Resource Review—


Marketing sales manager, Greg Stoddard, chats on the phone with a customer, while Al Kessop, who handles tech support, examines a custom order spec. At the will-call counter a customer waits for his order to be filled and brought to him. In the background is a view of the company’s large shop tool inventory.

Shop Tool Supermarket
U.S. Shop Tools Succeeds with a Wide Product Line and No-Hassle Service.
Story and photos by C. H. Bush, editor

U.S. Shop Tools was founded in 1983 by Bob Shah and his brothers. In the beginning the company was simply a small machining job shop building parts, mostly for connector companies. But over time, the brothers realized that what they really wanted was a line of products of their own. As a result, in 1987 they formed their own distribution company called U.S. Shop Tools.

The company’s first products were chuck jaws, which co-founder Pradip Shah says were good products, but probably didn’t particularly stand out from all the other products available at the time. However, realizing they needed some-thing different, a way to differentiate themselves, the brothers developed their concept of “value pricing,” which, in a nut-shell means finding ways to give their customers more bang for the buck.

The company’s first effort at value pricing was to package their chuck jaws in packages of 3 at reduced prices when everyone else was selling them as singles. Since that time the company has grown to become a virtual supermarket of shop tools and supplies, employing more than 40 people in two facilities (one in Warren, Michigan.)In keeping with our effort to present useful resources for our readers, for this Tooling & Workholding issue, CNC West decided to visit and interview Pradip Shah, currently senior vp of the company. The result of that interview is presented herein.
C.H. Bush, editor

CNC West: Pradip, thank you for taking the time to tell our readers about U.S. Shop Tools and its products.

Pradip: My pleasure, Chuck. We appreciate the opportunity. I believe we have a good story to tell.

CNC West: Well, in that case, let’s just get to it, shall we? I examined your online catalog and was impressed by the breadth and depth of your product line. What can our readers get from U.S. Shop Tools?


Marketing and sales manager Greg Stoddard (left) discusses shipping requirements with U.S. Shop Tools co-founder, senior vp Pradip Shah. Seen in the background is some of the company’s multi-million dollar inventory.

Products

Pradip: When it comes to shop tools and supplies, just about anything they need. Over the years, we’ve expand our product lines to the point where we’re really a one-stop shop. If a customer asks for something we don’t have, we usually can get it for him very quickly.

CNC West: Can you be a little more specific? I mean, what categories of tools do you actually supply?

Pradip: Yes, I see. Well, the broadest categories are chuck jaws, indexable/spade drills, retention knobs, milling toolholders, collets and cutting tools. Within those categories we offer soft jaws, round ( pie) jaws, hard jaws, masterjaws, base jaws and mono-block jaws for quick change chucks, jawnuts, T nuts, and top jaws for collet pads. And that’s just one category. Shall I go on?

CNC West: Yes, our goal here is information for our readers.

Pradip: Well, you asked for it. In our in-dexable cutting tools category we stock and sell indexable and spade drills, boring bars and inserts, OD turning holders and inserts, inserts for turning and boring, threading and grooving inserts, holders and threadmills, boring heads, fly-cutters, countersinks, partoff tools, milling cutters. We also have solid non-indexable cutting tools, such as carbide and cobalt end mills, solid carbide tools, twist drills, spot drills, center drills, countersinks, taps. We sell BT and CAT taper retention knobs, and we offer one of the largest varieties of retention knobs in the United States. We offer USST, Lyndex and Parlec knobs for CAT and BT Tapers. And, as I said, if there’s something we don’t have, we normally can get it for our customers fast. We’re a major supplier of milling tool-holders.

CNC West: Well, I think that will give our readers a good idea of what to expect if they call you. Perhaps—

Pradip: I’d like to mention one other thing, if you don’t mind.

CNC West: Sure, go ahead.

Pradip: Thanks. I just wanted to say we offer a huge line of branded products, like Nachi Drills, Tool Flo, Kurt, Lyndex, Chick, Carmex, Jacobs Drill, Kingston, Samchully, Tungaloy and others. Plus, we still have a machine shop in an-other building down the street, not for job shop work, but to produce our own product line and for customization. About 50% of our sales are products we manufacture, the rest are products we distribute. Our shop is very well equipped with Mazak, Litz Hitech, Haas and other equipment. We’re very proud of our shop, managed by Vijay Shah, vp manuafacturing.

CNC West: That sounds really great, Pradip, but our readers are busy people, as you know. They’re under constant pressure to meet deadlines, so service is just as important to them as product availability. What kind of service do you offer to back up extensive huge product line?


U.S. Shop tools makes a wide variety of tools and supplies available to its customers.

Service

Pradip: That’s a bit more complicated, Chuck. Our services are really multifaeted, too. For instance, we consider carrying a huge line of tools and supplies, maintained by our purchasing manager, Harsh Italia, a major part of our service.

CNC West: I think you’d better ex-plain that.

Pradip: Right. Look at it this way. If you needed to buy, say, four or five items, which would you rather do, make one call to a supplier where you have an established account? Or make four or five separate phone calls with all the separate billing, shipping and receiving problems involved?

CNC West: Ah, got it. One stop shopping is easier and more convenient.

Pradip: Right. One call, one person to deal with, one ship-per. I mean, isn’t that why major department stores exist? To make shopping easier?

CNC West: My wife sure thinks so. What else?

Pradip: Probably the second major component to our ser-vice is our sales people. Ever call somewhere for help and you just know the person on the other end of the phone doesn’t know what you’re talking about?

CNC West: Who hasn’t? It’s irritating.

Pradip: Right. Well that doesn’t happen to our customers. Over the years our associates have become very experienced in helping customers zero in on the right tool for a job. People call us all the time who are not quite sure what the best tooling solution is to their problem. Our people are able to help them very efficiently and quickly.


Frank Nguyen, programmer setup, works at a Litz Hightech CV-1200B vertical mill, while programmer setup man, Daniel Burris heads to the front office. In the background is a Mazak MTV-515 VMC. U.S. Shop Tools operates a variety of machines for use in producing its own products and for customization when required.

CNC West: Speaking of customers, how many do you have?

Pradip: About 7,000, I believe, many of them very long term. They keep coming back for two reasons. First, they know they’ll get the products they need at very competitive prices. Remember our “value pricing” approach. We try very hard to maintain a competitive edge there. Second, over the years we’ve developed what we like to call our ‘no hassle policy.’

CNC West: I think you’d better explain that one. Sounds interesting.

No-Hassle Policy

Pradip: Well, our customers like it. If a customer calls and complains about a product, we don’t hassle them. We take the part back and then we work with the supplier of the product, the manufacturer, to take care of the problem. We act as a go- between for the customer. Our customers are busy making parts. They don’t need the hassle of arguing with a manufacturer. It took a few years for us to fully understand how important that is, but now we do, and our customers love it.

Delivery

CNC West: That sounds good to me. I wish the people I buy my computer equipment from would make it that easy. I just have a couple more questions. One: what are your hours? And two: what kind of delivery schedules do you offer.

Pradip: We’re open from 6 A.M. to 5 P.M. on Monday through Friday and from 9 A.M. until noon on Saturdays. We have our facility here in Anaheim to serve the west and we have a stocking, order-taking office in Warren, Michigan area. We also try to answer calls on or before the 3rd ring.

CNC West: And delivery?

Pradip: We ship virtually any way the customer wants, UPS, Fedex, trucking companies, you name it. If they call be-fore 4:45, their order goes out the same day. Our people work until 5:30 to make sure of that. It’s all part of the service