Haas

The Appassamy Group makes 80% of the intraocular lenses used in India to treat patients with cataracts. A replacement intraocular lens is a flexible, plastic insert with positioning and holding struts called haptics. The patient’s own lens is removed — usually after it is frozen — and the new one is implanted inside the capsular bag of the eye. Appassamy produces 300,000 lenses a month, and an enormous range of other equipment used in eye clinics and hospitals.

Patrick Walker’s company, Works Racing, makes engine parts for Norton Manx 500s from the 1950’s and 60’s. His workshop is next to the home he shares with his wife, two children and two dogs, halfway along a muddy lane near Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. When the weather is fine, Mr. Walker throws open the double door of his south-facing workplace and sunshine illuminates a curiosity shop of engines, half-finished restorations, work-benches, vintage motorcycle memorabilia and a Haas Mini Mill 2.

While many subcontract engineering companies around the world are enjoying a share of the revenue created by a buoyant and burgeoning aerospace industry, manufacturers in South Africa have only recently become acquainted with these opportunities. One such company is Aerosud, a privately owned aeronautical engineering specialist that was formed in 1990.

Tucked away in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, RKS Design consistently delivers focused solutions for the likes of Fossil, PepsiCo, and Sanyo to name only a few. Considered one of the top ten industrial design firms in North America, RKS is one company among many that uses automated rapid prototyping to save time. To bring its innovative designs to life, RKS relies on in-house rapid prototyping performed on their Haas vertical machining centers.