Website DMT Home | ||
Industry Diamond Sharpening Tools Owner Acme United Corporation | ||
Founded in 1976, Diamond Machining Technology (DMT) began manufacturing diamond sharpeners in a facility 30 miles west of Boston.
Contents
Four decades later, the company is one of the leading producers of high quality manual knife and tool sharpeners. DMT originated the use of diamonds for sharpening and commercialized the first products in the market. The key to its success is the hardest material known to mankind – diamonds. Able to sharpen anything, the distinctive polka-dot patterned products are used in industrial, commercial and consumer markets around the world.
All DMT products are manufactured in the company's facility in Marlborough, Massachusetts and are sold throughout the world to woodworkers, gardeners, chefs, hunters, fishermen, and knife collectors alike.
In February 2016, Acme United Corporation acquired Diamond Machining Technology for $7.0 million in cash. DMT had revenues in 2015 of $5.4 million and EBITDA of approximately $1.0 million.
The early days
David Powell, an aerospace engineer, along with his wife Elizabeth, an educator in business management, established DMT in 1976. They set up shop on the third floor of an old mill in Hudson, Massachusetts and started manufacturing diamond disks and grinding wheels used to cut blocks of granite.
Two years later however, the United States government released a significant portion of its industrial diamond reserve stockpile to Israel. This caused the price of diamonds, and as such diamond products, to drop dramatically. Consequently, foreign manufacturers of diamond blades were able to sell their products cheaper than DMT could, as wages abroad were lower.
This event inspired DMT to shelve its diamond disks and wheels products for a better idea. In fact, the four inch hockey-puck shaped punch-out left over from producing the diamond wheels was reshaped into a rectangular form and became a manual whetstone.
The sharpening innovation was made from perforated steel and backed by injection molded, shatterproof plastic. This pattern of recessed dots was key to the DMT product. They were islands of plastic in a sea of diamonds. The dots kept the diamond surface clean for efficient honing by providing a holding space for metal fines produced as the diamond tool sharpens.
The so-called polka-dot whetstones were soon thereafter introduced to the market and became the lifeline of the company. Brookstone was the first to feature the sharpeners in its catalogue. The new product quickly found its way to the automotive, marine, and aviation sectors as well.
When the Powell's started attending foreign trade shows for the hardware and woodworking industries in the early 1980s, international expansion also took off.
The whetstones became a success, primarily because DMT made sure that each sharpening surface carried the most diamonds per square inch in the industry. The company also used a proprietary process that ensured consistency in diamond grit size. And finally, DMT sharpeners had a mold design that ensured a flat and stable sharpening surface that even exceeded the flatness of ground steel plates.
Expanding name and fame
Because production needed to expand, DMT moved to Marlborough, Massachusetts in 1983, where it occupied half of the 20,000 square feet facility. The move provided space to install the largest vertical injection molding machine in North America, creating greater control and flexibility for the whetstone models. Also a modern metal stamping line was added with precision die tools custom made for DMT's products. By then, the company employed fifteen people.
In 1993, DMT launched the Diafold product family, a 4.33" x .875" lightweight sharpener, available in several diamond grit combinations. The easy-to-carry products sold well, and are up until today one of DMT's best-selling products. In fact, the product was so successful that the following year the company had to expand into the second half of the building, then occupying 20,000 square feet.
In 1995, David & Betsy Powell retired and Mark & Stacey Brandon took over the business. Before acquiring DMT, Mark Brandon had worked for a series of international conglomerates, and his wife Stacey was employed at a building products business.
Meanwhile, distribution continued to expand into retailers such Sears, Home Depot and W.W. Grainger.
DMT was also known for supporting the US luge and speed skating teams by providing them sharpening tools for the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. As a result, the company was allowed to print the logos of both teams on their packaging with the tagline "Giving them the winning edge".
In more recent years, DMT sponsored Rough Cut – Woodworking with Tommy Mac, the most watched woodworking program on television. The Emmy-nominated series airs on PBS stations. As a sponsor of the program, DMT is the exclusive provider of sharpening equipment for Rough Cut. These stones may be used during the program when sharpening a tool is part of a featured project. In addition, DMT is mentioned at the beginning and end of each episode, and is listed on the series website.
New products
By focusing on new products to meet the specific needs of customers in different markets, DMT has introduced numerous diamond sharpening items over the years. For example, the Crystal Saver, a half-round file that smooths chipped crystal. Or sharpeners with a HardCoat surface, which are especially suited for sharpening ceramic blades. DMT also introduced a sharpener kit for turners and carvers, making them ideal for curved edges such as gouges.
The company holds more than 10 patents and has introduced more than 125 new products, including 10 in the past five years alone. DMT's broad range of approximately 200 sharpeners responds to the tasks of maintaining many different sharp-edged tools.
Awards
DMT has won several awards in its history. Among them are the International Spark Design Award, the International Practical World Exhibition Prize, the Blade Magazine Accessory of the Year Trophy, and the HANDY Magazine Innovation Award.
In 2012, DMT received the Massachusetts International Business Council Global Trade Award. And in 2014, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker presented DMT with the President's "E" Award, the highest recognition any U.S. entity may receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.
As Acme United Brand
Today, Diamond Machining Technology has 28 employees. After the acquisition, Acme United was able to expand the distribution of the DMT range. It sells its products at chains such as Home Depot, Bass Pro Shops, Grainger, Fastenal, and Amazon.com. DMT continues to manufacture all of its products in the United States and exports worldwide to nearly 50 countries.
Competitors
The major competitors of DMT are Smith's, Fällkniven, EZE-LAP, and Naniwa.