DUSSELDORF, GERMANY - Now that Toshiba Machine Co. Ltd. has established a U.S. manufacturing outpost for extruders, could the next step be U.S. assembly of injection molding machines? Hideo Banzai, general manager of Toshiba's injection molding machine division, revealed in a K'95 interview in Dusseldorf that Toshiba officials are looking at three U.S. regions for a manufacturing operation: the Southeast, the Chicago area and the southern part of the Midwest. Banzai said Toshiba's decision on U.S. manufacturing should come in November or December.
Toshiba's U.S. unit, Toshiba Machine Co. America, is based in Elk Grove Village, Ill., near Chicago.
The soaring yen has prompted a few Japanese injection press makers, such as Ube Industries Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., to begin U.S. assembly recently. Others, including Toshiba, greatly have increased the number of U.S.-made components they use.
K'95 was not a major new-technology show for Toshiba. Instead, the company discussed its Sept. 20 certification under new Europewide safety standards for machines. On April 14, Toshiba gained ISO 9001 certification for its injection presses.
