Westminster Tool Earns Leadtime Leader Award

Westminster Tool is the recipient of MoldMaking Technology’s 2020 Leadtime Leader award. Since 2003, this award has represented mold makers who have excelled — not just with the shortest lead times but in all aspects of the trade.

Westminster Tool previously won the award in 2014, which the company says resulted in a great deal of exposure. Ray Coombs, Westminster Tool’s president, adds, “That award helped put us on the map.”

“Our largest differentiator back in 2014 was our company culture,” Coombs says. Around that time, Westminster Tool underwent a major transformation, paused all capital investments, reconfigured its business model and invested heavily in its people. This investment included training in workforce development, interpersonal skills and communication, emotional intelligence and the adoption of critical lean practices.

Since then, the company began investing in state-of-the-art equipment to give their team the best possible resources and tools to succeed. “We expanded our inspection, quality and engineering processes. We invested over 10% of our company’s annual revenue back into new tools and machinery. We began  research into the application of metal 3D printing,” says Vice President Hillary Thomas.

According to Christina Fuges MoldMaking Technology’s editorial director, the quality of this year’s candidates was impressive, especially given the challenges introduced by the global pandemic. “Despite this string of setbacks, the mold manufacturing marketplace answered the call and went above and beyond,” she writes for the magazine’s Leadtime Leader feature in this month’s issue.

Reflecting on the award, Coombs says, “It just shows the resilience and hard work of every member of our team here. There is no greater honor than being measured against other leaders in our industry and we could not be prouder to be this year’s winner.”