Okuma Corporation held opening ceremonies for its Jinan Branch Office built in Jinan City, eastern Shandong Province, China, on March 21. The Jinan Branch Office is Okuma's third (with technical center functions) in China following similar regional offices set up in Shanghai and Guangzhou. The new office is located in the Jinan High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, 22 km from Jinan City's high-speed rail station (Jinanxi Railway Station) and 38 km from Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport. As the center of Shandong Province's business and R&D, a large number of high-tech industries are rapidly growing Jinan into a vibrant international corporate city.

(Photo1: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/201903184374-O1-2paY3aIH)

By using the new Jinan Branch Office, Okuma aims to strengthen its application proposals and after-sales service support for customers in northern China (Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing) and inland areas (Henan) mainly in Shandong, while earning 40 billion yen a year in China as a whole.

1. Background

China's GDP growth target for 2019 is 6 to 6.5%. Due to trade friction with the United States, the environment surrounding not only China but the world economy is in difficult circumstances. The Chinese government has shown indications of promoting positive economic policies such as a reduction of VAT on manufacturing, and an expansion of infrastructure investment as economic expansion measures in 2019.

In China, the trend toward advanced manufacturing is increasing yearly, and demand for high-value-added machine tools such as 5-axis machining centers and multitasking machines is growing. In addition, as labor shortages intensify, demand is expected to expand in the field of automation and labor-saving sectors utilizing Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project financing.

Okuma opened the Jinan Branch Office in Shandong Province, where GDP is the third largest in China, and increases orders and sales by strengthening application proposals, with engineering support and after-sales service for customers.

2. Objectives

To further strengthen sales activities, application proposals, engineering support and after-sales service in China, by:

- Providing support for local test cut applications with the latest high-value added machine tools and stronger machining support

- Enhancing machine operation training activities

- Speeding up after-sales service with optimal service parts inventory management

- Developing sales activities closely connected to the local regional needs

3. Brief outline

(1) Name: Okuma Machine Tool (Shanghai) Corporation, Jinan Branch Office

(2) Address: Build No. 35, Zhongde Industrial Park, No. 8 Zi Dong Avenue, Tianqiao District, Jinan 250119

(3) CEO: Yasuhiro Asahi

(4) Building area: 1,646 square meters (showroom: 479 square meters)

(5) Machines on display: Five state-of-the-art CNC machine tools

- MU-4000V-L 5-Axis Vertical Machining Center

- GENOS M560-V Vertical Machining Center

- GENOS L3000 1-Saddle CNC Lathe

- LBR-370 1-Saddle CNC Lathe

- MBR-5000H Horizontal Machining Center

(6) Facility: 1st F: Showroom, repair shop, metrology room

2nd F: Offices, conference and seminar rooms

(7) Employees: 12 (4 sales reps, 2 engineers, 5 service reps, 1 administrator)

(8) Investment: Approximately 300 million yen

(9) Established: March 2019