Haas Automation Europe Launches Groundbreaking Educational Initiative

September 17th, 2007. EMO 2007 – Hanover: The worldwide shortage of skilled CNC machining operators, programmers and application engineers is a challenge faced daily by almost all precision engineering companies, from Calcutta to California, Copenhagen to Cape Town.

In a huge and unprecedented effort to alleviate the problem, Haas Automation Inc., California, USA, announces the formal launch of the Haas Technical Education Centre (HTEC) program for Europe.

Already a resounding success in the USA and Canada, the Haas Automation Europe HTEC program aims to create long-term alliances with European vocational training, technical colleges, universities and other manufacturing technology learning institutions. The goal: to make the latest manufacturing technology accessible to a very wide range of educational establishments and to provide students with hands-on experience in a real-world manufacturing environment.

The HTEC concept was first established by Haas Automation Inc. in the USA in 1996 and was originally a school-based program; a place where teachers and students could experience the latest machine tool technology.

Today, the program has evolved beyond the company’s wildest expectations. In the USA and Canada there are already more than 600 HTEC’s, including almost 100 High Schools, 100+ Vocational Schools, almost 300 Community Colleges and close to 200 Universities, with well over 1000 machines installed. Over the next few years, Haas Automation Europe will implement plans to mirror the program’s popularity here, in Germany, as well as in France, Italy, Spain and every other European country. Peter Hall, Haas Europe’s managing director, explains.

“Our initial goal is to have 100 fully Haas-certified HTEC's in Europe within 5 years. That is, 20 new HTEC's per year. However, judging by the response we are already experiencing, this is probably a very conservative number and I anticipate raising this number to at least 200 in the near future.”

Haas CNC machine tools are distributed and supported in Europe via 45 Haas Factory Outlets (HFO's). Assuming an average of 4 HTEC's for each HFO, the company will quickly approach Mr. Hall’s target of 200 HTEC's.

Closely tied to the company’s distribution network, each HTEC is the result of a unique alliance between Haas Automation Europe, a local Haas Factory Outlet (HFO) and a local learning institution. All HTECs are Haas-certified, and require a commitment between the school management and the local HFO.

“This is a wonderful and inspiring challenge,” enthuses Mr. Hall. “HTEC’s are dedicated to the future of the manufacturing industry, and they continue the Haas pledge to deliver high-quality education to the technicians and engineers of tomorrow.

“We’ve already made some groundbreaking agreements with notable institutions, including the prestigious Universität Wien, the Gewerbe Akademie in Konstanz, Germany, more than 20 universities and schools in Russia, Poland, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Scandinavia, Portugal and Estonia. Plus, there are more than 150 Haas Mini-Mills and other Haas CNC machine tools installed in Lycee across France.”

Keller CNCPlus-TRAINING

Haas Automation Europe and industry leading German manufacturing software developer Keller have joined forces to develop and offer Haas customers a free, ‘off-line’ programming software package, which will enable companies to train their machine operators ‘in-house’.

Keller CNCPlus-TRAINING is a groundbreaking program designed to teach both novice and also experienced operators, without the specific expertise, how to program a Haas machine using the proprietary Haas CNC. From January 2007, anyone purchasing a Haas machine tool has been offered this innovative and highly effective training system – worth thousands of Euros - absolutely free. The scheme has been so successful that the company plans to continue the offer throughout 2008.

Haas Automation Europe managing director Mr. Peter Hall has played a key role in developing this unique package - in collaboration with Mr. Siegfried Keller, owner and managing director of Keller GmbH - and also in making it available to Haas Europe customers.

“Keller CNCPlus-TRAINING is the industry leading CNC teaching and learning software system for milling and turning,” he says. “It enables a customer with no experience to learn CNC programming in a very short time. We’re extremely excited to be able to offer it to our customers as a value-added option, free of charge.

“Once the customer is able to program he can purchase the Keller CNCPlus-Production software package and transition seamlessly from the CNCPlus-TRAINING to producing milled or turned parts.”

The Haas HTEC’s will partner with Keller-CNC Competence Centres around Europe to provide a unique and powerful CNC training combination.

As a ‘time-served’, professional engineer, Peter Hall is unequivocal about the importance of education in the engineering sector of the future.

“These are exciting times for young people choosing engineering as a career. It is rapidly becoming very evident that technology will play a pivotal role in 're-engineering' the world’s manufacturing economies - and the infrastructure we rely on - to become more sustainable and less damaging to our environment.

“It’s no exaggeration to state that mankind's future will depend on the ingenuity of scientists and engineers to develop the needed technologies and products and on the resources of the international manufacturing community to make these technologies and products a reality. Manufacturing will need a huge number of well-qualified, skilled people in the decades to come. Through it’s HTEC program, Haas aims to make a long-term contribution to meeting this demand.”

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