It will be located in Dalian, in the south of Liaoning province in North East China, will be called the Yamazaki Mazak Machine Tool Liaoning Co Ltd and will enter production in 2013. The new facility is the second production plant in China, following the Ningxia Little Giant Machine Tool Co Ltd, which was established in 2000.

The new 120,000 sq m production plant, which will be completed in 2012, will provide a large range of small turning centres and machining centres to meet the expanding domestic market requirements in China. Additionally, it will have a spindle repair department to offer fast spindle rebuilding to minimize machine downtime.

The Dalian facility, which has a construction cost of more than £41 million, is being built in response to increased market demand in this rapidly industrialising region. The new production facility will join the Yamazaki Mazak Dalian Technology Centre that is already in operation, providing both before and after sales service, plus support to customers in this area.

Marcus Burton, group managing director Europe, said: "The new Dalian production facility demonstrates Yamazaki Mazak's commitment to continued investment in its production facilities across the world. The new Dalian facility will enable us to support the strong growth that continues in China and enable us to increase our capacity in our Japanese and European plants for the European markets."

Note: Mazak Corporation recently announced that it has begun exporting machines designed and built at the company's Florence, Kentucky, USA plant to Japan and other countries in Asia, as well as to Brazil and other South American countries.

Initially, it will export the Quick Turn Smart series. Exports to Europe will begin with the Quick Turn Nexus 450-II MY multi-tasking machines and the Orbitec 20 machining centres, both of which were highlighted at the EMO manufacturing technology exhibition in Hanover, Germany, held in September.