Makino opens tech center in Querétaro, Mexico

Machine tool supplier Makino (Mason, OH) has opened a new technology center in Querétaro, Mexico, offering local customers machine tool and part sales, local service, training and technology support, and application engineering services. Located in the Parque Industrial El Marqués, the 7816-ft² facility also houses a showroom with machines for high-speed milling applications and EDM. A Makino spokesperson told Plastics Today that the site has space for five machining centers, and the company plans to increase head count to 15 employees, adding Mexico is considered a target market for 2010.

Citing the fact that Mexico is now the 10th-largest exporter in the world and growing as an internal manufacturing center, Makino said in a release that local companies increasingly need applications expertise and high-performance machine-tool technologies to compete globally. Local engineering services available at the facility include application engineering, global operation support, and project management. Training services include Spanish language training with local engineers, as well as interactive classes, seminars, technical demonstrations, and Spanish webinars. Local support, including preventive and corrective maintenance, in field option installation, and Spanish maintenance training, will be provided through dedicated technical service specialists in Saltillo, México City, and Querétaro.
 
Makino’s global manufacturing and service centers are located in the U.S., Japan, Germany, Singapore, Italy, France, Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, China, Mexico, Brazil, and India, with additional sales/service support from global distributor network. The company markets vertical and horizontal machining centers in 3-, 4-, and 5-axis configurations; wire and ram EDM machining centers; and automation and integration technologies.

In April 2005, Makino opened a new California Tech Center outside Los Angeles in Fountain Valley to serve as a west coast regional sales, service, and applications support facility. That 12,300-ft² location was the fifth U.S.-based tech center location for Makino, joining sites in Auburn Hills, MI; Elgin, IL; Waukesha, WI; and its Mason, OH headquarters.

According to a recent report from The Freedonia Group, global demand for machine tool products was projected to grow 5.2% annually through 2009, building upon a recovery that began in 2003. The report, which looked at the global $65.3 billion world machine tool industry, stated that the best prospects will remain in developing regions, particularly East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. —[email protected]