RLS Tooling riding through the storm: investing to overcome the adversity of the pandemic

Founded back in 1989, RLS Tooling is a UK-based specialist form rolling and thread rolling die manufacturer. The company has been investing in new machinery steadily over the last 4 years, and this trend is set to continue throughout the rest of 2021. In this article, Marcus Smith, Managing Director at RLS Tooling, tells us how they manage to overcome the obstacles of the pandemic and come out in an even stronger position.

“You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage, instead it is important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages” (Michelle Obama)

“There is no truer saying for what has been a very strange 18 months due to the pandemic across the world. After watching my father build a business from the ground up, which he started only months before a recession took hold of manufacturing in the UK, the learning curve for myself and all at RLS has been solid and so valuable on how we approach such issues or testing times like these whenever we are faced with them.

RLS was quick to respond to the pandemic by promptly making the factory compliant with Government guidelines that enabled us to continue manufacturing. Initially with a reduced workforce, but it was sufficient for us to supply our customers with their urgent requirements. During this time, we even managed to acquire some new customers, which came as a pleasant surprise.

As you may have been aware, RLS has been investing in new machinery steadily over the last 3 or 4 years, and this was set to continue throughout 2020 & 2021. When the world came to an abrupt stop in early 2020 the easiest scenario would have been to put a halt to our investment plans. However, lessons learnt from the past told us to continue with our plans, and because we felt confident with the RLS Tooling brand in the marketplace, it should place us in a positive position to ride through the storm.

I do not believe anyone would have expected it to last so long as it has and continue to cause issues in the supply chain. However, we were still very excited when our new 4 axes grinding machine was delivered in the middle of last year and commissioned once the engineers were able to make the site visit.

Moving forward into 2021, it was identified that due to the demand for RLS thread rolling dies, more machinery was required on our Milled section, which produces Reminc® thread rolling dies, Mathread® rolling dies, Wood screws and non-standard products. Therefore, in August 2021 we took delivery of another Bridgeport VMC (as shown in picture).

Earlier in the year, we updated our furnace that is used for stress relieving our tooling during production and after machining. We worked closely with Carbolite Gero Ltd to establish the correct machine which would give maximum productivity and more importantly repeatable results. We consider this is an essential part of the manufacturing process for our thread rolling dies.”

Marcus Smith, Managing Director at RLS Tooling