The 2,900 m2 facility is home to a regularly changing line-up of CNC machine tools and laser-processing machines from Mazak’s portfolio. Indeed, the ETC is often the first place in the UK that customers can see the company’s new models once they have been launched.
As well as a 97-seat auditorium and demonstration area, the ETC also includes Mazak’s ‘Solutions Gallery’, which displays a snapshot of finished components that have been processed on a Mazak machine tool or laser machine at some stage of their production process. All parts on display were produced by Mazak customers.
Over the years, the ETC has played host to a number of open houses, notably in the aftermath of major European events such as EMO and EuroBLECH. The open houses give those UK customers unable to attend these exhibitions a chance to see many of the machines in live-cutting action.
Mazak’s ETC has also hosted a number of broader UK manufacturing events, as well as many educational visits from local schools and colleges. The facility’s constant use emphasises its importance not just to Mazak, but to both the sector as a whole, and the Worcestershire community.
Richard Smith, European group managing director, says: “The ETC is one of the biggest assets Mazak has here in the UK, and it has played a significant role in growing both our UK and European customer base over the past decade. To have welcomed over 33,000 visitors since opening is quite a feat. We always take great pleasure in taking visitors – be they a seasoned Mazak customer or a primary school pupil – around the ETC, and allowing them to witness a glimpse of our product portfolio in live cutting action.
“However, with two more open houses and several other events already in the pipeline, there will no let-up for the ETC in 2019,” he concludes.