Yamazaki Mazak is top machine tool firm by sales

For its fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, Yamazaki Mazak reported $1.818 billion in machine tool sales, up from $1.575 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005. The company has manufacturing facilities in Japan (in Oguchi, Minokamo, and Seiko), the United States (Florence, Kentucky), Europe (Worcester, UK), Singapore, and China (Ningxia), each of which is undergoing expansion and upgrades. For the 18-month period ended May 30, 2006, Mazak has invested $170 million worldwide in its facilities, including: * A new World Technology Centre on its headquarters campus in Oguchi, Japan. The grand opening saw 13,000 visitors from around the world; * Two new Regional Headquarters and Technology Centres in North America in Hartford, Connecticut (opening in July) and Cambridge, Ontario, Canada (opening this autumn). This brings the total number of Mazak Regional Technology Centres to eight in North America and 28 worldwide * The doubling in size of the National Technology Centre in Florence, Kentucky, a new automated parts-storage and retrieval system at the National Parts Centre, also in Florence, and new and upgraded equipment at the Florence manufacturing facility; * The UK site at Worcester is also undergoing expansion.