2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the Kurt AngLock Vise and Kurt Industrial Products. It all began with one vise model – the D60 AngLock - and it quickly became the vise of choice by machinists everywhere because of its unique patented design.
“The Kurt AngLock vise was designed at the same time computer numerical controlled machines became the new manufacturing technology of the day,” says William Kuban, CEO and son of the founder of Kurt. “It was truly a manufacturing revolution. Everything changed because CNC machines were smarter, faster and more precise. The AngLock vise provided the workholding accuracy and repeatability for these automated, high speed systems.”From the start, Kurt was the industry leader and through the years developed many exclusive vise and workholding designs that defined that industry category. For its 50th anniversary, Kurt displays a special logo labeled the Kurt “360° Product Advantage”. The logo represents today’s hundreds of Kurt workholding product options. These include multiple station CNC vises, 5-axis vises, rotary table workholding, MultiChuck MMY static milling chucks, DockLock zero point clamping systems, a full line of tombstones for achieving maximum high density workholding, and accessories to complement every workholding setup. Kurt is the exclusive worldwide distributor of NEMI vacuum workholding. Kurt also provides a full line of automated and manual gaging systems and SPC software, and is a Fanuc integrator for automation.
During its 50 very successful years as the workholding leader, Kurt set new standards for quality, durability and precision. In 2002, it achieved the milestone of 500,000 vises sold with many of its first production models still in everyday shop use. “We see those 40 and 50 year old Kurt vises on machines in shops all the time,” Kuban reports. “You can’t miss them because the bases are painted gray.” (Today’s Kurt vise bases have a blue finish so it’s easy to differentiate the new from the old).
Precision machined out of 80,000 lb PSI ductile iron, Kurt vises and all of the workholding products it manufactures are so durable and reliable that they are backed by a Lifetime Ironclad Warrantee. Numerous awards have been won by Kurt through its 50 years, including international recognition for best vise and workholding brand.
“These achievements are made possible by our outstanding employee commitment through the years,” Kuban says. “Their continual dedication to precision and quality has moved us to where we are today and toward an even more promising future.”
Kurt’s 50-year milestone is underscored by a new facility Kurt moved into 24 months ago. The facilities include an impressive Automated Production system designed for eventual lights out manufacturing of many Kurt vise product lines.
“What’s most impressive about this system is that it incorporates a wide variety of Kurt workholding products,” Kuban states. ”We utilize standard Kurt workholding, custom engineered workholding and towers, the DockLock system, and automated custom engineered systems to put this cell together. We wanted to make this a showpiece of all Kurt’s technical abilities for present and prospective customers to see.”
Looking forward to the next 50 years, Kurt believes it has a very bright future. “Machinists, process planners and engineers, through continuous improvement programs, are continually upgrading workholding applications,” Kuban says. “That means a growing need for new, innovative workholding designs. Kurt will continue to be the driving force for these innovative workholding designs.”