General Information
Location
Pekin, Illinois
(Halfway between Chicago
and St. Louis on Route 29)
Plant Size
Modern 116,000 sq. ft. facility
on 10 acres
Alloys Poured
355,356 and 712
Types of Cores
Shell, Alphaset, CO2
Castings Weights
Ounces to over 300 pounds
Flask Sizes
From 16" x 24" to 38" x 60"
Volumes
Prototypes to over
100,000 pieces/year
Value-added Services
Heat treating, painting, color anodizing, chromate conversion coating, and other services
upon request
A Brief History of Tazewell Machine Works, Inc.
Tazewell Machine Works, Inc., was founded in 1945 by Henry F. and Blanche M. Cakora as a jobbing machine shop. In order to better serve customers, a non-ferrous foundry was later added so that the company did not have to rely on other foundries to procure their castings.
Today, Tazewell Machine Works is still owned by the Cakora family. The company has an experienced work force and management team with over 153 combined years of service experience at Tazewell Machine Works. We are committed to continuing to reinvest the majority of our profits back into the company so that our customers will still be able to depend on us for high-quality castings and excellent service at competitive prices in the future.
Tazewell Machine Works, Inc. Time Line
1945
Founded by Henry F. and Blanche M. Cakora
1949 - 1963
Company expands numerous times until fire completely destroys 20,000 square foot structure
1964
Relocated to new 32,000 square foot plant at present location. New facility is built on a non-ferrous foundry because most customers preferred to machine their own castings
1975
Built 1st semi-automatic molding line
1976
Added 3,000 square feet to house loading dock and core knockout areas
1979 - 1981
Decided to get back into machining due to customers' changing needs. The plan was to only machine castings made by our foundry. Purchased first CNC mills
1982
Elected first "Outside Directors" who were non-shareholders, non-employees, and non-family people. The company shareholders decided to elect outside directors in order to insure continuity for the company
1985
Built 2nd semi-automatic molding line
1987 - 1988
Added 10,000 square feet for new machine shop and storage area for work-in-progress and finished castings. Purchased our first machining center and three additional ones 1990
Added 16,800 square feet to warehouse for storing work-in-progress, finished rough castings, and machined complete castings
1992 - 1994
Added 19,000 square feet for automatic cope and drag molding line that was constructed in 1993. Relocated cleaning room and shipping/receiving departments in new building
1995
Demolished outdated 1,500 square foot office and began construction on new 4,800 square foot office. Built second pattern vault for storage of large patterns and core boxes. Installed new network computer system and created a paperless environment
1997
Installed new muller, computerized sand system and increased sand capacity by 30%
1998
Added 21,600 square feet for Roberts-Sinto FBO III automatic molding line, expanded cleaning room, and shipping/receiving department
1999
Built 2nd large rollover molding line
2000
Upgraded Osborne cope and drag molding line with new Osborne molding machines and automated mold handling
2002
Purchased HAAS EC-1600 Horizontal Machining Center
2005
Added 10,500 square feet for expanded Core Room and Maintenance Center
2006
Replace "Cyclops" Cope and Drag Molding Line with BMK "King Kong" Cope and Drag Molding Line
2007
Built 3rd large rollover molding line
2011
Purchased E-C 1600 Horizontal Machining Center
2012
Replaced Osborne Molding Machines wiht BMM Molding Machines
2014
Built 4th Large Rollover Molding Line and purchased our 3rd VF-6 Vertical Machining Center
