About Us
In March of 1983 company founder, Ron Spears, purchased a small machine shop, Mooremaster Manufacturing, in Franklin Park, IL. He was a one man show with a manual horizontal mill and a few secondary machines. He renamed the company Able Barmilling & Manufacturing Co., Inc., and got down to business adding employees and gaining a customer base. Located not far from the city of Chicago, Ron saw the need to provide specialized milling services to a variety of businesses in the area. Rich with automotive, computer, surgical, food processing, paper products, and specialty machinery companies, it was the perfect location to continue fine tuning Able Barmilling’s processes and meet the industrial needs. Ron’s growth decision was to focus on the utilization of horizontal mill machines to manufacture various steel products.
Technology innovations shifted some of Able Barmilling’s business to its competitors’ CNC machines in the 1990’s, apart from a few unique parts. However, Ron recognized it was a huge cost savings to continue to use large horizontal milling machines to cut bars of various steel material to a near net shape, cut to length, and then add small secondary machining where needed to produce finished parts. Instead of following the technological industry trends, Ron focused on the core skills of the company and continued to grow the business in custom contoured bars. Able Barmilling continued running these types of mills as they grew over the years while relocating from Franklin Park to Melrose Park, and finally to Wauconda, Illinois.
In the past decade Able Barmilling added some CNC capabilities; not to compete in the small part market, but to assist in the production of long parts. This resulted in custom machines and fixtures being built in-house to remain competitive in these markets. To continue to grow as a company, Able Barmilling & Manufacturing. Co., Inc., has expanded its production to the south, with its newest location in Sarasota, Florida. In addition to manufacturing with horizontal mills, adding CNC controls and automation capabilities will increase productivity while meeting the future needs of the industry.
