ARCHIVE 07The Lineage of Multitasking and 5-Axis Machines
Multitasking machines combine in one machine tool the lathe's way of cutting (rotating the workpiece) and the machining center's way (rotating the tool). Once the workpiece is gripped (one-chucking), everything from OD and face turning to drilling and milling on the sides, angled holes and even the back side is finished without re-gripping. 5-axis machines add two axes that tilt or rotate the workpiece or the tool to the three linear motions X, Y and Z, so the tool can approach from any direction. Both are machines for "gathering onto one machine the processes that used to travel from machine to machine (process integration)", a field Japanese makers have pushed from early on. We checked each fact against technical books, trade journals and company histories of the time (National Diet Library), papers, materials of the National Museum of Nature and Science and makers' company histories, and cited a source for every event.
Grip it once,
then do all
the cutting!
This chapter, which follows the story from the side of machines that gather processes onto one machine, is the last of the chapters by machine type. The history of NC lathes themselves (the Mazak Turning Center MTC of 1968, completion of the SLANT TURN 40N ATC Mill Center in April 1983, the INTEGREX 200Y of 1997 and Mori Seiki's NT of 2005) is covered in Chapter 1, the beginnings of 5-axis machining centers (Shin Nippon Koki's simultaneous 5-axis prototype of 1970, Matsuura Machinery's 5-axis MC of 1991 and the VARIAXIS 200 of 1999) in Chapter 2, and hobbing machines and skiving in Chapter 4. For how 5-axis motion itself works, see 5-Axis Machining Basics.
The beginnings of the turning center (1966–1979)
As NC lathes began to spread, people started asking "couldn't we use rotating tools on a lathe too?" The 1981 Senban manyuaru (Lathe manual) classifies composite NC machine tools of the boring and milling type as machining centers and those of the turning type under the name turning center, and then introduces the KE8 Universal, a vertical-lathe-type machine announced by Froriep in 1966, as the first machine tool to combine turning with rotating-cutter work[1, frame 72]. In 1970 Kearney & Trecker of the US, the company that gave birth to the machining center, showed the TURN-12 multitasking machine at IMTS (Chicago); it drew attention as a 100-million-yen machine but ended after three units and never became a product. In Japan, too, Ikegai Tekko and Okuma Iron Works exhibited at trade fairs, but interference between tool and workpiece and price problems kept them from becoming products right away[3].
Ikegai's FT500NA and what a turning center does
An early Japanese example is Ikegai Tekko. The FT500NA turning center appeared in the new-product column of Kikai Shinko in December 1972[4, frame 47], and the Senban manyuaru writes that "in Japan, Ikegai Tekko announced a turning center in 1973 and completed a series". According to the book, a turning center is an NC lathe with these added: (1) machining with rotating tools on the face of the workpiece, (2) machining with rotating tools on its side, (3) a C axis that indexes the spindle (3-axis control of X, Z and C), and (4) a Y axis that moves the rotating-tool spindle up and down (4-axis control)[1, frame 73]. Okuma Iron Works (today's Okuma) says it released the LM70-AT in 1975, its first multitasking machine to do turning, drilling and milling on one machine[5].
1979: Hitachi Seiki's 5LC and Mazak's Mill Center
In 1979, Hitachi Seiki developed a full-fledged turning center with rotating tools for process integration, the 5LC. With 4-axis control of X, Y, Z and C and a 20-tool ATC, it was built into many kinds of systems over the years as a mid-size multitasking machine[6, frame 17]. The same year, Yamazaki Iron Works (Yamazaki Mazak from 1985) showed the "SLANT TURN 30 Mill Center", which combined a turret lathe with milling tools, at EMO (Milan). Development began in 1977, led by Momoi Shoji, as an effort to cut the processes and man-hours needed to machine the spindles of the company's own machine tools[3].
Multitasking machines born from the lathe (1981–1996)
It was Mazak that turned the idea of adding rotating tools to a lathe into a product. The "SLANT TURN 40N Mill Center" of 1981 replaced the hydraulic motor of the mill drive with a more powerful DC motor to handle 4-inch face milling, and the same year the company teamed up with Mitsubishi Electric to complete the "MAZATROL T-1" conversational NC unit[3]. In 1983 it showed the "SLANT TURN 40N ATC Mill Center", fitted with an in-house 30-tool ATC, at EMO (Paris), and Suzuki Nobutaka (2010) calls it the world's first multitasking machine to be fully commercialized. Inquiries came from the US aircraft and oil industries[3]. But its price was more than 2.5 times that of an NC lathe, so the "SLANT TURN 25ATC Mill Center" of 1984 used a 16-tool chain-type ATC to hold the price to about 1.5 times that of an NC lathe, and it spread among Japanese users too[3].
1988: The Y axis and INTEGREX, two spindles and two turrets
Until then, Mill Centers had three axes, X (diameter), Z (axial) and C (spindle rotation), and centered on turning. In 1988 Yamazaki Mazak added the Y axis to make the 4-axis "INTEGREX 40ATC Mill Center" and showed it at IMTS (Chicago). It could now cut the sides of workpieces too, and the work of multitasking machines expanded far into machining center territory[3]. In 1991 Jidoka gijutsu (Automation technology) introduced the company's lathe FMS line of three INTEGREX 40 machines side by side[11, frame 64]. The "INTEGREX 50/70" of 1994 became a full-fledged multitasking machine that cut like a machining center, with large-taper tools and a 30-tool ATC (60 or 80 optional), and took on even workpieces that need more milling time than turning time[3].
There was also process integration from another direction. Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry announced the TW-20 in April 1988, with two spindles and two turrets facing each other, establishing a form that cuts front and back simultaneously and finishes the complete part on one machine. This became the prototype of the later WT series and Super NT series[9]. For large parts, OM Ltd., which had been adding rotating tools to vertical lathes since 1974, released the TMM-35/45N vertical turning center (3.5 m table diameter) in 1993, which completed even machining work with a swiveling, indexing table, and the VC series with ATC and APC in 1996[12][14].
5-axis machining centers spread (1968–2009)
From the machining center side, process integration meant going to 5 axes. Adding two rotary axes, A and B (or B and C), to simultaneous 3-axis X, Y and Z lets the tool approach from any direction, reducing setup changes and man-hours[15]. The idea came early: in 1968 Machinery carried an explanation of a tape format for simultaneous 5-axis control, adding A and B to X, Y and Z[2, frame 24]. As for machines, a simultaneous 5-axis prototype was built at Shin Nippon Koki in 1970 (Chapter 2), and the product list in the 1984 Toyoda Koki giho (Toyoda Machine Works technical journal) includes a "simultaneous 5-axis control machining center"[8, frame 23].
It was the aircraft industry that strongly demanded 5 axes. A 1986 report by the Japan Machinery Federation said simultaneous 5-axis NC machines were absolutely necessary to finish airframe contours and angled mounting faces that had become complex as parts were integrated, and planned an FMS split into 3-axis machines for roughing and semi-finishing and 5-axis machines for finishing[10, frame 21][10, frame 22].
Into small and medium-sized factories
In the 1990s, 5-axis machines went from special machines at large companies to machines in small and medium-sized factories. In 1994 the 24th Automation Machinery Development Award for Small and Medium Enterprises went to Kitamura Machinery's horizontal MC "H-400 Super Cell", which added A and B axes to cut the five faces other than the mounting face on 5 axes in one setup, and combined automatic pallet changing, automatic workpiece identification and even a handling robot in one machine. At the award round-table, the company said the machine's launch raised the industry's interest in 5-axis MCs and moved other makers to start development[13, frame 18][13, frame 5].
Winners of the Machine Industry Design Award show how 5 axes spread. Matsuura Machinery's 5-axis vertical MAM72-3VS won in 1999, Kitamura Machinery's trunnion-type Mytrunnion in 2003 and Okuma's MU-400VA in 2004, and in 2006 four of the five winning models were 5-axis MCs or multitasking machines (including Mitsui Seiki Kogyo's Vertex550-5X and Matsuura Machinery's 5-axis multitasking CUBLEX-25)[15][18][17]. Mori Seiki also developed the 5-axis NMV5000 DCG in the same year, 2006[19], and in 2009 Yamazaki Mazak's HYPER VARIAXIS 630 won the award[15].
The B axis, one-chucking and process integration (1997–2013)
The multitasking machine that came from the lathe and the 5-axis machine that came from the MC met inside one machine at the end of the 1990s. In 1997 Yamazaki Mazak developed the "INTEGREX 200SY", adding a B axis (an axis that tilts the tool spindle) to X, Y, Z and C. With 5-axis control it could cut 3D shapes such as aircraft turbine blades, and by handing the workpiece over to the second spindle it could keep cutting through to the back side[3]. According to the company's materials, the multitasking machine put work formerly done on three machine tools onto one and cut production lead time to as little as 1/16[3].
In the 2000s this form spread across makers. Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry released the STW-40 "super multitasking machine", with a dedicated tool spindle and ATC, in 2000[9], and in 2001 Yamazaki Mazak released the INTEGREX e series, carrying an NC unit that could run the multitasking machine with machining center programs as they were[7][3]. OM Ltd.'s OMega 60YB vertical turning center (2002) uses 5-axis control with an indexable tool spindle (B) and table (C) added, gathering the processes for large parts onto one machine[16]. Mori Seiki went from the NT of 2005 (Chapter 1) to the NTX of 2010[19], and in 2013 Okuma built DS1 at its head office, a factory that makes multitasking machines and NC lathes in one integrated flow[20].
Suzuki (2010) argues that Japan's multitasking machines, which started from the lathe, grew out of two things: development in Japan centered on lathes while the US centered on machining centers, and the US aircraft and oil industries shifted toward making low-volume, complex parts quickly[3].
Automation: teaming up with pallets and robots (1982–)
A machine that gathers processes onto one machine can run unmanned at night if loading and unloading are automated too. In 1982 Hitachi Seiki built its own robots, the RP-10 (pneumatic) and RE-20 (electric), making it easier to build automated cells with turning centers[6, frame 17]. Around 1983, to build FMS with multitasking machines, Mazak co-developed the AJC, which changes chuck jaws automatically, with a chuck maker, and also built a dedicated robot for loading and unloading workpieces[3]. In 1985 Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry released the "Shitamachi FA series", automation that even small factories could easily adopt[9]. (For NC lathe autoloaders and FANUC robots, see Chapter 1; for MC FMS, see Chapter 2)
Today, robots built into the machine and collaborative-robot cells that can work alongside people are becoming mainstream: Okuma's ARMROID (2018), Yamazaki Mazak's Ez LOADER 10 (2021), and DMG MORI's Robo2Go Open and the MATRIS WPH for moving workpieces and pallets (2025)[20][7][19].
★Today: additive manufacturing and gear cutting on one machine (2002–)
Process integration has begun to take in processes other than cutting. Matsuura Machinery developed a metal laser sintering hybrid milling machine in 2002, combining metal laser sintering, which solidifies metal powder with a laser, with machining center cutting on one machine, and put it on sale in 2003. In 2004 the M-PHOTON25C won the Japan Industrial Technology Grand Prize and the LUMEX 25C was announced[17]. "Hybrids" that combine metal additive manufacturing (depositing metal) and cutting on one machine followed: Yamazaki Mazak announced two models in 2014, Okuma expanded its LASER EX series of laser multitasking machines to five models in 2016 (they can also harden), and DMG MORI released the LASERTEC 6600 DED hybrid in 2020[7][21][19].
Gears, too, are now cut on one machine. In 2018 Yamazaki Mazak completed the INTEGREX AG series, fusing a multitasking machine with a dedicated gear-cutting machine[7]. The story of hobbing and skiving machines is in Chapter 4. Training the people who use them has also become an issue, and in 2023 Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry started its own "Multitasking Machine Certification"[9]. In 2025 Okuma's European subsidiary celebrated "50 years of multitasking machines", counting from the LM70-AT of 1975[5].
What it means on the shop floor. When reading the specifications of a multitasking or 5-axis machine, check whether it came from the lathe or the MC (does the spindle hold the workpiece or the tool?); whether it has Y and B axes, and whether the B axis only indexes or moves simultaneously; whether it has a second spindle and a lower turret; the number of ATC tools and the tool shank (large taper?); for 5 axes, whether it is a trunnion type (the table tilts) or the spindle tilts; and whether it connects to pallets and robots. These tell you the machine's generation and how much of the process you can hand over to it.
⑂Family tree of makers
Name changes of the main makers in this chapter. A change in bar color marks a change of company name. Hitachi Seiki transferred part of its business to Mori Seiki in 2002 (arrow). Mitsui Seiki Kogyo first set up today's company under the name Toyo Seiki in 1950 and returned to its present name in 1952. Kitamura Machinery and OM Ltd. are not shown because we could not confirm their name changes.
Machines you can see
Company-held items listed as "open to the public" in the National Museum of Nature and Science's Industrial Technology History Database, and a museum where machines up to multitasking machines are displayed in working order. Check each facility's or company's information about opening days and whether visits are possible before you go. See also the machines you can see in the Lathe chapter, Milling machine & MC chapter.
⌛Timeline
All the events checked in this chapter. The era divisions follow the flow of the story, and the 5-axis and automation sections overlap in years with earlier sections. Numbers are sources; "frame" refers to a page in the National Diet Library Digital Collections, and clicking it opens that material (materials for individuals require login).
The beginnings of the turning center1966–1979
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966Showa 41 | Froriep announces the KE8 Universal, a vertical-lathe-type turning center. The 1981 Senban manyuaru calls it the first machine tool to combine turning with rotating-cutter work | FroriepKE8 Universal | [1, frame 72] |
| 1970Showa 45 | Kearney & Trecker of the US, the company that gave birth to the machining center, shows the TURN-12 multitasking machine at IMTS (Chicago). It drew attention as a 100-million-yen machine tool, but only three were made and it never became a product. In Japan, too, Ikegai Tekko and Okuma Iron Works exhibited at trade fairs, but interference between tool and workpiece and price problems kept them from commercialization | Kearney & TreckerTURN-12 | [3] |
| December 1972Showa 47 | ★Ikegai Tekko's FT500NA turning center appears in the new-product column of Kikai Shinko. The 1981 Senban manyuaru writes that "in Japan, Ikegai Tekko announced a turning center in 1973 and completed a series" | Ikegai TekkoFT500NA | [4, frame 47][1, frame 73] |
| 1975Showa 50 | Okuma Iron Works releases its first multitasking machine, the LM70-AT, which does turning, drilling and milling on one machine (according to a 2025 announcement by its European subsidiary) | Okuma Iron WorksLM70-AT | [5] |
| 1977Showa 52 | At Yamazaki Iron Works (today's Yamazaki Mazak), full-scale development of a multitasking machine begins, led by Momoi Shoji. It was prompted by the wish to cut the processes and man-hours for machining the spindles of the company's own machine tools, and proceeded with a "turret mill" approach that combined a turret lathe with milling tools | Yamazaki Iron Works | [3] |
| 1979Showa 54 | Yamazaki Iron Works shows the "SLANT TURN 30 Mill Center", a slant-bed machine with a hydraulic motor for the mill drive, at EMO (Milan) (developed in 1978; also shown at JIMTOF in 1980) | Yamazaki Iron WorksSLANT TURN 30 Mill Center | [3] |
| 1979Showa 54 | ★Hitachi Seiki develops the 5LC, a full-fledged turning center with rotating tools for process integration. With 4-axis control of X, Y, Z and C and a 20-tool ATC, it was built into many kinds of systems as a mid-size multitasking machine | Hitachi Seiki5LC | [6, frame 17] |
Multitasking machines born from the lathe1981–1996
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981Showa 56 | Yamazaki Iron Works develops the "SLANT TURN 40N Mill Center", whose mill drive uses a more powerful DC motor, making 4-inch face milling possible. The same year it develops the "MAZATROL T-1" conversational NC unit jointly with Mitsubishi Electric (hardware by Mitsubishi Electric, software in-house) | Yamazaki Iron WorksSLANT TURN 40N Mill Center | [3] |
| 1983Showa 58 | Builds a 30-tool ATC in-house and shows the "SLANT TURN 40N ATC Mill Center" at EMO (Paris). Suzuki 2010 calls it the world's first multitasking machine to be fully commercialized. Inquiries came from the US aircraft and oil industriesThe completion date (April 1983) is also in the Chapter 1 timeline | Yamazaki Iron WorksSLANT TURN 40N ATC Mill Center | [3][7] |
| 1984Showa 59 | Because the 40ATC cost more than 2.5 times as much as an NC lathe, develops the "SLANT TURN 25ATC Mill Center" with a 16-tool chain-type ATC, holding the price to about 1.5 times that of an NC lathe. With the MAZATROL T-3 conversational NC, operators on the shop floor could write programs, and many were delivered to Japanese users | Yamazaki Iron WorksSLANT TURN 25ATC Mill Center | [3] |
| 1988Showa 63 | ★Yamazaki Mazak shows the "INTEGREX 40ATC Mill Center" at IMTS (Chicago). Adding the Y axis that users had asked for made it a 4-axis machine that could also cut the sides of the workpiece. The range of work multitasking machines could cut expanded far into machining center territory | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX 40ATC Mill Center | [3] |
| April 1988Showa 63 | ★Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry announces the TW-20, a two-spindle, two-turret machine with its spindles and turrets facing each other. It achieved simultaneous machining and complete machining to the finished part on one machine, and became the prototype of the later WT series and Super NT series | Nakamura-Tome Precision IndustryTW-20 | [9] |
| April 1991Heisei 3 | In Jidoka gijutsu, Yamazaki Mazak introduces a lathe FMS line of three INTEGREX 40 multitasking lathes side by side. With an ATC and Mill Center, each machine does drilling and other work besides turning | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX 40 | [11, frame 64] |
| 1993Heisei 5 | OM Ltd., which had been developing multitasking machines that add rotating tools to vertical lathes since 1974, completes the TMM-35/45N vertical turning center (3.5 m table diameter), which finishes even machining work by moving a swiveling, indexing table back and forth, and makes the TMM type a series | OM Ltd.TMM-35/40N | [12] |
| 1994Heisei 6 | Yamazaki Mazak develops the "INTEGREX 50/70". With large-taper tools and a standard 30-tool ATC (60 or 80 optional), it became a full-fledged multitasking machine with the functions and cutting power of a machining center, also covering workpieces that need more milling time than turning time | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX 50/70 | [3] |
| 1996Heisei 8 | OM Ltd. develops the VC series, small NC vertical lathes with upgraded ATC and APC automation. By combining turret and table indexing devices, they can be configured as turret (T), ram (R) or turning center (M) types | OM Ltd.VC-6NM | [14] |
5-axis machining centers spread1968–2009
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 1968Showa 43 | Machinery carries an explanation of a tape format for simultaneous 5-axis control (OKIPATH25). 5-axis NC programs adding rotary A and B axes to the three X, Y and Z axes were already being discussed | — | [2, frame 24] |
| August 1984Showa 59 | The product list in Toyoda Koki giho includes a "simultaneous 5-axis control machining center" | Toyoda Machine Works | [8, frame 23] |
| 1986Showa 61 | A Japan Machinery Federation report on production technology for the aircraft and space industries says simultaneous 5-axis NC machines are absolutely necessary to finish parts with complex airframe contours and angled faces, and plans the FMS's NC machines in two groups: 3-axis (roughing and semi-finishing) and 5-axis (finishing) | — | [10, frame 21][10, frame 22] |
| March 1994Heisei 6 | ★Kitamura Machinery's horizontal machining center "H-400 Super Cell" receives the 24th Automation Machinery Development Award for Small and Medium Enterprises. With added A and B axes, it cuts the five faces other than the mounting face on 5 axes in one setup, and combines automatic pallet changing, automatic workpiece identification and a handling robot. The company says the machine's launch raised the industry's interest in 5-axis MCs and moved other makers to start development | Kitamura MachineryH-400 Super Cell | [13, frame 18][13, frame 19][13, frame 5] |
| 1999Heisei 11 | Matsuura Machinery's MAM72-3VS 5-axis vertical machining center wins the Machine Industry Design Award | Matsuura MachineryMAM72-3VS | [15] |
| 2003Heisei 15 | Kitamura Machinery's Mytrunnion 5-axis vertical machining center (a trunnion type that tilts the table) wins the Machine Industry Design Award. Okuma's MU-400VA 5-axis vertical follows in 2004 | Kitamura MachineryMytrunnion | [15] |
| 2006Heisei 18 | ★Four of the five models winning the Machine Industry Design Award are 5-axis MCs or multitasking machines (including Mitsui Seiki Kogyo's Vertex550-5X 5-axis vertical and Matsuura Machinery's CUBLEX-25 5-axis multitasking machine). The same year, Mori Seiki develops the 5-axis NMV5000 DCG | Mitsui Seiki Kogyo, Mori Seiki, Matsuura MachineryVertex550-5X, NMV5000 DCG, CUBLEX-25 | [15][18][17][19] |
| 2009Heisei 21 | Yamazaki Mazak's HYPER VARIAXIS 630 5-axis vertical wins the Machine Industry Design Award. An industrial designer was involved from the start of its design | Yamazaki MazakHYPER VARIAXIS 630 | [15] |
The B axis, one-chucking and process integration1997–2013
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997Heisei 9 | ★Yamazaki Mazak develops the "INTEGREX 200SY", adding a B axis (swiveling tool spindle) to the X, Y, Z and C axes. With 5-axis control it can cut complex 3D shapes such as turbine blades, and by handing the workpiece over to the second spindle it can keep cutting through to the back sideThe completion of the INTEGREX 200Y with a Y axis (September 1997) is in the Chapter 1 timeline | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX 200SY | [3] |
| May 2000Heisei 12 | Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry announces the STW-40 "super multitasking machine", with a dedicated tool spindle and ATC, which does both turning and machining-center work on one machine | Nakamura-Tome Precision IndustrySTW-40 | [9] |
| September 2001Heisei 13 | Yamazaki Mazak releases the "INTEGREX e series". Its new NC unit, the MAZATROL FUSION M640MT, lets the multitasking machine run machining center programs as they are | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX e series | [7][3] |
| 2002Heisei 14 | OM Ltd. builds the OMega 60YB vertical turning center. Its 5-axis control, adding an indexable tool spindle (B) and table indexing (C) to the linear X, Y and Z axes, integrates the processes for complex medium-to-large parts | OM Ltd.OMega 60YB | [16] |
| September 2007Heisei 19 | Yamazaki Mazak completes the compact INTEGREX i-150 multitasking machine (Machine Industry Design Award in 2008) | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX i-150 | [7][15] |
| 2010Heisei 22 | Mori Seiki develops the X-class machines (NLX, NVX, NHX, NTX). Its multitasking machines move from the NT to the NTX | Mori SeikiNTX | [19] |
| 2013Heisei 25 | Okuma builds DS1 (Dream Site 1) at its head office, a factory that makes multitasking machines and NC lathes in one integrated flow | Okuma | [20] |
Automation: teaming up with pallets and robots1982–
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982Showa 57 | Hitachi Seiki develops its own robots, the RP-10 (pneumatic) and RE-20 (electric), making it easier to build automated cells with turning centers | Hitachi SeikiRP-10, RE-20 | [6, frame 17] |
| 1983Showa 58 | To build FMS with multitasking machines, co-develops the AJC, which changes chuck jaws automatically, with a chuck maker, and also builds a dedicated robot for loading and unloading workpieces | Yamazaki Iron Works | [3] |
| September 1985Showa 60 | Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry announces the "Shitamachi FA series" for automation and labor saving that even small factories can easily adopt | Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry | [9] |
| 2018Heisei 30 | Okuma develops ARMROID, a robot system built into the machine | OkumaARMROID | [20] |
| June 2021Reiwa 3 | Yamazaki Mazak completes Ez LOADER 10, an automation cell with a collaborative robot (Ez LOADER 30 in 2023) | Yamazaki MazakEz LOADER 10 | [7] |
| October 2025Reiwa 7 | DMG MORI releases Robo2Go Open. In September it also released MATRIS WPH, which flexibly transports workpieces and pallets for high-mix, variable-volume production | DMG MORIRobo2Go Open | [19] |
Today: additive manufacturing and gear cutting on one machine2002–
| Year | Event | Maker / model | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002Heisei 14 | ★Matsuura Machinery develops a metal laser sintering hybrid milling machine that combines metal laser sintering, which solidifies metal powder with a laser, with machining center cutting in one machine. It began production and sales in 2003, and in 2004 the M-PHOTON25C won the Japan Industrial Technology Grand Prize and the LUMEX 25C was announced | Matsuura MachineryMetal laser sintering hybrid milling machine | [17] |
| October 2014Heisei 26 | Yamazaki Mazak announces two hybrid multitasking machines (metal additive manufacturing and cutting). It completed the VARIAXIS j-600 AM in November 2016 | Yamazaki Mazak | [7] |
| October 2016Heisei 28 | Okuma announces the MU-6300V LASER EX and MULTUS U3000 LASER EX laser multitasking machines, bringing the LASER EX series to five models. Besides milling, turning and grinding, they do hardening and metal additive manufacturing on one machine | OkumaMULTUS U3000 LASER EX and others | [21] |
| September 2018Heisei 30 | ★Yamazaki Mazak completes the INTEGREX AG series, fusing a multitasking machine with a dedicated gear-cutting machine | Yamazaki MazakINTEGREX AG series | [7] |
| November 2019Reiwa 1 | The Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Machine Tools (Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture) opens. About 80 machines, from a replica bow lathe to the latest MCs, CNC lathes and multitasking machines, are displayed in working order | Yamazaki Mazak | [22] |
| August 2020Reiwa 2 | DMG MORI releases the LASERTEC 6600 DED hybrid, combining metal additive manufacturing by deposition (DED) with cutting | DMG MORILASERTEC 6600 DED hybrid | [19] |
| June 2023Reiwa 5 | Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry starts its own "Multitasking Machine Certification" for people who use multitasking machines | Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry | [9] |
| 2025Reiwa 7 | Okuma's European subsidiary celebrates "50 years of multitasking machines" and presents the MULTUS series, descended from the LM70-AT of 1975 | Okuma | [5] |
| September 2025Reiwa 7 | Yamazaki Mazak completes the INTEGREX i NEO series, and DMG MORI releases the third-generation NTX | Yamazaki Mazak, DMG MORIINTEGREX i NEO, 3rd-generation NTX | [7][19] |
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. The two J-STAGE papers were read in full. Suzuki (2010)'s Mazak timeline was compiled by the author from the company's materials and interviews. The database and makers' company histories were checked in the same month. Where the text says a source "calls it" so, claims such as "world first" and "the world's first" are that source's own statements.
- Senban manyuaru: Kozo, seido-hen (Lathe manual: Structure and accuracy), Taiga Shuppan (1981)Frames 72, 73
- Machinery 31(470), Machinery Kankokai (August 1968)Frames 24
- Suzuki Nobutaka, "Acquiring integrity in a modular industry: The case of the Japanese machine tool industry", Akamon Management Review 9(9), pp.635-662 (2010)
- Kikai Shinko 5(12) (whole no. 55), Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry (December 1972): "New product series"Frames 47
- Okuma Europe press release: "Increased flexibility and efficiency at lower cost" (2025, 50 years of multitasking machines)
- Hitachi Seiki, Hito ni yasashii senshin gijutsu: Chie to soi no 55-nen (Advanced technology that is kind to people: 55 years of wisdom and ingenuity) (1991)Frames 17
- Yamazaki Mazak: History
- Toyoda Koki giho (Toyoda Machine Works technical journal) 25(1) (whole no. 90), Toyoda Machine Works (August 1984)Frames 23
- Nakamura-Tome Precision Industry: History
- Japan Machinery Federation, Seisan gijutsu kodoka ni kansuru chosa kenkyu hokokusho: Kokuki, uchu sangyo-yo seisan gijutsu, Showa 60 nendo (Research report on advancing production technology: Production technology for the aircraft and space industries, FY1985) (1986)Frames 21, 22
- Jidoka gijutsu (Automation technology) 23(4), Kogyo Chosakai (April 1991)Frames 64
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical turning center TMM-35/40N
- Kikai Shinko 27(3) (whole no. 310), Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry (March 1994): "The 24th Automation Machinery Development Award for Small and Medium Enterprises"Frames 5, 18, 19
- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical turning center VC-6NM
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- National Museum of Nature and Science, Industrial Technology History Database: Vertical turning center OMega 60YB
- Matsuura Machinery: About our history
- Mitsui Seiki Kogyo: History
- DMG MORI: History
- Okuma: History
- MONOist: "Okuma, two laser multitasking machines" (November 14, 2016)
- Newswitch (Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun): "Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Machine Tools" (December 24, 2019)
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