Mori Seiki, Gildemeister and China's Shenyang Machine Tool Co in joint venture

The announcement, made on 19 April, said that the facility will produce 30 taper machining centres for the processing of home electrical appliance and automobile parts. Japan's Fanuc has been phenomenally successful in China with its 30 taper machines. Late last year the company said that it would increase production capacity for small machining centres from 1,600 units a month to 2,500 by the first half of fiscal 2011 to meet high demand from China and other Asian countries. At a recent event, GF AgieCharmilles CEO Jean-Pierre Wilmes said Fanuc was shipping 1,500 such machines a month to one Chinese company, Foxconn, in support of the production of products such as iPhones. Mori Seiki said in its 19 April release that detail of the joint venture remained undecided, so further information will be revealed at a later date. However, reports widely published on the internet cite further information carried by Japan's Nikkei business daily. These say that Mori Seiki expects production to start by the end of the year, with an initial output of about 100 units a month. It further adds that Gildemeister will design and develop products for the venture, while China's Shenyang will build the production facility, with Mori Seiki taking care of sales and services. And while the venture will initially target the Chinese market, it may also tap into other emerging economies, as well as Japan, the United States and Europe, the newspaper reported. In a separate, later statement, Gildemeister said that "this move takes account of the growing importance of China as the largest sales market worldwide for machine tools". Mori Seiki and Gildemeister have been capital and business partners since March 2009, each taking an initial 5% shareholding in the other. Mori Seiki has recently increased its shareholding in Gildemeister to just over 20% and will do so further. Image shows Mori Seiki presence at recent Gildemeister Open House in Germany.