Abbott Workholding Products

In 1954, Abbott Engineering and Manufacturing Co. began producing soft jaws and specialized tooling on a subcontract basis in Phoenix, AZ. The business initially consisted of one employee operating out of a rented Quonset hut, but quickly matured into a dynamic, profitable corporation.

In 1955, Abbott built the nation’s first Pie Jaw® brand chuck jaw. This new type of jaw eliminated the problems inherent in rectangular jaws. Drawing on their experience and expertise, Abbott began testing their concept thoroughly. The prototype set consisted of three aluminum circular segmented jaws that were machined out of an aluminum billet. Shortly after that, the first order was placed for the new, innovative product.

Spurred on by cost-cutting techniques, an expanding product line and rapidly increasing acceptance of its Pie Jaw® innovation, Abbott emerged into national prominence in the early 1960s. By 1968 the company name had changed to Abbott Aluminum Chuck Jaws, a division of How-Mil Enterprises, Inc. With the advent of CNC machines, the product line was further expanded to include tooling columns, tooling blocks, master plates and segments, angle plates and parallels.

In early 1990, Carl Reed joined Abbott Aluminum Chuck Jaws as President and Chief Executive Officer. Since then, many changes have taken place within Abbott, resulting in dramatic improvements in the quality, availability and affordability of an expanded line of products. However, the biggest change occurred in August 1993.

After 40 years of operating a business in Phoenix, Arizona, Abbott Aluminum elected to move its entire operation to Manhattan, Kansas. In concert with the relocation, Abbott further expanded its line of Workholding products to include an extensive inventory of steel and aluminum straight jaws, cast iron and steel Pie Jaws® and a very comprehensive inventory of aluminum tooling columns, sub-plates and associated fixturing.