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Demolished outdated 1,500 square foot office and began construction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
1996
Replaced C02 System in core room
with Alphaset and Betaset Systems. Purchased HAAS CNC Lathe
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
Mack V. Cakora, President and Daniel J. Rose, Vice President
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