Founded in 1972 by my grandfather, ABCO started out as a screw machine company making spacers, bosses, and other simple components for various industries. My Father, Randy Martin acquired the business in the mid 1980’s and purchased our first CNC lathe in 1989. He continued to invest in CNC equipment, as the domestic machining industry was being stressed by companies sourcing overseas for the simple components, and made the decision to expand our capabilities to include parts with more complexity. ABCO continued down this path with a clear goal to become a “one stop shop”, capable of meeting our customers most challenging machining needs for wide range of sizes and part configurations.
Like most companies, ABCO has had to overcome many challenges, but few have recovered from a natural disaster like we have. In 1999, an F4 tornado ripped our building apart in Blue Ash Ohio. I clearly remember my RA knocking on my dorm room door at 6am yelling for me to wake up. I was trying to recall if I had done anything reckless the previous night to get me in trouble, when he yelled “family emergency, call your father!” I sprang out of bed and snatched the cordless phone (yes that was a thing pre 2000 as I didn’t have a cell) and called my dad.
“Son, a tornado has torn our building apart and we have to move the business, start heading home.”
“Is everyone Ok? I asked”.
“Harold (our now retired foreman) was the only one in the building and he took cover under his desk, he’s shaken up but ok.” He replied.
“I’m on my way.”
Out the door I went.When I got to the site (See photos the fire department had just cleared the building and ok’d us to go in.). To our amazement, the machines, material, and parts looked untouched. The F4 just ripped the roof off like a magician exposing the inner workings of our shop. At this point, ABCO and my father especially, touched the lives of so many people that we were turning away volunteers because we had so many. We rented a building in Mason, Oh at a business park still under construction as it was the only place immediately available. We moved half of the equipment into the only 10k sq/ft building completed and spread out our other machines at various companies willing to donate space while a second building was being completed. ABCO was up and running at 100% in less than a week! Manufacturing companies often must present disaster recovery plans to their customers but ABCO actually did it!
When I, Jason Martin, took over operations in 2004 as a recent Ohio State Graduate, ABCO had already developed a strong reputation for its quality and customer service. Along with an excellent reputation, our other asset was and still is our dedicated employees, some of which are still with us today. I recognized the talent and challenged them to learn new technologies so we could become the cutting-edge leaders of the machining industry we are now. The continuous growth we have achieved over the last few decades could not have been realized without the hard work of our core employees that will always be part of our ABCO family. We are not the mom-and-pop shop anymore, but it still feels like it when you call us up and a human being will answer every time. In 2010 we purchased and moved to a 38,000 sq/ft facility in Mainville, Oh. Sitting on 24 acres, all zoned for heavy industrial, this where we will remain and continue our growth.
ABCO now has over 27 CNC machines running 2 shifts with more than 30 employees. We specialize in mid-to-high volume runs: 200 to 20,000 pieces. We work with all types of materials and tolerances as we continue to work towards being the “one stop shop” my father always dreamed of. I fully acquired the business in 2019 and I am on the shop floor daily, as machining and working with our employees is my passion. My sister Amanda Martin runs the office and she herself has also worked in every department over the years. We look forward to our continued growth and the challenges we will have to overcome to remain in business for another 50 years. We will continue to serve our customers with pride and treat our employees like family as we always have.