Metalworking Insiders' Report

Chalk it up to the weakened U.S. dollar.

Mori Seiki Co., Ltd. (Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan) intends to begin construction of a machine-tool plant or plants in either Davis, Calif., or near Chicago as early as the spring of 2011, it was first reported in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) business daily reported on January 22.

The machine-tool builder’s first U.S.-based production plant, whose monthly capacity will be reportedly rated at 100 units, is said to start up sometime in 2012. That would bring the company’s global capacity to 900 units per month. The American facilities will require an estimated $77-million to $111-million to build, according to the newspaper.

In a statement, company president Dr. Masahiko Mori attributed the decision mainly to the anticipated strong yen on the medium- and long-term basis, which will continue to make product exports from Japan expensive, while the products assembled in the U.S. are not subject to the Japanese government’s stringent export control.

The Japanese daily business newspaper also noted that the project will make it possible for Mori to more easily offer partner Gildemeister’s brands to U.S. users. The German company runs no factories in the U.S., as its plants are located in Europe and China.

Mori Seiki currently operates four factories in the Nara, Mie, and Chiba prefectures of Japan. It also has a unit in LeLocle, Switzerland, which is the base of Dixi Machines, acquired in 2007.

Mori’s operations in the United States include the 80-worker office of Digital Technology Laboratories (DTL) in Davis, Calif., outside Sacramento, which since 2000 has been designing software and machinery. A new sales and service technical center in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, Ill., serves as the company’s North American headquarters.

Mori Seiki USA, Inc, Hoffman Estates, Ill. 847-387-1146. With reporting from our Asian correspondent.

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