The European division of CNC machine tool builder Haas Automation is in the final stages of extending its Zaventem, Brussels based head office, showroom and service centre.
The company moved to its €3.5m, regional HQ in 2004. Since then, its business in Europe has flourished, growing by more than 40% annually and Haas employee numbers working from the Zaventem facility have increased to 65, including 25 service and support engineers.
The extension to the HAE building will bring total covered floor space to more than 8.300m² and will include a new warehouse, spare parts storage and training area (an increase of 1100m²), and additional office space (an increase of 475m²).
A glass atrium (245 m²) will join the existing building to the new, architect designed extension. Total investment in the project is expected to reach €2.5million and building work will be completed in late August 2008, with an official grand opening planned for late October 2008.
“The building extension will give us the extra space and facilities we need to continue our rapid growth in Europe,” says HAE managing director, Mr. Peter Hall. “It will provide an excellent, comfortable environment for our staff and will help to ensure Haas customer service is always exemplary.
“Belgium has certainly proved to be the best place for the Haas Europe head office,” continues Mr. Hall. “In a few short years we have built a pan-European HFO network selling and supporting Haas machines in 25 countries around the continent. In Zaventem, we have access to talented, multi-lingual personnel and we are close to Brussels airport and the country’s highways.”
In early 2008, Haas Automation, Inc., of Oxnard, California, announced that 2007 was the most productive year in the company’s history, with CNC machine tool production exceeding 13,755 units – up 10 percent over 2006 – and a 19-percent increase in revenues to more than $880 million. The 2007 numbers – which exceeded previous records set in 2006 – reinforce Haas Automation’s position as the world’s leading CNC machine tool builder by unit volume.
2007 also saw the official, European launch of the Haas Technical Education Centre (HTEC) program, at EMO in Hanover, Germany*. Since then, the Haas Automation Europe HTEC team has been busy setting up a number of exciting new collaborative CNC teaching facilities at universities, colleges and technical schools across Europe.
“We are experiencing strong growth in Europe in 2008,” continues Mr. Hall. “We have a well established distribution and support infrastructure, a fantastic range of CNC machine tools and rotary tables and, with the rapidly expanding HTEC program, one of the most creative and exciting initiatives in the European manufacturing sector in recent decades.”
* Haas Automation has been supporting technical education programs for nearly 20 years, and the HTEC program has been in place in North America since 1999. At present there are more than 725 HTECs throughout North America, with around 1500 Haas machines installed at high schools, vocational schools, technical schools, community colleges and universities.
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