L. S. Starrett Company
Encyclopedia
L. S. Starrett Company is an American
manufacturer of tools and instruments. Its products are well known among machinist
s and tool and die maker
s. The company was founded when businessman and inventor Laroy Sunderland Starrett (1836–1922), who was born in China, Maine, bought the Athol Machine Company in 1905. The company patented such items as the sliding combination square
, bench vises
, and a shoe hook fastener. They make precision steel rules
and tapes
, caliper
s, micrometer
s, and dial indicator
s, among many other things.
Starrett employs about 2,000 people worldwide and the company claims to be the last remaining full-line precision tool company to be manufacturing their products within the United States
. However, much of the firm's manufacturing takes place at facilities in the People's Republic of China
, Brazil
, Germany
, the UK and the Dominican Republic
, with 25% of Starret's worldwide sales being in Brazil in 2006.
The history of Starrett has been one of continuous expansion through the patenting of products and takeovers of other manufacturers. In 1878 Laroy S. Starrett invented and patented the combination square and in 1880 he founded the L.S. Starrett Company in Athol, MA in order to produce the combination square and other precision tools. In 1882 Starrett traveled to London and Paris to appoint sales representatives, thereby starting up the international marketing of his products. In 1887 Starrett acquired further patents.
In 1890 L.S. Starrett patented a micrometer with other improvements, transforming the rough version of this tool into a modern micrometer. During the same year Starrett began making and refining saw blades and today Starrett is the world's largest saw blade manufacturer. In 1895 Starrett patented the divider with trammel. In 1920 the company added its first gage to the product line and quickly became the world’s largest innovator and maker of precision calibrators.
Between 1941 and 1945 Starrett increased its production by 800% and won the Army and Navy “E” prize. At the same time, more than 400 employees went into the US armed forces. The post-war period was a time of overseas expansion, with Starrett opening a factory in São Paulo
, Brazil, in 1956. In the early 1960s, the Brazilian factory was moved to a new location in the city of Itu
, 100 km from São Paulo, and has grown to become one of the region's biggest employers. During an event to mark the 50th anniversary of Starrett in Brazil in 2006, Douglas A Starrett announced that Salvador de Camargo would take over from Antony McLaughlin as president of Starrett in Brazil. McLaughlin had held the post of president for 44 years from 1962 when the Starrett factory was set up in Itu and de Camargo had worked there since 1963.
In 1958 a plant was opened in Scotland and this plant currently makes a great variety of Starrett products for the European and Asian markets. In 1962 Starrett acquired the Webber Gage Company, adding gage blocks to the Starrett product line. In 1970 Starrett took over the Herman Stone Co., a granite product maker, and in 1985 it relocated production to a new plant in Mount Airy
, NC. This plant also makes saws and measuring equipment. In 1975 the São Paulo factory reopened in the city of Itu, in an extremely modern plant which currently manufactures saws and precision instruments.
In 1986 Starrett took over the Evans Rule Company, the world's largest tape measure manufacturer, and in 1990 the company bought Sigma Optical, a British manufacturer of optical profile projectors. In 1998 Starrett expanded into China, opening a new plant in Suzhou
.
Starrett remains a conservative, family-run company which claims to support free markets and ‘small government’ but treads a careful line between taking advantage of low-cost manufacturing bases outside the US and opposing ‘dumping’ in the US. In the late 1980s, Douglas Starrett praised Thatcherite economic policy and compared US government policy unfavourably to that of the Iron Lady in the UK while at the same time admitting that he was troubled by potential low-wage rivals from China, Taiwan and South Korea, subsidized production overseas and product dumping in US markets.
The current President and CEO of the company is Douglas A Starrett and, according to the business analysts BNET, the chief decision makers are Antony A McLaughlin, former President of the Brazilian subsidiary of the organization, Starrett Indústria e Comércio Ltda., Stephen F Walsh, Senior Vice President, Operations, Anthony M Aspin, Vice President of Sales, Joel Shaughnessy, Personnel Director, Bill Livingston, Quality Control Manager, John Hedbor, Marketing Manager, Robert J Simkevich, Controller and Roy Lake, Assistant Treasurer. The chairman of the board of directors is Robert L Montgomery and other board members are Ralph C Lawrence, Ralph G Lawrence, Randall J Hylek, Richard B Kennedy, Salvador de Camargo and Terry A Piper.
Prior to this, though, on September 17 2003, Starrett had issued an official statement on business conduct and ethics. After a preamble from Douglas A Starrett in which he reiterates the company’s founding principles of ‘humanity, integrity and honesty’, the document goes on to set out areas in which employees should be mindful of business conduct and ethics in various social, commercial and political situations. Among these are protection and proper use of company assets and conflicts of interest. All company assets, the policy states, should be used for legitimate business purposes and care should be taken when using company e-mail, internet and voice mail systems. Referring to conflicts of interest, the document says that these occur when an employee's private interests or those of an immediate family or household member or someone with whom an employee has an intimate relationship interfere in any way – or even appear to interfere – with an employee's duties as an employee or with the interests of the company as a whole.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
manufacturer of tools and instruments. Its products are well known among machinist
Machinist
A machinist is a person who uses machine tools to make or modify parts, primarily metal parts, a process known as machining. This is accomplished by using machine tools to cut away excess material much as a woodcarver cuts away excess wood to produce his work. In addition to metal, the parts may...
s and tool and die maker
Tool and die maker
Tool and die makers are workers in the manufacturing industry who make jigs, fixtures, dies, molds, machine tools, cutting tools , gauges, and other tools used in manufacturing processes...
s. The company was founded when businessman and inventor Laroy Sunderland Starrett (1836–1922), who was born in China, Maine, bought the Athol Machine Company in 1905. The company patented such items as the sliding combination square
Combination square
A combination square is a tool used for multiple purposes in woodworking, stonemasonry and metalworking. It is composed of a ruled blade and one or more interchangeable heads that may be affixed to it...
, bench vises
Vise (tool)
A vise or vice is a mechanical screw apparatus used for holding or clamping a work piece to allow work to be performed on it with tools such as saws, planes, drills, mills, screwdrivers, sandpaper, etc. Vises usually have one fixed jaw and another, parallel, jaw which is moved towards or away from...
, and a shoe hook fastener. They make precision steel rules
Ruler
A ruler, sometimes called a rule or line gauge, is an instrument used in geometry, technical drawing, printing and engineering/building to measure distances and/or to rule straight lines...
and tapes
Tape measure
A tape measure or measuring tape is a flexible form of ruler. It consists of a ribbon of cloth, plastic, fiber glass, or metal strip with linear-measurement markings. It is a common measuring tool. Its flexibility allows for a measure of great length to be easily carried in pocket or toolkit and...
, caliper
Caliper
A caliper is a device used to measure the distance between two opposing sides of an object. A caliper can be as simple as a compass with inward or outward-facing points...
s, micrometer
Micrometer
A micrometer , sometimes known as a micrometer screw gauge, is a device incorporating a calibrated screw used widely for precise measurement of small distances in mechanical engineering and machining as well as most mechanical trades, along with other metrological instruments such as dial, vernier,...
s, and dial indicator
Dial indicator
Dial indicators, also known as dial gauges and probe indicators, are instruments used to accurately measure small linear distances, and are frequently used in industrial and mechanical processes...
s, among many other things.
Starrett employs about 2,000 people worldwide and the company claims to be the last remaining full-line precision tool company to be manufacturing their products within the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. However, much of the firm's manufacturing takes place at facilities in the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the UK and the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, with 25% of Starret's worldwide sales being in Brazil in 2006.
The history of Starrett has been one of continuous expansion through the patenting of products and takeovers of other manufacturers. In 1878 Laroy S. Starrett invented and patented the combination square and in 1880 he founded the L.S. Starrett Company in Athol, MA in order to produce the combination square and other precision tools. In 1882 Starrett traveled to London and Paris to appoint sales representatives, thereby starting up the international marketing of his products. In 1887 Starrett acquired further patents.
In 1890 L.S. Starrett patented a micrometer with other improvements, transforming the rough version of this tool into a modern micrometer. During the same year Starrett began making and refining saw blades and today Starrett is the world's largest saw blade manufacturer. In 1895 Starrett patented the divider with trammel. In 1920 the company added its first gage to the product line and quickly became the world’s largest innovator and maker of precision calibrators.
Between 1941 and 1945 Starrett increased its production by 800% and won the Army and Navy “E” prize. At the same time, more than 400 employees went into the US armed forces. The post-war period was a time of overseas expansion, with Starrett opening a factory in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brazil, in 1956. In the early 1960s, the Brazilian factory was moved to a new location in the city of Itu
Itu
Itu is an old and historic municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2009 was 157,384 and the area is 641.68 km². The elevation is 583 m. This place name comes from the Tupi language, meaning big waterfall. Itu is linked with the highway numbered the SP-75 and are flowed...
, 100 km from São Paulo, and has grown to become one of the region's biggest employers. During an event to mark the 50th anniversary of Starrett in Brazil in 2006, Douglas A Starrett announced that Salvador de Camargo would take over from Antony McLaughlin as president of Starrett in Brazil. McLaughlin had held the post of president for 44 years from 1962 when the Starrett factory was set up in Itu and de Camargo had worked there since 1963.
In 1958 a plant was opened in Scotland and this plant currently makes a great variety of Starrett products for the European and Asian markets. In 1962 Starrett acquired the Webber Gage Company, adding gage blocks to the Starrett product line. In 1970 Starrett took over the Herman Stone Co., a granite product maker, and in 1985 it relocated production to a new plant in Mount Airy
Mount Airy
Mount Airy is the name of several places in the United States of America:*Mount Airy, Georgia*Mount Airy, Louisiana*Mount Airy, Maryland* Mount Airy , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
, NC. This plant also makes saws and measuring equipment. In 1975 the São Paulo factory reopened in the city of Itu, in an extremely modern plant which currently manufactures saws and precision instruments.
In 1986 Starrett took over the Evans Rule Company, the world's largest tape measure manufacturer, and in 1990 the company bought Sigma Optical, a British manufacturer of optical profile projectors. In 1998 Starrett expanded into China, opening a new plant in Suzhou
Suzhou
Suzhou , previously transliterated as Su-chou, Suchow, and Soochow, is a major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, located adjacent to Shanghai Municipality. The city is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Taihu Lake and is a part...
.
Starrett remains a conservative, family-run company which claims to support free markets and ‘small government’ but treads a careful line between taking advantage of low-cost manufacturing bases outside the US and opposing ‘dumping’ in the US. In the late 1980s, Douglas Starrett praised Thatcherite economic policy and compared US government policy unfavourably to that of the Iron Lady in the UK while at the same time admitting that he was troubled by potential low-wage rivals from China, Taiwan and South Korea, subsidized production overseas and product dumping in US markets.
The current President and CEO of the company is Douglas A Starrett and, according to the business analysts BNET, the chief decision makers are Antony A McLaughlin, former President of the Brazilian subsidiary of the organization, Starrett Indústria e Comércio Ltda., Stephen F Walsh, Senior Vice President, Operations, Anthony M Aspin, Vice President of Sales, Joel Shaughnessy, Personnel Director, Bill Livingston, Quality Control Manager, John Hedbor, Marketing Manager, Robert J Simkevich, Controller and Roy Lake, Assistant Treasurer. The chairman of the board of directors is Robert L Montgomery and other board members are Ralph C Lawrence, Ralph G Lawrence, Randall J Hylek, Richard B Kennedy, Salvador de Camargo and Terry A Piper.
Business conduct and ethics
In 2002 a former Starrett subcontractor alerted US Defense Department investigators to an alleged fraud issue with a measuring device called Rapid Check, which Starrett had to replace free-of-charge to customers because of a fault. Federal agents raided Starrett's North Carolina plant looking for evidence of fraud and Starrett's share price plummeted as a result while the company sought to prevent documents related to the allegations from being released publicly. The federal investigation yielded nothing damaging, and it was terminated in December 2003 with no charges filed.Prior to this, though, on September 17 2003, Starrett had issued an official statement on business conduct and ethics. After a preamble from Douglas A Starrett in which he reiterates the company’s founding principles of ‘humanity, integrity and honesty’, the document goes on to set out areas in which employees should be mindful of business conduct and ethics in various social, commercial and political situations. Among these are protection and proper use of company assets and conflicts of interest. All company assets, the policy states, should be used for legitimate business purposes and care should be taken when using company e-mail, internet and voice mail systems. Referring to conflicts of interest, the document says that these occur when an employee's private interests or those of an immediate family or household member or someone with whom an employee has an intimate relationship interfere in any way – or even appear to interfere – with an employee's duties as an employee or with the interests of the company as a whole.