are hard on employees. Frontline workers have to uphold production schedules in order to meet customer demand. And our researchers never stop investigating new materials with the potential for development, while also ensuring that they are environmentally friendly.”
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Eternal. “We’re a chemicals company, so environmentally sustainable development has always been a key concern and focus. But at one time we mistakenly placed our trust in a class-A waste processing facility that ended up polluting Kaohsiung’s water. We spent the next 20 years undertaking reforms, which have included doing our utmost to develop benign, nontoxic and recyclable environmentally friendly materials, and to monitor waste processing even more conscientiously.”
The company also had to contend with the prospect of layoffs when its optical film R&D lost momentum. “We had to shutter a whole factory, and then racked our brains for ideas about how to take care of the factory’s workers. In the end, we didn’t lay anyone off. We reassigned each of the factory’s workers to new jobs based on their individual strengths. Eternal has always been people oriented.”
Asked where the company found the new jobs for the factory’s workers, Mao offers up the key reasons for Eternal’s success: “We have developed new products, researched new technologies, and sought out new markets to provide the company and our employees with stable earnings, and ensure that we all win.”
Technological breakthroughs have enabled this maker of synthetic resins to continually optimize its products and operations, and develop the improved resins that support its products in multiple industries. Eternal brings together the best of traditional manufacturing and innovative technology in a new and complementary whole!
