Mazak growth in machine tools leads to plant expansion

Company will add 200,000 sq. ft. in Florence, Ky. to meet increased demand

By Source: Mazak Corporation June 29, 2012

Mazak Corporation will expand the company’s North American manufacturing plant in Florence, Ky. This expansion will allow for increased production and support of new and additional Mazak machine models in Kentucky, and increase the facility’s potential production capacity to 200 machines per month to meet surging customer demands. Completion of the expansion is set for the fall of 2013, and Mazak will host a special commemoration event at that time.  Coinciding with the growth of its production facility, Mazak is bolstering its customer service and support offerings with expansions to its National Technology Center & Center for Multi-Tasking and Manufacturing Excellence and North American Parts Center. Combined, the three significant expansions will add over 200,000 square-feet to Mazak’s Kentucky manufacturing campus, increasing its total floor space to 800,000 square-feet and positioning it as one of the largest machine tool factories in the country.

Mazak has expanded its Kentucky campus 15 times since the plant opened in 1974, each time increasing production capacity. The 2012 expansions will allow Mazak to quickly and effectively fulfill customers’ evolving needs for advanced machine tool technology and applications support as U.S. manufacturing continues to grow in the energy, aerospace, construction and agriculture equipment, automotive and medical industries. Additionally, Mazak will further increase capacity to export machines worldwide.

“The late chairman and CEO of Yamazaki Mazak Corporation Teruyuki (Terry) Yamazaki had the foresight to manufacture machine tools in the United States to gain an innate understanding of its manufacturing culture and to support the industry in the best possible way,” said Brian Papke, president of Mazak Corporation. “And from the day the company opened its doors in Kentucky, Mazak has continued that dedication to the support of U.S. manufacturing not only through our highly productive and advanced machine tool technology, but also through our unmatched apprenticeship and training programs to help build a stronger highly skilled U.S. workforce.”  

As one stage of the manufacturing facility expansion, existing shop production offices currently housed within the plant will move to a new added area, which will create a spacious center aisle within the manufacturing building. The larger floor space will allow for the installation of new additional manufacturing equipment, including a highly advanced manufacturing cell that is unique to the industry and produced exclusively by Mazak.