ABOUT US

STEINMETZ MACHINE WORKS

Experts in Innovation

Machining, Fabrication, Engineering, Mechanical Services.

For all types of mechanical equipment and systems

The wide breadth of our current services and products (the “What”) is best explored elsewhere on this site in the specific industry examples. This page is about the “why” and “how” of the Steinmetz people and our history.

Steinmetz Machine Works Inc. was founded in Byram Connecticut in 1939 by Henry G. Steinmetz. Henry had recently emigrated to the United States from Germany where he had worked as a Master Machinist. He did well during WWII manufacturing items for the war. Postwar found Steinmetz machining components for products of the various industries scattered around the Northeast. Henry also found a niche repairing and making replacement parts for the production equipment used by these manufacturers. He added metalworking and fabrication equipment to support this.

1942 photograph showing Henry Steinmetz (center) in his machine shop.
He is flanked by his accountant and an employee.

Henry died in 1962 without a suitable heir to continue running the business. Various family members tried unsuccessfully for several years. By 1967 the company was struggling and placed for sale by the family’s accountant.

Louis Michelotti’s family had emigrated to the United States from San Marino in 1929. He was seven at the time. By the time he was 15 his father had passed away and Lou became the breadwinner for his mother and 4 siblings. While attending school he worked nights and weekends at an Iron Works in Mt. Vernon New York. Upon his return from the Pacific during WWII, he joined Phillips Norelco as a machinist and rose to become their shop foreman. He always dreamed of having his own shop.

After 25 years at Philips and at the age of 45 serendipity found an opportunity in a run-down machine shop 15 minutes from his home.

1967 photo of “Lou” putting final touches on lathe.

Lou purchased Steinmetz with his life savings in November of 1967. He worked unlimited hours and enlisted his family to help. His 19-year-old daughter (Lynne) did the bookkeeping while his 16 and 9-year-old sons (John and Bill respectively) helped in the shop when not in school. The boys learned “old school” skills at the feet of their father as well as others their dad hired in the early years. Both boys attended college while continuing to work part-time at the company.

In 1975 Lou hired a “helper” in 19-year-old Robert Muldoon. Robert’s (Bob) natural mechanical and engineering abilities quickly ranked him as Lou’s shop foreman, 3rd “son” and third leg of the Steinmetz stool with John and Bill in the coming years.

1978. Bob (left middle), Bill (top left)

By 1982 Lou started his retirement and “the boys” hit their stride. Bob expanded the engineering and manufacturing capabilities, Bill developed customer relations and John watched the books.

Our small repair and maintenance work grew into providing more services - and more precisely - complete solutions to our customers. Reverse, value and task-oriented engineering & manufacturing became our hallmark. Our client base expanded to the industries shown on our home page. The services provided within each of those industries expanded as well.

Customer requests became those of resolving component, equipment, mechanical or production issues. We earned our “Experts in Innovation” tag from a customer, not a marketer.

To accommodate this expansion, a new location doubling our capacity in Stamford Connecticut came in 1986. 1990 saw the addition of 2 satellite facilities to serve specific industries, clients and technologies. Most recently in 2009, a desire for a more serene, rural workspace found us moving from the “concrete jungle” of Stamford to our current location in Bethel Connecticut. We now look out at grass, trees, hiking trails and wildlife.

Current Facility, Bethel Ct.

We would like to say all our growth is attributed to a well thought out and executed business plan. The reality is we have grown mainly through customer requests and word-of-mouth referrals. Steinmetz has been pulled into growing by our customers versus pushing what WE think they need. Our culture of customer-focused partnering has been passed down from our founders, long before the terminology was coined by MBAs.

There are dozens – if not hundreds of examples and stories of how and why Steinmetz evolved to it’s current form.

Repair and maintenance work at a local wholesale bakery lead to requests for specialty items and the eventuality of complete systems.
A small conveyor request evolved into our development of a complete suture manufacturing process and facility for a multi-billion dollar company.
Installation of a pharmaceutical packaging line lead to our development of groundbreaking validation technology in Unispect.
A simple “can you fix…?” a small part for an antique automobile has lead to our reverse engineering and manufacturing a wide variety of items for restorers.
Our exposure to a few engineering firms and construction companies during the Mianus River Bridge collapse recovery efforts resulted in our work in movable structures and infrastructure support.

Today Steinmetz incorporates all the latest technology from CAD/CAM to CNC equipment. But we still have some of the 50-year-old metalworking machines because that’s what is appropriate for certain types of work. Leave the “how it’s done” to us. That is what makes Steinmetz valuable to our customers. We are not just a machine and fabrication shop. We just happen to have one to solve problems!