Melrose Park, Illinois-based tool and die maker,
A-1 Tool Corp. plans to establish an operation on Milwaukee's far northwest side.
A-1 Tool recently purchased a 20,860-square-foot industrial building at 8800 W. Dean Road in Milwaukee for about $1.5 million and plans to establish a tool and die repair shop there.
A-1 Tool Corp. chief executive officer Geoff Luther said he was looking for a building to expand his business when he learned about the Dean Road structure. Luther grew up in Baraboo. His father, who is now in his 80s, owned Triangle Tool and Dynamic Tool.
The Dean Road building was previously a Stainless Foundry Machine Shop location, and Luther said he has acquired machines from that business and retained two of its employees. Luther said he plans to hire about 10 employees to start, with the expectation that the operation there would eventually have between 30 and 40 people within a year or two. The shop is designed to be a second location for the company’s Melrose Park headquarters, Luther said.
“I do a lot of work for Orbis, JW Speaker,” he said, adding that “the work ethic (in Milwaukee) is really good, and people are everything, so I wanted to come back.”
The building was sold to A-1 Tool Corp. by a Los Angeles-area investor.
Stainless Foundry & Engineering Services, which had leased the Dean Road building, is continuing its normal operations at its headquarters located at 5110 North 35th St.
