LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — If you drive down Via Inspirada in Henderson, there are a few places that just look like the desert.
However, a specific lot, off of Via Inspirada and Larson Lane, will soon become a new Haas Automation manufacturing facility.
Haas Automation is the largest machine tool builder in the Western world and they make low-cost machine tools and specialized accessory tooling.
That includes computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment like vertical machining centers (VMCs), horizontal machining centers (HMCs), lathes, and rotary tables as well as a number of large five-axis and specialty machines.
The company was founded by Gene Haas in 1983 and their headquarters are in Oxnard, California.
Haas Automation was looking to expand their operations and chose Henderson, Nevada for their new site. That includes building a 4.3 million-square-foot complex, including a main facility that is 2.4 million square feet.
"Henderson and Nevada have made it very easy for us to secure land and build a factory fairly quickly. We have had some delays but it was due to the pandemic and not their fault," said Peter Zierhut, Vice President, Outside Operations for Haas Automation. "I think Nevada, overall, is just so much more business-friendly than other parts of the country that we've looked at. It's been an easy and wonderful process."
Zierhut added that Haas is looking forward to recruiting and hiring workers from our region.
"Although there isn't a large manufacturing workforce currently in Southern Nevada, we have easy access to a large number of people who, we believe, are going to be very motivated and very interested in working in manufacturing as we expand to grow that facility."
Initially, the factory will hire 200 to 300 workers. However, that workforce is projected to grow to 2,500 jobs over the next 10 years.
"Primarily, it's going to be workers to build our product, assembly line workers. That's a skill level like, say, a mechanic, somebody that can assemble, build, follow instructions and drawings. It's not heavy-duty work. It's something that we can train fairly easily," Zierhut explained. "The rest of it is machinists, warehouse workers, engineers, a lot of engineers in both mechanical and electrical engineering, as well as manufacturing engineers."
Haas has already poured millions of dollars into scholarships and local education programs in order to start training students who could potentially join their workforce.
"The College of Southern Nevada was certainly one of the early partners that we got involved with, but also, the Clark County School District and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who have been very open to helping us build the programs that we need," Zierhut said.
Local leaders have been planning ahead for manufacturing companies that are interested in building factories here. The City of Henderson partnered up with the College of Southern Nevada to open the Debra March Center Of Excellence last August.
It is conveniently located across the street from the Haas Automation site in Henderson.
Dan Flick is the Executive Director, Advanced Manufacturing at CSN and he showed me around the Center of Excellence.
The state-of-the-art facility includes Haas equipment, which students are using and getting first-hand experience on.
"It's been a very beneficial partnership with them over the years," Flick explained. "They have the Haas Technical Education Community, which is fantastic for all the resources that they're able to give educators."
Flick was actually the site director for the Gene Haas Training Education Center in Lebanon, Indiana before he was recruited to work at CSN.
"Students are very interested in this type of work. I had one gentleman in one of my mechanical technologies classes ask about advanced manufacturing. He said do you have CNCs? I said yes. I took him over and showed him our CNCs at another location. He said sign me up," Flick recalled. "I said well, there's plenty of jobs out there. He said no. I have a job. I just want to look at all of the technology that you have and learn things."
WEB EXTRA: Check out the lab at CSN's Debra March Center of Excellence
The center also hosts training sessions for instructors as well as special events like the Project MFG competition where college students competed in NASCAR-themed challenges. You can watch the full episode here.
UNLV mechanical engineering professor Dr. Brendan O'Toole is seeing the same enthusiasm from his students and says enrollment keeps going up.
"Our programs, especially in engineering and computer science, are important for their workforce. And so, [Haas has] funded scholarships. They've funded some of our design competition teams," O'Toole said. "They're looking for future workers for their system here. They also really seem to have a genuine interest in improving education both locally and across the country."
Haas also pays college students who are trained to become student mentors. They help 20 high school robotics teams across the valley.
"As young students trying to figure out what they want to do in life, a lot of them find manufacturing and design and automotive and aerospace engineering. They find that exciting and interesting," O'Toole said. "We like working with the high schools to help them figure out how to best prepare for when they get to the university."
WEB EXTRA: UNLV students show us the types of robots they're working on
O'Toole says that hands-on experience has also given his students and teams a leg up on competition from other schools.
"One example is our Baja SEA (Society of Automotive Engineers) team. They've been using the Haas machines to manufacture custom parts for an off-road vehicle," O'Toole explained. "They make custom shocks, custom steering components, and bearing mounts inside a custom transmission. Almost every mechanical component on their vehicle was manufactured on the equipment. We go to competitions with 100 other universities. For the last four or five years, we've typically been in the top 10 or 15 and we won in a recent competition."
WEB EXTRA: UNLV students use Haas machines to create parts for off-road vehicle
Two students who graduated with engineering degrees now work for the Stewart-Haas NASCAR team and will be at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the South Point 400 next month.
UNLV is also in the processing of setting up a new lab called the Gene Haas Makers Space, which will be located in the Advanced Engineering Building. It will be a place where students can work on larger-scale projects.
As for CCSD, at least four schools have manufacturing technology programs as part of the district's career and technical education programs.
Students can study manufacturing technology at:
- Centennial High School
- Cimarron-Memorial High School
- Desert Rose High School
- Sunrise Mountain High School
CCSD Manufacturing Technologies Program of Study by jarah.wright on Scribd
CCSD teachers and students have also visited CSN's Center of Excellence for additional training and learning opportunities.
In addition to those campuses, CCSD officials told me they're getting ready to start construction on the South Career and Technical Academy, which will be located on Starr Avenue, which isn't far from where the new Haas facility will be built.
Construction on the new CCSD campus is scheduled to begin this fall and the campus is scheduled to open their doors in the fall of 2026.
As for the Haas facility, there is a ground-breaking ceremony scheduled for October 2. However, the company has already put over $100 million into the site.
"We started about three years ago. We put over a year of work into grading that property, which was a significant project," Zierhut said. "What starts this month is actually vertical construction and the construction of the factory itself."
The facility will be themed after the Haas Formula 1 team as well as the Stewart-Haas NASCAR team.
"The F1 team is an important part of our overall marketing globally. It'll tie in the messaging and marketing to how we promote Haas itself. You'll see the F1 name on our building as well," Zierhut explained. "I don't think most people realize but Formula 1 is the number two sport globally, right behind soccer. It doesn't enjoy quite that level of popularity in the U.S. but it's growing."
Earlier this year, Stewart-Haas Racing announced they would close their NASCAR teams at the end of the 2024 season. However, the company won't be leaving NASCAR completely.
"It's an operation where years ago, Gene Haas partnered with Tony Stewart, one of NASCAR's top drivers. Things had sort of been in wind-down mode for a little while. They will close that operation," Zierhut said. "But Gene Haas is going to continue next year with a one-car team called the Haas Factory Team. So we will continue to have a presence in NASCAR with the 41 car with the Haas name on it. That's our effort to help grow our brand through their NASCAR racing."
The Haas site will sit next to a new facility that Aristocrat Gaming opened last month.
Another company called ANA, which is based out of California, is also planning to come to Henderson.
City leaders said diversification is important for our area, when it comes to new and/or other industries opening businesses in the valley.
"I would say in these economic times, being business-friendly is table-stakes. Any community that cannot say they are not business-friendly aren't even going to be in the discussion for large business growth. It's also about being proactive with businesses. What are we doing? How are we putting our money and our strategy where these companies need us to," said Jared Smith, the Director of Economic Development and Tourism for the City of Henderson. "We are being proactive when we think about what these companies actually need. We are pushing very hard to not only be good community partners to our residents but great community partners to our businesses."
You can learn more about CCSD Career and Technical Education programs here.
