Manufacturing Industry Loses Key Figure

October 3, 2011

Teruyuki (Terry) Yamazaki

Mazak Corp., Florence, Ky., has announced the passing of Yamazaki Mazak Corp. Chairman and CEO Teruyuki (Terry) Yamazaki last month. He was the son of company founder Sadakichi Yamazaki. He was 82 years old.

Yamazaki began his 65-year career in the manufacturing industry when he joined his father’s business in 1946. Together with his father, he acquired high-quality, used machine tools and restored them to their original state.

He was appointed president of Yamazaki Machinery in 1962, the beginning of a decade that would lay the foundation for the company’s long-term global growth and expansion. The next year the first Mazak-branded machine tools were manufactured. Yamazaki Machinery was renamed Yamazaki Mazak Corporation in 1968.

During his tenure Yamazaki established a new world headquarters and five manufacturing plants in Japan, along with manufacturing plants in the U.S., U.K., China, and Singapore. There are 35 Mazak Technology Centers worldwide, including one in Cambridge, Ont.

“Mazak and the entire machine tool industry mourn the loss of a visionary who forever changed the course of manufacturing,” said Brian Papke, president of Mazak Corp. “Those of us who had the honor and privilege of working with Terry mourn the loss of a leader who inspired in our company each day a passion for excellence and a commitment to service. Today, I mourn the loss of a treasured mentor and friend. Terry cultivated a culture of integrity, innovation, and respect for new ideas at our company, one that we will continue in his memory.”

During the course of Yamazaki’s leadership, his company was honored with many awards, including the Order of Leopold by the King of Belgium, the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, the Order of the Rising Sun, the Phillip B. Crosby Global Competition Award, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Engineering Award, and the Okouchi Memorial Foundation Award for Production. 

In 2001 he passed the role of president on to his son, Tomohisa, and assumed the role of chairman of the company, continuing to contribute to company strategy and guidance.

www.mazak.com