Yamazaki Mazak UK Ltd (www.mazakeu.co.uk) has appointed Stuart Astley as its production director, in charge of running the company’s European Manufacturing Plant in Worcester.

He joined the company in 2007 as European service manager, responsible for Mazak’s Spindle Service Centre, as well as its European Parts Centre in Belgium.

During this time he also oversaw Mazak’s European Service Network, implemented improvements to Mazak’s Quality Assurance protocol — and introduced Lean Six Sigma problem-solving techniques.

In his new role, Mr Astley manages the introduction into production of all new models at Mazak’s 29,000m² manufacturing facility.

He has also been targeted with increasing output by 40% this year and is currently working on a lean manufacturing strategy to improve productivity and the flow of material through the entire supply chain.

Lean manufacturing will also coincide with wider factory improvements to facilitate the full implantation of Mazak’s suite of Industry 4.0 infrastructure solutions, which are aimed at further reducing manufacturing lead times and improving productivity.

Richard Smith, European group managing director at Yamazaki Mazak, said: “During his time with Mazak, Stuart has established a proven track record of delivering continuous improvement.

“Our European Manufacturing Plant in Worcester is central to both Mazak’s European and global supply chains. We have every confidence that Stuart will deliver significant productivity and efficiency improvements, which will enable us to supply machine tools to customers across the world within the shortest possible lead times.”

The company has also announced the appointment of eight new service engineers. This latest intake includes two additional in-house engineers, who will help co-ordinate the activities of the field-based team, while offering quick-response technical support over the phone and reducing the need for engineer call-outs where possible.

The other six posts comprise an additional engineer for the Install and Planned Service teams respectively, and four engineers for the Breakdown team. Mazak recently appointed Andy Critcher as UK Service Manager.