The industrial revolution was a catalyst in the rapid growth of the auto and heavy machinery industries.

As more and more `difficult-to-grind' materials and alloys were being used by these industries, the demand for higher quality, effective, and durable machine tools for cutting, grinding, and machining such materials continued to escalate.

As a result, superabrasive diamond and cubic boron nitride (CBN) tools were invented to meet the needs of these industries. Today, development and use of these specialized tools has expanded to a variety of industries as new applications are constantly being discovered.