Craftsman Tools Celebrates 60 Years
Craftsman Tools is proud to have celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2013. Started in 1953 as a tool and cutter grinder, the West Yorkshire family-led company continues to invest in technology and people whilst expanding its worldwide customer base for toolholding, workholding and sub-contract machining.
As an SME, one of the keys to success for Craftsman Tools has been the establishment of partnerships with major global companies. From Mazak, producing a wide range of static toolholders for their CNC lathes, to One Subsea, Sulzer Pumps and Sandvik Coromant who, in 1998 awarded Craftsman a license to manufacture and export Coromant Capto™ toolholders, still one of its best-selling products. Craftsman Tools is also proud to be a partner of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre at the University of Sheffield.
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 and workholding requirements are met, such as the development of a collet-type workdriver for grinding machines for Cinetic Landis, which they have exclusivity for to sell worldwide.
Craftsman has grown significantly since 1953 to a current workforce of 65, fuelling the need for gradual expansion of the current site. The most recent expansion was a 5,000sqft 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 has a current annual turnover of in excess of £4 Million and currently exports over 60% 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 in Beijing. Also, a recent order from a new customer in Russia, based on Craftsman Tools’ reputation, has shown increased interest from this market too.
In its 60th year, Craftsman Tools opened a dedicated apprentice training area and currently has 4 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.”
In 2014, the apprentice training school won the Manufacturing Technologies Association's (MTA's) "Best Training Scheme" award 2014. Just one year after our dedicated Apprentice Training School opened and we took on more apprentices than ever before, we're very happy that the scheme has been recognised within the industry.
Craftsman Tools is at the forefront of work and toolholding technology with the skills and expertise to meet the most exacting and demanding engineering tasks. On-going investment in the latest design techniques and technologically advanced machinery and plant makes Craftsman Tools an industry leader. With sixty years’ experience the growth continues today with the dedication and commitment of a family-led highly trained and skilled workforce.The 2nd year apprentices are being trained at Craftsman in conjunction with the University of Sheffield AMRC (Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre) with Boeing. There are 11 apprentices currently going through the training programme, about one sixth of the company’s total workforce and they are making a big contribution to Craftsman Tools. The scheme has also been recognised in Parliament with Craftsman Tools being invited to attend an event for National Apprentice Day with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg last year.
The company has also enjoyed strong relationships with organisations such as UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), Business Link, Yorkshire Forward and more recently the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS). The benefits of working with these organisations have seen funding awarded for a number of new items of machinery that keeps Craftsman Tools at the leading edge of manufacturing technology.
