New tooling gives Dalloway Precision Engineering Limited the cutting Edge over competition with MSC

For Stourbridge-based Dalloway Precision Engineering Limited, the future is looking bright. 

“There’s a lot of doom and gloom out there but, despite what you read, we’ve never been so busy,” begins Joel Dalloway, Workshop Operations Manager. There is good reason for optimism within the company, as it looks to mark its 20th anniversary by investing nearly £1m in new equipment, facilities and staff over the next 12 months.

The precision engineering firm has built a strong reputation over the past two decades through a diverse customer base across a number of core vertical markets, including food and beverage, rail and industrial applications, as well more niche industries, such as the sports medal and trophy market. 

“We’re quite a mixed bag, but we get a lot of work from referrals as people take us with them when they move roles,” Joel continues. 

To accommodate its growing order book, Dalloway is due to expand and acquire a third industrial unit – while also investing in a new machining centre and a lathe from long-term machine tool partner Mills CNC.

Joel continues: “Most of our machines are from Mills CNC. We see a great benefit to consolidating with one supplier – we get to know them and their machines, and they get to know us and our business. This leads to a better level of service and ultimately a higher standard of machining for our customers.”

The importance of long-term partnerships flows throughout Dalloway. From day one, the company has been working closely with metalworking, safety and industrial consumables supplier MSC Industrial Supply Co. UK (MSC). 

“We’ve bought just about everything we can from MSC – cutting tools, MRO supplies, health and safety equipment and hand tools – they are a local company and, if I can get everything under one roof, it makes my life a lot easier,” adds Joel.

However, it is MSC’s most recent innovation – its first ever line of own-brand tooling – which has caught the attention of Dalloway’s engineering team and delivered a step-change in tooling costs.

First launched in early 2025, the MSC Edge range of solid carbide holemaking and milling tools is available in Ø1.00mm to Ø20.00mm. With Dalloway looking to maximise its productivity, the company agreed to trial a selection of tools from the MSC Edge range; a decision that is already paying dividends. 

“As a company, we’ve always had high tooling costs. We cut quite a diverse range of metals, ranging from aluminium and brass to a lot of steels, including stainless steel and 17-4 PH, the latter of which can be particularly challenging,” Joel adds. “As a result, I prefer to buy the best quality tooling I can afford and really push them, but this doesn’t always help our bottom line. However, since switching to MSC Edge cutting tools, we’ve seen a significant drop off in tool costs, while maintaining the same level of performance as our previous supplier.”

While Joel admits he hasn’t yet needed to push the MSC Edge tooling to its limit, it has played a key role in slashing cycle times for one of its biggest – and most prestigious – orders. He continues: 

“One of the more interesting jobs we have on the go at the moment is to produce a series of display cases for some of the world’s most expensive whisky bottles, which can retail for more than £40,000 a unit. We’ve won an order to supply 120 cases a year for three years, so it is certainly keeping us busy.”

The cases were initially taking Dalloway around 10 hours per case to machine on its Mills DVF-5000 5-axis vertical machining centre. However, as Joel and the team became more confident in the machine, they were able to experiment using MSC Edge, with different tool paths and have cut cycle times in half. 

“We buy the tube in 6m lengths before cutting it down to size, facing it on the lathe and polishing it to the best of our ability. We then use incrementally smaller MSC Edge aluminium cutters on the DVF-5000 – starting at 5mm and working down to 2mm – to slowly but surely cut the tapered helical slots that deliver such an eye-catching design. Finally, we send it for a second polish before anodising to make it look as good as it can,” says Joel.

“From there, these cases are set to be displayed in the window of a very famous London department store. I’m looking forward to going down one day and saying: ‘I made that!’”

Looking ahead, the future certainly appears to be bright for Dalloway. “We’ve got a great machine partner and now we’ve got a great tooling partner - we’re excited to see where the journey takes us,” Joel concludes: “We’re going places.”