DMM factory tour

Interesting video on an awesome company.

dmmprofessional.com/article…

Excellent video!

DMM sure have their sh!t together!

that was one of the most interesting things I have watched in awhile. It makes me feel a little better paying the premium that they want for their gear. I would much rather vote for qaulity tooling in wales than whatever is happening in china

Bravo DMM!

Fantastic video & educational too.

Glad to support a group with integrity.

Gotta love the boys down in Wales!

Met the owners in Spain last year. Really cool bunch of guys - very laid back and very passionate about the gear they make. I don't think twice about spending more money for DMM (of course here it's no more than BD, which is kind of a joke next to DMM).

That video was rad! That laser etcher at the end was super cool. The dumb American in me enjoyed every time they talked about aluminum and belay devices. On a side note however...those jobs have to suck. Can you imagine being the guy that drilled 14 million carabiner holes? Just standing 8 hours a day drilling holes. Blech.

Crag tools made by cragsmen for use at the crag - what a concept. I like the hot forging dies, just put a billet of aluminium on it and hit the button....BAM. Yes some of those jobs seem tedious, but DMM looks like a good source of jobs in an old slate mining town, where I doubt there's much else.

Everyone should visit Llanberis at least once in their lives.

Chris Owen wrote: Everyone should visit Llanberis at least once in their lives.

Agreed! You haven't lived until you've climbed in the pass and finished off the day with a giant meal in Pete's Eats and a mug of tea the size of a dustbin. Brilliant.

... swiftly followed by a few pints in the Heights, of course.

Every climber should see this video. Thanks for posting. A great video and a great company. Makes me really appreciate all of the effort that goes into the gear I carry around and use. Didn't They buy out Wild Country or was it the other way around? Details? Thanks -Alan-

Alan Ream wrote:Every climber should see this video. Thanks for posting. A great video and a great company. Makes me really appreciate all of the effort that goes into the gear I carry around and use. Didn't They buy out Wild Country or was it the other way around? Details? Thanks -Alan-

Not quite! Salewa (Italian gear manufacturer) bought Wild Country almost a year ago, before that I believe they shared some factory space/equipment in Llanberis but were separately owned.

Very interesting video, thanks for the link! I really want one of those giant biners now just to see reactions when I whip it out at the crag.

I love this quote: "We tried to automate the [drilling] process, but Gareth was more efficient."

I was kinda surprised by the lack of safety glasses in a few shots...especially the one with the guy working the milling machine. I would have expected workplace safety standards to require eye protection. It only takes one stray piece of sharp metal to seriously fuck up your eye.

I have had the chance to visit the factory in person and had a full tour. Needless to say I was suitably impressed. There is more that goes into making climbing gear than many people think.

What a lot of people probably don't know is that DMM regularly bid for work manufacturing climbing equipment for numerous other companies. This has included making Rockcentrics for Wild Country, Reversos for Petzl and carabiners for Mammut.

I think this is probably where the confusion over the nature of ownership of Wild Country and DMM has come from, but they are and have always been separate companies. As mentioned, Wild Country is now owned by Salewa.

DMM ownership bought Wildcountry in 1996, Wildcountry was sold to Salewa in 2012.

Glad you guys liked the vid. So who makes the WC helium friends now? I was under the impression they were made by DMM

Amazed by how much work is done by hand. Good quality gear made by a good quality company. Will be buying more of their gear in the future.

pretty sure the lobes are hot forged by DMM as are Helium biners and Mammut Bionic biners, but that info's not from anyone important

I was told by the DMM guys that they made the Helium biners as well as the cam lobes on the Helium Cams. That was a year ago though, so not sure if things have changed with Salewa now owning WC.

I got to watch some DMM employees breaking biners last week. Very cool.

Ray Pinpillage wrote:DMM ownership bought Wildcountry in 1996, Wildcountry was sold to Salewa in 2012.

I think you're right but it's a bit misleading. Until WC was bought by Salewa last Feb, they operated as an independent company. But like you said, DMM ownership bought them in '96.

Ask anyone involved and you can tell they are holding back in whatever kind of answer they give. Probably a lot more to it that any of us will ever know.

Jim Titt would know...

Operated as two seperate companies but owned by the same people, briefly united and Wild Country moved to beside DMM in Wales and were then sold to Salewa for undisclosed reasons which will almost certainly remain that way.

its a pity they couldn't do some of that hot forging magic on the dragon cam lobes so that they be wider at where they contact the rock and thin when they attach to the axle.