Shrewsbury Tool & Die Company was formed in 1971, but still part of Hall Engineering manufacture and they built and installed sixteen Wilkins & Mitchell Power presses. The presses were built by the workforce in the new building at the rear of the factory and they began first production runs of motor body panels for Ford Europe Ltd. This was the start of a profitable long term business for the company.

The Die Shop was a busy place with several large automatic profiling milling machines to cut the shape of the die cast press tools. The Die set tools were then finished and the forms polished using high frequency hand grinders. It was a dirty and unhealthy shop for the workers and everything was covered with black cast iron dust from the machining and grinding