Just two years after DMG and Mori Seiki first unveiled a joint marketing look at a combined DMG/Mori Seiki booth at IMTS 2010, the co-operation between the German and Japanese machine tool builders has entered a new phase.
Worldwide, their sales operations now have been integrated in nearly all major markets, with China, Brazil and Canada expected to follow shortly, Mori Seiki CEO Masahiko Mori said at the IMTS show in Chicago.
Both partners have also invested in new production facilities: Mori Seiki brought a new plant in Davis, California, on-stream in August. The company is also planning its first production facility in China in Tianjin. Meanwhile, DMG has invested in a new facility in Ulaynovsk, Russia.
DMG CEO Rüdiger Kapitza said he was impressed by the Mori plant in Davis. "It is the most modern factory I have seen, with very high quality machining and very flexible production processes." He added that the large parts machining is well-designed and has caused DMG reconsider how it organises some its own processes.
The first machines being manufactured in Davis are NHX 4000 series horizontal machining centres; the NH 5000 and 5500 series will also be made there, with plant capacity expected to reach 100 machines per month. However, plans are already underway to produce DMG machines popular in the US, such as the DMU milling-turning centres and the 5-axis machines. The Davis operation also needs to qualify US suppliers, Mori said, noting that the company has found suppliers of good sheet metal and castings in California and Nevada.
IMTS also marks the first joint development between the two companies. The Milltap 700 machining centre, seen as a prototype in Europe last year, has become a hot seller. With a 25-pocket tool changer, the machine can achieve chip-to-chip times below 1.5 sec., said to make the unit popular with consumer electronics manufacturers. This year, almost 400 such machines have already been shipped, with more than 1,000 sold, Kapitza said.
According to Mori, delivery time for the machine is currently about four months, a period which will likely decline once more capacity comes on-stream in Europe and Asia. The machine has proven so popular that one company reportedly has already ordered more than 1,000 machines.
Sourced from etmm-online.de
