Product: A Modular Metal Drill with an Indexable Head Developer: Gil Hecht Company: Iscar Ltd. Year of Patent: 1999
It can be said with certainty that the majority of the world's motor vehicles and airplanes today contain parts manufactured with Iscar's machining cutting tools. To be more precise, it can be said that most of these parts were also made using Chamdrill – a steel body drill to which a hard-metal drill head (known as an insert) is attached by means of a smart modular connection.
This modular connection enables the easy changing of the drill head – without use of screws or other locking devices – and the adaptation of its diameter to different industrial uses.
Gil Hecht, a planner in Iscar's Development Department, first devised this modular patent in 1997. Until then, the drills sold on the global machining market were largely those made from one material (high-speed steel or hard metal) or drills with two sections welded together. The product with the changeable head was the first of its kind in the world and has subsequently been implemented successfully in a range of products, markets and industries.
The development of the Chamdrill enabled re-use of the drill's body and the replacement of its worn-out head within just a few seconds. The drilling head is assembled in a short and simple circular movement and the two cutting edges achieve full effective drilling. The development has been proven as extremely economical for the customer because of the significantly lower cost of the drill head compared to that of a drill head made from hard metal. Moreover, no time is lost to stopping work or shutting down machines in the factory in order to change the drill head and every drill is suitable for a wide range of drilling diameters.
Until the development of the Chamdrill, Iscar's market share in this product line was relatively small; however since then, the company has strengthened its standing as a company that develops, manufactures and markets cutting tools for the entire spectrum of metal machining processes. The company, founded in 1952 by industrialist and Israel Prize winner Stef Wertheimer, is the leading company in the IMC – International Metalworking Companies conglomerate - and the second largest in its field in the world. Iscar's products are in high demand in a variety of industries, primarily the automotive, aviation, transportation and energy industries. In 2006, the company was purchased by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Corporation.
