At home in Anderson, South Carolina, Champion Tooling & Machining has always believed in packing a real punch by offering unmatched capabilities and quality. As a result—and thanks to the state’s growing manufacturing sector—the company has enjoyed strong growth over the past few years. Committed to finding new ways to achieve excellence, this team is set to soon take its tooling and machining output to an entirely new level.
Champion Tooling has supplied fabricators across the United States for over half a century. With its trustworthy quality management systems, the company is ISO 9001 registered, guaranteeing customers the consistent, top-quality tooling and machining they have come to expect every time. That is also why an impressive range of customers from many industries prefer calling this team for their tooling, machining, stamping and laser-cutting needs.
These customers include fabricators as diverse as golf cart accessory manufacturers, along with those building automotive components, household appliances, food and beverage fabrication components, home components, and many more. With a long history of delivering superb custom work complete with electrical discharge machining (EDM) and computer numerical control (CNC) machining, this team is well-versed in creating solutions for just about any customer in need of a company that thinks laterally. Growth is the inevitable result.
Proud of its 50,000-square-foot expansion currently under development, Champion Tooling is confident that its capabilities will spell success for some time to come. “There are not very many stampers around that will have the capability that we’ll have that are not part of the automotive industry,” says Keavin Ramey, General Manager. “[Our expansion is] going to be good for us and good for everyone else as well.” As such, the company has also been investing in upgrading its facility with the latest technology.
These investments include a 1000-ton press and a couple of 550-ton presses, soon to be joined by a 300-ton press. The company has also invested in the latest laser-cutting equipment, and develops and fabricates the fabrication tooling used to create the metal stamping blanks used in stamping processes. “We design and build the tools that are used to produce the parts that we stamp,” says Ramey. “We can stamp just about any metal component anybody could want.”
In addition, its team of tool and die makers is also known for comprehensive die-building and maintenance services, rolling out dies as heavy as 15,000 pounds. To achieve this, the company turns to the most recent design software available which allows it to furnish customers with complete supporting documentation for each piece of equipment. Moreover, the team provides tooling design and Kanban warehousing, which gives Champion significant customer-specific, on-demand supply strength thanks to the sophisticated tracking and inventory control services the program enables.
Champion also adds value by offering component assembly, subassembly, and main assembly services. Champion’s high level of engineering and development expertise means that the company’s offering is well-rounded and tailored to save clients frustration by eliminating the need to contract external component developers.
As its robust QA program suggests, Champion Tooling & Machining goes to great lengths to guarantee its quality inspection processes. To this end, it has made further large investments over the years, including premium machines to perform testing, measuring, magnification, and other inspection capabilities.
Now operating as a third-generation family business owned by the Connor family, Champion Tooling & Machining was first established in 1969. Purchased in the early 1980s by the current owners, the company has gone from strength to strength ever since. The team continues building on the sterling reputation for excellence it has garnered over the decades. And business is indeed booming. “We’ve seen our workloads increase over the past few years.”
With various customers sharing their intentions of returning manufacturing to U.S. shores, the likelihood for further growth appears certain. Of course, having the staff to deliver the goods makes all the difference during such positive trajectories. In this sense, the company is also well suited to bigger jobs as it holds tremendous volumes of generational knowledge and the expertise to deliver.
Dubbed “South Carolina’s Manufacturing Renaissance” by the state’s Council on Competitiveness in a 2023 report compiled by Dr. Mark Hartley, efforts to support policymakers in reinforcing the state’s labor situation in response to recent growth indicate that, like elsewhere in the country, professionals in manufacturing remain valuable assets as geopolitics dictate how and where companies go for these services.
The report also confirms the reshoring trends that the company has experienced firsthand. “South Carolina has seen some of this trend and stands on the precipice of much more,” the report says.” Since the depths of the recession, South Carolina has recruited more than $19 billion in capital investment resulting in more than 64,000 new jobs in the manufacturing sector—making the State one of the [fastest] growing areas for industry.”
With two fine technical institutions, Tri-County Technical College and Anderson Institute of Technology, right on its doorstep, Champion is well positioned to welcome new staff members on board as older team members retire. “If it weren’t for [our staff], then none of us would have a place to work,” Rosenbrock says of the gifted, hardworking folks who give the company its hard-earned reputation for excellence. Leadership demonstrates its appreciation by going to great lengths to remunerate its people at competitive rates with generous benefits, and the result is a team that is happy to stay, with some of its longest-serving staff having been here for three to four decades.
Blessed with these dedicated professionals, the company is genuinely grateful for the superior quality work its people produce. “We do believe that our employees are our greatest asset. We love them like they’re family because they are family to us,” says Rosenbrock.
The company is not only grateful for its staff, however. It is also thankful for the incredible community it gets to do business with. To express its gratitude, it gives back to charitable causes. As part of this work, the team traveled extensively in recent months to support local hurricane victims with desperately needed aid.
As a good, old-fashioned job shop with modern capabilities, the Champion Tooling & Machining team is naturally happy to see its customer base grow while providing capabilities that are sought after in the southeast. Always looking to build on existing knowledge by taking on new challenges to learn from and develop fresh systems, the team’s outlook on the future is confident. While geoeconomics are always in flux, the company remains steadfast in its mission to serve. “We’re always looking for new avenues, new projects, and new customers,” says Ramey.
For now, predictions for the world’s CNC machining industry appear favorable. Some indicate continued compounded annual growth of about five percent calculated from last year to 2034, by which point the sector would be worth an estimated 170 billion. It is against this backdrop of good fortune that Champion Tooling & Machining Co., Inc. continues to deliver great value and quality on time, every time.
