The history of manufacturing advancements stems from a never-ending cycle of challenges, problem-solving, and innovations. Larry Robbins is now president and CEO of SMW-AUTOBLOK, a leading global manufacturer of workholding systems. He demonstrated his problem-solving skills at age nine while growing up in his father's New Jersey machine tool distributorship. His dad’s company had a new Flexowriter programming system, a machine that combined a standard electric typewriter with a paper-tape reader and punch mechanism to program early numerically controlled machines. “Flexowriter changed from paper to Mylar, and we had an applications department full of older guys who couldn’t figure out how to make it work,” recalls Robbins. “When they went to lunch, I read the manual. I told my dad it wasn’t that hard to write a program, so I wrote one to drill and tap a hole. I then taught five or six older gentlemen what they were missing. It was just a step that they just thought was unimportant. From that point on, my dad let me start running machines and I learned how to program.” Like Robbins, SMW-AUTOBLOK built a business around solving challenges. Founded in Turin, Italy, in 1942, the family-owned company began by manufacturing replacement parts for American-made chucks during World War II. Today, SMW-AUTOBLOK employs more than 1,000 people worldwide and serves customers across the aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, energy, and industrial manufacturing sectors. Robbins leads the company’s North American operations from its Wheeling, Illinois, location. At 63, Robbins has the same passion he had as a nine-year-old. “I thought from day one that making stuff was the coolest thing in the world,” he says. “I bought a car and rebuilt it at 14. In this job, I’ve seen tanks, machine guns, and cars being made. Those are things I would have never seen if I didn't have this job, and it's just been such a great education throughout the years.” From Intern to Officer Shaun Thomas, vice president of operations at SMW Autoblok, took a little longer to get into manufacturing. His father was a chemical engineer whose refinery work took the family around the world. While pursuing a degree in Industrial Engineering at Northern Illinois University, Thomas started an internship at SMW-AUTOBLOK and was introduced to engineering software, machining concepts, and the realities of precision manufacturing. Since his graduation in 2004, he has held numerous engineering positions at SMW-AUTOBLOK, earned an MBA, worked briefly to gain additional leadership experience at another company, and returned to SMW-AUTOBLOK in 2019. “People who don’t grow up in manufacturing don’t realize that in order to hold tolerances, you have to be able to hold the part,” says Thomas. “Having that internship and being able to apply what I learned in school brought everything together. That’s what makes manufacturing fun.” Innovation, Not Imitation Robbins takes pride in the company’s 80-year history of innovation. SMW-AUTOBLOK has evolved from a traditional chuck manufacturer into a global supplier of workholding technologies that support turning, milling, grinding, automation, and advanced manufacturing applications. “About 17 years ago, we started buying other companies and expanded into stationary workholding, ID gripping products, and magnetics. We have never been a me-too company," Robbins says. "We always innovate and find some way to improve on a process, and we're just touching the tip of the iceberg right now.” “Every customer has a different challenge that they need us to solve,” says Thomas. “Historically, workholding has been all mechanical and hydraulic. Now we’re moving toward electronics and mechatronics, so our solutions collaborate with the machines.” SMW-AUTOBLOK’s contactless inductive coupler system is the only product in the world that can wirelessly transmit power and data simultaneously over an air gap. “In the past, we had to count on all users following the instructions on the setup sheet,” says Robbins. “Now we have the ability to transmit the right grip force and jaw position to ensure predictability and repeatability, as well as generate a report. Further, we can customize solutions. We can take a chuck that used for an axle yesterday and use it for a brake rotor today.” Evolving Culture Even though SMW-AUTOBLOK employs more than 1,000 people, it’s still a family-owned business run by the founder's four grandchildren. As an operations leader, Thomas spends a lot of time thinking about workforce development and views the manufacturing culture as a continuous evolution as younger generations enter the workforce. Much of his success depends on creating environments that encourage collaboration, transparency, and team member engagement, ensuring, as an internal saying goes, that everyone is pushing the rock in the same direction. “We have open communication between all of our departments,” he says. “We have kickoff meetings, pre-sales discussions between our applications engineers and sales, and a lot of back-and-forth with the customer. We don’t just pick up a catalog and select something. There’s a lot of communication that needs to happen to deliver the right product.” SMW-AUTOBLOK customers appreciate the high level of communication. One point of customer feedback occurred after a rare mistake. The customer said, “We make multiples of things, and we make mistakes. You make one thing, and you guys consistently seem to make it correctly. When you don't make it correctly, you're the first ones to correct it. It’s special to find someone who values a happy customer over maximum profit.” Manufacturing’s Next Chapter Both leaders see tremendous opportunity ahead for manufacturing, particularly in automation, robotics, electronics, and advanced sensing technologies, where there’s a transformation in how products are produced. Thomas emphasizes that the future workforce will require different skills than previous generations. While automation may reduce manual intervention, it will increase demand for people who understand technology, programming, electronics, and system integration. "It’s going to be fewer 'manual-touch' people, but more electronic and technology-savvy people," he says. “I think the industry continues to require more data,” says Robbins. “We need to get to a point where you can tell me what a chuck did five minutes ago and be able to repeat it again without having to do anything but look at a dashboard. That’s what our wireless transducer technology allows you to do. There is technology that transmits power, there is technology that transmits data, but only we can do both over an air gap.” Turning Nightmares into Money Growing up in manufacturing, Robbins has attended and exhibited at IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show for decades. One of his favorite stories comes from an aerospace professional who told him, “When I went to my first IMTS show, I found 10 years of technologies. I’ve been to five more shows since then, but I’m still implementing some of those ideas.” “The point he was making is that sometimes it takes time to find the application for what you learn at IMTS, says Robbins. “At IMTS 2026, visitors will see more integration of automation into standard processes and more automation and things they never thought of automating.” At IMTS 2026, to help visitors imagine solutions, SMW-AUTOBLOK (IMTS booth #431617) will exhibit on innovations, applications, and education. “We will show situation-specific solutions for the markets we serve, such as firearms, defense, space, automotive, job shops, and off-road vehicles,” says Thomas. “We want to engage people in a conversation by showing them new ways of thinking.” “We invite people to come in and challenge us,” says Robbins. “Come in and give us your worst part. Anybody can do easy. We want your worst nightmare, where you fail consistently, because then we can show you how we can make money together. That’s why I say the world according to Larry Robbins is a little better, a little smarter. It's our ability to perform better and give people a better product.” For Shaun Thomas, the world comes down to significance, specifically “How significant we can be with our people, with our company, and our product, because then we make a significant difference in how our customers operate.” Register NowFurther Reading:The World According to Joel Martin: Innovation Through CollaborationBelmont Built an EDM Legacy by Looking to the FutureThe World According to Steve Stokey: Building the Future Through ManufacturingThe World According to Chad King: Where Precision Meets Speed
Discover how SMW-AUTOBLOK is advancing manufacturing through innovative workholding, automation, and customer-driven solutions.
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