Sutton SMART Centre

Sutton Tools has launched its new SMART Centre with an Open Day for the hardware and tooling industries.

Adjacent to their Thomastown headquarters and R&D Lab, Sutton Tools has opened their SMART Centre, a facility which offers an area for manufacturers to trial and test their tools in controlled conditions using all the latest innovative technologies. It also provides a focus for Sutton Tools’ collaboration with universities including Swinburne and RMIT, including their unique PhD student programs.

Highlights of the Open Day included demonstrations of toolmaking processes and testing with CNC partners Okuma and Haas. Walter Tools, which Sutton Tools distribute in Australia, held workshops with their innovative online tool specification customisation and ordering system, Walter GPS.

For most, the highlight of the Open Day was a 90-minute tour of the Sutton Tools Thomastown site. The property goes back way further than is revealed from the road, and we were shown through from the halls where the raw rods arrive, through two plants where they manufacture drilling/milling tools and threading tools respectively, as well as the tool recoating and regrinding facility. Starting in the R&D facility, my group gained an understanding of Sutton’s new product design, testing, troubleshooting and quality control processes and where the advanced technologies are deployed in coating, plating and the huge open-plan International Distribution Centre dispatch area.

Sutton Tools has invested in distribution technology over recent years including 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 the high-demand commodity product ranges. On a typical day, the team picks, packs and ships 10,000 lines over two staggered shifts – representing around 1,000 orders. This new level of efficiency enables Sutton to despatch priority orders received by 3pm for, usually next day delivery to their Australian customers.

Managing Director Peter Sutton felt SMART Open Day was delighted so many of our customers and the industry generally found the day worthwhile. “It’s exceeded all our expectations,” he said. “The bestof-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.” suttontools.com