Haas Automation : Global leadership in CNC machine arena

Mr. Terrence Miranda, Managing Director
Haas Automation India Pvt. Ltd.

Q. Haas is well known for vertical centers in machine tools industry . What precisely is your niche?
We aim at all times to be the most reliable machine tool and offer our customers the HAAS Value Proposition: a quality product at an affordable price backed by industry leading support. The HAAS range of Vertical Machining Centers arguably offers the most comprehensive product range available worldwide – one just right to meet the demands of virtually any machine shop.

Machines range from the diminutive Office Mill to the massive VS-3, with nearly 60 models in between. The Haas VMC line also includes a number of specialty machines, including moldmaking machining centers, 5-axis machines, a high-speed drill/tap center, gantry mills, and sheet routers.

Our Vertical Machining Centers therefore satisfy the requirements of a broad range of customers across a diverse industry segments. Haas VMCs feature high-performance vector drive spindles, high-torque brushless servos on all axes, and rigid cast-iron construction. Configurations range from 40- and 50-taper gear-driven models for high-torque, heavy-duty cutting, to Super Speed models with inline direct-drive spindles to handle the most demanding high-speed machining operations.

Haas TM Series CNC Toolroom Mills offer affordable entry into CNC, and provide an easy transition from manual to CNC machining. They come standard with the Haas Intuitive Programming System, a proprietary conversational programming system that makes set up and operation easy – even without knowledge of G-code.

These are just a few of the innovations that make Haas Automation the high-productivity, high-value leader. And the legendary Haas control makes every VMC easy to operate. Built with the operator and programmer in mind, it’s packed with intuitive features not available on any other CNC machining center.
Every Haas VMC provides the features and performance a machine shop needs – making it the best investment, and providing more utility, flexibility, and productivity than ever imagined.

Q. What are the different types of products that you offer? And why are they unique?
We offer a range of High Performance Vertical Machining Centers, Turning Centers, Horizontal Machining Centers and Rotary Products. What makes us stand apart is the quality, reliability, affordability and broad range of our product offering backed by our industry leading Global HFO Haas Factory Outlet network.

All Haas products are manufactured in the company’s 1-million-square-foot facility in Southern California, and distributed through a worldwide network of more than 170 Haas Factory Outlets (HFOs). Each HFO has complete showroom facilities, factory-trained service personnel, extensive spare-parts inventories, and fully stocked service vehicles to provide the industry’s best service and support.

At present, there are more than 140,000 Haas CNC machines and 60,000 Haas rotary products in use around the world. In 2013, Haas Automation will build roughly 14,000 machines, with around 60 percent of them going to international markets.

Haas Automation India Pvt. Ltd. – Corporate Office

Q. Could you give us some idea of your design capabilities and manufacturing excellence?
From the start, Haas Automation has provided reliable, affordable machine tool solutions to job shops and contract manufacturers around the world. To ensure accuracy, Haas produces all critical components in-house using dedicated state-of-the-art CNC machine tools. The company’s 1-million-square-foot facility makes extensive use the latest lean manufacturing methods and just-in-time production practices to streamline production capabilities and reduce costs. This, combined with highly trained teams for electronics and mechanical assembly, allows Haas to control quality, cost, reliability and availability. The resulting cost savings and increased quality are passed on to the customer in the form of lower prices and better products.

Of the nearly 300 chip-making machine tools in the Haas machine shop, more than two-thirds are Haas machines – proof positive that the company believes in its own products. To increase production capacity and capability, new manufacturing equipment is added constantly, allowing Haas to produce more parts more efficiently, and further reduce the cost of Haas products to the end user.

Q. What have you to say about the industry scenario and how conducive is it to growth?
The industrial situation in India offers opportunities and challenges in equal measure. The fall in the Indian Rupee vs most major currencies including the US Dollar make capital imports of CNC machine tools more difficult for our customers in India.

The prevailing interest rates which are fairly high make it difficult for small machine shops to purchase high quality CNC machines. At the same time there are a lot of benefits available to our customers who purchase CNC machine tools in the form of subsidies and tax breaks from the local state or central governments. There is also a huge demand for CNC machine tools as most machine shops using manual or semi automatic machines look to upgrade their capabilities.

We are optimistic about the India growth story in the long run and feel that HAAS as the premier CNC Machine Tool Builder worldwide is well poised to take advantage of this as our economy in India begins to again gather momentum.

Haas Automation India Pvt Ltd
– Inventory

Q. What are the challenges ahead for you?
We look to increase our penetration in the Indian market by increasing our reach even further. We have HFOs Haas Factory Outlets in Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Ahmedabad, Manesar, Chennai, Bangalore and Coimbatore. This year we intend opening new HFOs in Dharwad and Punjab.

The reason for the wide spread of HFOs Haas Factory Outlets throughout the major industrial areas in India is based on the philosophy that low cost is one thing, but when it comes to CNC machine tools, what’s the point of a low price if quality or reliability suffer? This was our mantra when we began building machine tools in the late 1980s. Today, reliability is as important as ever at Haas, and has a lot to do with why the company is America’s leading machine tool builder.

Nevertheless, despite their reputation for dependability, Haas machines the world over are backed by one of the most carefully conceived service and support infrastructures of any machine tool company. Every Haas Factory Outlet (HFO) carries a substantial inventory of spares. All told, more than (US) $50 million in spare parts are stocked at more than 160 locations worldwide.

Haas customers can rest assured that on those rare occasions when a machine does need special attention, the right part is never more than a few hours away. To quickly get those parts to a customer in need, each HFO owns and operates at least one Haas-branded service vehicle, fully loaded with spare parts and driven by a Haas factory-trained service engineer. As a consequence, more than 90% of service and support visits result in a full remedy of the problem that same day. In other words, Haas machines are never still for long.

Haas Automation maintains additional stocks of spare parts – everything and anything a customer might need – at its headquarters in the U.S., Europe, Asia and India. If an HFO doesn’t have a part in stock, it immediately contacts one of the Haas headquarters, where 99% of all spare-parts orders are dispatched the day a request is received. Every model of Haas machine tool or rotary product is supported, regardless of when it was built.

Q. How do you look at the future of your company?
We look optimistically at the future not just in India but worldwide. HAAS: already a global leader in CNC machine tools is well positioned to grow significantly in all the markets in which we operate.