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Switzerland-based Rego-Fix Tool Corp. on Thursday opened a 12,000-square-foot addition to its existing facility in Whitestown that company officials say will partly serve as an incubator for other foreign companies that want to do business in Indiana.
Rego-Fix, which makes precision tool-holding parts for the aerospace, medical and power generation industries, relocated in 2017 from Indianapolis to Whitestown, where it built an initial 20,000-square-foot facility.
Rego-Fix General Manager of Americas Bill Obras said the Center for Machining Excellence at 4420 Anson Blvd. will help companies from Europe and elsewhere that are interested in setting up shop in Indiana. He described it as a place for a company to have an office with a couple of employees and use the facility as its base to get started in the Hoosier State.
Rego-Fix will also use the Center for Machining Excellence to attract people from across the machine tool industry to share, sample and test different types of technology produced by the company’s manufacturing partners.
“When we designed the center for this technology-sharing partnership, we thought, well, why don’t we also include in there an opportunity to have partners from Europe come in and call that their hub,” Obras said. “We can incubate, get them started and as they grow, they will then go get their own locations, and ideally, we want to do that in Indiana.”
Rego-Fix’s current roster of manufacturing partners at the Center for Machining Excellence is Swiss-based Tornos Machine, German-based Microtechnik and SolidCAM, and Japan-based Kitamura Machinery.
Rego-Fix, founded in 1950 by Fritz Weber, is led by brothers CEO Richard Weber, President Andreas Weber and Vice President Stefan Weber. In 1973, Fritz Weber patented the ER collet, which is a now a commonly used tool manufacturers use to hold metalworking cutting tools.
The company’s initial headquarters space features a warehouse, administrative offices, machining space, loading dock, sales garage, conference room, training center and workout room.
Amenities at the Center for Machining Excellence include a 165-inch video wall with advanced audio-visual capabilities for presentations and recordings, along with furnished private office spaces, showrooms and demonstration areas.
“When we looked at expanding, we were looking to do something uniquely different,” Obras said. “While there might be challenges in the machine tool industry, we can join together to solve those challenges, versus working in isolation in our own factories and plants. It’s really a collaboration and synergy.”
The Center for Machining Excellence will also provide local universities and technical schools with an opportunity to partner with Rego-Fix and its manufacturing partners for hands-on learning experiences.
Obras added that the Center for Machining Excellence will provide a pathway for young people to get apprenticeships and gain manufacturing skills.
“Indiana is trying to develop a unique apprenticeship program to get more people into all industries, manufacturing, insurance, banking, finance, and they’re trying to learn from the Swiss model, which has been established for many years,” he said. “Through that, there’s a cooperation between Switzerland and the state of Indiana. We are also looking to try to utilize this facility to help support that.”
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