Newsletter| Vol. 8 No. 1 April 2003

Aiming for the Top in the Machine Tool Industry Mori Seiki Group Activities.
	Beginning with the establishment of Mori Seiki Hitech in October last year, the Mori Seiki Group has grown to include Mori Seiki, Mori Seiki Hitech, and Taiyo Koki. Bringing together the individual strengths of these three companies, we will be able to better help our customers solve all their challenges, no matter how complex or high-level. In this issue, we will take a look at what the Mori Seiki Group has been doing lately.

As global competitiveness becomes more cutthroat and the domestic industrial outlook threatens to become long-term for the manufacturing industry, machine tool manufacturers will have to develop products to help their customers maintain their competitiveness. In order to maintain a high level of development and product appeal, Mori Seiki, Mori Seiki Hitech, and Taiyo Koki are working closely as part of the Mori Seiki Group to boost their individual strengths and functions through the merit of scale. Let's take a look at Mori Seiki Hitech and Taiyo Koki, two components of the Mori Seiki Group. Mori Seiki Hitech opened its doors last year in October as a total machine tool manufacturer, taking over the technology of the now-defunct Hitachi Seiki Co., Ltd. With the highly praised Hitachi Seiki machine tool division's advanced technology development and original machine lineup as a backbone, Mori Seiki Hitech is developing products which incorporate advanced value-adding technologies such as multi-axis turning, energy-savings, and rapid setup. They also have one of the highest numbers of important patents related to machine tools in the industry. The entire lineup includes around 60 models, including vertical CNC turning center Pick-up Turn Series, the multi-axis turning center SuperHiCELL Series, 5-axis control machining centers such as SuperMILLER and SuperTILT models, and their car wheel lathes and bridge type machining centers developed using their own expertise. Headquartered in Nara Prefecture and with a production base in Chiba Prefecture, they are now planning to build a new plant in August of this year in Funabashi City with the capacity to produce 80 units per month. Ever since its inception in 1986, Taiyo Koki has been a general grinding machine manufacturer, developing products optimized for all types of grinding technologies. Their vertical grinding machine, developed by thinking outside the box of conventional design approaches, is the centerpiece of their lineup, and the experience they have gained through its development has served as the basis for other products fine-tuned in terms of multi-axis capabilities and size. Their lineup includes around 35 products, such as the cylindrical grinding machine, the internal grinding machine, and the groove grinding machine, all designed meet increasingly diversified market needs. Before becoming a part of the Mori Seiki Group in 2001, Taiyo Koki was one of Mori Seiki's most prolific suppliers, and was always given very high marks by Mori Seiki when it was still a customer.

The Mori Seiki Hitech booth at JIMTOF. The Mori Seiki Hitech SuperMILLER 400. The Taiyo Koki IGV-5NA Vertical Grinding Machine. The Taiyo Koki main office and plant.

The design and development team at the Mori Seiki Iga Plant. Mori Seiki Hitech's rapid setup technology, the Q-setter. The GCV-100, jointly developed by Taiyo Koki and Mori Seiki.

In this way, three companies with three different backgrounds combine their strengths to make up the Mori Seiki Group, and the result is the type of synergism described below. One of the biggest advantages of becoming a group is the simple consolidated figure of 400 developers at the disposal of a single powerful development system. This allows the Group to introduce various new different products into the market at once, each with a high level of customer satisfaction. In terms of manufacturing, sharing of machines and parts means reductions in assembly lead-time and costs. At present, Mori Seiki Hitech spindles, ATC devices, and other main components are procured from the Mori Seiki Iga Plant for concentrated production for greater efficiency. For sales and service, the three companies' network and human resources are put to use to deliver thorough service over a broad range of fields. Another merit of the Mori Seiki Group is its ability to deliver start-to-finish machining systems from cutting to grinding. Four examples of this group strength reflected in a product are new Mori Seiki Hitech products announced in January: the TF1500 and TF2000 CNC lathes, the VS5000 vertical machining center, and HS5000 horizontal machining center. They are based on Mori Seiki machines with Mori Seiki Hitech products added on, such as rapid setup devices. And by using SEICOS (our own brand) devices for the control devices, long-time Hitachi Seiki customers can continue to use the machines as they always have. Another example is Taiyo Koki's new GCV-100 Grinding Center, a grinding machine which fuses a variety of Mori Seiki machining center technologies, including joint development of the spindle. Mori Seiki's MAPPS system was used as the control device. This type of jointly developed machine can be offered to the customer at competitive prices thanks to the fact that it is a combination of Mori Seiki products with unit devices from other group companies.

As you can see, the Mori Seiki Group has yet to demonstrate its full potential. We will continue to pursue our goal of becoming the global top in cutting machine tools such as CNC lathes, machining centers, multi-axis turning centers, and grinding machines, so that we can continue to provide our customers with valuable production assets. MAPPS: Mori Advanced Programming Production System

Machine jointly developed by the Mori Seiki Group

CNC lathes TF1500, TF2000

Vertical machining center VS5000

Horizontal machining center HS5000

Grinding center GCV-100

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