After an interruption following the pandemic, Florence, in Kentucky, Mazak Corp. Organized the Discover More With Mazak Midwest Technology and Education Event from May 6 to 8 at the machine Tool Builder’s Midwest Technology Center in Schaumburg, Illinois. In addition to being able to meet Mazak partner companies in the display and demonstration zone, Mazak presented a variety of machining equipment, including integx multitastic machines, 5-axis Variaxis Touring machines for the production of complex 3D curved surfaces, Syncrex Swiss Syletech Machines, the HCN-4000 Automation System Horizontal center with the Modular System Palletech, and the horizontal VC-500A with the Modular System Palletech, and the VC-500A / 500 automated system. 5-axis hybrid machine which combines additive and subtraire operations.
In addition, the event presented several presentations from May 6 to 7, notably “Award Award – Manufacturing 2025” by Dan Janka, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mazak Corp. He noted that the company entered the American market in 1968 and began to build machine tools in Florence in 1974 and has now built 70 different models at 1 million m². ease. The factory is one of the 11 Mazak factories around the world, the most recent started about a year ago in Pune, India.
To help its customers minimize downtime, Janka said that 98% of all North American parts receive an expedition the same day.
A trend he has mentioned is the continuous increase in automation, with more activities that he has seen in the manufacturing industry over the past four decades to cope with the shortage of skilled workers. To help solve this problem, Geneva, the great Chicago Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (GCAMP), based in Geneva, Illinois, had an exhibition to promote the efforts of non-profit organization to create a lasting manufacturing workforce in the Grand Chicago region.
In its remarks on economic and industry prospects, Janka noted that after the manufacture experienced a recession at the end of 2023 and in 2024, the situation turned out when sustainable orders jumped in March 9.2%. The gain was driven by transport equipment, in particular commercial aircraft. Aircraft production is expected to increase at an annual growth rate made up of 5.7% over the next 10 years.
Janka added that Boeing must rebuild his supply chain and must double plane production to 50 planes per month. “We will see significant investments.”
This year will be good for the petroleum and gas industry, according to Janka, because the current American administration is focused on energy independence and lower costs, going from the previous administration on climate change. Another industry ready to develop is construction.
Overall, manufacturing prospects in 2025 are a growth of about 3% compared to a drop of 1% last year, he said, noting that a large part of the relocation has occurred since Covid. “It’s a good time to invest in manufacturing.”
Although he said that the changing prices of the administration gave him “the cervical boost, do not hit the panic button. We will go well.” Prices are a negotiation tool to balance trade, according to Janka, and it expects the prices to rise and possibly zero over the next 60 days. “There is nothing to indicate that we are heading for a recession.”
Janka added that the pricing strategy is to conclude agreements with countries like India, South Korea, Japan and Australia, and the situation will be difficult for China if these transactions are negotiated.
In its perspectives on emerging technologies, Janka has listed advanced materials, artificial intelligence and automatic learning, augmented / virtual / mixed reality and cognitive automation, such as a robot with reasoning capacities to assemble printed circuits.
Regarding more conventional automation, the active population of 20 to 65 years is insufficient to fill the jobs available at the manufacturer’s place of work during the next decade, Janka said. Consequently, collaborative robots as Plug-And-Play solutions are becoming more and more popular but do not replace workers because there is not enough.
In addition, he said that cybersecurity will continue to remain a critical need for manufacturers, because North America is the target of 23% of world cyber attacks, manufacturers representing 28% of this total – the most of all industries. About 30% of these attacks appear in the Ransomware category, an attractive type of attack due to the low tolerance of the industry for downtime.
Jankka highlighted the role that Mazak’s Smartbox technology plays for security, data collection and EDGE computer, with the device’s ability to support up to 10 machines for MTCONNECT monitoring. “Mazak continues to update MtConnect adapters to ensure that customers get as much data as possible from their CNCs.”