Gene Haas
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Gene Francis Haas (born November 12, 1952) is founder, president, and sole stockholder of Haas Automation, one of the world's leading CNC machine tool manufacturers. He also founded a NASCAR team, Haas CNC Racing (now Stewart Haas Racing).
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[edit] Haas Automation
Haas graduated from California State University Northridge in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance. He originally majored in engineering but switched to business after Lockheed nearly went bankrupt. Ironically, after graduation he was unable to find employment in business that paid more than what he was earning at his summer machine shop job. So, for the next few years he worked as a machinist and NC programmer. In 1978, he opened Pro-turn Engineering, a small machine shop with two employees; Tony Cortez and Abel Bugarin.
In 1980, Haas noticed that it took Bugarin a long time to manually position an indexer. Haas thought building his own indexer with a stepper motor drive would make his shop more efficient. He built one for himself and few more for other machine shops. In March 1983, he displayed his indexer at WESTEC (an industry expo). After seeing the positive reaction of attendees, he decided to form Haas Automation to mass produce them. His first commercial product, the HBI-5C (Haas Brothers Indexer), sold well because it was programmable and inexpensive. In 1986, Haas and a partner were awarded a U.S. Patent for their invention. [1]
In 1988, Haas started production on a fully enclosed CNC machining center priced at $49,900, well below the competition. Over time, Haas machine tools became extremely popular, mostly because they are simple, very affordable, and because the in-house designed computer control is operator-friendly (no soft-keys or cryptic menus). Haas Automation is now the largest machine tool manufacturer in the United States. [2]
[edit] Philanthropic activities
Haas has used his position as a successful businessman to share with the local community. Haas Automation and Haas were the recipient of the Roy Pinkerton Award, presented by United Way, Ventura County Chapter.[3] Many engineering colleges have "CNC Labs" outfitted with machines he donated, including California State University Channel Islands [4] and California State University Northridge. [5]
The Gene Haas Foundation
The Gene Haas Foundation has been a major supporter of local, Ventura County-area charities in recent years. Since its formation in 1999, the Foundation has provided more than seven milion dollars in grants to organizations such as The United Way, Boys and Girls Clubs, Food Share, Red Cross, YMCA, Casa Pacifica, American Cancer Society, Cal State University, Rain Transitional Living Center, Salvation Army, National MS Society, Ventura County Rescue Mission, and many more.2
[edit] Criminal tax evasion
On the morning of June 19, 2006, Haas was arrested by IRS agents for investigation of filing false tax returns, witness intimidation, and conspiracy. Four others were indicted together with Haas.
Haas initially pled not guilty, but after all four of the co-indicted plead guilty and just before his case was to go to trial, a plea agreement was reached with Haas pleading guilty on one count.
Haas made full restitution to the IRS and has served a fraction of a 24 month sentence in federal prison. He was released to a halfway house in November of 2008. Since February of 2009, he has been living at his home and working at Haas Automation.
During his imprisonment, Haas was ordered to relinquish his NASCAR team to Margaret Haas and team general manager Joe Custer. As of January 2009, the race team is jointly owned by Gene Haas and Tony Stewart and is named "Stewart-Haas". Gene Haas was present at the first team win in May of 2009 when Tony Stewart won the All-Star race.
[edit] References
2. Gene Haas Foundation data provided by Manager, Gene Haas Foundation, 2800 Sturgis Road, Oxnard, California 93030
[edit] External links
- Industry Week article on Haas Automation
- Official Haas Automation website
- Official Haas CNC Racing website
- Haas' biography at Haas Automation
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