Mazak readies for royal visitor

The visit, scheduled for 6 June, will be His Royal Highness' first visit to the company's Worcester facility, described as one of the most advanced manufacturing plants in Europe. One of the purposes of the visit is for the Prince to meet young engineers who are building careers in the manufacturing sector – the company promotes the benefits of a career in manufacturing to young people amongst local schools, colleges and universities, and employs apprentices. During the visit, the royal visitor is expected to tour the Mazak European Technology Centre, which showcases more than 20 different machine tools, and the European manufacturing plant, which builds more than 1,000 machine tools every year, 85% of which are exported to continental Europe. Yamazaki Mazak is one of the world's leading manufacturers of CNC metalcutting and laser processing machine tools. The company, privately owned by the Yamazaki family, employs more than 6,500 employees worldwide. Marcus Burton, group managing director Europe at Yamazaki Mazak, said: "It will be a great honour to welcome His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, to our European Headquarters in Worcester. The Prince of Wales' long-standing interest and championing of young people is very much part of our own philosophy to encourage future generations of the enormous benefit that can be gained from a career in manufacturing."