Haas Automation expands sales force

Nick Remington, Haas managing director, commented: "We knew 2009 was going to be a real challenge and in January we decided that we would do everything we could to retain our skill base - our people. We pride ourselves on our very low turnover of staff and this, I believe, is partly due to our continued reinvestment in the company. " We made a commitment to all our employees and we've been overwhelmed with the response. December 2008 saw us spend £700,000 in our service department, ready for the 2009 market and this proved to be the right move. Having purchased more service vehicles to meet our customers' requirements, our first time fix rate now exceeds 94 per cent. We know of no other machine tool company that even measures their service back-up. However, at HAAS we monitor every detail to ensure we can deliver over and above our customers' expectations. "Haas has employed two further sales people this year, with Peter Colledge being the latest addition, and more are in the pipeline over the coming weeks. We are a global entity with over 100 distributors worldwide. Sales have soared in the past three months, and while I don't think we're out of recession, I do believe that we have seen the worst of it. "We will end 2009 with more employees than we had in 2008, which is an achievement we are extremely proud of. We recently opened our 9th UK Haas Local showroom, and a further two more are planned in the next few weeks. This local status means we can offer the majority of our customers the minimum time away from their premises to view a machine. "January 2010 will see us exhibit at Autosport and, of course, we will be showcasing many new lines at MACH [7-11 June, NEC, Birmingham]. We will be exhibiting all over the UK and Ireland next year, with over 26 dates being discussed. We see 2010 as being another difficult year, however, we expect to enjoy steady growth. Beyond that, who knows?"