K&S Tool, Die & Manufacturing, Inc. is a ISO 9001:2000 company
Thomas C. Klusken founded K&S Tool, Die & Manufacturing, Inc. in 1974. Today over 100 employees and three buildings make up K&S Tool, Die & Manufacturing, Inc. The Tooling Division was the foundation that the business was built upon. However, growth in the industry provided the opportunity to expand the business with a metal stamping department, laser/fabrication department and a production machining department. Providing a range of manufacturing processes in one location is a value added service for our customers.
History
- 1974 - Thomas C Klusken founded K&S Tool, Die & Manufacturing, Inc. The operations started in the back of a small building in Oconomowoc with three employees.
- 1975 - K&S purchased a NC wire EDM. A progressive move for a Tool & Die shop and one of the first few companies to due so.
- 1979 - K&S Built a 5,000 sq. ft. building in Ixonia, the company grew to 8-10 employees and more room was needed.
- 1980 - Immediately K&S realized more space was needed due to continuing growth, 5,800 sq. ft. was added to this new building.
- 1984 - A second addition of 1,800 sq. ft. was added for offices and an expanded design department.
- 1986 - Another 11,000 sq. ft. was added to the building for a large bed 450 ton try-out press, additional space along with the installation of a 10 ton bridge crane.
- 1988 - K&S updated technology with the installation of a CAD/CAM seat with a DNC link to the shop CNC machines.
- 1990 - A new 20,000 sq. ft. building was built for expanded growth and became our stamping department.
- 1992 - The design department was expanded with the purchase of three Unix CAD seats with 3D and new CAM software.
- 1994 - K&S built a 6,000 sq. ft. building to support one of our customers and expand our diversity into making service parts and weld/fabricated assemblies for a large OEM. Today this building houses our production machining department.
- 1996 - The fourth and final addition of 4,700 sq. ft. was added to the building for adding Laser processes. K&S purchased a Brown & Sharpe CMM to expand our inspection capabilities.
- 1997 - Purchased a brake press to expand fabrication capabilities.
- 2000 - K&S built a new 68,000 sq. ft. facility which doubled our tooling and laser departments. CNC production machining moved to their own 6,000 sq. ft. building due to expansion in that department also. More equipment was needed to meet the continuous growth, a Large OKK MXC 1260 was purchased to allow for larger projects. A Mitubishi laser and a Waterjet was added for the expanding laser department.
- 2001 - An 800 ton press was purchased for growth in the stamping department and for large tool try-out capabilities.
- 2002 - A 400 ton press was purchased to increase production capabilities. Updates to the design department software included Unigraphics and Die Simulation capabilities as additional design and planning tools.
- 2003 - Obtained ISO 9001:2000 certification. Due to rapid growth in our stamping department 21,000 sq. ft. was added to the stamping building. A high speed CNC machining center was purchased to decrease lead times of complex 3D tooling.
- 2004 - A 250 ton 5-axis press brake was purchased to increase accuracy and capacity.
- 2006 - Added robotic weld cell for precision production welding.
- 2007 - Added second 800-ton press with 36" coil feeder. Set up two dedicated weld cells. Added second robotic welder.
- 2008 - Purchased Faro Mobile CMM for greater inspection flexibility. 12,000-square-foot addition to Laser/Fabrication department to house new Mitsubishi 4kw Laser with load/unload system.