6 Reasons

Why Somta is
the Only Choice
• World class quality, exporting to 70 countries worldwide!
• Over 7000 standard & application products in stock!
• Further 6000 products manufactured to customer
specifications!
• OSG’s full product range and support available!
• Korloy insert & tool holder ranges and support available!
• Employing & developing great people
to do extraordinary things!

C O M P A N Y P R O F I L E
 SOMTA TOOLS

Somta Tools specialises in the design and

manufacture of standard and custom tools for
the industrial and "do it yourself" markets.

Product categories can be summarised as

drills, cutters, reamers, threading tools and
toolbits, which are made in a wide range of
sizes, using various materials (HSS and Solid
Carbide) and PVD surface coatings to extend
wear life.

From humble beginnings in 1954 with 20 employees, Somta has grown into the largest cutting tool
manufacturer in Africa, operating from offices and modern manufacturing facilities laid out over 3
hectares with a complement of over 300 employees.
The factory in Pietermaritzburg manufactures over 7 000 standard & application products and a further
6 000 made-to-order items to serve local markets and export markets in over 70 countries worldwide.

It has separate factories for Blank Prep, Heat Treatment,

Drills, End Mills, Taps, Reamers, Specials, Carbide and
Coating all on one site. The employees in each factory
become product specialists.

The Somta National Distribution centre situated in

Gauteng stocks all standard & application products and is
able to offer same day delivery within the Gauteng region,
and next day delivery to all other provinces within South
Africa.

One of Somta’s strengths is its

ability to design and develop its
own cutting tool manufacturing
machines in-house, originally
initiated because of a weak Rand
and long delivery times from
machine tool manufacturers.
There are obvious competitive
advantages of in-house machine
building.

Somta’s Vision
The company's vision of "To manufacture and supply superior cutting
tools, driven by a culture of service excellence, to global and domestic
markets" is supported by ISO accreditation which was first achieved in
1991 and still remains in place today.
 COMPANY HISTORY
Somta Tools was founded in 1954 by Samuel Osborn
Ltd of Sheffield, England. The name Somta is an
acronym derived from the names of
Samuel Osborn (founder of Osborn Steels
U.K.), and Robert Mushet (the 19th century
inventor of High Speed Steel).

The full name being

Samuel Osborn Mushet Tools Africa.

Somta started out producing Twist Drills,

Reamers, Toolbits and Chisels with
a complement of about 20
employees.

One of Somta’s claims to fame is

that its former parent company
produced the first Twist Drill made
from High Speed Steel. Prior to
1870, twist drills were made from
a flat piece of steel and then
physically twisted, hence the
name. Thereafter the flutes were
produced on milling machines
until the grinding method arrived.
Milestones
US$2 million Investment in Balzers Coating Plant

In 2003, Somta integrated a state-of-the-art Balzers PVD Rapid

Coating System into its manufacturing programme, offering the
Innovative range of Balzers BALINIT® high Performance
coatings on all cutting tools. This enabled Somta to offer coated
cutting tools to compete with the very best high tech tool
producers in the world.

Carbide Production Facility Expansion

In 2012 Somta invested over ten million rand on state-of-the art

CNC equipment, which saw the company quadruple its carbide
tool manufacturing capacity, thereby improving delivery times.

To accommodate these new machines and allow space for

further expansion, the carbide production facility was expanded.
This expansion allowed for a dedicated test and training facility
which included the addition of a HAAS VF-3YT CNC vertical
machining centre, to test, run and enhance current and new
tool designs, as well as for training purposes.

Somta can now utilize its state-of-the art R&D facility to find
solutions to difficult machining applications or material types.
Somta is able to simulate the production conditions so that their
customers no longer have to break into critical production lines
to conduct testing. No other facility on the African continent
boasts the combined manufacturing, measuring, coating and
testing capabilities of Somta Tools.
Somta Partners with Global Cutting Tool Leader, OSG

In 2016 Somta partnered with global cutting tool giants OSG, with OSG
becoming the majority stakeholder. As a result Somta gained access
and support to OSG technologies and expertise on a global scale, and
can now offer OSG cutting tools to the African market, whilst OSG
subsidiaries worldwide have added Somta's range of tooling to their portfolio offering.

Beyond the Limit

OSG is a comprehensive cutting tool
manufacturer known for its world-
Corporate Philosophy: Global Presence renowned taps and other product
offerings such as end mills, drills, and rolling dies.
As a comprehensive cutting tool manufacturer, OSG makes
Moving toward an era of carbon neutrality, OSG will
products that at a fundamental level contribute to enhancing
strive to achieve further growth as an essential player
people’s quality of life. Through continuous growth, they have
that contributes to the global manufacturing
established a production, sales, and technical support network
industry and the realization of a sustainable society
spanning 33 countries. Their corporate aim is to continue to
based on its “global presence” corporate philosophy.
expand their operations globally and strengthen their
contribution to manufacturing industries worldwide.
OSG’s international headquarters today

Supporting global manufacturing

with top class products and technology
OSG maintains absolute control over every aspect of its
manufacturing capabilities. OSG products are produced in-house –
from the production of tool material, creation of tool geometry, to
the development of its own proprietary coatings – the 3 vital
elements in the manufacturing of superior cutting tools.

Shaping your dreams

The power of OSG lies in their assured innovative technological know-how for
producing high-quality and high-performance products; their exceptional services
to respond to situations diligently; and their out-of-the-box thinking to provide total
solutions that anticipate their customers’ needs. OSG is committed to contribute to
the advancement of the manufacturing industries by shaping their customers’
dreams into reality.
OSG’s first factory in 1938

The Power to Exceed Customers’ Expectations

Innovation Total Solutions

Customer
Communication

Out-of-the-box
Services
Thinking
Somta investing in the future

In 2018 to 2020, R60 million was invested in new machinery and technology. Included in this
investment were 2 x 3 Axis CNC Clearance Grinders, an OTC-1 Long Tool Image Analyser, an AeroLap
YT3000, a Fischerscope X-Ray XDLM 237, a DMG MORI NLX 1500 universal CNC mill turn machine, a
Haas VF2 SS CNC milling machine, an ANCA MX 7 Linear, a floating carriage, a Zoller Genius 3 and
Smart Check 420, a TGT Accudress wheel truing and profiling machine complete with a camera
system, 2 x 5-axis TGT V2 Advance Maxima CNC tool and cutter grinders, a Micromatic SM40 CNC
Cylindrical Grinder, a PerformCoat PfC540 PVD
coating machine and lastly a PerformDrag
PfD550 polishing and honing machine.

The Swiss-designed and manufactured

PerformCoat PfC540 PVD coating machine has
been developed in conjunction with OSG Japan
and it now allows us to implement coating layers
with adjustable properties for toughness, hot
hardness, wear resistance, oxidation resistance
and colour. These include mono, multi, nano and
gradient coating structure.
Korloy Inserts and Tool Holders

On 1 November 2022, Somta Tools reached an agreement with Korloy to promote and support its
carbide insert and tool holder ranges in the African market.

Corporate Identity
Korloy, established in South Korea in 1966, is a world Korloy is a portmanteau word of 'Korea' and
renowned brand specialising in Tool Holders and Inserts for 'Alloy'. Korloy is poised to usher in a new era
turning, milling and multipurpose; both with a full line-up of of unprecedented promise by building on
ISO standard and special tools. it’s culture of excellence and innovation
to lead the carbide cutting tool industry.
Korloy offers solutions for the Aerospace, Automotive,
Shipbuilding, Mold & Die, Railroad & Rail Wheel Industries
Outer triangle
as well as Special Industry Application products for the Pipe,
Stability and development
Bearing, Roll and Gear Machining, Power Generation,
Defense and Medical Industry.
Each side of the triangle
Customer / Human / Rationality

Inner triangle
Will to achieve the goal

Core circle
Founding Principles Solidarity within Korloy
Contribution to Society
Korloy’s Head Office
Korloy contributes to society and
improves the world by
manufacturing needed products,
creating job opportunities and
taking responsibility for what they
do.

Management
Philosophy
Happiness First
Korloy puts the happiness of it’s
customers and employees ahead of everything and achieves both by
raising the competitiveness in the world market.

Research & Development

The Korloy R&D institute aims to meet the highest demands of high-
quality products without compromise. It has been successful with its
innovative technology.

Being able to offer OSG cutting tools and Korloy insert and tool holder ranges alongside Somta’s round
tool programme, makes Somta the undisputed leader of machining solutions in Africa with all the
comprehensive offerings it now has available.
SOMTA STANDARD PRODUCTS

Reamers, Countersinks
& Counterbores
Straight Shank Drills Threading Tools

Morse Taper Shank Drills

Shank Cutters
Bore Cutters Toolbits

SOMTA MADE TO ORDER PRODUCTS

 SOMTA APPLICATION PRODUCTS
Colour Band Range UD Ultra Parabolic Twist Drills
SOMTA Colour Band Application range of drills A comprehensive range of heavy duty drills
and taps is specially designed to optimize your designed with improved point and flute
machining performances. Each range has been geometries for enhanced penetration and chip
designed with different cutting geometries and removal in long chip forming, short chip
surface treatments to ensure optimum tool forming and abrasive material groups. This
performance for each specific material category. range of drills is specifically designed to meet
the challenges of a broad spectrum of difficult
drilling applications.

MTS Chipbreaker Drills Reamer Tool Range

This outstanding development increases drill Established in 1954, Somta offers a range of
cutting efficiency by means of greatly improved high quality standard reamer products and
chip control. A chipbreaker rib is positioned custom reaming solutions. From closest
along the length of the flutes, which curls and tolerance precision machining of extremely
breaks long chip forming material into small accurate holes through to enlargement,
manageable chips for easier evacuation. There alignment and deburring of holes for
is no clogging of chips in the flutes, as small construction, assembly and general purpose
chips flow freely along the flutes. The applications. We have a product or a solution to
chipbreaker drill thus cuts more freely than satisfy your specific engineering requirements.
standard drills.

Solid Carbide Tooling Solid Carbide High Performance

(Standard Range) Roughing End Mills
Somta's Solid Carbide Tooling Standard Range A range of high performance roughing end
is a comprehensive family of solid carbide stub mills for rapid stock removal, with new
and jobber length drills, 2 and 4 flute end mills geometry designed for very low cutting forces.
and ball nose end mills, in both regular and These new roughers are for general
long series. engineering applications such as side cutting,
slotting and ramping - and can be used on
machines with medium to low rigidity.

Solid Carbide End Mills Solid Carbide Hard Material

for Aluminium End Mills
Somta's high efficiency carbide end mill range A range of high performance finishing end mills
with optimal flute geometry provides all the for operation on hard materials up to 52HRC
required features for high performance (512HB), plus Somta's Hi-Feed end mill with
machining of aluminium, with the added patent pending geometry that removes the
benefits of greater stock removal rates at high most amount of material in the least amount of
speeds and feeds, excellent surface finish time combined with extended tool life, for use
quality and extended tool life. on hard and super hard steels up to 65HRC
(880HV).

Solid Carbide VariCut End Mills Solid Carbide

Somta's new "Vari-Style" End Mill, VariCut has a
VariCut PRO End Mill
new patent pending tool design. This unique Introducing the NEW VariCut Pro with
design uses a new core form and a new IMPROVED Geometry, Variable Helix, Edge
reinforced end geometry with unequal flute Preparation & Machining Methodology.
spacing which enables it to remove the most
amount of material in the least amount of time
with an excellent surface finish. On Stainless, or
Titanium, it will match or outperform any other
"Vari-Style" End Mill in the market.
 Head Office and Surface Coating Division
Somta House, 290-294 Moses Mabhida Road,
Manufacturers & Suppliers Pietermaritzburg, 3201
South Africa

of Drills, Reamers, End Mills, Tel Factory: +27 33 355 6600

Email Factory: [email protected]
Bore Cutters, Taps & Dies,
Gauteng Sales Office
Toolbits, Solid Carbide Tooling,
6 & 7 Innes Park, 38 Jansen Road,
Jet Park, Boksburg, 1459
Carbide Insert Tooling, South Africa

Custom Tools and Tel Sales: +27 11 390 8700 (Local/Africa/Exports)

Email Sales: [email protected] (Local)
Email Sales: [email protected] (Africa)
Surface Coatings Email Sales: [email protected] (Exports)

Technical Information:
Email Technical: [email protected]

FEB/2024