A museum where you can experience the evolution and future of manufacturing
The Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Machine Tools is a corporate museum operated by Yamazaki Mazak Corporation, a world-leading manufacturer of machine tools.
Here, the history of machine tools—the core technology that underpins “monozukuri,” or manufacturing, and many aspects of modern civilization—is introduced through rare actual machines and clear, engaging explanations.
It is a unique museum where visitors can feel both the depth of industrial technology and the possibilities it holds for the future.
One of the museum’s greatest attractions is that many of its valuable historical machines are exhibited in operating condition.
Starting with steam engines and early lathes and milling machines from the Industrial Revolution, and moving through landmark, era-defining machine tools to today’s high-performance CNC (computer numerical control) equipment, more than 70 machines can be seen in motion.
Watching how a machine tool cuts into raw material and shapes it into precise forms right before your eyes makes it easy to grasp how these technologies work and how they have evolved.
The exhibits are far more than a simple lineup of machines.
For each one, panels and video displays explain the background behind its invention and the impact it had on society at the time.
Through these stories, visitors can learn how manufacturing has been closely intertwined with human history, and how our modern, comfortable lifestyles are supported by machine tools in countless unseen ways.
The museum also features sections that highlight the latest technologies, including a “smart factory” area that presents a near-future factory composed of modern machine tools and automation systems.
This gives visitors a chance to think about how advances in machine tool technology will shape our society in the years to come.
From children to adults, the museum is designed so that visitors of all ages can enjoy discovering both the importance and the excitement of “monozukuri”.
