JTEKT Toyoda Americas celebrated the grand unveiling of their Great Lakes Technical Center April 19 and 20. Nestled at the heart of the U.S. automotive industry and just under 40 miles from the Canadian border, Toyoda's Wixom, Michigan based tech center will provide local sales application, turnkey and service support to manufacturers in the Great Lakes region.

Attendees caught a first look at the tech center's four machines: FH500J horizontal machining center, Stealth 965 vertical machining center and recent additions to the Toyoda lineup, Takisawa Taiwan's NEX-105 and Stealth EX-108 turning centers. All four machines were set with varied application demonstrations showing off high speed machining and dynamic milling applications.

"Toyoda customers will benefit from the (Great Lakes) facility, which will serve as our service hub for Michigan as well as an area for current and future customers to view the machine capabilities we offer," said Michigan and Windsor Regional Manager, Austin Sievers. "Our doors are open for all area manufacturers, please coordinate visits with your local distributor representative or myself. We will also be hosting training seminars in the near future for grinding, gear skiving and specific machining applications."

There will be no shortage of Toyoda expertise in service and engineering as the tech center shares the 75,000 sq. ft. facility with Toyoda's Remanufactured Products Division (RPD). Dedicated much to the repairing and remanufacturing of machines since the 1970's, RPD will continue to specialize in returning overworked machining centers to OEM specifications.

Toyoda would like to offer a special thank-you to their local distributors KM Industrial Machinery, Network Machinery, industry partners Seco Tools, Kennametal, Mastercam, Schunk and master BBQ-er, ‘Q It Up.