FACE TO FACE
Following a fire, we now have a newly rebuilt special tooling division, with new machinery and automation, at our White Bear Lake headquarters. I am really proud of the amount of time and effort that our employees put in to help us recover from this fire and ensure that we did not miss a beat in continuing to serve our customers. They are a real and inspiring testament to the‘ beating heart’ of our family company.
Ron Palick at Blechexpo.
The eClamp electric press brake clamp.
Press brake clamping
Wilson Tool’ s press brake clamping solutions are designed to dramatically reduce set-up and changeover time. These include:
■ Push-button clamps for rapid changes.
■ Deflection-controlling crowning systems.
■ Quick lever-activated clamps.
■ Manual clamps.
■ The eClamp— styled by Wilson Tool as“ the world’ s first electric press brake clamp.”
“ Using standard power available in any manufacturing facility, the eClamp™ is modular by design to offer an operator versatility and ease of maintenance. LED lighting built into the body of the punch holder shines light on the working surface, instead of the front of a press brake. Prominent clamping indication lights provide a clear visual signal that tooling is securely clamped and ready to bend. It clamps the entire beam at the push of a button,” the company explained.
“ With fully electric mechanical operation( plugging into a standard power outlet), it can be installed on new, used or existing machines with a stand-alone controller or integrated into a machine’ s control. Punches and dies lock mechanically, rather than with an expanded urethane tube. The mounting plate is compatible with American precision or WT-style tooling, which allows users to change clamping bodies for the required tool style,” it added.
ISMR: In view of current geopolitical tensions and conflicts( including U. S. tariffs), what are your views on the global and European business climate for sheetmetal professionals in 2025? What do you project for 2026?
RP: We are certainly affected by tariffs. We use a lot of tool steel and there is limited tool steel in the U. S. We use different grades of tool steel so we buy from countries such as Germany, Austria, Brazil, China etc. So, we are now paying 50 % tariffs on raw materials. There is no way around that. This is also true for our U. S. competitors.
We hope that these tariffs will be relaxed at some point but hope is not a strategy and we have to deal with the current situation. How long will these tariffs be in place? Who knows? Possibly for the next three years ….
We also have factories in countries such as Canada and Brazil. The political situation also affects the tariffs on some of these countries e. g. Canada. President Trump is trying to resuscitate manufacturing in the United States, so we now see a lot of the automotive companies( who were in Mexico and Canada) moving that work back to the United States( such as Stellantis and Honda). Will things cost more because of this? Yes, they probably will.
In Brazil, for example, President Trump has imposed a 50 % tariff on its U. S. imports. As customers, we will be seeing that 50 % tariff
Vaski-style bus bar tooling.
Wilson Tool’ s White Bear Lake headquarters in the U. S.
on certain products that we buy from Brazil which makes them too expensive for us. However, Brazil has also imposed a 79 % tariff on U. S. exporters of tooling and machine tools which has been in place for some years. We built a manufacturing facility in Brazil to counter this challenge.
The point is that you must be adaptable, accept the situation and do what you can to address the challenges presented by global tariffs. Luckily, we have factories across the world that give us options in these scenarios.
ISMR: What, in your view, are important market trends and challenges? How are you responding to these?
RP: The biggest challenges we are facing right now are global tariffs and the lack of skilled labour. Our customers are really feeling this and, to counter the lack of skilled personnel, are forced to automate. For example, press-
32 | ismr. net | ISMR November 2025