ARCHIVE 02The Lineage of Milling Machines and Machining Centers
Milling machines, which cut flat surfaces and slots with a rotating cutter, are one of the pillars of machine tools alongside the lathe. Japan began building them at the end of the Taisho era, modeled on American machines, and after the war mass-production milling machines and the knee-type milling machines of small shops spread. NC arrived in 1958, and in 1960 Japan's first "machining center (MC)", a machine that changes its own tools, was born. From there came vertical, horizontal and double-column types, unmanned operation and 5-axis machines. We checked each fact against company histories, a 1968 NC machine tool catalog, National Museum of Nature and Science materials and maker histories, and cited a source for every event (with frame numbers for National Diet Library materials).
There's more than one
"Japan's first"!
Let's look closer
Modeled on Imports: Japanese Milling Machines (Taisho–1945)
Slightly later than lathes, domestic production of milling machines began in earnest at the end of the Taisho era. According to the company history of what later became Hitachi Seiki, one of its roots, the machinery department of Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry (Gasuden), began building milling machines in the late Taisho era, modeled on a (light-type) milling machine by Cincinnati of the US. The few Cincinnati and Kearney & Trecker machines imported at the time clearly showed traces of improvement, and the company is said to have also collected catalogs and other literature to study them[1]. Ten years later it was making 30 a month, the leading milling machine factory in Japan, and the Type M milling machine from 1935 on became the first milling machine built in lots (batches)[1].
Prompted by the 1921 Machine Tool Exhibition, the Society of Mechanical Engineers set standards for lathes in 1926, drilling machines in 1929 and milling machines in 1931[2]. Specialist makers also appeared in the 1930s. Osaka Kikai Kosakusho of Osaka (renamed Osaka Kiko in 1938), which had made pumps and spinning machinery, entered the machine tool business in 1934[3], and in May 1937 Makino Tsunezo started the Makino Shoten Manufacturing Department (later Makino Milling Machine), specializing in the "No. 1 vertical milling machine"[4].
Wartime controls and commissioned machines
Under the Machine Tool Manufacturing Industry Act of 1938, Gasuden's Omori works machinery department became one of the first licensed factories, and in May 1939 it became independent as Hitachi Kosakuki, a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd.[1]. As a machine the state ordered it to prototype under the 1940 Research and Testing Ordinance (a "commissioned machine"), Osaka Kiko built the MH-3V knee-type milling machine in 1941, based on Cincinnati's No. 3 milling machine. The company regards it as the prototype of its later knee-type milling machines[6]. In December 1941 Kokusan Seiki, Hitachi Kosakuki and Shinohara Kikai merged to form Hitachi Seiki[1]. When materials ran short, "wartime-type" lathes and milling machines with fewer parts were built[2].
What is a knee-type milling machine? The table sits on a support (the knee) that moves up and down along the column; it is the basic form of the general-purpose milling machine in small shops. With a horizontal spindle it is a horizontal milling machine; with a vertical one, a vertical milling machine. Mass-production plants, by contrast, used "bed-type" or "production" milling machines, with a fixed bed under the table.
Postwar General-Purpose and Production Milling Machines (1945–1970)
Postwar milling machine building moved in two directions: general-purpose machines that could withstand heavy cutting, and production milling machines for the mass production of cars and other products. Hitachi Seiki completed the first heavy-duty knee-type horizontal milling machine Type MK in 1954, followed by the Type ML in 1955 and the bed-type Type MP production milling machine in 1958[1]. Niigata Engineering had built US-designed Cincinnati-type and Milwaukee-type milling machines since before the war[7], and in July 1954 it signed a technical tie-up with Sundstrand of the US for production milling machines, completed its first Type 33SM Rigidmil in March 1955, and built 803 of them by the end of 1965[7].
Appearance and ease of use changed too. In 1959 Enshu showed the Type VF vertical milling machine, which incorporated industrial design, at the Tokyo International Trade Fair. Its Type HF horizontal milling machine of the same year had a device that removed play (backlash) in the table screw, allowing "down milling", in which the cutter rotation and the feed run in the same direction[10][11]. In 1964 Osaka Kiko released the bed-type MH-2 1/2V, which it regards as the prototype of its mass-produced general-purpose milling machines[16]. In March 1958 Makino developed the K series of vertical milling machines, which became a bestseller[4].
General-purpose milling machines were also built in large numbers during the high-growth era. Niigata Engineering's output of its Type 2UM general-purpose milling machine rose from 194 units in 1966 to 388 in 1967, 505 in 1968 and 725 in 1969, and exceeded 1,000 in 1970[7].
Birth of the NC Milling Machine (1958–1967)
NC (numerical control) moves the cutter and table by numerical commands. As we saw in the lathe chapter, universities and national laboratories in Japan began building prototypes first, and the technology soon spread to makers' machines.
1958: Makino's NC milling machine
In 1958, the first commercial NC unit from Fuji Tsushinki (today's FANUC) was fitted to an NC milling machine by Makino Milling Machine[8][9]. Makino calls it "Japan's first NC milling machine"[4]. In May of the following year, 1959, the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of MITI's Agency of Industrial Science and Technology exhibited JIDIC, a numerically controlled jig borer, at the Tokyo International Trade Fair. The fruit of three years of "machine tool automation" research by 55 researchers from 1956, it caused a stir by showing that when the moving table was stopped, the scatter in its position stayed within ±0.5 μm[12].
NC milling machines from each maker
- Osaka Kiko (1960): completes an NC milling machine and delivers it to a heavy-industry maker[3]
- Hitachi Seiki (April 1961): exhibits the Type 2MC three-dimensional numerically controlled milling machine at the Tokyo International Trade Fair[1]
- Niigata Engineering (September 1961): its first NC milling machine, a bed-type production milling machine with three axes controlled by magnetic tape. In 1964 came the Type 2DIMT, with tools arranged on a turret and a built-in computer for three-dimensional control[7] (the company history gives conflicting years, 1961–63)
- Okuma Iron Works (1963): a Type JV precision vertical boring machine fitted with Fuji Tsushinki's automatic positioning unit appears in Fujitsu's technical journal[15]
"Program control", a step short of NC, was also developed. Matsuura Machinery's Microman SB-1 (1960; the company says it went on sale in 1961) was an automatic vertical milling machine that switched spindle speed and feed rate by program and stopped within 0.02 mm front-to-back, left-to-right and up-and-down; it is said to have raised productivity for small batches of precision parts to 3–5 times that of manual machines[13][14]. In 1967, when statistics on NC machine tools began, 52 NC milling machines were produced, more than NC lathes (8)[20].
①Birth of the Japanese Machining Center (1960–1972)
A machining center (MC) is an NC milling machine fitted with an automatic tool changer (ATC). With a single setup, the workpiece can be milled, drilled, bored and tapped in sequence while the tools are changed. The world's first MC is considered to be the Milwaukee-Matic, built by Kearney & Trecker of the US in the late 1950s[2] (Nihon no gijutsu 100-nen gives 1957).
1960: The Hitachi group's NC universal machine tool
Nihon no gijutsu 100-nen (100 years of Japanese technology) dates the start of Japan's MC era to an NC universal machine tool developed in 1960 by a Hitachi group. It had an ATC whose two arms swapped tools, held 8 tools, and is called "Japan's first MC" in the book. Exhibited at the Tokyo International Trade Fair the following year, 1961, it incorporated features that were new even by world standards at the time: Hitachi's own NC unit HIDAM-43, probably the first ball screws on a Japanese NC machine tool, and NC driven by magnetic tape. The book highlights that at a time when Japan was thought to lag far behind the US, Japanese engineers conceived and built an MC at almost the same time[2]. Hitachi also developed an MC in 1963[2].
1966: MCs line up at the trade fair
At the 1966 Japan International Machine Tool Fair, Ikegai Tekko, Hitachi Seiki, Makino Milling Machine, Yasda and others showed MCs. Strictly speaking, some had no ATC, but the fair marked the arrival of Japan's MC era[2]. Makino calls its MC of October that year "Japan's first"[4]. Ikegai Tekko announced three NC machine tools including an MC[18], and Yasda, with its jig boring expertise, followed its 1964 horizontal precision boring and milling machine "Jig Master" with the MC "Precision Center"[17]. Osaka Kiko's Turret Miller TM-3NC (1966) was an NC milling machine that changed tools by rotating a turret head carrying six spindles, and it sold well as a forerunner of the MC[19] (the company's history says it was launched as a "machining center" in 1967[3]).
There are two "Japan's first MCs." The 1989 Nihon no gijutsu 100-nen calls the Hitachi group's 1960 machine "Japan's first", while Makino Milling Machine's history gives that title to its own 1966 machine. Neither source says what counts as "first" (prototype or product, with or without an ATC, and so on), so this page lists both with their sources.
MCs in the 1968 catalog
In the NC machine tool catalog compiled by the Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association in 1968, the "machining center" section lists the Enshu MB, Makino Milling Machine MCP-70, MCP-78 and MCP-100, Hitachi Seiki BD, Hitachi HTN-10P, Niigata Engineering 50DIU, and Shin Nippon Koki's double-column TM-2H-NC-ATC, among others. Most used Fujitsu's FANUC NC units, but NEC's NEDAC, Hitachi's HIDAM, Mitsubishi Electric's MELDAS and Okuma's OSP were also used[22]. Yasda's YBM-50N-2 and YBM-80NR-3 are also listed as "machining centers"[22].
In the same year, 1968, Okuma Iron Works began building the Type MCD double-column MC[21], and in September Niigata Engineering completed the 50DIU. Its spindle head swivels to and locks in two positions, vertical and horizontal, and the table indexes in 90-degree steps, so one machine can do the work of both vertical and horizontal types. It was developed in-house after also studying information on Sundstrand's much-talked-about MC "Omnimil", and exhibited at the autumn trade fair alongside machines from seven other companies[7]. Yamazaki Iron Works' first MC, the BTC No.5, came in April 1970[23], and Niigata Engineering released the vertical MC 3MN-ATC with a 20-tool ATC in 1972[7].
Spread of Vertical and Horizontal MCs, FMS and Exports (1971–1987)
Early MCs were mainly horizontal machines that could rotate the workpiece to cut four sides. In the 1970s, lower-priced vertical machines spread. In 1974 Matsuura Machinery released the vertical MC MC-750V; because it could be built more cheaply than horizontal types, it opened up work suited to vertical machines in aircraft, electronic components and dies, and in 1975 the company began exporting to the US[25][14]. Osaka Kiko released the horizontal MCH-500 (tool change without an arm) in 1974 and the low-priced vertical MCV-500 in 1977, and the MCV-500 was exported in large numbers to the US, the birthplace of the MC, and to Europe[26][28]. Makino released the FNC-A series of vertical MCs in 1976[4], and Okuma Iron Works the horizontal MC MC-H in 1980[21].
Milling machines also evolved to fill the gap between NC and manual work. In 1971 Osaka Kiko released the MH-5TCV, Japan's first electronic copy milling machine, which supported the making of plastic molds. Its "Auto Miller" MHA-400 of 1975 combined handwheels turned by a skilled machinist with NC automatic operation in one machine and was a big hit[24][27].
Unmanned operation and FMS
FMS (flexible manufacturing systems), which link several MCs and automate even workpiece transport, were tried early on. In August 1972 Makino developed a transfer line using adaptive-control MCs[4], and in December 1983 Yamazaki Iron Works completed "MAZATROL FMS", aimed at long hours of unmanned operation[23]. Enshu's horizontal MC HMC500 (1982) and the line-type MC HMC-S (1983), which more than doubled the speed of rapid traverse, tool change and indexing for mass-production lines, became the prototype of MCs that replace special-purpose machines and transfer machines[30].
Small vertical MCs, exports and trade friction
In the 1980s, small, affordable vertical MCs spread. Mori Seiki announced a vertical MC in 1981, and its MV junior of 1984 sold 4,700 units in eight years, making the small, affordable vertical MC the industry standard[29]. Japanese MCs also grew through exports, and in 1986 exports reached 52% of production value, more than half[31]. In the US, in May 1982, machine tool makers filed a petition asking that Japanese MCs and NC punching machines be excluded from the investment tax credit, which led to a five-year voluntary restraint agreement (VRA) on exports of NC lathes, MCs and other machines to the US from January 1987[31]. With the strong yen as well, the MC export ratio fell to the 30% range from 1989 on[31]. Technology no longer flowed in only one direction: Yasda licensed its MC manufacturing technology to a British machine tool maker in 1983 and 1986[17].
★Toward High Speed, 5-Axis and Five-Face Machining (1985–)
From the late 1980s, the race was about speed. Osaka Kiko's high-speed vertical MC PCV-40 (1985) was the first Japanese production machine to use a cam-driven ATC, and fast, stable tool changing became the standard thereafter[32]. Matsuura Machinery's FX-5 (1988) reached 20,000 rpm (30,000 and 40,000 rpm as options) with a built-in motor integrated into the spindle, achieving ultra-high-speed machining of aluminum and cutting of hardened steel[33]. In 1996 Yamazaki Mazak completed the FF-510, a horizontal MC with rapid traverse acceleration exceeding 1 G[23].
5-axis machining, in which the machine changes the orientation of the workpiece, also became practical in the 1990s. In 1991 Matsuura Machinery released a 5-axis MC capable of 72 hours of continuous unmanned operation[14], and in 1999 Yamazaki Mazak completed the VARIAXIS 200 multi-face, 5-axis machine[23]. Large double-column machines also came to routinely cut five faces by changing the spindle orientation, and in 2020 Okuma released the MCR-BⅤ and Yamazaki Mazak the FJW-100/160, both five-face double-column MCs[21][23]. In 2021 Makino developed the a800Z, a 5-axis horizontal MC[4]. The line-up of makers changed too: Hitachi Seiki, a long-established milling machine maker, transferred part of its business to Mori Seiki in 2002[34].
What it means on the shop floor. What we take for granted in today's MCs (ball screws, ATCs, tool magazines, indexing tables, cam-type tool change, high-speed spindles with built-in motors, 5 axes) was added one by one in the machines of the 1960s–90s listed here. The industry standards (MAS) that the Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association established or revised from 1982 on include the MC spindle nose shape and the BT50 and BT40 tooling[31]. When you read the spec sheet of an old MC, knowing "since when has this feature existed?" changes how you read it.
⑂Family tree of makers
Name changes and mergers of the main makers in the history of milling machines and MCs. A change in bar color marks a change of company name.
Machines you can see
Places where the real machines survive. Check each facility's information for open days and whether visits are possible before you go. See also Famous machines you can see in the lathe chapter.
⌛Timeline
All the events confirmed in this chapter. Numbers refer to the sources; a "frame" is a page in the National Diet Library Digital Collections, and clicking it opens that source (materials for individual transmission require login).
Modeled on imports: Japanese milling machinesTaisho–1945
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910Meiji 43 | A machinery department is set up at Tokyo Gas Industry's Omori works. It later became the machinery department of Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry, the root of Hitachi Seiki's milling machines | Tokyo Gas Industry (a root of Hitachi Seiki) | [1, frame 54] |
| Late TaishoTaisho 14 | ★Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry's machinery department begins building milling machines modeled on a (light-type) milling machine by Cincinnati of the US. It also studies the improvements in the imported Cincinnati and Kearney & Trecker machines | Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry | [1, frame 23][1, frame 24] |
| 1931Showa 6 | The Society of Mechanical Engineers sets a standard for milling machines (prompted by the 1921 Machine Tool Exhibition; lathes in 1926, drilling machines in 1929) | — | [2, frame 46] |
| 1934Showa 9 | Osaka Kikai Kosakusho (a maker of pumps, water meters and spinning machinery) begins building machine tools. Renamed Osaka Kiko in 1938 | Osaka Kiko (OKK) | [3] |
| 1935 onwardShowa 10 | Gasuden's Type M milling machine becomes the first milling machine in Japan built in lots. The machinery department makes 30 a month, the leading milling machine factory in Japan | Tokyo Gas & Electric IndustryType M | [1, frame 24] |
| May 1937Showa 12 | ★Makino Tsunezo founds the "Makino Shoten Manufacturing Department", a maker specializing in No. 1 vertical milling machines (renamed Makino Vertical Milling Machine Works in March 1942) | Makino | [4] |
| 1938Showa 13 | Under the Machine Tool Manufacturing Industry Act, Gasuden's Omori works machinery department becomes one of the first licensed factories | Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry | [1, frame 55] |
| May 1939Showa 14 | Gasuden's machinery department becomes independent as Hitachi Kosakuki, a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. | Hitachi Kosakuki | [1, frame 55] |
| 1940Showa 15 | Gasuden's horizontal milling machine (built 1940), modeled on Cincinnati's Type M. Preserved at the Nippon Institute of Technology Museum of Industrial Technology | Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry | [5] |
| 1941Showa 16 | Osaka Kiko develops the MH-3V knee-type milling machine, based on Cincinnati's No. 3 milling machine, as a commissioned machine under the 1940 Research and Testing Ordinance. The prototype of the company's later knee-type machines | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MH-3V | [6] |
| December 1941Showa 16 | Kokusan Seiki, Hitachi Kosakuki and Shinohara Kikai merge to form Hitachi Seiki | Hitachi Seiki | [1, frame 52][1, frame 59] |
Postwar general-purpose and production milling machines1945–1970
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954Showa 29 | Hitachi Seiki completes the first heavy-duty knee-type horizontal milling machine Type MK (Type ML in 1955) | Hitachi SeikiType MK | [1, frame 25][1, frame 26] |
| July 1954Showa 29 | Niigata Engineering signs a technical tie-up with Sundstrand of the US to build production milling machines | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering) | [7, frame 247] |
| March 1955Showa 30 | Niigata Engineering completes its first production milling machine, the Type 33SM Rigidmil. 803 built by the end of 1965 | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)Type 33SM | [7, frame 241][7, frame 244] |
| 1958Showa 33 | Hitachi Seiki completes the Type MP production milling machine (bed type) | Hitachi SeikiType MP | [1, frame 26] |
| 1959Showa 34 | Enshu exhibits the Type VF vertical milling machine, incorporating industrial design, at the Tokyo International Trade Fair. Its Type HF horizontal milling machine could down-mill thanks to a backlash eliminator | EnshuTypes VF, HF | [10][11] |
| 1964Showa 39 | Osaka Kiko develops the bed-type milling machine MH-2 1/2V, the prototype of its mass-produced general-purpose milling machines | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MH-2 1/2V | [16] |
| 1966–70Showa 45 | General-purpose milling machines grow too. Niigata Engineering's Type 2UM output rises from 194 in 1966 to 725 in 1969, and tops 1,000 in 1970 | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)Type 2UM | [7, frame 437] |
Birth of the NC milling machine1958–1967
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 1958Showa 33 | ★Makino develops the K series of vertical milling machines and Japan's first NC milling machine. The NC unit is Fuji Tsushinki's first commercial unit | Makino, Fujitsu | [4][8][9] |
| May 1959Showa 34 | ★The Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of MITI's Agency of Industrial Science and Technology exhibits the numerically controlled jig borer JIDIC at the Tokyo International Trade Fair, demonstrating a stopping-position scatter of ±0.5 μm | Mechanical Engineering LaboratoryJIDIC | [12] |
| 1960Showa 35 | Matsuura Machinery's Microman SB-1: an automatic vertical milling machine that switches spindle speed and feed by program control and stops within 0.02 mm in three directions (the company says production and sales began in 1961) | MatsuuraMicroman SB-1 | [13][14] |
| 1960Showa 35 | Osaka Kiko completes an NC milling machine and delivers it to a heavy-industry maker | Osaka Kiko (OKK) | [3] |
| April 1961Showa 36 | Hitachi Seiki exhibits the Type 2MC three-dimensional numerically controlled milling machine at the Tokyo International Trade Fair | Hitachi SeikiType 2MC | [1, frame 167] |
| September 1961Showa 36 | Niigata Engineering builds its first NC milling machine (a bed-type production milling machine with all three axes controlled by magnetic tape)Elsewhere the same company history also gives September 1962, and a prototype in 1963 | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)Type 2DIM (Type 822S MEVN) | [7, frame 248][7, frame 434] |
| April 1963Showa 38 | Fujitsu's technical journal reports Okuma Iron Works' Type JV precision vertical boring machine fitted with Fuji Tsushinki's Type P automatic positioning unit | Okuma, FujitsuType JV | [15, frame 2][15, frame 11] |
| 1964Showa 39 | Niigata Engineering develops the turret-type NC milling machine 2DIMT (three-dimensional control with a built-in computer, automatic tool changing), the basis of its later turret-type MCs 3DIMT and 3MNTThe company history gives both November and March 1964 | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)Type 2DIMT | [7, frame 249][7, frame 434] |
| 1964Showa 39 | Yasda develops the horizontal precision boring and milling machine "Jig Master". In the same year, Matsuura Machinery begins producing and selling numerically controlled automatic milling machines | YasdaJig Master | [17][14] |
| 1967Showa 42 | Statistics on NC machine tools begin. That year 52 NC milling machines were produced, more than NC lathes (8) | — | [20] |
Birth of the Japanese machining center1960–1972
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960Showa 35 | ★A Hitachi group develops an NC universal machine tool with a two-arm ATC (8 tools): Japan's first machining center. In-house NC unit HIDAM-43, probably the first ball screws on a Japanese NC machine, and magnetic-tape NC. Exhibited at the Tokyo International Trade Fair the following year, 1961 | Hitachi, Ltd.NC universal machine tool (NC unit HIDAM-43) | [2, frame 92] |
| 1963Showa 38 | Hitachi develops a machining center (illustrated in Nihon no gijutsu 100-nen) | Hitachi, Ltd. | [2, frame 92] |
| 1966Showa 41 | ★Ikegai Tekko, Hitachi Seiki, Makino Milling Machine, Yasda and others exhibit machining centers at the Japan International Machine Tool Fair. Strictly speaking, some had no ATC, but it marked the start of the MC era | — | [2, frame 92] |
| 1966Showa 41 | Ikegai Tekko announces three NC machine tools including a machining center. Yasda also develops the machining center "Precision Center" | Ikegai, Yasda | [18][17] |
| 1966Showa 41 | Osaka Kiko's Turret Miller TM-3NC: an NC milling machine that changes tools automatically with a six-spindle turret headThe company's history says it developed and launched the "numerically controlled multi-function machine tool (machining center) Turret Miller" in 1967 | Osaka Kiko (OKK)TM-3NC | [19][3] |
| October 1966Showa 41 | Makino Milling Machine develops a machining center (the company calls it "Japan's first") | Makino | [4] |
| 1968Showa 43 | Okuma Iron Works begins building the Type MCD double-column machining center | OkumaType MCD | [21] |
| 1968Showa 43 | ★The machining center section of JMTBA's NC machine tool catalog lists the Enshu MB, Makino MCP-70, 78 and 100, Hitachi Seiki BD, Hitachi HTN-10P, Niigata Engineering 50DIU, Shin Nippon Koki TM-2H-NC-ATC and others | — | [22, frame 16][22, frame 17] |
| September 1968Showa 43 | Niigata Engineering develops the MC 50DIU. The spindle head swivels to two positions, vertical and horizontal, and the table indexes every 90 degrees. Exhibited at the autumn Tokyo International Machine Tool Fair | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)50DIU | [7, frame 433][7, frame 437][22, frame 51] |
| April 1970Showa 45 | Yamazaki Iron Works completes its first machining center, the BTC No.5 | Yamazaki MazakBTC No.5 | [23] |
| 1972Showa 47 | Niigata Engineering develops the vertical MC 3MN-ATC with an ATC for up to 20 tools | Niigata Iron Works (Niigata Engineering)3MN-ATC | [7, frame 433] |
Spread of vertical and horizontal MCs, FMS and exports1971–1987
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971Showa 46 | Osaka Kiko develops the MH-5TCV, Japan's first electronic copy milling machine. Meeting demand for plastic molds, copy milling remained the mainstream of mold making until the era of cutting directly from data | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MH-5TCV | [24] |
| August 1972Showa 47 | Makino Milling Machine develops a transfer line (FMS) using adaptive-control machining centers | Makino | [4] |
| 1974Showa 49 | ★Matsuura Machinery releases the vertical machining center MC-750V. At a time when horizontal machines dominated, it lowered prices with a vertical design. Exports to the US begin in 1975 | MatsuuraMC-750V | [25][14] |
| 1974Showa 49 | Osaka Kiko develops the horizontal machining center MCH-500 (tool change without an arm) | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MCH-500 | [26] |
| 1975Showa 50 | Osaka Kiko's NC milling machine "Auto Miller" MHA-400: it has both handwheels for manual operation and NC automatic operation, and was a big hit | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MHA-400 | [27] |
| September 1976Showa 51 | Makino Milling Machine develops the FNC-A series of vertical machining centers | MakinoFNC-A | [4] |
| 1977Showa 52 | Osaka Kiko releases the low-priced vertical machining center MCV-500, exported in large numbers to the US and Europe | Osaka Kiko (OKK)MCV-500 | [28] |
| 1980Showa 55 | Okuma Iron Works begins building the Type MC-H horizontal machining center | OkumaMC-H | [21] |
| 1981Showa 56 | Mori Seiki announces a vertical machining center | Mori Seiki | [29] |
| 1982Showa 57 | Enshu completes the horizontal MC HMC500. In 1983 it releases the HMC-S line-type MC for mass-production lines, the prototype of line-type MCs | EnshuHMC500, HMC-S | [30] |
| 1982 onwardShowa 57 | JMTBA standards (MAS) specify the shape and dimensions of the MC spindle nose and the BT50 and BT40 MC tooling systems, among others (established and revised) | — | [31, frame 39] |
| May 1982Showa 57 | US machine tool makers petition the US government to exclude Japanese MCs and NC punching machines from the investment tax credit | — | [31, frame 28] |
| 1983Showa 58 | Yasda licenses the manufacturing technology for its machining center YPC30 to a British machine tool maker (and the YPC45H in 1986) | YasdaYPC30 | [17] |
| December 1983Showa 58 | Yamazaki Iron Works completes "MAZATROL FMS", a system for long hours of unmanned operation | Yamazaki Mazak | [23] |
| 1984Showa 59 | ★Mori Seiki's small vertical MC MV junior. It sold 4,700 units in eight years and made the small, affordable vertical MC the industry standard | Mori SeikiMV junior | [29] |
| 1986Showa 61 | ★The machining center export ratio (exports as a share of production value) peaks at 52%. With the strong yen, it falls to the 30% range from 1989 on | — | [31, frame 47] |
| January 1987Showa 62 | A voluntary restraint agreement (VRA) on exports of NC lathes, machining centers and other machines to the US begins, agreed for five years (settled by the Japanese and US governments in December 1986) | — | [31, frame 14][31, frame 58] |
Toward high speed, 5-axis and five-face machining1985–
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985Showa 60 | Osaka Kiko's high-speed vertical MC PCV-40: the first Japanese production machine with a cam-type ATC, which became the standard thereafter | Osaka Kiko (OKK)PCV-40 | [32] |
| 1988Showa 63 | Matsuura Machinery's FX-5: a spindle with a built-in motor reaching 20,000 rpm (30,000 and 40,000 rpm as options). A forerunner of ultra-high-speed machines | MatsuuraFX-5 | [33] |
| July 1989Heisei 1 | Makino Milling Machine develops the horizontal machining center A55 | MakinoA55 | [4] |
| 1991Heisei 3 | ★Matsuura Machinery releases a 5-axis machining center for unmanned operation (72 hours of continuous unmanned running) | Matsuura | [14] |
| October 1996Heisei 8 | Yamazaki Mazak completes the FF-510, an ultra-high-speed horizontal MC with rapid traverse acceleration over 1 G | Yamazaki MazakFF-510 | [23] |
| October 1999Heisei 11 | Yamazaki Mazak completes the VARIAXIS 200 multi-face, 5-axis machine | Yamazaki MazakVARIAXIS 200 | [23] |
| September 2002Heisei 14 | Mori Seiki takes over part of Hitachi Seiki's business | Mori Seiki, Hitachi Seiki | [34] |
| 2020Reiwa 2 | Five-face machining becomes standard on double-column machines too. Okuma releases the five-face double-column MC MCR-BⅤ, and Yamazaki Mazak the FJW-100/160 | Okuma, Yamazaki MazakMCR-BⅤ, FJW-100/160 | [21][23] |
| January 2021Reiwa 3 | Makino Milling Machine develops the a800Z, a 5-axis horizontal machining center | Makinoa800Z | [4] |
What's next and related pages
Sources
National Diet Library materials were checked in October 2026 using full-text search via the Digitized Material Transmission Service for individuals, and the frames used are listed. Much of the National Museum of Nature and Science's Industrial Technology History Database was researched by the Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association with the cooperation of makers. Maker history pages were checked in the same month. Years in company histories and corporate timelines can differ by one or two years for the same machine depending on the source (prototype, completion, announcement or launch).
- Hitachi Seiki nijugonen no ayumi (25 years of Hitachi Seiki), Hitachi Seiki (1963)Frames 23, 24, 25, 26, 52, 54, 55, 59, 167
- Nihon no gijutsu 100-nen, bijuaru-ban, dai 7-kan (100 years of Japanese technology, visual edition, vol. 7), Chikuma Shobo (1989)Frames 46, 92
- Nidec OKK (formerly Osaka Kiko): History
- Makino Milling Machine: History
- National Museum of Nature and Science, HITNET Industrial Technology History Common Database: Horizontal milling machine (collection of the Nippon Institute of Technology Museum of Industrial Technology)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MH knee-type milling machine MH-3V
- Niigata Tekkosho hachijunen-shi (An 80-year history of Niigata Engineering) (1977)Frames 241, 244, 247, 248, 249, 433, 434, 437
- FANUC: History of FANUC
- IEEJ Milestones (Denki no Ishizue): NC unit (numerical control unit) (recognized 2013)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type VF vertical milling machine
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: 1S (Type HF) horizontal milling machine
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Numerically controlled jig borer JIDIC
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Automatic sizing, program-controlled multi-cycle automatic vertical milling machine Microman Type SB-1
- Matsuura Machinery: About our history
- Fujitsu (technical journal) 13(6) (April 1963)Frames 2, 11
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MH bed-type milling machine MH-2 1/2V
- Yasda: The history of YASDA
- Ikegai: Company information (history)
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type TM NC milling machine (Turret Miller) TM-3NC
- Hidaka Chikage, "NC kosaku kikai ni kansuru kosatsu (2): 1950-nendai, 1960-nendai no Nihon" (A study of NC machine tools (2): Japan in the 1950s and 1960s), Mita Shogaku Kenkyu (Mita Business Review) 62(6), pp. 73–94 (2020)
- Okuma: History
- JMTBA Secretariat, Suchi seigyo kosaku kikai katarogu 1968-nen-ban (Catalog of numerically controlled machine tools, 1968 edition) (1968)Frames 16, 17, 51
- Yamazaki Mazak: History
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MH-TC electronic copy milling machine MH-5TCV
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Numerically controlled vertical machining center MC-750V
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MCH horizontal machining center MCH-500
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MHA NC milling machine (Auto Miller) MHA-400
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type MCV vertical machining center MCV-500
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical machining center MV junior
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Line-type machining center HMC-S
- JMTBA, Seicho, henkaku: 10-nen no kiroku 1982–91 (Growth and change: a 10-year record, 1982–91) (1992)Frames 14, 28, 39, 47, 58
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Type PCV high-speed vertical machining center PCV-40
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Numerically controlled vertical machining center FX-5
- DMG MORI: History
- JSME Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 91: Historical machine tools at the Nippon Institute of Technology
- Kosaku kikai gyokai (The machine tool industry), Kyoikusha (1978)
- Niigata Machine Techno: History