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Anyone know the history of Excel or Kiwa VMCs ?

Milacron

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Dec 15, 2000
Location
SC, USA
Got a 1989 Excel 510 and 1990 Kiwa 510 "Colt" and they seem to be the same machine. Seem to be made in Singapore also. I never heard of either of these before, but ex employees that ran the machines said they never had the first problem with them over the years.

Who sold the things in the USA and why two different names for the same machine ?

excel3.jpg
 
I believe that Kiwa is actually a japanese company makeing mostly horizontal machines. Perhaps they started selling verticals made in Signapore and used the Excel name to distinguish between the two?

Charles
 
Charles, that could be but that doesn't tell me much. In Googling the names and 510 model I get the impression from other shops inventory listings that these things musta been selling like hotcakes back in the late 80's early 90's. I just wonder how the heck I missed them at the trade shows and such and who was selling them ?
 
I know this doesn't help much - but I remember riding around one day in the mid-late eighties with a machine sales guy from Charlotte - he was pushing small Kiwa VMC's.

Found the guy's name - Tommy Brock, Fabricating & Production Machinery (Charlotte and Greenville).
 
Michael...I remember them. They were pretty agressive back then so I'll bet that's who the previous owner bought them from (he was in Greensboro, NC) I wonder if FPM is still in business ?
 
I have a Kiwa 510. Bought it new in 91 and still have it. Had one out of warranty service call for something minor, and a couple things I fixed myself, also minor. Has an Excel manufacterer's plate around back. I gather that quite a number were sold out here on the West Coast. Very reliable machines, rarely see any for sale in the machinery journals. To say I've been happy with mine would be an understatement. Not sure about why the different badging. The president of Excel did end up in a bad light with his government. Embezzelment or taxes, maybe both AFAIK. Unless the machines you got were beaten up, I expect you'll be glad you got them.
 
minder, yes, Fanuc OM on both machines, travels are 20" in X, 16" Y and 18"Z, 16 tool ATC, BT40 spindle. Dunno yet what top spindle RPM is. I think 4,000 RPM was standard but up to 10,000 RPM was available. I presume mine are not 10K due to lack of chiller, but 6K was another option.

Funny all the similar "Ki" names of Asian companies making VMC's...there's Kira, Kia, Kitamura...and now Kiwa...confusing...
 
Kiwa is Japanese now, they are imported by CNC Systems on the east coast, along with Supermax, Ares-Seiki, and VisionWide... Now Kiwa only brings in HMC and rotary pallet VMC'S. Very nice machines. I'm not sure who built them or imported them back then...

Good luck....
 
I wonder if Kiwa always was Japanese and had a plant in Singapore ? I had two Takisawa turning centers once...one made in Japan, the other made in Taiwan...same models, only 1 year apart. Takisawa is Japanese based. Like Chrysler and some of their cars made in Mexico...that sort of thing ?
 
Surprisingly I couldn't find anything on FPM, so I guess they have ceased to be.

But I did get the scoop on the Excel/Kiwa mystery from "George" at Marathon Machine in Houston, TX who was apparently their largest distributor in the USA at one time.

If anyone cares, lemmie know and I'll tell the tale.
 
I had completely forgot about this, but in the late 1980's there were voluntary restrictions on the importation of Japanese machine tools into the USA. There was a specific "pie" of total numbers and the big boys like Mori Seiki, Miyano and Mazak got most of this pie, while the little guys, like Kiwa were left with a pretty small slice.

To get around this, Kiwa opened a plant in Singapore and conjured up another name...Excel ! Majority of the parts were still made in Japan at Kiwa and the Singapore plant mostly did assembly of the machines.

Excel America was near Chicago and ceased to be about 2004 due to combination of management decisions and recession of 2001-2003. Marathon in TX ended up with most of their parts inventory but parts are also available from Kiwa...you just have to wait a while to get them.

So, that's the scoop and explains somewhat why they are, in spite of rather mundane appearance, pretty good machines, as they are for all practical purposes, Japanese machines.

Kiwa is still in Japan, but mostly manufacturing HMC's now.

Re the export restrictions, I wonder if that was the main reason Okuma opened a plant near Charlotte, NC about that time ? I toured that plant and recall they were mostly doing assembly also.
 
I toured the Chatlotte plant as well. I bought a 1989 LB15 and in 99 I bought a Crown. Went back and toured the plant at the invite of the local rep. I was tolld that it was to be able to provide faster customer response time. My LB15 had somew teathing problems but were finally worked out. The Crown was dandy from the git go. Never had to test out the claim.
I would not be surprised at all to learn that it was due to getting around import regs.
 
Looking for Excel 510 user Manual

Hi Michael, I have an Excel 510, I`m trying to find the owner`s manual but haven`t found It.
Do you know where I could find It? any help would be very appreciable.
Regards
Daniel.
 
The Kiwa Excel 510 was manufactured in Singapore.
The Kiwa 510 was manufactured in Japan.
They are identical machines in every way, parts, electronics etc.
They also had a couple of other names depending which country they were sent to.
They are one of the most reliable machines I have ever worked on and one of the simplest.
I know of machines dating back to the eighties still keeping accuracy today.
 
The first shop I worked at had two Kiwa Stallion VMCs(510 and 810 I think). They were from early to mid 90s.
Nice little machines. Helf tolerances better than the Kitamuras and the Haas that they had in there and seemed simple to maintain/work on.
 








 
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