Innovative Tool and Die Inc., Delta, BC, has been an Okuma customer for more than two decades. Owners Walter and Stieny Klomp bought the first one–an MC- 4VAE vertical machining centre–in 1993, from Thomas Skinner & Son Ltd., Richmond, BC. Back then, the majority of the company’s income came from the design and manufacture of injection and blow moulds, and much of the machining was done on a German-built Deckel 1:1 3D Pantograph, which cut mould cavities by manual tracing of a pattern or cast part.
Twenty-three years later, the company is on its fifth Okuma. Walter and his wife are “mostly retired,” but still show up occasionally to bring their son and general manager Frank out to lunch, or offer a bit of business advice. And that first Okuma? It’s still in service.
Click here to read the full story.
