Emuge Celebrates 100th Anniversary
One-hundred years of innovation and precision are the hallmarks of EMUGE-FRANKEN, manufacturer of cutting tool solutions. In 1920, Founder Richard Glimpel started his company with one invention – one century and an acquisition later, his son leads a company employing 1,900 with sales representation in 52 countries.
Posted: June 5, 2020
This year, EMUGE-FRANKEN (West Boylston, MA) – a maker of taps, thread mills, drills, end mills, and other rotary cutting tools – celebrates its centennial. For the past 100 years, innovation has been the company’s cornerstone, evidenced by its many patents – from the original spiral point tap to unique tool holder developments such as SoftSynchro, InnoForm thread forming tools with advanced geometry, and Circle-Segment End Mills that have quadrupled material removal rates, there has been a constant flow of innovative tools produced from their extensive research & development. Recently, EMUGE-FRANKEN developed a new tool category and threading technology with the introduction of the Punch Tap, which produces and threads a hole in one fast operation, at a fraction of the time it takes to conventionally drill and then tap, a hole.
A Proud History
In 1920, Richard Glimpel, a German engineer and master craftsman, founded a company and invented a single-finishing tap with a spiral point that revolutionized the machining of internal threads. The tap obsoleted the 3-part tap set with only one tool, which did the job at a fraction of the time it normally took. The new tool was so successful it helped secure a large order and growth for the fledgling company that Glimpel and three employees had started. Partners were soon added and the brand name “EMUGE” was established. Today, EMUGE-FRANKEN has more than 1,900 employees with locations worldwide.
Many successful EMUGE tool innovations and product expansions have followed, including the addition of tool holders in 1928, special workpiece clamping in 1950, and in 1953, the development of the patented steep spiral-fluted tap, a tool that to this day features the same geometry for machining threads in blind holes throughout the industry. In 1956, Helmut Glimpel, the founder’s son and the current owner, joined the company, and in 1958 EMUGE acquired FRANKEN, a manufacturer of milling tools, and changed its name to EMUGE-FRANKEN.
Expansion and Dedicated Service
With the newly established EMUGE-FRANKEN, Helmut Glimpel focused not only on the expanded product range of the company, now positioned as a full tool system provider, but also on establishing new sales and production facilities to closely serve customers throughout the world, beginning with the U.S. This vision took shape in 1983 with Emuge Corp., which today occupies a newly expanded 50,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Massachusetts that houses a Technology and Training Center, tool reconditioning and manufacturing, including end mills for advanced aerospace machining applications. The facility provides additional capacity to domestically manufacture special solid carbide tooling and other standard solutions within the EMUGE-FRANKEN milling tools portfolio.
Innovating the Future
Moving forward, EMUGE-FRANKEN is fully committed to innovation and continued expansion. Construction is now underway to build a new state-of-the-art 215,000 square foot production facility opposite the current EMUGE-FRANKEN global headquarters in Lauf, Germany. The facility, slated to be fully operation
al by 2023, will enable significant manufacturing capacity increases, making EMUGE-FRANKEN well-poised to further its tradition of quality, precision, innovation, and service into the future of cutting tool manufacturing.
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