Haas Automation Open House Draws 3,100 Attendees

Haas Automation Inc. reports that its recent HaasTec open house event attracted more than 3,100 attendees to the company’s headquarters and manufacturing facility in Oxnard, California. The four-day event drew visitors from the United States, Canada, Latin America, China, India, the Middle East and many other regions. In addition, more than 700 students from regional high schools, colleges and universities attended the event.

Held October 10-13, 2017, HaasTec included machine demonstrations, extensive tours of Haas Automation’s 1 million-square-foot facility, catered lunch and 42 industry partner booths with representatives from major CAD/CAM, tooling, automation and workholding manufacturers. Attendees also saw one of the Haas F1 Team’s race cars from its 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship debut and Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, driven by Kurt Busch in the NASCAR Cup Series.

More than 30 Haas Factory Outlets worldwide arranged trips to the event to personally show customers and potential customers what goes into making a Haas machine tool.

There were 16 machines on display and running demos at HaasTec, including the soon-to-be released UMC-1000 Universal Machining Center, the CL-1 Compact Lathe and the reengineered EC-400 HMC. Attendees also got to see more than 200 Haas machines in action on the factory floor, making parts to build more Haas machines. Of the 296 chipmaking machines in the Haas factory, 211 (71 percent) are Haas machines.

Tom Resler of Guhring Inc., an attendee of the event, says: “Something that really stood out this year was the number of students that came through. Our industry is in dire need of a skilled labor force, and the outreach that Haas is putting forth is unprecedented. To compete in a global economy, we need more companies to follow suit, as well as more vocational and apprenticeship programs. It’s clear that Haas gets that. My co-worker overheard a student who had just finished the plant tour say to his friend, ‘One day, I’m going to work for Haas.’ He said it with as much excitement and pride as someone saying, ‘One day, I’m going to be an astronaut.’ Hearing that was the highlight of the week for me.”