Florence, Kentucy - June 2007  –  Mazak Corporation announces it has named aerospace, automotive and machine tool industry veteran Ray Buxton as General Manager of Mazak Corporation Canada. He will be based at the company’s new Headquarters and Technology Center in Cambridge, Ontario, which celebrated its Grand Opening and its 20th anniversary as a Canadian company May 2.

“Mazak is about more than machine tools, it’s about making a real difference to improve manufacturing businesses around the world through more efficient processes and throughput,” he says. “This is the vision that will make it the market leader in Canada.”

Buxton comes to Mazak after an entrepreneurial venture where he established a standard product line of large five-axis machines. Prior to that, he was general manager of an aerospace components facility that counted Boeing, McDonnell-Douglas and Goodrich Corporation among its customers.

Beginning his career as an aerospace and defense research and development apprentice, Buxton later worked at CAE Electronics in Montreal. He subsequently moved to Ontario to become an automotive plant engineer and advanced to vice president of manufacturing in charge of plants in Quebec, Toronto and Brantford, Ontario.

With deep knowledge of machining and processing parts, particularly in five-axis, high-speed machining, Buxton looks forward to sharing and building on his manufacturing experience for the benefit of Mazak customers.

“There was considerable appeal for me pursuing this opportunity as I have purchased and used Mazak equipment in past positions,” Buxton says. “I’ve experienced this company’s tremendous commitment to manufacturing customers first-hand and I’m very impressed to be a part of it now.”

He also has a new, state-of-the-art facility to work with. Mazak's Canada Headquarters and Technology Center is a 22,000 square-foot facility with a large Technology Hall containing the latest Mazak machine tool technology for customer application development, engineering prove-outs, and even short production runs. Customers who use the center have access to expert personnel, as well as leading supplier partners in tooling, workholding, material handling, quality inspection and CAD/CAM software. The results are total manufacturing solutions designed to shorten throughput time, cut labor and production costs, and improve both part quality and the flexibility to implement production changes. Buxton will also work closely with Mazak’s Canada distributors, including A.W. Miller Technical Sales with offices in Ontario and Quebec, and Machine Toolworks, with a new training facility in Edmonton, Alberta, to continue building successful customer relationships across Canada.

Mazak Technology Center Network Growing

More than 600 customers and guests attended the Grand Opening of Mazak’s Canada Headquarters and Technology Center, which is Mazak’s eighth in North America.  At the same time at Mazak’s North American headquarters and manufacturing plant in Florence, Kentucky, the company is preparing to take delivery of a new five-face milling machine and move out old equipment without interrupting production. Mazak also recently completed renovating the headquarters offices, including adding 6,000 square feet of new office space.

The largest machine tool builder in the world, with manufacturing operations in five countries (Japan, U.S., United Kingdom, Singapore and China), Mazak provides the widest range of advanced-technology equipment and systems for the productivity improvement of manufacturers worldwide. For more information, visit the Mazak website at www.mazakusa.com.