Corporate History
Arc-Drilling & Dynamic Balancing, Inc. (ADDB) was founded by Cal McKee in 1961. In 1968 Stan and Jeanne Trem were able to realize a life-long dream by purchasing the company from the retiring Mr. McKee. Since that time the company has enjoyed steady growth in both customer base and technical capabilities, has flourished in its second generation as a family owned and operated business.
From its humble beginning in a 1700 square ft facility in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, Arc Drilling has offered EDM capability. Initially this capability was focused on serving the automotive industry. Service to the aerospace industry and dynamic balancing work were additional. Machining capabilities and a strong background in the tool and die industry allowed in-house production of electrodes.
By 1980, demands for our products allowed the company to grow into a 5000 square ft facility in nearby Garfield Heights. The customer base was also expanding, with cold heading dies and trim dies for the fastener industry becoming high volume ADDB products.
In 1981 ADDB welcomed the opportunity to explore a new type of EDM technology: the wire cut. The addition of our first wire machine, a 4-axis Mitsubishi DW 80, was an immediate success. Wire-cut capability, with the accuracy that only CNC can provide, enabled further growth in the aerospace industry. Meanwhile, CNC controls were introduced in our conventional EDM operations. The addition of a CNC vertical milling machine in 1982 provided the capability to efficiently produce highly accurate electrodes in-house.
By 1991 the accuracy, repeatability and efficiency of our operations were such a natural fit with the aerospace industry that this became a primary focus. The relationship built with our aerospace customers led us into another industry those customers serve: ground power generation.
Continually growing aerospace demands led to the 1993 addition of fast hole EDM technologies, as well as a gradual conversion of all conventional EDM to CNC operation. In 1997 the Board of Directors decided to devote all of our corporate resources to EDM, and after more than thirty years of supplying dynamic balancing, that side of the business was sold. The newly-named Arc Drilling was ready to expand its EDM capability to meet the needs of any customer.
Arc Drilling experienced such growth in the late nineties that an additional 5000 square ft were leased in 2000, to house production-capable CNC machines. A second and even more significant expansion came in 2001: the opening of a satellite facility in Saint Stephen, South Carolina, forty minutes outside of Charleston. Now located in Summerville, this facility has enabled a lean-manufacturing relationship with customers in Charleston and surrounding areas. In 2005 yet another satellite branch was added, in the Greenville, SC area.
Continual improvement in accuracy of parts has required parallel improvements in inspection technology. The addition of an Optical CMM in 1997 opened the door to inspection capabilities that today include state-of-the-art equipment across all facilities.
Over the past ten years, Arc Drilling has further enhanced the ability to service aerospace, ground power and other highly demanding industries through certifications to ISO 9001:2015, AS9100 Revision D and the Nadcap Audit Criteria for Nonconventional Machining.
Today Arc Drilling facilities include a total of over 36,000 square feet of floor space, with capabilities in 4-axis CNC Sinker, 6-axis CNC Fast Hole and 5-axis CNC Wire EDM at each location. Not only do these capabilities enable lean-manufacturing relationships with various customers, but the redundant equipment and certifications across locations provide unmatched contingency planning.
Our mission statement best summarizes the approach that has guided Arc Drilling through its years of customer satisfaction and resulting growth:
Arc Drilling, a premier provider of Non-Conventional Machining processes, in order to better satisfy the needs and expectations of our customers, will strive to:
Operate in full compliance with the requirements of applicable accreditations and our customers, Provide a framework for establishing and monitoring quality objectives, Continually improve the effectiveness of the Quality Management System, and Deliver defect-free products, on time, every time.