Eighty years ago, in 1946, a small Oxfordshire toolmaking business took its first orders. This August, that business – now trading as
Thame Workholding – marks eight decades of continuous British manufacturing, having grown from subcontract machining into one of the UK's most established names in chuck jaws and workholding technology.
The turning point came early. Rather than remaining purely a subcontractor, the company's directors took the decision to develop products of their own; chuck jaws, branded under the newly created TEC name (Thame Engineering Company). Every jaw the company has made since carries the TEC Diamond mark, together with a unique four- or five-digit product code.
That simple piece of engineering discipline has paid off for decades: customers calling today for a replacement jaw machined in the 1960s or 1970s can often still be identified, sourced, and shipped the next day, thanks to records that stretch back through the company's entire history.
That heritage isn't just a claim — Thame still holds a chuck jaws catalogue and price list dated 1st June 1971, stamped with the same TEC Diamond mark used today. It's this combination of heritage and traceability that underpins the company's current stockholding – nearly 1,000 different chuck jaw types held ready to ship – serving a customer base of more than 1,000 businesses, a quarter of them export accounts spanning the globe.
The business moved to its present site in Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, in 1987. The 12,000ft² facility now runs three, four and five-axis machining centres with multi-pallet handling and automated loading for unmanned production, backed by CMM inspection and full CAD/CAM support – a considerable step up from the original toolroom, though the underlying discipline of precision workholding hasn't changed.
Pic: Some of Thame's chuck jaws still made at Long Crendon todayNor has the range stood still. Alongside its own TEC-branded chuck jaws, Thame now distributes a broad line-up of partner technologies on an exclusive UK basis, including HWR Spanntechnik zero-point clamping systems, Samchully power chucks and rotary tables, WITTE vacuum workholding, Flaig magnetic systems, Rotor revolving centres, and Air Vise pneumatic mill vices — plus VersaBuilt robotic automation systems, reflecting a growing focus on helping customers automate machine loading without a large capital outlay.
Managing director Mark Thomas, who took over running the business alongside manufacturing engineering director Mark Randall from previous owners David and Hilary Handley, is clear about what the milestone means for the business.
He said: “This industry runs on trust built up over years, and eighty years gives us more of that than almost anyone else in UK workholding. We've still got a price list from June 1971 in the archive, and the diamond mark on it is the same one we stamp on every jaw today.
“It means when a customer rings up chasing a jaw for a machine that's older than some of our staff, we can still help them. That's what the next eighty years needs to keep protecting.”
Accredited to ISO 9001:2015 and carrying the Made in Britain mark, Thame Workholding continues to design and manufacture standard and bespoke chuck jaws, fixtures and workholding equipment in-house, serving aerospace, automotive, medical, oil and gas and general engineering customers across the UK and beyond.
Eight decades on from its first machining job, the company says its diamond mark still stands for the same thing it always has: British-made workholding, built to last.