When standing on the floor of the Mazak iSMART Factory™ in Florence, Kentucky, surrounded by the state-of-the-art technology manufacturers now work with every day, it's easy to forget that nearly a century ago, Sadakichi Yamazaki founded Yamazaki Machinery as a company focused on machines to weave straw mats. Less than a decade later, the company began producing its first machine tools, and by 1963, it had officially created the brand that remains synonymous with innovation and quality to this day. And 50 years ago, in 1968, Mazak Corporation arrived in North America, where it continues to flourish.
For the year leading up to our parent company’s 100th anniversary, we could focus on the past: after all, we've transformed the industry again and again with breakthrough solutions like 5-axis machining, Multi-Tasking and HYBRID. When people see our orange logo, they know it means the highest quality of manufacturing technology, a definition derived from 100 years of success. But instead of looking backwards at the past, we prefer to look ahead to the next hundred years and to the future we’re building together.
Today, we're leading the way with revolutionary products like the Mazak SmartBox and the Mazak iSMART Factory paradigm. Our SMOOTH TECHNOLOGY is bringing advanced manufacturing to job shops with products like SMOOTH Link and SMOOTH PMC, while our lineup of machine tools has expanded to include advanced manufacturing technologies like friction stir welding and multi-laser metal deposition. Meanwhile, our automation solutions have dramatically improved productivity and decreased non-cut time for manufacturers across the country and around the world.
What will the future of manufacturing look like? How are we changing the world, one machine at a time? We look forward to finding out together as we continue to pursue success.