Our History
An excerpt from the Olivet Optic Newspaper Article titled
NEW BUSINESS TO START HERE
published February 26, 1946
"The Olivet Machine Tool Engineering company is the name of the new business enterprise to be started in the village [Olivet] shortly. The joint owners are Homer J. Judd, who has resided here for several years, and Wendell J. Wheeler, who was released from service on February 14. The building on Main street where Mr. Judd has had his motor shop is to be used...For the present, it is planned to install the machine tools necessary for a general purpose machine shop. The firm will contract small job machining, tool and gauge fabrication. It also aims to do experimental machining, fabrication and engineering for large industrial concerns. In addition, smaller companies that lack the facilities and the technical ability for certain types of experimental projects can have that work done in the new shop here.
It is believed that Olivet is a good location for a machine tool engineering business since it is located in the proximity of several large industrial cities. It is expected that operating expenses will be lower and also that in a village the size of Olivet there will be less likelihood of labor difficulties than in a large industrial city.
"It is a well-known fact that a small shop equipped with general purpose or universal type machinery can produce small quantity orders for experimental or other purposes, more economically than the large manufacturing establishments," states Mr. Wheeler, "the basic reason being that the type of machining operations are common to both, since the quantity involved seldom warrants large expenditures for tooling and the low operating overhead of the smaller shop will effectively reduce the final cost. It is further known that many corporations are currently overburdened beyond capacity in engineering design and development, which can be attributed to the reconversion from war time to peace time manufacture and the critical shortage of consumer goods. It is believed that this additional ability to handle certain types of engineering problems will enhance the success of our enterprise."
Mr. Judd, the senior member of the firm, came to Olivet 10 years ago from Detroit and opened up his motor shop and electrical business. In addition to being an electrician, he is an experienced tool and die maker. For about four years, he has managed the Breakery Tool Products company in Eaton Rapids, a tool and die shop, driving back and forth from his home.
Mr. Wheeler is an engineer by profession with a degree of B.M.E. from Lawrence Institute of Technology at Detroit. He has had several years of design and development experience of aeronautical equipment in Washinton, D.C., and Los Angeles, California. For the past three years, Mr. Wheeler was on active duty in the United States Naval Reserve as an engineering officer and was assigned to the Bureau of Aeronautics, being the representative at the Platt & Whitney Aircraft plant, Hatford, Conn.
