By John Teresko
March 1, 2006 -- The following was overheard at Haas Automation Inc., Oxnard, Calif., recently: "Make machine tools in China? . . . And miss the bargain rates on all the empty cargo containers returning to China?"
Behind that quip is a lot more than the company's policy of making everything at its Oxnard, Calif., headquarters. While manufacturing is local, customers are global. Its business model is built on management's intimate involvement with product, process and technology -- enough to establish and grow a global leadership position via customer value and even enough to be emulated by (gasp) some Japanese manufacturers! (The company refers to its relentless pursuit of excellence as "The Haas Way.") Gene Haas, president and owner, readily admits that he didn't set out to become a machine tool manufacturer -- much less a global leader.
Gene Haas
It's almost as if he were inspired by a message from an old Warner & Swasey corporate ad campaign. In the decades before its demise in 1992, that Cleveland-based machine tool maker's ads emphasized fundamental values. In 1944 an ad promoted America over competing nations and warned of the dangers inherent from a lack of individual initiative. Titled "Let (George) Washington Do It," it reads, in part: "If one thing more than any other has made America great, has given us the highest standard of living in the world, it is the grand American custom of 'paddling your own canoe.' It is that manly habit that has led millions of Americans to launch their own businesses, creating millions of better jobs for others."
In the early 1980s, Gene Haas was already "paddling his own canoe" by operating a machine shop called Pro-Turn Engineering in Sun Valley, Calif. It was basically him and a couple of machine operators who ran production parts for the aerospace industry. They specialized in machining parts that many other shops turned away because of their complexity. Satisfying those customers rapidly led to new ones via the following series of defining events:
The founding of Haas Automation Inc. in 1983.
The debut of the first Haas CNC machining center at IMTS in 1988.
The building, sales and shipment of 10,000 machine tools in one year (2005), a record increase of more than 22% over 2004 and more than 200% over 2003.
The milestone shipment of the company's 50,000th machine tool in 2005. The CNC machine, a SL-20APL turning center with an automatic parts loader was sold to Western Saw, an Oxnard, Calif., neighbor that now has five Haas machines.
How did Pro-Turn Engineering, a job shop, become the global leader, by unit volume, of CNC machine tools?
In the 1980s one of the jobs Gene Haas and his machine operators were running required indexing a part with a manual 5C collet head, which was time consuming and labor intensive. Gene thought there had to be a better way to run the job, so he began developing the first fully programmable automatic 5C collet indexer. He became his own customer.
Haas growth and plant expansion are driven by innovation -- as with the unique Haas Office Mill. It's small enough to fit through an office door and light enough for most freight elevators. Customer Matt McCormick is shown setting up a unit at the University of Southern California's Doherty Retina Institute.
The mechanical aspects of the Haas 5C were pretty straightforward, incorporating a stepper motor as the driving mechanism and a manual 5C head modified to accommodate a worm and gear housing. But deciding how to drive the motor and control motion was another story.
At times, Gene entertained the idea of using someone else's control, but costs were too high. So he called his old school buddy Kurt Zierhut, who happened to be an electrical engineer, and together they came up with the first version of what is still called "the black box" -- the Haas rotary control. (Zierhut later designed the Haas CNC controls and currently serves as director of electrical engineering.)
Gene built a few of his indexers and put them into the hands of friends and acquaintances at other machine shops for real-world testing, asking only for feedback in return. Everybody loved them and thought they were a great way to increase productivity on manual machines. When Gene offered the Haas 5C for sale to the general public in 1983 at Westec in Los Angeles, Haas Automation was born.
Machinist Raudel Marquez inspects lathe output.
Customers loved the concept and soon began asking for something bigger. This led to the development of an 8-inch rotary table in 1985. As with the 5C, the Haas rotary table consisted of a manual device fitted with a stepper motor and control. By 1986, demand for the Haas 5C and 8-inch rotary table had outstripped the capabilities of the manufacturer supplying the manual units. To meet the growing demand, Gene developed heads and tables of his own design and began manufacturing them himself. By bringing manufacturing in-house, Haas Automation was better able to control quality, cost, delivery times and pass the savings onto customers.
Constant feedback and suggestions from customers led to the development of more new rotary products and eventually the development of a vertical machining center. At Chicago's IMTS in 1988, Haas introduced the VF-1 a 20-inch x 16-inch vertical machining center priced less than $50,000 -- a major feat.
See Also: The Racing Links
The passions of winning, racing and machine tools have played important roles in the life of Gene Haas.
By always designing products that he would use himself, Gene Haas discovered a formula that resulted in phenomenal success and rapid growth, even in the face of a recession that slowed global economic growth. That design approach continued resulting in the 1993 introduction of the company's first horizontal machining center, the HS-1RP, at Westec in Los Angeles. The following year saw the introduction of the first Haas CNC lathe, the HL-1. In March 1997, the company moved into a new 420,000 square-foot facility at its current location in Oxnard, Calif. One month later the company produced its 10,000th CNC machine. The following year, in March 1998, the 15,000th machine tool rolled off the assembly line, and by April 1999, that total surpassed the 20,000 mark.
By the end of 1997, monthly production of CNC machines exceeded 550 units making Haas the largest unit-volume machine tool builder in America. To accommodate continued growth, a new 200,000-square-foot building was built adjacent to the existing facility. That expanded production lines and increased machine shop capabilities while providing space to house one month's supply of finished machine stock to speed shipments to customers. The expansion brought the total square footage to 620,000 to become the largest single machine tool facility in the U.S. By September 2000, the 25,000th Haas machine tool was in service (in the Chicago area).
Haas makes all of its machines at its Oxnard, Calif., headquarters. Shown is the production line for its medium vertical machining centers. More than 900 CNC machines are made each month.
In 2001, the addition of another 200,000-square-foot building brought the total to 820,000 square feet. Richard Mountan, director of operations, says this month will see the addition of 211,000 square feet with the goal of increasing monthly output of machine tools by 300 units -- to 1,300. Mountan's constant challenge is increasing production output without jeopardizing quality or efficiency.
Today, Haas Automation manufactures four major product lines -- vertical machining centers, horizontal machining centers, CNC turning centers and rotary tables -- as well as a number of large five-axis and specialty machines. Mountan says employment is about 1,100 and growing. With the largest, most modern machine tool manufacturing facility in the U.S., Mountan says Haas ships more CNC machines per month than any other U.S. producer. He expects that to continue as the company pursues a goal of growing 2005 revenues of $600 million to $1 billion by 2010.
To maximize throughput and efficiency, Haas teams a Motoman robot with a Haas vertical machining center and two Haas lathes. The cell runs unattended.
Haas general manager Bob Murray is enthusiastic about the potential for growth in overseas markets. "Last year of all the units we produced, about 44% went offshore. By 2010, he expects Haas to export between 65% to 70% of output with as much as 4,000 units being shipped to Europe. "Last year Europe accounted for 1,500 machines." Murray is also optimistic about China, where Haas has had a presence since 1994. By 2010 he expects shipments to China growing to 3,000 from 500 in 2005. Murray's 2006 estimate: 900 units. Murray doesn't see that projected growth changing the current policy of making all products at the Oxnard, Calif., headquarters. He sees two compelling reasons -- low shipping costs and the ease of management control.
Among machine tool builders, that manufacturing policy means Mountan leverages a unique operating model, one that always seeks to gain maximum strategic value from the manufacturing step. Another example: the Haas policy of emphasizing in-house production when it comes to make-or-buy decisions. For example, Haas doesn't buy CNC controls -- it designs and builds its own, explains Mountan. Haas also builds a competitive edge with its distribution strategy. "Domestically we devised a whole new distribution model, and now we're implementing it globally, including China," says Mountan. He describes the Haas Factory Outlet program as kind of a McDonald's approach for the company's dealer network. The intention is to eliminate inconsistencies in bringing the product to customers such as sales people selling a multitude of different things. With the McDonald's approach, Haas Factory Outlets, regardless of location, conform to a set of best practices that facilitate customer interaction. "In addition to a common marketing approach, the customers experience personnel in Haas uniforms and only Haas products are sold and serviced." Mountan says he knows of no other machine tool builder using the approach.
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A characteristic of "the Haas Way" is the responsibility to leverage all the potential relevant to the enterprise. For Haas that even means going beyond customer satisfaction, product quality, production efficiency and technology. In a mode both altruistic and self-serving, Haas trains tomorrow's buying influences. By partnering with learning institutions such as Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, Mich., Haas offers students a way of gaining shop-floor experience before entering the real world. The initiative, dating back to 1999, enlists assessments of local Haas Factory Outlets (HFOs) to select college candidates, says Henry Ford's Kenneth Wright, lead instructor, Manufacturing Productivity Systems Department. Wright says students, typically in the 28-to-30 age group, often have career affiliations with job shops, a key Haas market segment. Many of them pursue shop-floor management careers, and some students have started their own operations, he notes. Nationally more than 40 Haas Technical Education Centers are training students with machines entrusted by Haas, says Bob Skodzinsky, president of the Flat Rock, Mich.-based Haas Factory Outlet, a division of Gerotech Inc. Michigan, a state with more than 6,000 shops that cut metal, has five Haas Technical Education Centers, adds Skodzinsky.
以下為Google翻譯生成：
創業精神在機床行業的最低點——1980 年代給 Gene Haas 帶來了衝擊。日本人在價格上與美國正面交鋒——並且獲勝。數十家美國機床製造商關門歇業。Gene Haas 成為了一個需求沒有得到滿足的客戶，所以他開始了自己的事業。今天，Haas Automation Inc. 是最大的 CNC 機床批量生產商。就哈斯和他的執行團隊而言，它將保持這種狀態。
由 約翰·Teresko
2006 年3 月 1 日—— 最近在加利福尼亞州奧克斯納德的 Haas 自動化公司無意中聽到了以下內容：「在中國製造機床？......並且錯過所有返回中國的空集裝箱的特價？」
在這個俏皮話的背後，不僅僅是公司在其加利福尼亞州奧克斯納德總部製造一切的政策。雖然製造是本地的，但客戶是全球的。它的商業模式建立在管理層對產品、流程和技術的密切參與之上——足以通過客戶價值建立和發展全球領先地位，甚至足以被一些日本製造商效仿！（該公司將其對卓越的不懈追求稱為「哈斯之道」。）總裁兼所有者 Gene Haas 欣然承認，他並沒有打算成為一家機床製造商——更不用說成為全球領導者了。
吉恩·哈斯
就好像他的靈感來自舊的 Warner & Swasey 公司廣告活動中的一條信息。在 1992 年倒閉前的幾十年裡，這家位於克利夫蘭的機床製造商的廣告強調了基本價值觀。1944 年，一則廣告宣傳美國勝過競爭國家，並警告缺乏個人主動性所固有的危險。標題為「讓（喬治）華盛頓去做」，部分內容寫道：「如果有一件事情使美國變得偉大，給我們帶來了世界上最高的生活標準，那就是美國的盛大習俗。」劃著你自己的獨木舟。正是這種男子氣概的習慣導致數百萬美國人創辦自己的企業，為他人創造了數百萬個更好的工作崗位。」
1980 年代初期，吉恩·哈斯 (Gene Haas) 在加利福尼亞州太陽谷經營一家名為 Pro-Turn Engineering 的機械車間，已經「劃著自己的獨木舟」。基本上是他和幾名機器操作員為航空航天業生產零件。他們專注於加工零件，因為它們的複雜性，許多其他商店都拒絕了。通過以下一系列定義事件，快速滿足這些客戶會導致新客戶的出現：
1983 年成立哈斯自動化公司。
1988 年，第一台 Haas CNC 加工中心在 IMTS 上亮相。
一年（2005年）機床製造、銷售和出貨量10000台，比2004年增長22%以上，比2003年增長200%以上，創歷史新高。
2005 年公司第 50,000 台機床的里程碑式出貨量。數控機床，SL-20APL 車削中心和自動零件裝載機被出售給西鋸，加利福尼亞州奧克斯納德，現在擁有五台哈斯機床。
加工車間 Pro-Turn Engineering 如何成為 CNC 機床單位產量的全球領導者？
在 1980 年代，Gene Haas 和他的機器操作員正在運行的一項工作需要使用手動 5C 夾頭對零件進行分度，這既費時又費力。Gene 認為必須有更好的方法來運行這項工作，因此他開始開發第一個完全可編程的自動 5C 夾頭分度器。他成了自己的客戶。
Haas 的增長和工廠擴張是由創新驅動的——就像獨特的 Haas Office Mill。它足夠小，可以穿過辦公室門，也足夠輕，適合大多數貨運電梯。客戶馬特·麥考密克 (Matt McCormick) 正在南加州大學的多爾蒂視網膜研究所設立一個單位。
Haas 5C 的機械方面非常簡單，將步進電機作為驅動機構，手動 5C 頭部經過修改以容納蝸桿和齒輪箱。但決定如何驅動電機和控制運動是另一回事。
有時，Gene 會考慮使用別人的控制權，但成本太高。於是他打電話給他的老同學 Kurt Zierhut，他碰巧是一名電氣工程師，他們一起想出了仍然被稱為「黑匣子」的第一個版本——哈斯旋轉控制器。（Zierhut 後來設計了 Haas CNC 控制器，目前擔任電氣工程總監。）
Gene 構建了一些他的索引器，並將它們交給其他機器車間的朋友和熟人進行實際測試，只要求反饋作為回報。每個人都喜歡它們，並認為它們是提高手動機器生產力的好方法。當 Gene 於 1983 年在洛杉磯的 Westec 向公眾出售 Haas 5C 時，Haas Automation 誕生了。
機械師 Raudel Marquez 檢查車床輸出。
客戶喜歡這個概念，很快就開始要求更大的東西。這導致了 1985 年 8 英吋轉台的開發。與 5C 一樣，Haas 轉台由裝有步進電機和控制器的手動裝置組成。到 1986 年，對 Haas 5C 和 8 英吋轉台的需求已經超過了提供手動裝置的製造商的能力。為了滿足不斷增長的需求，Gene 開發了自己設計的頭部和桌子，並開始自己製造。通過內部製造，Haas Automation 能夠更好地控制質量、成本、交貨時間並將節省的成本轉嫁給客戶。
來自客戶的不斷反饋和建議導致了更多新旋轉產品的開發，並最終開發了立式加工中心。在 1988 年芝加哥的 IMTS 上，Haas 推出了 VF-1，這是一台 20 英吋 x 16 英吋的立式加工中心，價格不到 50,000 美元——這是一項重大壯舉。
另請參閱：賽車鏈接
對勝利、賽車和機床的熱情在 Gene Haas 的生活中發揮了重要作用。
吉恩·哈斯 (Gene Haas) 一直在設計他自己會使用的產品，他發現了一個公式，即使在全球經濟增長放緩的衰退面前，也能取得驚人的成功和快速增長。這種設計方法一直延續到 1993 年，公司在洛杉磯的 Westec 推出了第一台臥式加工中心 HS-1RP。次年推出了第一台 Haas CNC 車床 HL-1。1997 年 3 月，公司搬進了位於加利福尼亞州奧克斯納德現址的 420,000 平方英尺的新工廠。一個月後，公司生產了第 10,000 台 CNC 機床。次年，即 1998 年 3 月，第 15,000 台機床下線，到 1999 年 4 月，總數超過 20,000 台。
到 1997 年底，CNC 機床的月產量超過 550 台，使哈斯成為美國最大的機床製造商。為了適應持續增長，在現有設施附近建造了一座 200,000 平方英尺的新建築。這擴大了生產線並提高了機加工車間的能力，同時提供了空間來容納一個月的成品機器庫存，以加快向客戶發貨的速度。此次擴建使總面積達到 620,000 平方英尺，成為美國最大的單一機床工廠。 到 2000 年 9 月，第 25,000 台 Haas 機床投入使用（在芝加哥地區）。
Haas 在其加利福尼亞州奧克斯納德總部生產所有機器。圖中所示為其中型立式加工中心的生產線。每月生產 900 多台 CNC 機器。
2001 年，又增加了 200,000 平方英尺的建築，使總建築面積達到 820,000 平方英尺。運營總監 Richard Mountan 表示，本月將增加 211,000 平方英尺，目標是將機床的月產量增加 300 台，達到 1,300 台。Mountan 一直面臨的挑戰是在不影響質量或效率的情況下提高產量。
今天，哈斯自動化製造四大產品線——立式加工中心、臥式加工中心、數控車削中心和轉台——以及許多大型五軸和專用機床。Mountan 說，就業人數約為 1,100 人，而且還在增長。Mountan 表示，擁有美國最大、最現代化的機床製造設施，Haas 每月出貨的 CNC 機器數量超過任何其他美國製造商。他預計，隨著公司追求到 2010 年將 2005 年收入從 6 億美元增長到 10 億美元的目標，這種情況將繼續下去。
為了最大限度地提高產量和效率，Haas 將 Motoman 機器人與 Haas 立式加工中心和兩台 Haas 車床組合在一起。該單元在無人看管的情況下運行。
Haas 總經理 Bob Murray 對海外市場的增長潛力充滿熱情。「去年我們生產的所有設備中，約有 44% 出口到海外。到 2010 年，他預計哈斯將出口 65% 至 70% 的產量，多達 4,000 台運往歐洲。」去年歐洲占 1,500機器。」默裡也對中國持樂觀態度，哈斯自 1994 年以來一直在中國開展業務。到 2010 年，他預計到中國的出貨量將從 2005 年的 500 台增長到 3,000 台。默裡 2006 年的估計：900 台。默裡認為預計的增長不會改變加州奧克斯納德總部生產所有產品的現行政策。他認為有兩個令人信服的原因——低運輸成本和易於管理控制。
在機床製造商中，該製造政策意味著 Mountan 利用了一種獨特的運營模式，該模式始終尋求從製造步驟中獲得最大的戰略價值。另一個例子：Haas 的政策，在涉及自製或外購決策時強調內部生產。例如，Haas 不購買 CNC 控制器——它自己設計和製造，Mountan 解釋說。Haas 還通過其分銷戰略建立了競爭優勢。「在國內，我們設計了一種全新的分銷模式，現在我們正在全球範圍內實施它，包括中國，」Mountan 說。他將 Haas 工廠直銷計劃描述為公司經銷商網絡的一種麥當勞方法。目的是消除將產品提供給客戶（例如銷售多種不同商品的銷售人員）時的不一致性。借助麥當勞的方法，哈斯工廠直銷店無論位於何處，都符合一組促進客戶互動的最佳實踐。「除了常見的營銷方法外，客戶還可以體驗身著 Haas 制服的工作人員，並且只銷售和維修 Haas 產品。」 Mountan 說他知道沒有其他機床製造商使用這種方法。
關於本系列
工業週刊推出了重建美國製造業，這是一個為期一年的系列，重點關注案例研究和專家建議，美國製造公司的高管可以利用這些建議來加強他們的公司。
「Haas 方式」的一個特點是有責任利用與企業相關的所有潛力。對於 Haas 而言，這甚至意味著超越客戶滿意度、產品質量、生產效率和技術。哈斯以一種既利他又自私的模式訓練明天的購買影響力。通過與密歇根州迪爾伯恩的亨利福特社區學院等學習機構合作，哈斯為學生提供了一種在進入現實世界之前獲得車間體驗的方式。亨利福特的製造生產力系統部首席講師肯尼思賴特說，該計劃可以追溯到 1999 年，它要求對當地哈斯工廠直銷店 (HFO) 進行評估，以選擇大學候選人。賴特說，學生，通常在 28 到 30 歲的年齡組，通常與工作商店有職業聯繫，一個關鍵的 Haas 細分市場。他指出，他們中的許多人從事車間管理工作，有些學生已經開始自己的業務。密歇根州 Flat Rock 的 Haas Factory Outlet 總裁 Bob Skodzinsky 說，全國有 40 多個 Haas 技術教育中心正在使用 Haas 委託的機器培訓學生，該公司是密歇根州 Gerotech Inc. 的一個部門，該州擁有 6,000 多家商店切割金屬，擁有五個哈斯技術教育中心，Skodzinsky 補充道。 |
