Virtual VIBE: Haas Automation, Inc.

Thank you for the introduction. I appreciate the opportunity to be here and talk a little bit about Haas and our new factory that we're so proud of, or will be at least when it's completed. That factory, by the way, will begin construction in May and we expect to have it completed and up and running within two years. So we are looking at early 2023 for that new operation. So to answer your question, I came to Haas 37 years ago and it was an opportunity for me. I had a chance to work in an industry where I could use my hands. I was going from a job as a mid-20 year old guy that was working in retail and I saw a great opportunity to come work for an operation where Gene Haas had just begun to develop this product that would be the very first product that we built in 1984, 37 years ago. That is used in the machine tool industry to locate a part that's used by a machine tool usually and rotate that part to a very high precision angle. That was his very first product, the first thing he thought of, and he was transitioning at the time himself from a job shop where he used to make parts for a lot of people to his first product in his new company called Haas Automation. So this was all a great opportunity for me to go to work in manufacturing 37 years ago.

Well, Haas Automation manufactures what's called CNC, computerized numerical control, machine tools. And those are the machines that are used in virtually every industry across the planet for precision parts, precision components. The parts that go into your car, the parts that go into an aircraft, a harvesting machine for agriculture industry, the oil equipment in the oil field, medical instruments they're used in surgery, the components that go into a bicycle in various industries where we build products for recreation. Parts for the Mars rover were made on CNC machines. So anytime a precision part is needed, you would look to a product like ours. It's computerized; the computer is programmed to make that part over and over and over again at a very high precision or level of precision. And manufacturers, all types of manufacturers, large and small, in Nevada and nationwide and worldwide, use those products for that particular purpose. So that's what we do today. And we've just expanded our product lines 37 years later into a pretty broad set of products that are used for a lot of different industries.

Well, manufacturing is very important to a lot of people. In 1998, there are more than 250,000 manufacturers in the United States with a combined output of more than 2.3 trillion dollars. More important to your listeners, I think, is the fact that manufacturing jobs pay on average much higher than hospitality-based jobs. The average manufacturing industry worker in the U.S. receives more than $85,000 every year in compensation. A strong manufacturing base leads to more research and development, more innovation, higher productivity, more exports, more jobs for the middle class. Manufacturing helps raise the standard of living more than any other sector. And I think that's what we believe is needed in southern Nevada, at least what we've been told by leaders in the city of Henderson and across the state of Nevada.

Well, as I mentioned, we're still... we're just about to begin construction of our first facility there and in less than two years we're going to be faced with having to hire, having to bring in the workforce. We really have our work cut out for us. It'll take years for the educational pipelines to be developed in that region. As you probably know, manufacturing isn't a large part of the economy in southern Nevada and trying to develop those pipelines and the training programs that are going to be needed for manufacturers like Haas is going to take a little bit of work. We're going to kickstart those efforts when we open our doors in 2023. We've already committed to hiring about 2,000 people in our first five to 10 years. So we're already at work with people in the community to get those kind of programs started. We've been dealing with Clark County School District, the charter schools in the area, the College of Southern Nevada, UNLV, and others. Even the City of Henderson is looking for ways to assist with developing those pipelines and those training programs that we'll need and other manufacturers will need.

I think they're great. You know, we all have our pictures of manufacturing; that was a picture I had in my head growing up as well. I think it was the picture we had of maybe when our grandparents worked in industry many, many years ago. But the reality is that today, what we call advanced manufacturing, the kind of work we do is clean, quiet, and comfortable working environment. Our factories are really nice places to work with good working conditions. For example, our employees enjoy lunches at one of our lunch parks with trees and umbrellas and waterfalls. Nice pay and benefits are good. We pay performance bonuses to all our employees. You've got to treat people well if you want to attract people. And we do quite well. We have very low turnover and people like working for companies like ours.

Well, there are a lot of jobs in the factory and that runs the range from... for example, from assembly line workers, that's probably the most plentiful job in the factory, from assembly line workers to machine shop machinists in the machine shop, to inventory, to quality control, to purchasing and engineering and accounting. I mean, all the typical functions, sales and marketing, etc. If someone was interested in working, for example, on our assembly line, I would suggest good mechanical skills are a great starting point. We will train people with the desire to work in the factory, but some kind of experience or preference for working with their hands, people that work on cars or other mechanical things, working with computers is a great start for that sort of thing as well. So there will be training available. As I mentioned, an assembly line worker will probably provide the majority of the training. If you wanted to be a machinist or any of the other skilled jobs, be on the lookout for some of the advanced accelerated training programs that we'll be part of in the coming year or two. Those will be provided through CSN, possibly the city, and we're looking at other entities as well that can help us put those training programs together for the community. So over the next couple of years, we'll see a lot show up.

Assembly line workers and machinists. Machinists, probably from the standpoint of requiring a little higher level of skills. And a machinist, by the way, is the person who has the level of skills to be able to take one of the products we build and set it up, program it, determine what tools are needed for that particular job, determine how to fixture that job. But they're the expert when it comes to determining how to make a component from a drawing. A good machinist can take any kind of a drawing, an engineering drawing, and turn it into a finished part. Machinist level training is something that CSN is going to be providing very soon. There will be accelerated training available at some point as well, where in less than a year you should be able to learn all the skills needed to be a machinist. And machining jobs pay typically anywhere from at the low level it's $17, $18 an hour, all the way up to $20 or $30 an hour for a higher level. So if that's something someone was interested in, I would suggest looking at machinist training programs. There's currently one at the Great Basin College in Pahrump, that's a little bit of a distance, but CSN will have those programs in place very soon. Again, for an assembly line worker, we'll be able to do some training and just an inclination, a desire to work with your hands is important there.

Well, manufacturing is a unique field, it's not the same as sitting in an office and a typical office type position. It's very fulfilling, I believe. I would recommend to anyone that's interested in a job in manufacturing, first be sure that manufacturing is what you want to do. If you enjoy working with your hands, if you see the satisfaction of being part of turning raw materials into high-tech products, then manufacturing might be the right thing for you. I think if someone applies themselves, they can do very well. Opportunities for advancement exist and there are higher level... if you came in as an assembler, for example, there's a pathway through higher and higher levels of assembly, there's machining, there's management, there's supervision. A lot of opportunities, but just be sure that it's the right job for you and then pursue something.

Well, you know, it may not be the job for everyone, manufacturing, but it's a job that pays very well. I find it to be very satisfying. I started my career in the factory actually building some of our first products many years ago. Today I'm in a management role. It really is interesting and satisfying to see the fruits of your labor in the products that are used by companies all across the country. And it doesn't hurt that the manufacturers like Haas pay better than almost everybody else. Depends on the job, I suppose, but the pay is good, the benefits are great, working conditions are great. I look forward to talking to anybody who's interested in a career. We're always open, our HR department is always available to talk to people. And we look forward to having a whole lot more information as we get closer to opening up our doors in two years.

My pleasure. Bye.