US-based AB Tools — a specialist manufacturer of high-performance rotary cutting tools — is experiencing the highest sales in its 40-year history.

Started in 1977 by Alan Baker, the company has customers ranging from small workshops to large companies in almost every industry sector, including aerospace, automotive and medical.

Company president Jonathon Baker said: “My father — Alan Baker — designed the Shear-hog insert 25-plus years ago; it immediately became our number-one product and has been ever since.

“We make a range of carbide-tipped cutting tools on steel blanks to increase the possible range of diameters and lengths of our products.

“We chose to invest in Anca technology (www.machines.anca.com) when our shop supervisor became interested in how a CNC machine could help our business.

“Our first Anca machine was an MX7 Linear CNC tool grinder, which significantly increased our capacity in terms of what types of tool we could produce. Our cycle times also improved.”

Alfred Lyon, shop supervisor at AB Tools, said: “Years ago it was difficult to be competitive producing special tools, due to the time and labour involved.

"When we invested in an Anca machine, its grinding capabilities and flexible software meant that we could produce one-offs or two-offs faster.

“Furthermore, it dramatically increased the efficiency of the manufacturing process, so we could make specials at a profit.

"That has meant that we are now very competitive in our pricing and can offer our customers shorter lead times.

“I looked into getting an Anca grinder at the IMTS show, where a technician demonstrated that I could program one of our tools in under 5min.

“Previously, to make a tool took 20-25min to program the G-Code and a further 15min to grind.

"An Anca applications engineer subsequently came to AB Tools for a three-day training session on the new machine.

“In a day, I was grinding tools and by the second day, I felt like the trainer didn’t need to be there — it was literally that fast.

“Having technology that is easy to learn is especially important, given the lack of skilled operators.”