Zaventem, Belgium - June 1st, 2013: Recently, some of the world's largest machine tool builders reported poor sales in 2012, and a slow start to 2013, with sales-to-date considerably down on the same period last year. By contrast, Haas Automation Europe is enjoying a 24% increase in first quarter sales, compared to 2012 - this, against a pessimistic forecast for global growth in machine tool consumption for 2013 of less than 3%, according to London based, Oxford Economics.

Managing Director, Mr Alain Reynvoet, reveals what's behind Haas Automation's defiant and impressive growth on the European continent, one of the toughest markets for precision engineering, and manufacturing in general.

"The thing to note," he says, "is that there are no secrets. Haas is doing well in Europe for several reasons.

"Firstly, as promised, over the past few years we have introduced several, new, affordable, high-productivity machines, which our customers have told us they need, in order to compete in these ultra-difficult trading conditions. Many of our new and improved products will be on display, cutting metal on the Haas booth at EMO 2013.

"Secondly, we have focused all of our attention on making these and our existing products, more reliable, accurate and rigid. In other words, we have made huge advances in quality, of both the product and also the manufacturing processes at our plant in California, as well as the support and back-up provided by our Haas Factory Outlet network."

In certain categories, Haas Automation dominates the US machine tool market, boasting up to 50% market share for particular products. Arguably, it's economic crises and tough conditions that have provided the big opportunities for the company to grow market share, and build a loyal customer base.

"Haas growth is not based on discounting," says Mr. Reynvoet, "but is a result of designing and building machines that offer greater value and provide unrivalled productivity and peace-of-mind for the customer. As well as selling more machines, and increasing our market share, we're also selling higher value machines; machines with features our customers use to make better parts, more quickly."

Visitors to the Haas booth at EMO 2013 will witness cutting demonstrations on 16 of the company's latest model CNC machine tools, including: high-speed vertical machining centres; 50-taper, high powered machines designed to make big cuts; high-productivity turning centres with live-tooling and subdual-spindles; powerful, small-footprint drill-tap and toolroom machines; specialist vertical machining centres for toolmakers; and, of course, the Haas UMC750 universal machining centre, which was launched in Europe at EMO 2011.

Mr Reynvoet: "When Haas first started building CNC machine tools, in the late 1980's, we were known simply as the low cost machine tool company. Arguably, at that time, all machine tools were expensive and relatively unreliable. Spare parts were also expensive, and often, difficult to source quickly.

"Haas has been very active in changing the face of the machine tool industry. We have built a company on the same standards customers expect when, for example, they invest in a new car, such as an Audi or a BMW: The purchase price is known, the build-quality is uncompromised, reliability is built-in, service and support is consistently excellent and spare part prices are transparent and published. We believe these are things all customers should expect when they invest in their businesses, their livelihoods and their futures. We believe this is why Haas machines are no longer just the low-cost choice, but more importantly, the intelligent choice for companies seeking the best combination of value, reliability, accuracy and productivity."