| Press Release July 7, 2008 BCI PURCHASES HAAS EC-400 CNC MACHINE |
On June 30th just moments before a scheduled price increase by the manufacturer, BCI completed a purchase agreement with HAAS Automation, Inc. for new EC-400 CNC machine as a replacement machine for the BCI machine department. The new HAAS machine will replace an ageing Mazak horizontal milling center currently in use by the machine shop that was originally purchased in 1997. The current Machine #6, as it is referred to by the department and employees has lived a useful life at BCI but has become an economic liability in recent months due to maintenance and repair issues. Also due to age and wear, the machine can no longer produce quality parts or run to expected output standards.
The machine was purchased through Arthur Machinery, Inc. located in Elk Grove Village, IL. They are the local, factory authorized, sales and service representative for HAAS equipment in our region.
The new machine will be manufactured to BCI specifications by HAAS Automation, Inc. which is headquartered in Oxnard, California. HAAS Automation, Inc. has recently become a customer for our foundry and we now produce several castings used in the manufacture of HAAS milling machine products.
Several members of our management team have had the opportunity to visit the HAAS factory in California and have come away very impressed with their manufacturing capability and the quality of their products. The machine is scheduled to arrive at BCI in mid September of this year. The new machine is similar in size and capability to the Mazak being replaced. BCI will see gains in the quality of the parts produced on the new EC-400 CNC machine along with a return to the expected parts per hour output rates.