40 Years of Precision - 40 Years of Sumitomo Electric Hartmetall GmbH

Sumitomo Electric Hartmetall GmbH celebrates 40 years of precision: We are part of the Japanese Sumitomo Electric Group under the "Industrial Materials" Division and can look back on 40 years of successful company history this year. Today, we are one of the world's leading manufacturers of precision tools for turning, drilling, milling and hard machining.

Our European headquarters are located in Willich near Dusseldorf and will celebrate its 40th anniversary on 26 May 2021. For us, the European market is a key market, because it is assumed that Germany in particular will be decisive for the technical development of the next years. This results not only from the great economic importance of the automotive and aviation industries, but also from the headquarters of the leading manufacturers of the machine tool industry which act here as a driving force on the technological market. Therefore, it is also natural for us to be present in this environment with our own sales, development and production capacities.

While the company started in 1981 with just six employees in Erkrath (North Rhine-Westphalia), today we employ more than 400 people in Europe. We have two of our own production facilities in Germany and the Czech Republic whose production capacities have been steadily increased over the years. This shortens the reaction times for European customers enormously. Tools can also be reconditioned or refurbished directly on site by our regrinding and coating service.

After almost eight years of service, our former Managing Director, Mr. Shinya Uesaka, returned to Japan in August 2020 and handed over the management to his successor, Mr. Yu Kagiya. Mr. Kagiya has extensive experience abroad in leading positions in Japan, the U.S.A. and China. Now he is appointed to manage the business of all companies of the Sumitomo Electric carbide group in Europe. Certainly, under the influence of the ongoing Corona pandemic, this is a very special challenge, because the task now is to create the conditions for a successful recovery after the successful implementation of the Corona guidelines while at the same time maintaining the ability to function.

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