Mazak to Host Grand Opening and Open House at New Southwest Technology Center
New Houston facility offers increased capabilities, enhanced support for energy sector
Florence, Kentucky, April 21, 2011 - Mazak Corporation will host a Grand Opening celebration on June 14, 2011, followed by an Open House event emphasizing technology for the energy sector, to inaugurate its new Southwest Technology Center in Houston, Texas. The Grand Opening ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place on June 14th. The Open House, scheduled for June 15th and 16th, will take place from 10:00am - 6:00pm CST each day.
The new Southwest Technology Centerʼs location is on 4.5 acres of land owned by Mazak at the intersection of Beltway 8 and Green Crossing Boulevard. The new facility will mark Mazakʼs third and largest expansion of its Southwest Technology Center, which was originally founded in 1978, then expanded in 1982.
Representing Mazakʼs continuous investment in American manufacturing and the Southwest region in particular, the new Southwest Technology Center will offer support to manufacturers in all industries, with a special focus on those serving the energy sector. For these growing local area industries, Mazak, unlike any other machine tool builder, has continually expanded in the Southwest to meet the needs of and partner with customers and provide the best possible turnkey manufacturing solutions.
"Even during the economic downturn, we continued to invest in our Regional Technology Centers and in our manufacturing facility in Florence, Kentucky," said Brian Papke, president of Mazak. "For the Kentucky plant, we have invested $13 million in expanding the facilityʼs capabilities through additional floor space and technology upgrades. Similar investment will continue into 2011, with the installation of another VERSATECH V-140N 5-axis double-column machining center for large part production, along with a Mazak Optonics cell with three laser fabrication centers in 2011 to improve productivity of sheet metal parts."
The new 30,000 sq. ft. Southwest Technology Center has been designed with customer needs in mind. Thereʼs more room for customer training and technology seminars, as well as for cutting demonstrations of larger model Mazak machines geared to the areaʼs specific manufacturing requirements. The Technology Centerʼs focus will be on developing process oriented solutions to increase productivity for customers in the Southwest. The new facility will have ample space for service and applications support for these larger machines and for a wide range of larger INTEGREX Multi-Tasking machines from simple turning machines with milling to highly sophisticated 5-axis machines with multiple spindles and turrets.
The new facility will also house a large, 100-seat learning and conference area for meetings, regional seminars and training events that will be presented by both Mazak and VIP suppliers in the industry. With increased complexity of customer parts and corresponding sophistication of machines, the importance of training and support will be enhanced with the new facility in the area. It will continue to serve as a regional service hub with 20 field service engineers based out of the facility, along with 5 phone support engineers, several of whom are bilingual to meet the diverse language needs of the region.
The Open House will feature various new machine, cutting tool and accessory technologies designed to improve productivity, such as advanced turning capabilities, of the regionʼs manufacturers. There will also be special presentations on a variety of topics, including Mazakʼs Five Levels of Multi-Tasking.
For advanced large part and valve turning, the Open House will feature Mazakʼs ORBITEC-20 manufacturing system. Additional equipment demonstrated will include medium and large size Multi-Tasking machine models, covering both horizontal and vertical spindle orientations, from the Mazak INTEGREX i-Series, INTEGREX e-Series, INTEGREX IV-Series and new INTEGREX j-Series.
From Mazakʼs 2 and 3-axis TURNING CENTER technology, the Open House will show visitors actual part cutting solutions on machine models that provide turning and milling and Y-axis capabilities. These include machines from the QUICK TURN NEXUS Series, as well as from the SLANT TURN NEXUS Series, QUICK TURN SMART Series and MEGATURN NEXUS Series.
To register for the Open House being held June 15-16, 2011, please visit http://MazakUSA.com/GrandOpening.
About Mazak Corporation
Mazak Corporation is a leader in the design and manufacture of productivity-improving machine tool solutions. Committed to being a partner to customers with innovative technology, its world-class facility in Florence, Kentucky recently increased its production capacity to 150 machines per month in 2011. The facilityʼs "Production on Demand" manufacturing concept uses the latest in machine tool technologies as part of its lean strategy. Continuous training and development of the workforce has created a "lean" culture, which has created opportunities for continuing growth in America. Mazak maintains eight Technology Centers across North America to provide local hands-on applications, service and sales support to its customers. For more information on Mazak's products and solutions, visit www.mazakusa.com or follow us on Twitter at @MazakCorp.
