Yamazaki Mazak Corp. plans to spend 2 billion yen (US$16.45 million) to build a distribution center in Gifu Prefecture so that replacement parts can be delivered quickly to clients across the world. This facility is to consolidate parts shipments to overseas destinations, which are now handled by three domestic plants. Through automated sorting, 80 percent of the parts will be able to be shipped within three hours of receiving orders. In the U.S. city of Chicago and the German city of Dusseldorf, Amada Co. is planning service facilities where clients will learn how to use its products. Okuma Corp. plans to set up sales networks in Beijing and in the suburbs of Guangzhou within the year. And Mori Seiki Co. will establish its second Indian sales site in July.

Orders for Japanese machine tools in fiscal 2006 totaled 1.47 trillion yen, marking the first record in 16 years. Exports are driving this growth, with shipments to overseas destinations accounting for more than half the total, up from 26 percent in fiscal 1990. Exports are growing partly because of expanded overseas production by Japanese automakers. In addition, a growing number of foreign firms are switching from U.S.- and European-made machine tools to high-precision products made in Japan, including such aircraft manufacturers as Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS as well as Swiss watch manufacturers.

Thanks also to the weaker yen, Japan's production of machine tools, which was about equal to Germany's around 2002, is now about 60 percent higher in value terms. And according to an industry journal, the global market share of Japan-made machine tools has grown from less than 20 percent in the 1980s to almost 30 percent.

Source: Asia Pulse
Source: Factiva