How a Family Garage Shop Built America's CNC Workhorse and Took On Haas Automation Inc.

At five in the morning, on a lonely road 40 miles outside Las Vegas, Dave de Caussin and his wife sat in a rented truck that had run out of fuel. In the back was a tool changer their family had spent years building in a Van Nuys garage. That was the Beginning of Fadal. Twenty-one years later, Fadal would sell for roughly $180 million after producing about 54 percent of all vertical machining centers made in the United States. This is the complete story of Fadal, from a $2,500 garage startup to Haas Automation's fiercest American rival, and the long corporate journey that followed. Sources consulted and referenced in our research: Fadal Engineering (official site and company history): https://www.fadal.com/ Wikipedia — Giddings & Lewis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gidding... Wikipedia — ThyssenKrupp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyssen... Wikipedia — MAG Industrial Automation Systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAG_Ind... Wikipedia — Haas Automation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haas_Au... Los Angeles Times Archives (1990s coverage of Fadal Engineering, Chatsworth): https://www.latimes.com/archives/ Modern Machine Shop (industry coverage of Fadal and the VMC market): https://www.mmsonline.com/ Practical Machinist (Fadal machine history and owner community): https://www.practicalmachinist.com/ IMTS — International Manufacturing Technology Show: https://www.imts.com/ Alwin Machinery (Fadal distributor and 2024 acquisition): https://alwinmachinery.com/ ---- Copyright © 2026 The Gear Archive. All rights reserved.