Toshiba Machine Co. America has begun full operations at a new 58,000-square-foot warehouse dedicated to injection molding machines in Elk Grove Village, Ill., just a few blocks from Toshiba's North American headquarters.
Toshiba consolidated two smaller warehouses previously located in Elgin, Ill., and Ontario, Calif., into the large warehouse. The company will retain the facility in Ontario but has moved the majority of the machines stocked there to Elk Grove Village, Chuck Gorman, national sales manager, said.
The warehouse will allow Toshiba America to slash delivery times, because technicians can power up injection molding machines in the facility and run them off before delivery. Toshiba also will do final assembly operations in the new warehouse, such as adding software, screws and barrels and special options.
By doing more work in advance, new machine installations that used to take three or four days at a customer's plant can now be done in just a few hours, company officials said.
The machines are manufactured in Japan by parent company Toshiba Machine Co. Ltd.
"We started moving into our new building in May 2018," said Mike Werner, project sales manager, who led the transition from two locations into one. "Over the past year, we've created one of the most efficient injection molding operations in the U.S. Today, we have over 100 machines in inventory and ready to sell to molders across the U.S."
In addition to the new Elk Grove Village warehouse, Toshiba has teamed with the Polymers Center of Excellence to open an educational facility in Charlotte, N.C.
Werner credits the new capabilities to the addition of new employees such as Ryan Lang, assistant project manager.
"Ryan has done an excellent job of streamlining assembly processes, managing our parts and service department and increasing overall efficiency," Werner said. He added that the machinery company has beefed up its technical support staff.
