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.
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.
