Haas considering foundry operations

June 12, 2006
Haas Automation Inc., (www.haascnc.com) is seeing bottlenecks in the delivery of the iron castings it needs to produce its machine tools, and it is considering either purchasing or establishing a foundry operation to ensure its sources for castings. In ...

Haas Automation Inc., (www.haascnc.com) is seeing bottlenecks in the delivery of the iron castings it needs to produce its machine tools, and it is considering either purchasing or establishing a foundry operation to ensure its sources for castings.

In an interview at Haas’s headquarters in Oxnard, Calif., Gene Haas, founder and president of the company, and Robert Murray, general manager, said they are concerned that the diminishing numbers of foundries in the United States could limit their company’s growth.

Haas is the largest machine tool builder in the U.S., and Murray said the company purchases more than 100 million pounds of castings each year.

Both Haas and Murray said their thoughts on foundries are in the earliest stages, but that they are considering either purchasing a U.S. foundry or establishing a foundry to meet their needs in a location such as Mexico.

Haas produced more than 10,000 machine tools in 2005, and is on-track to build 13,000 machine tools this year, Murray said.