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KIRKVILLE--When two machinists joined forces in a garage nearly 50 years ago, they couldn't have imagined how large their venture would become. Burton Manth and Vernon Brownell machined metal parts for local manufacturers such as Smith-Corona. The company they founded in 1951 now ships two to three million machined pieces every week to customers worldwide. ManthBrownell uses computer-controlled machining equipment to create parts to order from brass, steel, and aluminum.
"Everything we make is to the customer's design," says Wesley Skinner, president of Manth-Brownell, Inc.
Skinner's father, a tool maker, acquired the company from the founders in 1959. ManthBrownell still builds its own tools in the tradition of the elder Skinner.
The firm's customers come primarily from the automotive and cable-television industries, but Manth-Brownell makes parts for a wide variety of other applications as well. Skinner says the machining industry has grown as companies decide to concentrate on their core manufacturing business and stop producing their own component parts.
"That's where we come in," he says. "It's been a...