The ease of operating a Haas machine coupled with support and accuracy of the machine, has helped the machining firm carve out its own unique identity
Despite what the text books and the business magazines might say, there’s no ‘right’ way to start a company. Some of those that eventually turn out to be successful have very humble beginnings, and no particular business plans to speak of. Take Haas Automation customer Lange CNC, for example. Founded and owned by Jens Lange, and his wife, Steffi, the Stuttgart-based company wasn’t exactly an accident, but it started off as little more than a pastime, albeit a very time consuming one.
Start of an entrepreneurial journey
Lange CNC makes low volume parts for special machines – machine control pedals or turning handles; as well as a lot of bearing flanges. Describing the initial journey, Jens Lange, Founder, Lange CNC, says, “I was working for a local manufacturing company. At that time, some friends and I were racing RC cars – in our spare time, as a hobby. One of my friends – a very serious RC car racer, asked me to make him some aluminium axels for his car, which I did. He was so pleased with the axels – and others were likewise, very interested in the product, that I decided to buy an old, knee-type milling machine to see what else I could make. Pretty soon, local companies began to find out I was machining in my spare time, and a few orders came my way.”
Discovering Haas
After 3-4 months, Jens Lange would finish his job at the end of each day and spend another eight hours a day working in his own machine shop! It was crazy, but he loved it. After a year or so – around 2008, he decided it was time to buy a milling machine with a tool changer, which is when he went to AMB, the manufacturing show in Stuttgart, and discovered Haas. Immediately, he could see they were the right CNC machines for him. “They were relatively low cost, very well equipped and, overall, great value for money. My first Haas was a VF-1 vertical machining centre, which is still running as hard today as it was the day it arrived,” remembers Jens Lange.
Addition of Haas machines
Jens Lange continued in his day job while running the Haas in the evenings. This went on for 7 years, until he had a daughter and his wife, Steffi, said, ”You need to decide whether you are going to carry on like this or take the risk to run your own business full time.” A semi-retired gentleman called Straub, with a background in machining, said he’d come and work for him, so immediately he had employee number one. When Steffi and Jens Lange decided to commit to running Lange CNC, they bought a Haas ST-10Y turning centre with live tooling, another VF-1 and a VF-2SS super speed machine. The team already had some new business, once customers knew we were full time, so the fact that the Haas machines were ordered and arrived within three weeks was perfect.
“We make quite a few parts for local manufacturer, SMS Maschinenbau – parts for special machines. Our volumes are low – typically 1-10 pieces, such as machine control pedals or turning handles. We make a lot of bearing flanges – programmes run to 100,000 lines and tolerance are 0.02mm, but that’s no problem for the Haas ST-10Y. We often use it to make parts with tolerances of 0.008mm,” states Jens Lange.
Florian is the machine operator running the ST-10Y. He’s currently making 250 little spindles for a miniature vice, used in dental applications and metrology. At the most, the team makes batches of, say, 500 small prismatic parts for customers like VW. But small batches are the firm’s specialty, which is why the firm is about to merge with another local machining business that is set-up for larger batches: 2000+ off.
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Benefits of Haas machines
- Haas machines are easy to run
- Haas machines can run without heating or insulation
- Extensive support &great accuracy
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Easy to operate
The Haas machines are so easy to run. One of the company’s operators – Hans Maier, spent 20-years out of machining before he joined the company. “We put him on a Haas VF-1 and he was running it within a couple of days, no problem. We also have a trainee, BahadirDeniz, a student from a local college, running our other VF-1. He’s doing a great job and I know he’s very comfortable operating the Haas,” states Jens Lange.
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We are a young, growing company which values the support of our local Haas Factory Outlet”
– Jens Lange, Founder, Lange CNC
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All Haas machines run from 6:30am to 10pm, every day. Before the team moved to the current premises, the workshop was a garage, without heating or insulation, and the Haas VF-1 would be running in temperatures of zero degrees. But, despite the demands that the team placed on them, the team had no serious issues and the Haas machines never lost accuracy. If ever we the team needed support, the local Haas Factory Outlet could send a replacement part or a service engineer within twenty-four hours. For a young, growing company like Lange CNC, that sort of peace of mind was very valuable.
