Manufacturer MC Machinery Systems steps up its Southeast presence

MC Machinery Systems steps up its Southeast presence with a new technical center in Concord, N.C.

MC Machinery Systems, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp., stepped up its presence in the Southeast. In early 2021, the Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based company opened a technical center in Concord, N.C., just outside of Charlotte. And last week, the provider of Mitsubishi lasers and EDMs, as well as Diamond and ADIRA press brakes, held a long-delayed (thanks to the pandemic) grand opening.

“So many companies are moving down here, and so much manufacturing is growing here. We wanted to make sure we maintained and grew our presence down here to support our customers and stakeholders.”

That was Bill Isaac, MC Machinery senior vice president. “We started looking at buildings here about three years ago,” adding that Concord is a particularly hot spot for business expansions. He gestured down the road of the business park. “All these buildings will be filled soon. They’re building like crazy out here.”

Like many machine tool players, MC Machinery is experiencing a year of robust sales, especially in the laser cutting arena. According to Isaac, Mitsubishi laser sales are breaking records, especially when it comes to automation. “More than half our machines now are sold with automation,” he said.

During the event, machinery representatives demonstrated the latest fiber lasers as well as part load/unload automation and towers. The company also offers ASTES part-removal and stacking automation, which eliminates the need for manual denesting—a task that remains one of the most labor-intensive processes on the floor.

“With all the manpower issues,” Isaac said, “automation is just getting bigger and bigger.” He added that MC Machinery’s customer mix in the Southeast is particularly broad, including job shops, OEMs, and service centers offering value-adding processes like cutting and bending. And despite talk of recession in media and in Washington, most aren’t seeing any slowdown on the horizon. Much of it likely has to do with reshoring and OEMs restructuring their supply chains.

“We haven’t seen a slowdown at all. Our customers’ customers used to buy components from all over the world,” Isaac said. “Then COVID hit, and they couldn’t get parts. Then the supply chain problems began.” From this began increased demand for stateside fabrication as OEMs scrutinized the resiliency of their supply chains. This in turn has opened the door for more fabrication work in the Southeast and around the country.

Demand has continued unabated throughout 2022, and fabricators continue to need support from machinery players to meet that demand. MC Machinery’s new technical center serves as a base for the company’s techs who travel across the Southeast.

“The bottom line is,” Isaac said, “we’re here to support our customers.”

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