Since 1946, LMT Onsrud has evolved from Onsrud Cutter Manufacturing Company into a cutting tool manufacturer serving demanding routing, milling, drilling, and machining applications. From its beginnings in Libertyville, Illinois, the company has continued to expand its tooling capabilities, material expertise, and manufacturing technologies while maintaining a focus on precision, performance, and quality.
Onsrud Cutter Manufacturing Company (OCMC) was founded in Libertyville, Illinois, in 1946. The company began by manufacturing high-speed steel and carbide-tipped router tooling for woodworking applications.
These early products established the foundation for what would become a much broader cutting tool portfolio serving increasingly diverse materials and manufacturing applications.
Onsrud Cutter Manufacturing Group and its subsidiaries were sold to an employee investment group in 1979.
Following the ownership change, the company was renamed Onsrud Cutter, Inc. (OCI). Annual sales in 1979 were $6.5 million.
During the 1980s, Onsrud Cutter expanded its product offering with tooling designed specifically for machining plastics.
What began as a modest line of 48 SKUs in 1983 developed into a complete catalog of approximately 650 tools for plastic machining. By 1989, plastic tooling accounted for 31% of Onsrud Cutter's total volume.
This expansion represented an important step beyond the company's traditional woodworking applications and helped establish Onsrud as a specialist in tooling for engineered and non-metallic materials.
In 1996, Onsrud Cutter, Inc. celebrated 50 years of operation in Libertyville, Illinois.
Over its first five decades, the company had grown from a manufacturer of router tooling into a broader cutting tool supplier serving wood, plastics, composites, and other demanding machining applications.
On June 2, 1996, the County Board of Lake County proclaimed Onsrud Cutter Day in recognition of the company's 50 years of service to the community.
The proclamation recognized Onsrud Cutter's long-standing presence in Lake County and its role as a local manufacturer and employer.
In 1999, Onsrud Cutter, Inc. was acquired by the LMT Group of Germany and became LMT Onsrud.
Joining the LMT Group connected Onsrud's established routing and material-machining expertise with a broader international cutting tool organization.
In December 2010, LMT Onsrud relocated from Libertyville to a new 64,000-square-foot facility in Waukegan, Illinois.
The move provided a larger base for manufacturing, engineering, application support, and continued development of the company's expanding cutting tool portfolio.
LMT Onsrud celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2016, marking seven decades since the company's founding in 1946.
By that time, the company's tooling capabilities had expanded well beyond its original router products to support machining applications involving plastics, composites, aluminum, titanium, and other demanding materials.
Today, LMT Onsrud continues to design and manufacture cutting tools for CNC routers, CNC mills, electric routers, and air routers.
Its product portfolio includes router bits, solid carbide end mills, specialty drills, and application-specific tooling for materials including wood, engineered panels, plastics, composites, honeycomb, aluminum, titanium, and other ferrous and non-ferrous materials.
Nearly eight decades after its founding, LMT Onsrud continues to build on the same core principles that shaped the company from the beginning: precision manufacturing, application expertise, consistent performance, and cutting tool solutions designed for demanding production environments.