Haas Celebrates Milestone
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the VF-1, their very first vertical machining center.
Posted: March 23, 2018
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the VF-1, the very first vertical machining center from Haas Automation, Inc. (Oxnard, CA). The “V” in the model name stands for vertical, an industry-standard designation for a vertical mill. Company founder Gene Haas added “F1” to the name to unofficially designate it as their “Very First One.”
Developed in 1987 and introduced at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) 88 in Chicago, IL, the VF-1 established an industry milestone by being the very first American-built vertical machining center to sell for less than $50,000, an unheard-of price at that time. With a published price of $49,900 (published pricing was another Haas first) the VF-1 quickly became the industry benchmark for affordable CNC technology.
Factoring for inflation, that $49,900 starting price would be nearly $104,000 today. But 30 years later, the 2018 Haas VF-1 still sells for less than $50,000: it’s $46,995 and the company is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of CNC machine tools, with an extensive lineup of more than 100 high performance products. Prices for all their machines and options are published online, and customers can even build and price their new machine online.
All of these machines are manufactured in their 1.1 million sq ft facility in Southern California and distributed through a worldwide network of more than 170 Haas Factory Outlets (HFOs). Each HFO has complete showroom facilities, factory-trained service personnel, extensive spare parts inventories, and fully stocked service vehicles to provide the best service and support. At present, there are roughly 200,000 of these CNC machines and 100,000 rotary products in use around the world. In 2018, they will build more than 15,000 machines, with around 60 percent of them going to international markets.
To commemorate 30 years of the VF-1 and other firsts, Haas have launched a year-long “Very First” campaign that will include worldwide demo day events, a video series documenting both company and customer “very firsts,” and much more. This campaign will culminate with the return of machine No. 1 – the Very First Haas VF-1 – to IMTS 2018 in Chicago, where the story began. For more information about the company and their machines, or to configure and price your next machine tool, please click here.
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