Mazak Invests Millions in Kentucky Manufacturing Operations

Mazak Corp. will invest $8.5 million in manufacturing technology for its Florence, Kentucky iSmart Factory operations. The investment will include the installation of a manufacturing cell with a fully automated storage and retrieval system, six advanced machine tools and several Mazak Smooth Technologies.

With an expected completion date of late 2019, the cell will include two HCN 6800 and three HCN 8800 Machining Centers and an Integrex e-1250V multi-tasking machine and one Mazatec Smart Manufacturing System (SMS). The machine tools feature Mazatrol SmoothG control technology that is expected to increase production speed by as much as 30 percent.

The cell will incorporate the company’s SmartBox for process monitoring and optimization. Mazak will also use this cell setup to demonstrate the effectiveness of the company’s Smooth Technology digital manufacturing solutions that are said to contribute to increased productivity and machine utilization.

On the automation side of this investment, a fully automated Mazatec SMS for both machine pallet and raw material stocking will supply the six machine tools for continuous production. The system will also provide more storage capacity as well as additional room for future expansions.

The manufacturing cell, with four load/unload stations, will combine the three models of machines, three different sizes of work pallets and one raw material/stocker system. It will also include a tool transportation system that services all the machines with tooling. Mazak’s Smooth Tool Management will oversee the operations as well as access tooling information via Cloud-based data that can download into toolholder RFID chips.