GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Stiles Machinery Inc. announced that Weeke North America has been incorporated in the state of Michigan to manufacture an entry-level series of CNC routers. Stiles shared its customers’ requests with German-based Weeke Maschinenbau, a subsidiary of Homag Group, to engineer an entry-level CNC router. Stiles is Weeke’s exclusive distributor in the United States. The outcome of these collaborative efforts is the Weeke Vantech series of CNC routers.

By manufacturing in the States, Stiles says it believed it could build machines for less without factors such as fluctuating exchange rates and international shipping costs, resulting in German-engineered quality at an American-made price. Weeke North America was established as a joint venture between the Homag Group, Stiles and Weeke Maschinenbau. According to David Rothwell, executive vice president for Stiles, “All three shareholders are excited about the opportunities this will bring to our customers in 2009 and beyond.”

The new company occupies a 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility located near Stiles’ headquarters in Grand Rapids and utilizes local manufacturers for components