日本語简体中文

USA 05The Wave of Imports and Revival

Until the late 1960s, America was the world's largest producer of machine tools. But from the 1970s, machines from Japan, West Germany and later Taiwan poured in one after another. Japanese NC lathes and machining centers, with short delivery times and cheap, reliable CNCs, became standard equipment in American job shops. The U.S. industry fought back with a petition over the investment tax credit (Houdaille) and a petition for import restrictions on national security grounds (Section 232), and in 1986 it won voluntary export restraints (VRA) from Japan and Taiwan. Even so, many old-line makers were sold off, and only their names remained. Meanwhile, Japanese and German makers built plants in the U.S., Haas, which grew out of a job shop, rose on low-priced vertical machining centers, and a new process, additive manufacturing, emerged from the U.S. For this chapter we went through materials from the National Research Council (NRC) and the General Accounting Office (GAO), presidential statements, U.S. SEC filings, trade journals and more, checking each point one by one, and cited a source for every event.

The names live on,
but the owners change.
The family tree is key!

Chips, the Kezuriba mascot

This is an "era chapter." The birth of NC and the machining center (Parsons and MIT, the Milwaukee-Matic) is covered in Chapter 4. How each type of machine evolved is summarized in the machine-type chapters: NC lathes and turning centers in Chapter 6, "The Lineage of American Lathes", vertical machining centers and Bridgeport milling machines in Chapter 7, and additive manufacturing and other processes in Chapter 10, "Other Machines".

The wave of imports (1968–1981)

Cracks under the world's top producer

Ashburn, a former editor of American Machinist, writes that the U.S. machine tool industry was the world's largest producer until 1969, and that its exports exceeded its imports until 1977[8]. In 1973 U.S. machine tool imports were only 9.7% of domestic consumption, and imports from Japan were $22.1 million[7]. By 1979 imports had reached 22% of consumption, and Japan, with 34% of imports, overtook West Germany. Around 1978 the trade balance also turned to deficit[7].

The old-line makers were changing too. In January 1970 Cincinnati Milling Machine, in business since 1884, changed its name to Cincinnati Milacron, because it had expanded beyond machine tools into controls, minicomputers and plastics machinery[5]. In 1979 the transfer-line maker Cross Company merged with the milling machine and machining center maker Kearney & Trecker to form Cross & Trecker[13], and in 1980 the turret lathe maker Warner & Swasey was bought for more than $300 million by Bendix, a large company in auto parts and other fields[15][16].

Why Japanese machines were chosen

The biggest factor was delivery time. Large U.S. makers stacked up orders as backlog at the top of the business cycle and worked them off in the downturn to keep their plants evenly loaded. In the late 1970s, U.S. machines took a year and a half to two years from order to delivery, and at popular makers the wait was said to be two to four years. Japanese machines arrived in one to two months[7][12]. For a job shop that buys a machine after winning the work, a machine that won't arrive until next year is useless.

Next came CNC. The U.S. was the first to bring CNC to market, but there machine builders and electrical companies each made their own controls. In Japan FANUC mass-produced controls almost single-handedly, and its low-cost microprocessor-based CNC became the de facto standard. Japanese makers mass-produced small NC lathes and machining centers with common parts as standard products[12]. According to Ashburn, in 1974 FANUC, with about 700 employees making about 3,000 NC units a year, was the world's largest NC maker, while all U.S. makers together made about 4,000 a year. Around 1974 FANUC built a service network in the U.S., and Japanese machines carrying FANUC NC began to sell there. Japanese machines were smaller, lighter and cheaper than American ones and, at least at first, more reliable. Ashburn cites the remark that Japan turned the machine tool from a "made-to-order item" into an "off-the-shelf product." Some American machine builders saw Japan's adoption of microprocessor-based controls four years earlier as the main reason Japanese machines sold[8]. U.S. makers were strong in custom special-purpose machines and large machines and held their domestic share in areas such as transfer lines, but lost much of the market for general-purpose CNC lathes and machining centers[12]. On top of that, U.S. plant equipment was old: in 1978, 40% of the machine tools in use were more than 20 years old (18% in Japan)[7].

Japan took steps too. According to Ashburn, in 1978 Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) had an export cartel set minimum prices for machine tools exported to the U.S., to deflect criticism of dumping. Even so, imports from Japan kept growing, and in the first half of 1980 they were 48% higher than a year earlier[8]. In 1981, 48% of U.S. machine tool imports came from Japan[7]. What an NMTBA (National Machine Tool Builders' Association) mission to Japan saw in 1981 was almost every Japanese machine tool maker building FMS (flexible manufacturing systems linking machine tools with computers and material handling) and installing them in its own plants[7].

The last peak, 1981

In 1981 U.S. machine tool production peaked at about $5.1 billion. The top 15 companies accounted for 73% of shipments, led by Cincinnati Milacron with $498 million[7][10]. Employment in the industry also peaked, at 108,000 in 1980[14]. But the import share had risen to about 25%, and in the next recession the industry collapsed.

Petitions, restraints and new builders (1982–1993)

The Houdaille petition

In May 1982 Houdaille Industries, owner of the machining center maker Burgmaster and others, asked the President to deny the investment tax credit to companies that bought Japanese machining centers and NC punching machines. It was the first petition under the provision of the Revenue Act of 1971 (Section 103) that allows products of countries engaged in discriminatory practices to be excluded from the credit, and it charged that Japan's industrial promotion policies and export cartel were unfair[8][18][19]. The investment tax credit had a strong effect on machine tool orders: each time the credit was introduced or suspended, orders swung sharply[12]. "Buy a Japanese machine and you lose the credit" was a measure that would hit buyers directly.

The petition was also discussed at a cabinet council meeting in February 1983[27], but in April President Reagan rejected it. While injury was acknowledged, excluding only Japanese machines from the credit was judged a dangerous precedent that would invite retaliation[8][18]. Houdaille then sought a joint venture with a Japanese company, but it fell through, and in 1985 Houdaille closed or put up for sale its machine tool operations[8].

Recession, and Japan takes the lead

In 1982 Japan's machine tool production overtook that of the U.S. By American Machinist's figures, Japan produced $3.796 billion and the U.S. $3.748 billion[10][17]. U.S. production fell by almost half again in 1983, and industry employment dropped 35% in 1981–83[12][10][19]. From the early 1980s U.S. makers downsized and began buying parts from subcontractors at home and abroad, and some even became sales agents for imported machines. The Commerce Department estimated that U.S. machine tool capacity had fallen at least 25% since 1982, and that only 60% of what remained was in use[8].

Machine tool makers owned by large conglomerates were especially vulnerable to this wave. Machine tool companies were often bought at high prices at the top of the cycle, and when orders fell in the downturn it quickly became clear they could not earn the profits their parents required. Then, Ashburn writes, no money went to the machine tool divisions for new equipment or development, and in the next upturn they could neither raise output nor bring out new products[8]. The top 15 shippers of 1981 included many large companies that held machine tools as just one division, such as Bendix, Textron, Litton, White Consolidated and Houdaille[7].

Section 232: on national security grounds

In March 1983 the NMTBA petitioned the Secretary of Commerce under Section 232 (the provision of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 that allows imports threatening national security to be restricted). It asked that imports be held to 17.5% of consumption by value, and to 20% for each of 18 machine categories[8][25][26]. The argument was that machine tools make weapons in wartime, so if the country could no longer make them, its defense would be at risk. The National Research Council also studied the machine tool industry and the defense industrial base for the Department of Defense[7].

In February 1984 the Commerce Department reported that imports "threaten to impair national security," and the President sent it back to be re-examined on revised planning assumptions. A revised report in March 1986 concluded that imports of seven of the 18 categories, including machining centers, NC lathes, non-NC lathes, milling machines, and punching and shearing machines, threatened national security[24][19]. On May 20, 1986, President Reagan announced that he would seek voluntary import restraints from Japan, Taiwan, West Germany and Switzerland, and also set out a domestic program, including changes in defense procurement and support for technology centers[24][25]. NCMS (the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences), a hub for joint industry research, was also founded that year[25].

VRA: limiting exports by set shares

In December 1986 Japan and Taiwan concluded voluntary restraint agreements (VRA) on machine tool exports. For the five years 1987–1991 they undertook to keep exports to the U.S. of machining centers, NC and non-NC lathes and milling machines (and, for Japan, punching and shearing machines) within set shares of U.S. consumption[38][25][19]. For Japanese machines the limits were set in units rather than value, bringing the most important categories back to about 1981 levels (for Taiwan, 1985 levels); export licenses were issued by the Japanese and Taiwanese governments, and U.S. Customs checked the certificates[8][19]. West Germany and Switzerland declined to sign agreements but were asked not to exceed the limits[38][25].

The effect was limited. The import share reached about half in 1986 and peaked at 54% in 1987[8][12]. A 1990 review by the General Accounting Office (GAO) found that domestic makers' share in the six restricted markets rose a total of only 6 points in 1986–88, and that most of the ground Japan and Taiwan gave up was taken by other countries such as West Germany and Switzerland[25]. The import share fell to about 42% in 1990, partly because Japanese and European makers had begun building machines in U.S. plants[14]. In December 1991 the U.S. extended the VRA while ending restraints on non-NC machines at the end of 1991 and phasing out those on NC machines and machining centers by December 1993[46][26]. The import share in 1992 was 46.3%, and 1991 production was only 42% of the 1980 level[12].

Import share9.7% → 54%1973 → 1987[7][12]
VRA period1987–1991NC machines and MCs phased out by 1993[25][46]
Domestic share regained6 points6 restricted markets, 1986–88[25]

Foreign makers build in the U.S.

In the VRA era, foreign makers shifted from "exporting" to "building in the U.S." Okuma set up a U.S. sales company in 1984 and a production company in North Carolina in 1987, reportedly in response to the trade restrictions[28][29]. The number of Japanese machine tool makers with plants or bases in the U.S. grew from 17 in 1987 to 36 in 1990[10]. Germany's GROB also set up a base in Ohio in 1983 and made it a production plant in 1991[23]. Mazak's Kentucky plant (1974) and Makino's acquisition of LeBlond (1981) are earlier examples (see "Links with Japan" below).

The same happened with NC controls. In early 1987 General Electric, once the largest NC maker in the U.S. and Europe, formed a joint venture with FANUC, and GE stopped making its own NC controls[8][40]. It was not only machines imported from Japan that made the "FANUC screen" commonplace in American job shops. Many U.S. builders had long used American-made NC, but once FANUC teamed up with Siemens to build NC in the U.S. and sell it under the General Numeric name, FANUC-family NC appeared on American machines as well[8].

New builders: Haas and Hurco

While the old-line makers struggled, new American makers grew. Gene Haas built a programmable 5C collet indexer for his own job shop in California, and in 1983 started Haas Automation to sell it. In 1987 he began developing a vertical machining center, and at IMTS 1988 (Chicago) showed the first VF-1 at $49,900. The industry was reportedly skeptical that an American-made machining center could sell for under $50,000[20][21]. This was the same period in which quotas were placed on imports of Japanese vertical machining centers.

Hurco of Indianapolis was founded in 1968 by Gerald Roch and E. L. Humston, and moved from press brake positioning controls into CNC[1]. Its patent (US 4,477,754) for a CNC on which a program is built simply by answering prompts for the drawing's dimensions on a screen beside the machine, a conversational CNC, was filed in 1976 and granted in 1984[33]. The idea was that even people who cannot write G-code could program at the machine during setup (for how NC programs are written today, see the NC programming page). Hurco set up a production company in Taiwan in fiscal 2000, and by fiscal 2006 it was building more than 98% of its machines in Taiwan[56][34].

The birth of additive manufacturing

Another way of making shapes, by adding material rather than cutting it away, was also born in the U.S. in this era: additive manufacturing. Charles (Chuck) Hull's patent on stereolithography (curing liquid resin one layer at a time with ultraviolet light and stacking the layers), US 4,575,330, was filed in August 1984 and granted on March 11, 1986. That same year Hull co-founded 3D Systems[35][36][37]. Trial units of the SLA-1 stereolithography machine appeared at the end of 1987, and sales began in 1988[43][44]. In June 1992 S. Scott Crump's patent on fused deposition modeling (FDM: extruding molten plastic from a nozzle and stacking it) was granted to Stratasys[47]. At first these were tools for making prototype models, but later, along with metal additive manufacturing, they spread to making jigs and small batches of parts (for how additive manufacturing works, see Chapter 10).

Old-line makers sold and merged (1994–2009)

In the 1990s America's old-line makers were bought up or withdrew from machine tools. Giddings & Lewis grew by buying Cross & Trecker in October 1991 and the vertical machining center maker Fadal in April 1995, but in 1997 it was itself bought by Thyssen of Germany for $21 a share[45][51]. Monarch, the lathe maker founded in 1909, sold its lathe business in 1997 and changed its name to Genesis Worldwide in 1999[52]. Genesis Worldwide in turn filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2001, and its domestic businesses were sold to an investment firm[57][58].

The biggest event was Cincinnati Milacron's decision in October 1998. The machine tool company dating from 1884 sold its machine tool division to UNOVA for $180 million, renamed itself Milacron and concentrated on plastics machinery[6][53]. UNOVA combined the division into Cincinnati Lamb and in April 2005 sold it to the newly formed MAG Industrial Automation Systems. The grinder maker Landis went to France's Fives the same year[61][62]. In October of that same year, 2005, ThyssenKrupp's machine tool division, including Giddings & Lewis and Fadal, was also bought by the MAG side[63][64]. Bridgeport, known to job shops worldwide for its knee-type milling machines, came under Textron in 1968, became independent in 1986 and came under Goldman Industrial Group in 1999; in November 2004 the lathe maker Hardinge acquired its name and trademarks. Bridgeport-brand machining centers were sourced from Taiwan[55][54][60].

A 2009 U.S. Commerce Department report noted that Cincinnati Machine, Fadal and Giddings & Lewis had been bought by Germany's MAG, and Ingersoll, the maker of large five-axis machines, by Italy's Camozzi in 2003, so that there were fewer U.S.-owned five-axis makers. The plants, however, stayed in America[59]. Ownership moved abroad, but the work of building machines in America remained. In 2000 Mazak spent $20 million renovating its Kentucky plant into an automated "Cyber Factory"[3].

What it means on the shop floor. When you deal with used American machines or old drawings, knowing which brand the company on the nameplate belongs to today tells you where to look for parts and manuals. Cincinnati Milacron's machine tools passed from UNOVA to MAG, Kearney & Trecker from Cross & Trecker to Giddings & Lewis, the Bridgeport name to Hardinge, and LeBlond to Makino's U.S. company. You can trace the flow in the family tree below.

Foreign makers' plants and the U.S. today (2010–)

In July 2012 Mori Seiki (now DMG MORI) began producing horizontal machining centers such as the NHX4000 at its plant in Davis, California, and held an opening ceremony on November 7. It was the company's first U.S. plant, planned to build 80 machines a month and to source more than 40% of its parts locally[67][68]. Mazak's Kentucky plant marked its 50th anniversary in 2024; after 20 expansions it covers about 1 million square feet (about 90,000 m²) and builds more than 70 models[9].

In additive manufacturing, in August 2012 the U.S. government announced a research institute, NAMII, in Youngstown, Ohio. With $30 million from the Department of Defense and $40 million more from industry and others, it became the first institute of the national network of manufacturing institutes (now Manufacturing USA). It was renamed America Makes in October 2013[69][70][71]. In May 2018 Hardinge was bought by a company backed by the investment firm Privet Fund and went private[72].

The U.S. today: one of the world's biggest buyers

In USMTO, the order statistics compiled by AMT (formerly the NMTBA) and the distributors' association, 2021 orders reached $5.908 billion, the highest since the statistics began in 1998[73]. In 2025 orders were $5.74 billion, up 22.5% from the year before[78][79]. In Gardner's World Machine Tool Survey (2024 data), U.S. production was $7.1 billion, imports $6.2 billion, exports $1.5 billion and consumption $11.8 billion. Consumption ranked second in the world after China, production fourth, and imports first[75]. The pattern of meeting about half of consumption with imports has not changed much since the VRA years of the 1980s. Today's "domestic production," however, includes not only American companies such as Haas and Hurco but also machines built in the U.S. plants of Mazak, Okuma, Makino, DMG MORI and others.

In numbers: production, imports, consumption

U.S. machine tool production, exports and imports, with consumption calculated from them (production − exports + imports) and the import share (imports ÷ consumption). Unit: millions of dollars (nominal). Counting methods differ between series, and exports in particular differ greatly between the NMTBA and American Machinist, so do not compare across series. Gardner's survey (WMTS) restates values at the prices of each issue's year, so the values are per issue.

YearProductionExportsImportsConsumptionImport shareSeriesSources
19731,7892251671,7319.7%NMTBA[7, p.26]
19762,1783523182,14414.8%NMTBA[7, p.26]
19772,441————American Machinist[10, PDF p.52]
19783,0045607153,15922.6%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19794,0596491,0494,45923.5%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19804,8127851,2985,32524.4%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19815,1119721,4375,57625.8%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19823,7485731,1534,32826.6%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19832,1064069462,64635.8%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19842,4234091,3563,37040.2%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19852,7174521,7384,00343.4%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19862,7485902,2524,41051.1%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19872,2355861,9693,61854.4%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19882,5197682,0583,80954.0%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
19893,2709452,4454,77051.3%American Machinist[10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.90][10, PDF p.91]
1992————46.3%AMT (cited by RAND)[12, p.11]
20225,9001,6005,70010,10056.4%Gardner WMTS (July 2023 issue)[74, p.74]
20247,1001,5006,20011,80052.5%Gardner WMTS (August 2025 issue)[75, p.62][75, p.64]

The 1973 and 1976 import shares nearly match the values in the NRC table (9.7%, 14.9%). The 1981 import share ranges from 24.2% to 25.8% depending on the source. Annual values for 1990–1991 and 1993–2021 are not listed because few of them have yet been confirmed in primary statistics.

⛩Links with Japan

From exports to U.S. production: the Mazak example

Japanese machine tool exports to the U.S. can be traced back to June 1962, when Yamazaki Iron Works (now Yamazaki Mazak) agreed to export 200 LE lathes[2]. The company set up a U.S. subsidiary in New York in July 1968, and in 1970 its NC lathe MTC-2500R became the first Japanese-built NC machine tool exported to the U.S. The machine was brought back from the U.S. in 2008 and is now Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 126[4][2] (timeline of Chapter 1 of the Japanese archive, Famous machines). Then in July 1974 it began production at a plant in Florence, Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati. It was the first U.S. production by a Japanese machine tool maker, and also the company's first plant outside Japan[2][9][10]. In October 1981 it joined the U.S. trade association, the NMTBA[2].

Houdaille and the VRA as seen from Japan

The timeline of Chapter 2 of the Japanese Archive (milling machines and machining centers) records, for May 1982, "U.S. machine tool makers petition the U.S. government to exclude Japanese MCs and NC punching machines from the investment tax credit," and for January 1987, "Voluntary restraint on exports to the U.S. of NC lathes, machining centers and other machines (VRA) begins as a five-year commitment"[17] (Japanese Archive, Chapter 2). This is how the Houdaille petition and the VRA seen in this chapter appear in the records of the Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association (JMTBA). The export ratio of machining centers (exports relative to production) peaked at 52% in 1986 and, with the strong yen as well, fell into the 30% range from 1989[17].

Production overtaken

Japan's machine tool production overtook that of the U.S. in 1982 to rank first in the world, and stayed on top for 27 years until 2008 (see Machine Tool History in Numbers). In this chapter's table, that coincides with U.S. production falling by almost half in 1983. Japanese machine tool makers with plants in the U.S. grew from 17 to 36 in 1987–1990[10], leading on to the U.S. plants of Okuma (1987) and Mori Seiki (2012). Many of the "Japanese machines" running in American job shops are now made in the U.S.

⑂Family tree of makers

These are the names and changing owners of the main companies in this chapter. Where a band changes color, the name or owner changes, and red arrows point to the acquirer (the arrow from Bridgeport shows that the name and trademarks passed to Hardinge in 2004). Giddings & Lewis was founded in 1859, Warner & Swasey in 1880 and Hardinge in 1890[82][81][83][60]. Companies that existed before 1960 are drawn from 1960. The right end of each band is the last point checked in this chapter, which does not necessarily mean the company ended there. A › at the right end marks a company still in business.

1960198020002020Cincinnati Milling MachineCincinnati MilacronCincinnati Machine (UNOVA)MAGWarner & SwaseyUnder Bendix1984: acquired by C&TKearney & TreckerCross & Trecker1991: acquired by G&LGiddings & LewisUnder ThyssenUnder MAGHoudaille Industries (Burgmaster and others)Bridgeport MachinesUnder TextronBridgeport (independent)Under GoldmanHardingeHardinge (private)HurcoYamazaki MachineryMazak CorporationR. K. LeBlondLeBlond Makino (now Makino Inc.)Okuma Machinery (sales)Okuma AmericaHaas AutomationBreaks in a bar mark name changes. Red arrows show where a merger or business transfer went. A › at the right end means the company still exists.
Sources: company history pages and published company histories [5][6][53][61][59][81][15][16][31][13][45][82][51][63][64][8][55][54][60][83][72][1][2][11][28][20]

Places to visit

Japanese machines that were exported, and plants, trade shows and research institutes in the U.S. Check each facility's or company's information on opening days and whether visits are possible before you go.

Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Machine ToolsMinokamo, Gifu PrefectureDisplays in working order the NC lathe MTC-2500R (Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 126), exported to the US in 1970 and brought home in 2008[4][2]
Mazak Corporation (North American headquarters plant)Florence, KentuckyMazak's US plant, which started up in 1974. After 20 expansions it has grown to about 1 million square feet. Check the company's guide for tours and events[9]
IMTS (International Manufacturing Technology Show)Chicago, Illinois (McCormick Place)The largest manufacturing technology show in the Western Hemisphere, held every two years and organized by AMT. The next is scheduled for September 11–16, 2028[80]
America MakesYoungstown, OhioThe national additive manufacturing institute set up in 2012 (formerly NAMII). Ask in advance whether visits are possible[69]
Haas Automation headquarters plantOxnard, CaliforniaHaas's plant (about 1.1 million square feet), going back to the VF-1 of 1988. We have not confirmed whether public tours are offered[20]

⌛Timeline

All the events confirmed in this chapter. The numbers are sources; click one to open the document. "p." is a page of a book, report or journal, and "PDF p." is a page in the PDF.

The wave of importsPetitions and VRASales and mergersForeign plants and today197019801990200020102020197419811986199820122024Yellow dots are key events (★ in the table below; some years are omitted where crowded). Era boundaries are approximate.

The wave of imports1968–1981

YearEventMaker / modelSources
1968Gerald Roch and E. L. Humston each put in $2,500 and start Hurco in Indianapolis, Indiana (incorporated in February 1969). The first product was AutoBend, a press brake positioning controlSome sources say "Edward Roch," but this is wrong. The founding year and founders follow the company's own articleHurco[1]
July 1968Yamazaki Iron Works (now Yamazaki Mazak) establishes a U.S. subsidiary, Yamazaki Machinery Corporation, in New York. Following the 1962 deal for 200 LE lathes, it was an early example of a Japanese machine tool maker entering the U.S.IndustryWeek gives 1968 as the year it "entered the U.S. market" and says the first Japanese NC machine tool went to TRW that year, but the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers treats the MTC-2500R of 1970 as the first export of a Japanese NC machine to the U.S. (a discrepancy; not adopted in the text)Yamazaki Machinery Corporation (Yamazaki Iron Works' U.S. company)[2][3]
1970(Japan) Yamazaki Iron Works' (now Yamazaki Mazak) NC lathe MTC-2500R becomes the first Japanese-built NC machine tool exported to the U.S. It was brought back from the U.S. in 2008 and became Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 126Yamazaki Iron Works (Yamazaki Mazak)MTC-2500R[4][2]
January 1970Cincinnati Milling Machine, in business since 1884, changes its name to Cincinnati Milacron. It had expanded beyond machine tools into controls, minicomputers and plastics machineryDatapro (1973) dates the renaming to January 1970; Milacron's 10-K describes the company as the successor to a business founded in 1884Cincinnati Milacron[5][6]
1973U.S. machine tool imports are 9.7% of domestic consumption. Imports from Japan were $22.1 million, about 13% of importsFigures from the NMTBA's Economic Handbook 1982-83 (NRC Table 8)—[7, p.26][7, p.25]
c. 1974(Japan) FANUC builds a service network in the U.S., and Japanese machine tools equipped with FANUC NC begin to sell there. That year FANUC, with about 700 employees making about 3,000 NC units a year, was the world's largest NC maker, while all U.S. makers together made about 4,000 a yearAshburn (1988) writes from his own observations on more than ten visits to FANUC's plantsFANUC[8, PDF p.71][8, PDF p.72]
July 1974★Yamazaki Mazak's US company starts production at its plant in Florence (Kentucky, across the river from Cincinnati). It was the company's first plant outside Japan and a forerunner of US production by Japanese machine tool makersThe company history says "July 1974: plant begins operation in Greater Cincinnati"; IndustryWeek says "1974: Florence plant completed"; UNIDO says it "began assembly in the U.S. in 1974." 1974 is the year the plant began operating, not the year of entry (the U.S. company dates from 1968)Yamazaki Machinery Corporation (today's Mazak Corporation)[2][9][3][10, PDF p.105]
February 1975Makino Milling Machine establishes a U.S. company, MAKINO U.S.A. INC.Makino U.S.A.[11]
c. 1978The U.S. machine tool trade balance goes into deficit, ending the export surplus that had lasted since the 19th centuryIn NRC Figure 3 (NMTBA), the balance drops below zero in 1977–78. Ashburn: "export surplus until 1977, import surplus thereafter"—[7, p.25][8, PDF p.92]
Late 1970sMachines from U.S. makers, who smoothed out the business cycle by building up backlogs, took a year and a half to two years to deliver. Japanese machines arrived in one to two months, and delivery time became the main reason for choosing themRAND, citing Holland 1989, says the wait at popular U.S. makers was two to four years—[7, p.27][12, p.19]
1979Imports reach 22% of domestic consumption. Japan's share of imports, 34% ($352.8 million), overtakes West Germany's (19%)—[7, p.26]
1979The transfer-line maker Cross Company and the milling machine and machining center maker Kearney & Trecker merge to form Cross & Trecker. The Justice Department sued, arguing the merger would restrain competitionThe 1983 Wall Street Transcript gives 1978. The year here follows the government report (NHTSA 1982)Cross & Trecker[13]
1980Employment in the machine tool industry peaks at 108,000 (71,700 production workers). It had fallen to 72,700 by 1990RAND gives 53,300 for 1992—[14][12, p.12]
1980The turret lathe maker Warner & Swasey is bought by Bendix for more than $300 million. In 1981 machine tool shipments, Bendix ranked second in the U.S. after Cincinnati MilacronAgreed in October 1979, acquired in 1980 (testimony at a 1984 House hearing says "late 1979"). Bendix was bought by Allied in 1983Warner & Swasey[15][16][7, p.11]
1981U.S. machine tool production peaks at $5.1 billion. The 15 largest makers (led by Cincinnati Milacron with $498 million) accounted for 73% of shipments. Meanwhile 48% of imports came from Japan, and imports reached about 25% of domestic consumptionThe import share is 24.2% in the NRC text (p.2) and 24.9% in Table 8 (the table image is blurred)—[7, p.11][7, p.26][10, PDF p.52]
1981An NMTBA mission to Japan reports that almost every Japanese machine tool maker is building FMS (flexible manufacturing systems linking machine tools with computers and material handling) and installing them in its own plants—[7, p.19]
September 1981★Makino Milling Machine buys the old Cincinnati lathe maker R. K. LeBlond and makes it the LeBlond Makino Machine Tool Company (today's Makino Inc.)Some sources say "merger" or "joint venture," but Makino's company history says "Purchases." UNIDO (1991) calls LeBlond Makino the largest Japanese-owned machine tool company in the U.S.LeBlond Makino Machine Tool Company[11][10, PDF p.106]
October 1981Mazak's U.S. company joins the U.S. machine tool builders' association NMTBA (now AMT). In July 1982 it changes its name to Mazak CorporationYamazaki Machinery Corporation[2]

Petitions, restraints and new builders1982–1993

YearEventMaker / modelSources
198236% of the machine tools bought in the U.S. now have NC. The import share is about 27% of consumption, and for lathes 56% were already imported in 1981—[7, p.18][7, p.26][8, PDF p.90]
1982★(Japan) Japan's machine tool production overtakes that of the U.S. By American Machinist's figures, Japan $3.796 billion, U.S. $3.748 billion. Japan stayed first in the world from then until 2008Same as the 1982 event in Chapter 1 of the Japanese Archive (/history/lathe/)—[10, PDF p.52][17, p.9]
May 1982★Houdaille Industries, owner of Burgmaster and others, asks the President to deny the investment tax credit to companies buying Japanese machining centers and NC punching machines (the first petition under Section 103 of the Revenue Act of 1971). It charged that Japan's industrial policy and cartels were unfairAshburn and the JEC date the filing to May 1982. NBER (citing HBS 1988) dates the filing of the 714-page petition to June. Consistent with "May 1982" in the timeline of Chapter 2 of the Japanese ArchiveHoudaille Industries[8, PDF p.89][18][19, p.116]
1983In the recession, U.S. production falls by almost half in a year (metal-cutting machines down 53% from 1982 to 1983). Industry employment fell 35% in 1981–83—[12, p.12][10, PDF p.52][19, p.121]
1983★Gene Haas shows at WESTEC a programmable 5C collet indexer he built for his own job shop (Proturn Engineering), and founds Haas Automation (California) to produce it in volumeHaas Automation[20][21][22]
1983Germany's GROB opens a branch in Bluffton, Ohio. In 1991 it became its third production plant, GROB Systems, Inc., an example of a German maker producing in the U.S.GROB[23]
March 1983★The NMTBA petitions the Secretary of Commerce under Section 232 (the provision of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 that allows imports to be restricted on national security grounds), asking that machine tool imports be held to 17.5% of consumption and to 20% for each of 18 categoriesAshburn gives the cap as 17.5% (by value; 20% for each of the 18 categories); NBER rounds it to "18%." The CRS list shows it as the 17th Section 232 investigation, dated 1983—[24][25, p.9][8, PDF p.90][19, p.113][26]
April 1983President Reagan rejects the Houdaille petition. While acknowledging injury, he judged that excluding Japanese machines from the tax credit would set a dangerous precedent and invite retaliationThe minutes of the February 2, 1983 cabinet council meeting in the CIA Reading Room confirm that the petition was then under reviewHoudaille Industries[8, PDF p.89][18][27]
1984Okuma Iron Works (now Okuma) sets up a U.S. sales company, OKUMA MACHINERY INC.Okuma Machinery Inc.[28][29][30]
February 1984The Commerce Department reports to the President that machine tool imports "threaten to impair national security." The President sent it back for re-examination on the National Security Council's new planning assumptions—[24][25, p.2]
February 1984Bendix, now part of Allied, sells its machine tool group, including Warner & Swasey, to Cross & Trecker for about $65 million, about a quarter of what Bendix had paid for Warner & Swasey four years earlierFrom the record of a House hearing (March 1984) and American Machinist's 1984 index (an article in the March issue). The year Warner & Swasey's last plant closed has not been confirmedCross & Trecker, Bendix[31, p.89][32]
October 1984Hurco's patent on conversational NC, US 4,477,754, is granted. It covers a microprocessor-based NC for milling machines that creates a program when the operator at the machine enters the part's shape by answering questions on the screen; the original application was filed in July 1976The patent states that it is a continuation of applications filed in 1980 and 1976. Hurco calls itself a pioneer in applying microprocessors and conversational programming to machine tools (10-K)Hurco[33][34]
1985With no joint venture with a Japanese company in sight, Houdaille closes or puts up for sale its machine tool operations, including the machining center maker BurgmasterThe dates of the Burgmaster plant closing and machinery auction have not been checked in this chapterHoudaille Industries[8, PDF p.90]
1986The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), a hub for joint industry research, is founded. The Department of Defense contributed $5 million a year for three years, the State of Michigan $2 million and industry associations $1 million—[25, p.13]
1986Imports reach about half of domestic consumption (49% per Ashburn; 51% calculated from American Machinist figures). Imports exceeded 75% of domestic production—[8, PDF p.92][10, PDF p.52][10, PDF p.91]
March 1986Revised Commerce Department report: of the 18 categories in the petition, it concludes that imports of 7 (machining centers, horizontal and vertical NC lathes, non-NC lathes, milling machines, NC and non-NC punching machines, and shearing machines) threaten national security. These made up about half of importsNBER quotes the White House announcement of May 20, 1986—[19, p.120][24]
March 1986★Charles (Chuck) Hull's stereolithography patent (curing liquid resin layer by layer with ultraviolet light), US 4,575,330, is granted (filed August 1984). In the same year, 1986, Hull co-founded 3D SystemsUVP Inc. (3D Systems)[35][36][37]
May 1986★President Reagan announces that he will seek voluntary import restraints (VRA) from Japan, Taiwan, West Germany and Switzerland, together with a Defense and Commerce "Domestic Action Plan" (building machine tools into defense procurement, modernization, and up to $5 million a year for three years for technology centers)—[24][25, p.9]
December 1986★The US concludes voluntary restraint agreements (VRA) on machine tool exports with Japan and Taiwan. For the five years 1987–1991, exports to the US of machining centers, NC and non-NC lathes and milling machines (and, for Japan, punching and shearing machines) were held to a set share of US consumption. West Germany and Switzerland refused agreements but were asked not to exceed the limitsConsistent with "January 1987" in the timeline of Chapter 2 of the Japanese Archive. Export licenses were issued by the Japanese and Taiwanese governments, and U.S. Customs checked the certificates (NBER p.114). Unit quotas brought Japanese machines back to about 1981 levels (Ashburn pp.75–76, RAND p.16)—[38][25, p.9][19, p.113]
1987★The import share peaks at 54% (24% in 1980). In the first year of the VRA, the number of restricted machines from Japan and Taiwan fellCalculated from American Machinist figures (UNIDO table), the shares are also 24.4% for 1980 and 54.4% for 1987, which agree—[12, p.11][19, p.122]
1987Okuma sets up a production company, OKUMA MACHINE TOOLS INC., and begins U.S. production in Charlotte, North Carolina, in response to restrictions on exports to the U.S., reportedly investing about $30 millionState incorporation dated February 25, 1987, in Charlotte. The month the plant began operating is unconfirmedOkuma Machine Tools Inc.[28][29][39]
Early 1987General Electric, once the largest NC maker in the U.S. and Europe, forms a joint venture with FANUC. GE stops making its own NC controls, and U.S. NC shifts toward FANUC technologyThe International Directory of Company Histories also gives 1987 and says GE handed its plant in Charlottesville, Virginia, to the joint venture. Some sources give 1986General Electric, FANUC[8, PDF p.73][40]
June 1987(Japan) The U.S. Senate holds a hearing (June 17) on the case in which Toshiba Machine and Norway's Kongsberg sold the Soviet Union milling machines and control software for cutting submarine propellers in violation of COCOM (the controls on exports to the Communist bloc). The Japanese government banned Toshiba Machine's exports to the Communist bloc for one yearToshiba Machine, Kongsberg[41][42, p.46][42, p.47]
1988Assessing the VRA: domestic makers' share in the six restricted markets rose a total of 6 points from 1986 to 1988, but most of the ground Japan and Taiwan gave up was taken by other countries such as West Germany and SwitzerlandGAO report of July 1990. For non-NC lathes, other countries' import share rose from 49% in 1986 to 66% in 1988, and domestic makers' share from 5% to 9%—[25, p.21][25, p.27]
1988Sales of 3D Systems' SLA-1 stereolithography machine begin (trial units at the end of 1987). Said to be the first commercial 3D printerSome sources give 1987 (delivery of trial units). This timeline separates "trial units at the end of 1987, sales from 1988"3D SystemsSLA-1[43][44][36]
1988★Haas Automation shows a prototype of its first vertical machining center, the VF-1, at IMTS 88 (Chicago). With a list price of $49,900, a US-made MC came in under $50,000Development began in 1987. Trade journal articles of the time (1988) have not been checkedHaas AutomationVF-1[20][21]
1990Imports fall to $2.6 billion and the import share to about 42%. Increased output at the U.S. plants of Japanese and European makers (Mazak, Trumpf and others) also played a partUNIDO gives the number of U.S. bases of Japanese machine tool makers as 17 in 1987 → 36 in 1990—[14][10, PDF p.105]
1987–1990Japanese machine tool makers with plants or bases in the U.S. grow from 17 to 36 (following the Japanese auto plants set up in the U.S.)Figures cited by UNIDO (1991) from the International Herald Tribune (February 1, 1990)—[10, PDF p.105]
October 1991Giddings & Lewis acquires Cross & Trecker, the combination of Kearney & Trecker and CrossOctober 31. Cross & Trecker had been formed in 1979 by the merger of Cross Company and Kearney & Trecker (NHTSA 1982)Giddings & Lewis[45][13]
December 1991The VRA is extended. Restraints on non-NC lathes, punching machines and milling machines end at the end of 1991, and those on NC machines and machining centers were removed over two years from January 1992 (through December 1993)—[46][26]
1992The import share returns to 46.3%, and the trade deficit shrinks to $660 million. Even so, 1991 production was only 42% of the 1980 level—[12, p.11][12, p.12]
June 1992S. Scott Crump's patent US 5,121,329 on fused deposition modeling (FDM: extruding molten plastic from a nozzle and stacking it one layer at a time) is granted to Stratasys (filed October 1989)Stratasys was incorporated in Delaware in 1989, with headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Its first product, the 3D Modeler, went on sale in April 1992 (company 10-K)Stratasys[47][48]

Old-line makers sold and merged1994–2009

YearEventMaker / modelSources
1995Okuma's U.S. sales and production companies merge to form OKUMA AMERICA CORPORATION, with sales also consolidated at the North Carolina plantOkuma America Corporation[28][29]
April 1995Giddings & Lewis acquires Fadal, the vertical machining center makerGiddings & Lewis[45]
1996Makino Milling Machine unifies its brand, and LeBlond Makino Machine Tool in the U.S. changes its name to Makino Inc.The year it moved to its headquarters in Mason, Ohio has not been confirmed. The LeBlond lathe name was carried on by LeBlond Lathe Parts (later LeBlond Ltd.), formed in 1997 (International Directory of Company Histories)Makino Inc.[49][50]
1997Thyssen of Germany acquires Giddings & Lewis for $21 a share (agreed in June, completed in the fall)Giddings & Lewis[51]
1997Monarch Machine Tool, founded in 1909, sells its lathe business in Sidney. It changed its name to Genesis Worldwide in 1999Monarch Machine Tool[52]
October 1998★Cincinnati Milacron sells its machine tool business to UNOVA for $180 million, renames itself Milacron and concentrates on plastics machinery. A machine tool company dating from 1884 left machine toolsOctober 2. In 1997 more than 75% of Milacron's sales were outside machine toolsCincinnati Milacron[6][53]
1999Bridgeport Machines, maker of knee-type milling machines, is bought by Goldman Industrial Group ($10 a share). It had come under Textron in 1968, become independent through a 1986 LBO and gone public in 1994Bridgeport Machines[54][55]
2000Mazak renovates its plant in Florence, Kentucky, into a "Cyber Factory" for $20 million (its 11th major renovation)Mazak Corporation[3]
Fiscal 2000Hurco, founded in 1968, sets up Hurco Manufacturing Ltd., a wholly owned production company in Taiwan, and begins building machines at its plant in Taichung. By fiscal 2006 it was building more than 98% of its machine tools in TaiwanHurco's fiscal year ends at the end of October (fiscal 2000 = November 1999 to October 2000)Hurco[56][34]
September 2001Genesis Worldwide, the successor to Monarch Machine Tool, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy together with 10 domestic subsidiaries (September 17). In November, the sale of nearly all its domestic businesses to an investment firm was approvedThe filing was in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio. By then its business was mainly equipment such as steel coil processing lines, and it had given up its lathe business in 1997Genesis Worldwide (formerly Monarch Machine Tool)[57][58]
2003Ingersoll of Rockford, Illinois, which built large five-axis machines and more, goes bankrupt, and its machine tool division is bought by Italy's Camozzi Group. The plant remained in the U.S.Ingersoll Machine Tools[59]
November 2004The lathe maker Hardinge acquires the name and trademarks of the former Bridgeport. Bridgeport-brand machining centers were sourced from TaiwanHardingeBridgeport[60]
April 2005UNOVA sells Cincinnati Lamb, including the former Cincinnati Machine, to the newly formed MAG Industrial Automation Systems. The grinder maker Landis goes to France's Fives group the same yearGiddings & Lewis and Fadal also joined MAG's group in October of the same year (October 2005 in this timeline)MAG Industrial Automation Systems[61][62][59]
October 2005Maxcor, which had bought Cincinnati Lamb, also buys ThyssenKrupp's machine tool division (MetalCutting Group). Giddings & Lewis and the vertical machining center maker Fadal also became part of MAG Industrial Automation SystemsAgreed in August, completed October 7. The division also included Germany's Cross Hüller, Hüller Hille, Hessapp and Witzig & FrankMAG Industrial Automation Systems[63][64]
July 2009The U.S. Commerce Department issues a report on five-axis simultaneous control machine tools. It notes that Cincinnati Machine, Fadal and Giddings & Lewis had been bought by Germany's MAG and Ingersoll by Italy's Camozzi, so that there were fewer U.S.-owned five-axis makers. The plants remained in the U.S.—[59]

Foreign makers' plants and the U.S. today2010–

YearEventMaker / modelSources
July 2011AMT and the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA) rename their order statistics from USMTC (consumption) to USMTO (orders: U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders). The figures had in fact always counted orders, so the name was brought into line with the content—[65][66]
July 2012★Mori Seiki begins producing horizontal machining centers such as the NHX4000 at its plant in Davis, California (opening ceremony on November 7). It was the company's first U.S. plant, building 80 machines a month and sourcing more than 40% of parts in the U.S.Some sources give 2013, but production began in July 2012 and the opening ceremony was held on November 7, 2012 (two trade journals of the time)Mori Seiki Manufacturing USA (now DMG MORI)[67][68]
August 2012★The US government announces it will place an additive manufacturing institute, NAMII, in Youngstown (Ohio). The Department of Defense's $30 million was matched by $40 million from industry and others. It was the first institute in the network of manufacturing institutes (today's Manufacturing USA), and was renamed America Makes in October 2013NAMII (America Makes)[69][70][71]
May 2018Hardinge is bought for $18.50 a share by Hardinge Holdings, backed by the investment firm Privet Fund, and goes privateHardinge[72]
2021USMTO orders reach $5.908 billion (up 55% from $3.8167 billion in 2020), the highest since the statistics began in 1998—[73]
2022In Gardner's World Machine Tool Survey (2022 data), U.S. production falls about 24% from the year before, the largest drop among the top 10 producing countries (figures adjusted for exchange rates and inflation)—[74, p.74]
2024★Gardner's World Machine Tool Survey (2024 data): U.S. production $7.1 billion, imports $6.2 billion, exports $1.5 billion, consumption $11.8 billion. Consumption ranks second in the world after China and production fourth, with about half of consumption met by imports. Imports rank first in the world—[75, p.62][75, p.64]
June 2024Mazak's Kentucky plant marks its 50th anniversary. After 20 expansions it has grown to about 1 million square feet (about 90,000 m²) and builds more than 70 modelsMazak Corporation[9][2]
September 2024IMTS 2024 (September 9–14, McCormick Place, Chicago) draws 89,020 registrants from 110 countries and 1,737 exhibiting companies. It is organized by AMTMachine Design rounds the figures to "more than 89,000 people and about 1,700 companies"—[76][77]
2025USMTO orders for the year total $5.74 billion (up 22.5% from the year before). December, at $814.3 million, is the highest month on record—[78][79]

FAQ

What was the VRA (voluntary restraint agreement) on machine tools?
An undertaking that Japan and Taiwan made with the U.S. in December 1986 to keep exports to the U.S. of machining centers, lathes, milling machines and others (for Japan, punching and shearing machines too) within set shares of U.S. consumption for the five years 1987–1991. It grew out of the U.S. industry's 1983 petition for import restrictions on national security grounds (Section 232). Restraints on NC machines and machining centers were phased out by December 1993.
What was the Houdaille petition?
A petition filed in May 1982 by Houdaille Industries, owner of the machining center maker Burgmaster and others, asking the President to deny the investment tax credit to companies buying Japanese machining centers and NC punching machines. It charged that Japan's industrial policy and export cartel were unfair, but it was rejected in April 1983. It also appears in the records of the Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association as "the May 1982 petition."
Are there still American machine tool makers?
Yes. Haas Automation (founded 1983), Hurco (founded 1968), the lathe maker Hardinge and others carry on. Old-line makers such as Cincinnati Milacron, Giddings & Lewis and Kearney & Trecker changed hands through sales and mergers, but many of their plants stayed in the U.S. In 2024 U.S. production was $7.1 billion, fourth in the world, and consumption $11.8 billion, second in the world.
Since when have Japanese machine tool makers built machines in the U.S.?
Yamazaki Mazak was early, starting production at its plant in Florence, Kentucky, in July 1974. Makino Milling Machine bought LeBlond of Cincinnati in 1981, Okuma set up a production company in North Carolina in 1987, and Mori Seiki (now DMG MORI) began production in Davis, California, in 2012.

What's next and related pages

American Machine Tool ArchiveChapters and mini timelineChapter 4: The Birth of NC and the Machining CenterPrevious chapter. Parsons and MIT's NC, the Milwaukee-MaticChapter 6: The Lineage of American LathesNext chapter. From turret lathes and automatics to NC lathesChapter 7: The Lineage of American Milling Machines and Machining CentersBridgeport, Kearney & Trecker and vertical MCsChapter 10: Other MachinesAdditive manufacturing, transfer machines and moreChapter 3: Mass Production and the Two World WarsThe NMTBA and trade shows, the beginnings of CincinnatiJapanese Archive, Chapter 1: The Lineage of Japanese LathesThe MTC-2500R and exports to the U.S.Japanese Archive, Chapter 2: The Lineage of Milling Machines and MCsThe petition and the VRA as seen from JapanMachine Tool History in NumbersTrends in Japan's production and export ratioGerman Machine Tool ArchiveThyssen, MAG and the German makers that came to the U.S.Machining centerToday's vertical and horizontal MCs explainedLathesToday's NC lathes explained, with calculationsNC programmingG-codes, M-codes and conversational programming

Sources

Reports, statements, filings and trade journals were checked in October 2026 through the National Academies Press, the GAO, presidential libraries, the SEC's EDGAR, Internet Archive and companies' official sites, and the pages used are given. "PDF p." is the page in the PDF (for Ashburn 1988 the PDF page is the printed page + 15; for UNIDO 1991 it is the same as the printed page). Page numbers for NRC 1983 link to the page images. Import shares can differ by 1 to 2 points depending on the source and series; the text gives each source's values as they are. Events on the Japanese side use the sources of the Japanese Archive.

  1. Hurco, "History of Hurco: Interviews" (Hurco blog)
  2. Yamazaki Mazak: History
  3. John Teresko, "A Growing Mission To Teach," IndustryWeek (December 21, 2004; with a timeline of Mazak in the US)
  4. JSME Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 126: MTC-2500R, the NC lathe exported to the United States
  5. Datapro Reports, “Cincinnati Milacron CIP/2200” (September 1973; copy at bitsavers)
  6. Milacron Inc. Form 10-K (fiscal 1998, filed March 1999)
  7. National Research Council, The U.S. Machine Tool Industry and the Defense Industrial Base (National Academy Press, 1983; the second study for the Department of Defense)p. 11, 18, 19, 25, 26, 27
  8. Anderson Ashburn, "The Machine Tool Industry: The Crumbling Foundation," in Donald A. Hicks (ed.), Is New Technology Enough? Making and Remaking U.S. Basic Industries, American Enterprise Institute (1988)PDF p. 71, 72, 73, 89, 90, 92
  9. Mazak, "Mazak Celebrates 50 Years Of Kentucky Manufacturing Excellence" (June 1, 2024)
  10. UNIDO, The World Machine-Tool Industry (background paper for the Fourth Consultation on the Capital Goods Industry, June 1991)PDF p. 52, 91, 105, 106
  11. Makino Milling Machine, "History" (IR)
  12. D. Finegold et al., The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospects for Its Sustainable Recovery, Vol.1 (RAND MR-479/1-OSTP, 1994)p. 11, 12, 19
  13. J. A. Mateyka et al., Profiles of Major Suppliers to the Automotive Industry, machine tools volume (U.S. Department of Transportation, NHTSA, 1982)
  14. U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, U.S. Industrial Outlook 1991, Chapter 19, Metalworking Equipment
  15. Case record of Allied-Signal, Inc. v. Director, Division of Taxation, 504 U.S. 768 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1992)
  16. J. A. Mateyka et al., Profiles of Major Suppliers to the Automotive Industry (U.S. Department of Transportation, NHTSA, 1982)
  17. JMTBA, Seicho, henkaku: 10-nen no kiroku 1982–91 (Growth and change: a 10-year record, 1982–91) (1992)p. 9
  18. U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, The Machine Tool Industry and the Defense Industrial Base (98th Congress, 1983)
  19. E. Dinopoulos and M. E. Kreinin, "The U.S. VER on Machine Tools: Causes and Effects," in R. E. Baldwin (ed.), Empirical Studies of Commercial Policy, NBER and University of Chicago Press, 1991, pp.113–134p. 113, 116, 120, 121, 122
  20. Haas Automation, "Haas History"
  21. Haas Automation, "Very First (VF)": the origin of the VF-1 and a timeline
  22. Haas F1 Team, "Gene Haas" (founder's biography)
  23. GROB, "History"
  24. Ronald Reagan, "Statement on the Machine Tool Industry" (May 20, 1986; The American Presidency Project)
  25. U.S. General Accounting Office, International Trade: Revitalizing the U.S. Machine Tool Industry (GAO/NSIAD-90-182, July 17, 1990)p. 2, 9, 13, 21, 27
  26. Congressional Research Service, "Section 232 Investigations: Overview and Issues for Congress" (R45249; its appendix lists past Section 232 investigations)
  27. Minutes of Joint Meeting, Cabinet Council on Commerce and Trade and Trade Policy Committee, February 2, 1983 (CIA Reading Room CIA-RDP85-01156R000100090010-7)
  28. Okuma: History
  29. "Okuma Holdings Inc.," International Directory of Company Histories (on Reference for Business)
  30. "Okuma Corporation Celebrates 125-Year Anniversary," Manufacturing News (June 2023)
  31. U.S. House, Committee on Small Business, Impact of International Trade Practices on Small Business, hearing record (March 23, 1984)p. 89
  32. American Machinist, Vol.128 (1984), annual index
  33. US 4,477,754, "Interactive machining system" (G. V. Roch et al., Hurco Manufacturing; priority date July 6, 1976, granted October 16, 1984)
  34. Hurco Companies, Inc. Form 10-K (fiscal year ended October 2006, filed January 2007)
  35. US 4,575,330, "Apparatus for production of three-dimensional objects by stereolithography" (Charles W. Hull, UVP Inc., filed August 8, 1984, issued March 11, 1986)
  36. 3D Systems press release, "Co-Founder & CTO Chuck Hull Awarded National Medal of Technology and Innovation" (October 26, 2023)
  37. National Medal of Technology and Innovation, "Charles W. Hull" (2022 laureate)
  38. Ronald Reagan, "Statement on the Revitalization of the Machine Tool Industry" (December 16, 1986; Reagan Library)
  39. North Carolina Secretary of State business registration, "Okuma Machine Tools, Inc." (incorporated February 25, 1987, Charlotte)
  40. "Fanuc Ltd. History," International Directory of Company Histories (on FundingUniverse)
  41. U.S. Senate, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Subcommittee on International Finance and Monetary Policy, Toshiba-Kongsberg Technology Diversion Case, hearing record (June 17, 1987)
  42. Warren E. Rhoades III, COCOM, Technology Transfer and Its Impact on National Security (1989; DTIC ADA214569)p. 46, 47
  43. ASME, "The Prototyping Technology that Disrupted the World"
  44. Paul F. Jacobs, "Fundamentals of Stereolithography," Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium 1992 (UT Austin repository)
  45. Giddings & Lewis, Inc. Form 10-K405 (fiscal 1996, filed March 1997)
  46. "Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on Extension of the Voluntary Restraint Agreements With Japan and Taiwan" (December 27, 1991; The American Presidency Project)
  47. US 5,121,329, "Apparatus and method for creating three-dimensional objects" (S. Scott Crump, Stratasys; filed October 30, 1989, granted June 9, 1992)
  48. Stratasys, Inc. Form 10-K (fiscal 1999, filed March 2000)
  49. "LeBlond Ltd.," International Directory of Company Histories, Vol.163 (St. James Press, 2015)
  50. Directory of Corporate Affiliations 1997 (National Register Publishing, 1997)
  51. Giddings & Lewis, Inc. Form 8-K (June 1997; merger agreement with Thyssen AG, $21 a share)
  52. The Monarch Machine Tool Company Form 10-K (fiscal 1997, filed March 1998)
  53. UNOVA, Inc. Form 8-K (October 1998; completion of the acquisition of Cincinnati Milacron's Machine Tool Group)
  54. Bridgeport Machines, Inc. merger proxy statement DEFM14A (June 1999; merger into a subsidiary of Goldman Industrial Group, $10 a share)
  55. Bridgeport Machines, Inc. Form 10-K (filed June 1998)
  56. Hurco Companies, Inc. Form 10-K (fiscal year ended October 2000, filed January 2001)
  57. Genesis Worldwide Inc. (formerly The Monarch Machine Tool Company) Form 8-K (filed September 24, 2001)
  58. Genesis Worldwide Inc. Form 8-K (filed November 26, 2001)
  59. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, Critical Technology Assessment: Five Axis Simultaneous Control Machine Tools (July 2009; DTIC ADA513765)
  60. Hardinge Inc. Form 10-K (fiscal 2004, filed March 2005)
  61. UNOVA, Inc. Form 8-K (April 2005; sale of Cincinnati Lamb to MAG Industrial Automation Systems)
  62. UNOVA, Inc. Form 8-K (October 2005; agreement to sell Landis Grinding Systems to Groupe Fives-Lille)
  63. Maxcor, Inc. press release, "Maxcor Completes Purchase of ThyssenKrupp MetalCutting Group" (PR Newswire, October 7, 2005)
  64. "ThyssenKrupp Sells Machine Tool Unit," American Machinist (August 2005)
  65. "Manufacturing Technology Orders Up 108.0% in 2011," Quality Digest (July 12, 2011; AMT announcement)
  66. "USMTC Report Changes Its Name to USMTO," Manufacturing.net (July 2011)
  67. Robert Brooks, "Mori Seiki Opens First U.S. Manufacturing Operation," American Machinist (November 23, 2012)
  68. "Mori Seiki opens new California manufacturing plant," Plant Engineering (November 19, 2012)
  69. White House press release, "We Can't Wait: Obama Administration Announces New Public-Private Partnership to Support Manufacturing Innovation" (August 16, 2012; in the American Presidency Project)
  70. NIST, pages on the "National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute"
  71. Wohlers Associates, "America Makes" (renamed in October 2013)
  72. Hardinge Inc. Form 8-K (May 29, 2018; completion of the merger with Hardinge Holdings, LLC, backed by Privet Fund LP, $18.50 a share)
  73. AMT press release, "2021, the Best Year in Manufacturing Technology Orders" (February 14, 2022; PDF posted by the University of Tennessee's SEAMTN)
  74. "World Machine Tool Survey," Modern Machine Shop, July 2023 (2022 data, Gardner Business Media)p. 74
  75. "World Machine Tool Report," Modern Machine Shop, August 2025 (2024 data)p. 62, 64
  76. Trade Show Executive article on IMTS 2024
  77. "eBook: A Glimpse of IMTS 2024," Machine Design (January 23, 2025)
  78. "Record-Setting Spike in Machine Tool Orders," American Machinist (February 2026; based on AMT's USMTO)
  79. "December Metalworking Machinery Orders Set New Monthly Record," Modern Distribution Management (February 2026; based on AMT's USMTO)
  80. IMTS, "About the Show"
  81. Joseph W. Roe, English and American Tool Builders, Yale University Press (1916)
  82. Giddings & Lewis Machine Tool Co. advertisement "Founded 1859," Machinery, Vol.34 No.12 (August 1928)
  83. Hardinge Brothers, Inc. advertisement, Hitchcock's Machine Tool Blue Book (May 1935)