HAAS Automation Inc, the renowned US-based manufacturer of low-cost, reliable and highly productive machines, inaugurates Indian subsidiary. A report by Milton D'Silva, Editor, Industrial Products Finder.

Haas Automation India Pvt Ltd, the 100% Indian subsidiary of US-based Haas Automation Inc, was inaugurated at a grand ceremony at Mahape, Navi Mumbai on February 11, 2011. While the company has been present in the Indian market from 1993, just 10 years after it was established in the US, it is the first decade of the new millennium that has seen it moving into the high growth trajectory in India, the country itself experiencing a surge in engineering manufacturing, automotive and white goods sectors. In a world of machine tool builders with century old history, Haas has been a remarkable success story in a short span of a little over a quarter of a century.

Gene Haas, President, Haas Automation Inc, founded the company in 1983 at California with the invention of the first-ever, fully automatic, programmable collet indexer, for use in his own machine shop. The Haas 5C collet indexer was a huge success, and during the next four years, the company expanded its product line to include a wide selection of fully programmable rotary tables, rotary indexers and machine tool accessories. In 1987, the company developed its first vertical machining center, the VF-1, which became a hit at the 1998 IMTS at Chicago. The rest, as the clich?? goes, is history. In less than three decades, the company has produced over 100,000 units of machine tools, its repertoire boasting of machines for every angle and most applications, and a market spread across six continents. For the record, all critical components including the CNC controls are manufactured in-house at the company's manufacturing base at Oxnard, California.

Gene Haas used the occasion for his maiden visit to India, and was accompanied by Mr John Roth, Global Director Customer Service, who is no stranger to the country having visited it on several occasions in the past. Mr S M Nayak, General Manager (Engineering Services), Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd,, was the chief guest, and had some very nice things to say about his company's experience with Haas machines, a deliberate shift from the long reliance on high end machine tools from Europe and Japan, and the economy models from Taiwan.

There were other dignitaries and guests present on the occasion: Mr Allan Phillip, Phillips Corporation, USA, a major marketing partner of the Haas Automation not just in the US but also in overseas markets including India through its dedicated distribution arm CNC Servicing & Solutions (India) - CNCSSIPL; Mr Ashish Lala, MD, CNCSSIPL; Mr S K Mahadevan, MD Manav Marketing, Bangalore, and the other major Haas distributor in India for the southern region; and a number of senior executives from various industry segments from across the country. For Mr Terrence Miranda, Managing Director, Haas Automation India Pvt Ltd, and all the managers, engineers and supporting staff at Haas Automation India and Haas Factory Outlets, it was of course a moment of pride. The inauguration ceremony was followed by a plant tour of the facility where actual demo cutting of components was on display on the latest Haas machines. Beginning with 1993 as mentioned earlier, Haas has sold over 4000 units of its various machines in India. The company globally follows the distribution channel of Haas Factory Outlets (HFOs) - dedicated facilities that have revolutionised the concept of service in the CNC industry. In India it has presently 8 HFOs. HFOs at Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore and Dharwad are managed by Manav Marketing, whereas those at Ahmedabad, Delhi (Manesar), Mumbai and Pune are under CNCSSIPL. According to Terrence Miranda, six more HFOs are planned to go on stream over the next few months, including one each at Kolhapur, Maharashtra and Indore in Madhya Pradesh. The company also has machines that cater to the niche areas of jewellery making units and dental products.

For Gene Haas, India is a very crucial market, next in importance only to China. With many strategic analysts believing in the long term prospects of the Indian market, this is not surprising. According to John Roth, 60% of Haas machines are exported, though the USA remains by far the single largest market. China is the second biggest market, with India placed at third. Even as the guests were milling about the demo cutting area of the plant, a floor above, Gene Haas was engaged in an animated discussion with John Roth about spindle movements and tool paths, obviously spurred on by a fresh customer query. For the technocrat that he essentially is, Gene Haas is most comfortable wearing the inventor-designer hat, leaving the selling part of it to the well thought out HFO model.

Each Haas Factory Outlet is a fully functioning, state-of-the-art showroom where customers can experience the full line of Haas equipment at work. The HFO provides industry-leading service through fully outfitted service vans, high-tech communications and the facilities and personnel to deliver total customer support. Highlights of local service provided through the HFO network include:

• No waiting for service technicians to fly out at customer expense, often taking days to arrive
• Localised attention to specific needs: Extensive local parts inventories worldwide
• Factory part-exchange policy, means same-day replacement on most parts
• Better than 90% "First Call Completion" to get the machine up and running, and
• Factory-certified technicians dedicated exclusively to servicing Haas equipment.

For Terrence Miranda and the Indian HFOs, the inauguration has come soon after the humungous IMTEX 2011 show, reminiscent of the optimism in the manufacturing sector last seen in the early years of the new millennium.Obviously, with more HFOs on the anvil, the action in India has just begun..