Yamazaki Mazak has officially opened its newly expanded European Parts Centre in Leuven, Belgium and has announced further investments to strengthen its manufacturing and customer support across the region.
The Parts Centre was officially opened by Mr Takashi Yamazaki, Vice President Yamazaki Mazak Corporation, along with Mr Marcus Burton, European Group Managing Director and two special invitees; Mr Wim Biezepol of Metaaldraaiery de Eendracht, who bought the first Mazak machine sold in the Benelux region; and Mr Adrian Groves, Managing Director of Katron Engineering Precision, whose father bought the very first Mazak machine sold in the UK
Opening the new Parts Centre, Mr Takashi Yamazaki commented: “Over 40 years ago Yamazaki Mazak established its European operations here in Belgium. We recognised from the beginning that we must have world class solutions for logistics to ensure that spare parts are not only available but delivered quickly to where they are required. This investment in our European Parts Centre utilises the latest technology in parts handling and logistics to further improve our delivery performance.”
His words were echoed by Mr Marcus Burton, who commented: “Service support and spare parts supply is a critical factor in our competitiveness. We are committed to offering the highest levels of support for our machines in the field, maximising uptime and ensuring that our machine tools and laser cutting machines provide the best performance. The European Parts Centre is the hub of our support network ensuring that 97 per cent of orders can be despatched on the same day.”
Mazak’s European Managing Director also used the occasion to announce further European investments. “Mazak’s European strategy is continuous investment in people, products and infrastructure. Today, I can announce that we have started construction of our new Technology Centre in Hungary, and I can also tell you that we are increasing our European manufacturing capacity.
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“From 2016 our European Manufacturing Plant in Worcester will benefit from £6 million of new machining capacity which will enable us to expand the range of our European-built machines and further reduce delivery times for our customers.”
The newly expanded European Parts Centre is equipped with 4,600 sq metres of storage capacity, capable of holding 35,000 different parts and including a dedicated area for large parts. The facility is operational 365 days per year and processing approximately 20,000 items every month.