Shenyang Machine Tool Co Ltd — more commonly referred to as SMTCL — is looking to establish its first factory in the USA, according to a company official speaking at the IMTS machine tool show in Chicago last week.
Chief operating officer Jerry McCarty said that the company wants to build a factory to serve the USA, Mexico and Canada. It is currently looking at five states where there is a customer base, a supplier base and a work-force with machining knowledge; they include Michigan and California.
He said: “We will manufacture, engineer and support our products in North America. I have always believed in the US ability to manufacture a high-quality product, and I am glad that SMTCL sees it the same way.” He said that no decision has yet been made as to what the factory will produce, but two possibilities are vertical machining centres and boring mills.
SMTCL is a subsidiary of SYMG, the largest machine tool manufacturer in the world. The company has annual sales of $2.9 billion, employs 18,000 people and produces 80,000 machine tools annually. It has 32 factories in China with 10 million ft2 of manufacturing space.