This company is eyeing the U.S. market hungrily, and currently looking for the right sales representation here. This essentially means the company will bring its high end machines here, including large mold and die milling machines. Among the largest is the company's latest design, a traveling column machine featuring a rotary head for continuous five-axis machining, with X and Y travels of up to 315 by 110 inches. The first machine is shown here under construction. ZPS Zlin, Toshulin, and TOS Kurim may find themselves at different stages of penetration into Western markets, particularly the United States.
Many builders have yet to tailor their product lines to the demands of a Western market.
And perhaps every Czech builder is struggling to make its manufacturing process more efficient. For 40 years, the capacity of Czech plants was built up not in response to the needs of any customer, but instead according to the dictates of distant economic planners. Thus, privatization has involved a period of taking a long, hard look at what each plant has become. Procedures and capacity are inadequate in some areas, wasteful in others. To unleash the full potential of the Czech machine tool industry, Czech builders will have to invest capital in balancing and streamlining these processes.