Celebrating Our 40th Year

This marks our 40th year in business! My father, Donald Bitters, opened Modern Cam & Tool like a lot of small business people do, with high hopes and all of his savings. 1971 was not exactly prime time for starting a new venture. Stagflation was rampant and the economy was in a recession. To make it  seem even more daunting, the "smart money' was predicting the demise of the screw machine industry. Cams would no longer be needed because CNC, cold-heading, foreign competition and the like were making screw machines obsolete.

In the '80s , the Company had to contend with 18% interest rates at a  time when we were making significant investments in new CNC equipment to replace the old Rowbottom cam millers that were our staple machines from the begininng. We expended a lot of time developing our own proprietary cam software on a RadioShack TRS-80 computer to "digitize" our cam templates. Communicating with our new machining centers on a TRS-80  was  primitive by today's standards, but it worked!

Every family business, that has been around 40 years, has stories to tell about owner's paychecks not cashed, borrowing on credit cards, family differences, and various other trials and tribulations...and we aren't any exception. But like every business that has lasted 40 years, we were able to do it because we have dedicated employees and loyal customers.  We try to do good work at a fair price. No more , no less. That's been our mantra since 1971.

Scott Bitters, President