Give us the elevator pitch about your company. What’s your primary focus? Who is your ideal customer?
Beland: KV Tooling, LLC is a small tool manufacturing and reconditioning company in business in Augusta, Maine for 17 years.
We are dedicated to delivering the best cutting tool design, manufacture and reconditioning services to small – medium sized metalworking and manufacturing businesses around New England and beyond. Our ideal customer has contracts with military, aerospace, firearms, and power generation sectors and utilize high-end CNC machines in production of complex components. Our cutting tools deliver consistent, high quality results at very competitive rates.
What differentiates your company within the industry? What do you pride yourselves on?
Beland: We are a forward-thinking customer service oriented company. We pride ourselves with being experts at tool design and process improvement through direct consultation and collaboration with engineers, buyers, tool crib personnel, and programmers. We deliver award-winning designs (ANCA 2019 Tool of the Year Competition Winner) to enhance your company’s productivity and can find solutions to most machining challenges. We always deliver on our promises.
What are the main challenges your business is faced with? How do you tackle these challenges, and what kind of advice would you give to others in a similar position?
Beland: The constant challenges are keeping up with changing technology and training, and finding and retaining highly skilled labor. Over the past 5 years we have invested mid-6 figures in our equipment and in new and upgraded technology to allow us to run more efficiently and provide even higher accuracies with our tooling. I have found that, in business, if you’re not growing and investing, you’re going backwards. Others will find those niches that you will miss out on due to lack of investment in new tech. I serve on our local trade school Manufacturing Technology advisory board in order to support the education of the next generation of machinists.
What’s your outlook for the industry as we look at the next 5-10 years here? Any insights you see changing the way we look at things and run our facilities?
Beland: The next 5-10 years will be a bit of a correction period due to the changes in the way we manufacture and sell products. 3D printing and robotics will disrupt some manufacturing sectors. The good news is, that where some industries are going away, others will emerge, and some will grow. Medical manufacturing will always be strong as boomers enter retirement age. Military and energy will continue to evolve and grow. Aerospace will shake off this stagnant period and bounce back with a vengeance as people emerge from COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and begin to travel again. Our facilities will become “smarter” and more energy-efficient as the IIOT (Industrial Internet Of Things) becomes more prevalent in our world.
Outside of providing for the good of the company and the workers that make things happen, what kind of good are you guys doing out in your community?
Beland: Here at KV Tooling, LLC we believe in giving back to our community. All of our redeemable cans go to support the local food bank and homeless shelter. We participate in a local recycling effort to reduce waste. We help sponsor several state and local charities and youth sports leagues. We appreciate the people in our community that serve to protect our liberties and assist the less fortunate among us. We believe in supporting local firefighters, healthcare workers, and law enforcement now and always.
