NUMBER 02 - Haas Automation, Inc.

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0 | www.<strong>Haas</strong>CNC.com In the gently rolling hills a few kilometres outside of Hanover, Germany, lies a sleepy 18th Century farm, which appears very much like many others dotting the landscape. The numerous outbuildings are half-timbered with bowed walls and shingled roofs, yet these contain not livestock and hay, but rather a state-of-the-art industrial design and production facility. Despite a distinct lack of mountains nearby, this farm in Lower Saxony is home to Nicolai GmbH, producer of some of the world’s finest mountain bikes.
NICOLAI MOUNTAIN BIKES is owned and operated by engineer Karlheinz Nicolai. Offering custom bikes and frames for serious amateurs and professional competitors worldwide, the company’s goal is simple: “We want to build the best mountain bikes in the world,” says Nicolai. According to the industry press, they are well on their way to doing just that. Karlheinz Nicolai began his career after graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering from Hanover University in 1994. Shortly after, he accepted an internship with bike development and engineering company AMP Research in Irvine, California. “I wanted to broaden my view of the world – and of business,” he says. “I learned a great deal at AMP. In particular, the American way of getting things done with as little fuss as possible. That stood me in very good stead. The experience at AMP also sparked my interest in serious mountain biking.” On his return to Germany, Karlheinz founded Nicolai GmbH after bidding on and winning an R&D contract from another American company, Mongoose Bicycles. The new company’s remit was to develop and build a new frame for a racing bicycle. “At that time, I was just a one-man show, working from my garage at home,” he remembers. The frame that Nicolai developed was raced in the National Off-Road Bicycle Association championships that year and, to the surprise of the designer, won. “Suddenly, overnight, I became famous as the person who designed the winning frame,” continues Nicolai, jokingly. The punch line was that Mongoose immediately placed an order with Nicolai for 1,000 frames. “This was a serious shock,” he recalls. “I had no production or manufacturing capability at all, so I decided to outsource everything, and just assemble the finished product.” This turned out to be far from the perfect arrangement. Quality control was extremely difficult to manage, and dealing with vendors was time consuming and often frustrating. Although the fledgling Nicolai GmbH ultimately fulfilled the order, it was touch-and-go. “It was the most stressful period of my life,” Nicolai remembers. “That’s when I decided in the future to handle all manufacturing in-house.”
Page 1 and 2: NUMBER 02
Page 3 and 4: In This Issue Welcome to the second
Page 5 and 6: Steffen Brück, general manager of
Page 7 and 8: Unlike other machine tool case stud
Page 9 and 10: control, which means if you can pro
Page 11: Downhill from the Start Story and s
Page 15 and 16: The frame that Nicolai developed wa
Page 17 and 18: Nicolai GmbH selects employees care
Page 19 and 20: SIDEBAR A Perfect Bike is a Perfect
Page 21 and 22: adjust production on the spot. This
Page 23 and 24: In the past, enclosed transmissions
Page 25 and 26: pers Orange County Motorcycle’s R
Page 27 and 28: “You’re wasting time!” booms
Page 29 and 30: New Reality With the challenging ex
Page 31 and 32: CNC Machining: Do you feel you’
Page 33 and 34: In a huge and unprecedented effort
Page 35 and 36: CNCMACHINING cycle Time Windshear
Page 37 and 38: Haas CNC Racing Haas CNC Racing is
Page 39 and 40: N1 (Sub-program tool path) N2 (Sub-

NUMBER 02 - Haas Automation, Inc.

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