Craftsman Tools celebrates 60 years and continues expansion
1 min read
Craftsman Tools is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, following its establishment, in 1953, as a tool and cutter grinder.
Today, the company is involved in the manufacture of toolholding and workholding, as well as providing a subcontract machining service, reaching out to a worldwide audience.
As an SME, one of the keys to its success, according to the company, has been the establishment of partnerships with major global companies.
This stretches from global machine tool maker Mazak, for whom its produces a wide range of static toolholders for their CNC lathes, to Cameron, Sulzer Pumps and Sandvik Coromant, the latter which, in 1998, awarded Craftsman a license to manufacture and export Coromant Capto toolholders: still one of its best-selling products.
Craftsman's product portfolio has grown to include a wide range of cube-type workholding, expanding mandrels and zero-point fixturing, along with Craftsman Capto quick-change toolholders and anti-vibration boring bar holders developed with Sandvik Coromant and Teeness in Norway.
The range of products is constantly increasing, as toolholding adapters are designed to suit new ranges of machine tools for many leading manufacturers, such as the development of a collet-type workdriver for grinding machines for Cinetic Landis, which it has exclusivity to sell worldwide.
The company has grown significantly since 1953, to a current workforce of 63, fuelling the need for gradual expansion of the current site. The most recent expansion was a 5,000 sq ft addition to the shop floor in 2012, which houses a Doosan DBC1105 horizontal boring machine for machining larger oil industry parts, and illustrates Craftsman's continued investment in state-of-the-art technology.
Craftsman currently exports over 40% of its products to 32 countries worldwide. China is a market the company is looking to exploit further by exhibiting for the first time at the CIMT exhibition this year (held last month).
Also, a recent order from a new customer in Russia, based on Craftsman Tools' reputation, has demonstrates increased interest from this market too.
In its 60th year, Craftsman Tools opened a dedicated apprentice training area and currently has four apprentices part-way through their training. A recent visit from local MP Greg Mulholland highlighted Craftsman's continued investment in the next generation of skilled engineers. Robert Johnson, managing director at Craftsman Tools, commented: "In the current economic climate, it isn't always easy for young people to get into employment, but we want to do our bit by offering them a really high quality training programme."
