Cincinnati Machine and DST Form Joint Venture for North American Large Machine Tool Market

9 June 2000

DST Machines Will be Covered by Successful Cincinnati PLUS Service and Support Program

    CINCINNATI - Cincinnati Machine, a division of UNOVA Industrial Automation Systems Inc. , and DS Technologie GmbH, Moenchengladbach, Germany, have formed Cincinnati DST, a joint venture company to offer best-in-class product lines and comprehensive services to North American users of large machine tools.

    Expanding on a recently announced strategic alliance for the aerospace machinery market, the joint venture will give Cincinnati and DST the leading share of the large machine tool market in North America.

    Cincinnati DST will handle all new machine sales, service and support activities in North America for DST's Droop + Rein, Doerries, Scharmann and Berthiez lines of large-capacity, heavy-duty machine tools. The joint venture will also provide complete machine rebuild and retrofit services for Cincinnati products, DST products including those active brands listed above, as well as all Wotan, Schiess, Froriep, MFD, Koellman, Jungenthal and Wanderer products.

    "The goals of Cincinnati DST are to expand sales of DST products and grow the after-market business for Cincinnati Machine and DST products beyond what is currently possible working as separate companies," said Kyle Seymour, Cincinnati Machine president.

    The joint venture agreement allows Cincinnati Machine to provide a broader product line to its existing customers and to grow business in new market segments. "We'll offer a more complete range of large machine tools products for customers in die and mold, heavy equipment, and power-generation industries," Seymour said.

    Under the joint venture, both Cincinnati Machine and DST product lines will be backed by Cincinnati PLUS(SM), an unmatched comprehensive package of support services covering the full life cycle of these machines. "Customers recognize our superior support services and have asked that we broaden coverage beyond our own machines. The joint venture does just that," Seymour added.

    In addition to the service and support advantages of the joint venture, DST customers in North America will also benefit from co-production of DST machines in the Cincinnati factory.

    "DST has very strong product offerings in the large machine tool market segment and has a solid installed base of machines in North America. Cincinnati has impressive local production capabilities and a very strong reputation for service and support," said Udo Deimling, president of DST. "Our customers will get the best products at the lowest possible costs backed by the most comprehensive support before, during and after the sale."

    UNOVA is a leading $2.1 billion global supplier of manufacturing technologies and integrated production systems for the global automotive, aerospace and heavy equipment industries. It is also a leader in wireless networking technologies and mobile information systems solutions for supply-chain execution and e-commerce fulfillment.