Last week ToolsBlog.com owner Sherry Gillis attended the Medco Tool Customer Show in Philadelphia, PA and got a chance to check out the new tools and trends presented by over 100 vendors for two days. There were lots of interesting new tools on the market and some nice sets put together with tools that are already on the market, but one of the most exciting booths at the show was CTA Tools.

CTA Tools was founded by Jack Dreyfus in 1978 as a sister company to Dreyco, Incorporated, which he had also founded and had been running since 1950. Dreyco, Inc. was the company that set up all of the KD Tools export markets during the 1960s and 1970s. When KD Tools later decided to administer all of their export tools in-house, Dreyfus began CTA Tools to compete with their brand. Current CTA Tools President Michael Borghard began working at CTA Tools in 1979 after marrying the daughter of Jack Dreyfus and has been working for the company for the past 35 years.

Originally Borghard worked as a veneer log exporter in New York and had a degree in Wood Products Engineering from attending Forestry School, but was convinced he should go to work in the tool industry by his father-in-law. Borghard’s wife did not necessarily want her husband working in the family business, but the will of the father-in-law prevailed and Borghard joined the CTA Tools team.

Gillis later interviewed Borghard about the CTA Tools business and asked him his opinion on the path his company is taking in today’s tool market and what he sees coming in tool trends today.

Q) Have you changed the direction of your inventory this last few years? If so, why?

A) Absolutely. The two big changes have been with Fluid Service Tools & Euro application tools. With Fluid Service, we came across some very unique products that have done extremely well and built a new market segment for us. European application tools came because so many of our customers kept asking us to expand our range into the category. We were selling a few specialty sockets for VW/Audi at the time. We learned there were limited choices for these types of tools, while at the same time the German & Swedish vehicle populations in North America were growing older and larger.

Q) I noticed you have some specialty tools for Mini Coopers. What made you decide to make specialty tools for that particular make of car? Do you feel there is a very big market for those tools?

A) This ties into my comments above. There were very specific requests for Mini tools and we are now in the process of adding more.

Q) Do you see any particular trends among automotive specialty tools these days?

A) The biggest trend is the explosion of range. Because of the many engineering changes throughout both domestic & import vehicles, the need for more & more specialty tools is never-ending.

Q) How has the recession effected your manufacturing company?

A) What recession? Our growth has never been better during the recent years. Cars age, are on their 2nd, 3rd or 4th owners, independent shops are hungry for business and will work on any car they can, which means more specialty tools.

Q) Do you see a change in the automotive tools industry because of the recession in general? If so, what do you think is on trend for the next few years?

A) The trend we see is with parts getting smaller, lighter and harder to get to. These material and location changes drive our business. Technology is also changing swiftly, but that effects the diagnostic side of the business, which we are not involved with.

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In looking over the new inventory displayed by CTA Tools, Gillis can see they should be making quite a splash in the automotive specialty tools industry.