Sutton Tools launches its SMART Centre
Sutton Tools launched its new SMART Centre on Friday 24 March with an open day for the hardware and tooling industries.
Adjacent to our Thomastown headquarters and R&D Lab, SMART stands for Supporting Manufacturing Advances, Research & Technology. Set up during 2022 with an initial investment of $500,000, it offers an area for manufacturers to trial and experience innovative technologies. It also provides a focus for our collaboration with universities including Swinburne and RMIT, including our PhD student programs.
Highlights of the Open Day included demonstrations of toolmaking processes and testing with our CNC partners Okuma and Haas. Walter Tools, which we distribute in Australia, held workshops with their innovative online tool specification customisation and ordering system, Walter GPS.
Our technical based partner; Tickford Racing provided a huge drawcard: a SuperCars V8 simulator had our guests roaring around a virtual track trying to complete a lap in the shortest time, while trying not to crash! Tickford Racing star Cameron Waters, in Melbourne for the Grand Prix, gave a virtual driving demonstration and signed autographs for fans. Sutton Tools has a long-term involvement with the Tickford engineering team – helping them continuously enhance performance of their four SuperCars, one of which bears our branding.
For most, the highlight of the Open Day was a 90-minute tour of Sutton Tools Thomastown site. Starting in our R&D facility, they gained an understanding of our new product design, testing, troubleshooting and quality control processes and the advanced technologies we deploy. We then walked through the two plants where we manufacture drilling/milling tools and threading tools respectively, as well as our tool recoating and regrinding facility.
Perhaps the most impressive area was our International Distribution Centre – where we’ve significantly invested over recent years in warehousing equipment and logistics processes. With upwards of 16,000 SKUs stored at any given time, 11,000 are now housed in sophisticated gravity-fed Kardex machines to speed accurate storage and picking from our high-demand commodity product ranges. On a typical day, we pick, pack and ship 10,000 lines over two staggered shifts – representing around 1,000 orders. Our new levels of efficiency enable us to despatch priority orders received by 3pm for, typically, next day delivery to our Australian customers.
Managing Director Peter Sutton felt SMART Open Day went extremely well and was delighted so many of our customers and the industry generally found the day worthwhile. “It’s exceeded all our expectations,” he said. “The best-of-the-best from Australian advanced manufacturing were with us today. Our SMART Centre enables us to showcase the range of the technologies we use, and the factory tours let them see just how our products get made.”
You can view our SMART Centre Open Day Video here: