PAST. PRESENT. FUTURE.

The story of the North American Punch Manufacturers Association (Formerly known as the National Association of Punch Manufacturers) must begin with some history of the punch industry. Many people are unaware of the highly specialized operations of the typical punch manufacturer. Even today, in a finished stamping die, the punch is often regarded as a minor component.

To those early pioneers of what is today known as the punch industry, it was obvious that there was a true need and a true challenge to improve one of the most basic and vital tools of the industry. They recognized that of all the components in a stamping die, the punch is the most vital part. The punch is the most likely to fail first. The failure-whenever it occurs-stops production on the stamping press and costs lost time, money, and it is certainly a great inconvenience.

It was on this basic premise that early producers of punches began manufacturing these tools with proper tools steels, controlled heat treatment and precision grinding. However, each punch manufacturer had his own concept of how a punch should be made. Each manufacturer had its own tolerances, size selection, hardness steels and the like, to cause many problems to the users.

In 1963, recognizing all these facts, the principal program of the NAPMA has been and continues to be devoted to standardization of all punches, dies and retainers manufactured by the various member companies. Nothing could have been accomplished without having first organized NAPMA, which is a growing association representing the majority of the punch manufacturers of the United States and Canada. Because the Association is looking to expand, it was decided in 1997 to change the name from National Association of Punch Manufacturers (NAPM) to the North American Punch Manufacturers Association (NAPMA). Today, the NAPMA has adopted standards for all types of punches, dies and retainers. A user can buy products from any NAPMA member knowing that they are completely interchangeable.

The NAPMA, at present, is working to upgrade all the existing standard-inch as well as metric. All member companies are state-of-the-art, not only with equipment, but also with types of steels to use for any piercing application. They are also looking at many coatings that will extend life on most products. For more information on their new standards, as well as existing standards, you can contact us here.