100 Year History
In 1935, Ladish began forging aircraft propellers, among the company’s first aerospace components.
1905 Herman W. Ladish founds the company with the acquisition of a 1,500-pound steam hammer.
1916 Ladish has established itself as "Axle Forger to the Industry."
1931 The company expands from making industrial flange forgings to providing fully machined products to customers.
1935 Ladish begins spending $1 million on a five-year plant improvement and modernization program that includes raising working conditions for employees.
1938 The company installs the first high-tech inspection facility for manufacturing and machining aircraft brake drums.
1941 Ladish produces strut forgings for 400 B-26 bombers per month, crankcases for the Curtis-Wright Cyclone Engine and also forged propeller shafts for the P-51 Mustang Fighter.
1942 The company begins installation of its 63,000 and 80,000 MKG counterblow hammers, which enables the forging of new, high-strength alloys.
1945 Ladish manufactures the first gas turbine wheel forgings for the F80 aircraft.
1950 Ladish patents D6 tool steel, which is soon specified exclusively for large, solid-rocket motor case applications.
1957 Employment reaches 6000 people at Ladish Cudahy Forging.
1959 The company installs the 125,000 MKG counterblow hammer, still the largest in the world.
1963 Titan III and Apollo Programs are launched, supported by Ladish built D6 thin-wall cases.
1965 Ladish installs a ring-roll mill with the capacity to produce seamless components 28 feet in diameter by 10 feet in height, weighing up to 350,000 pounds, also the largest in the world.
1970 Ladish designs and constructs the first continuous production isothermal forging facility, rated at 4500 tons.
1976 The Cudahy Forging operation fully computerizes its main heat-treat facility.
1979 Ladish constructs the world's largest isothermal forge press, rated 10,000 tons, in Cudahy, Wisconsin.
1987 The Cudahy Forging initiates Computer Process Modeling for hot-forming operations.
1994 The company installs a multi-zone sonic testing facility in Cudahy, Wisconsin for the inspection of converted titanium billet.
1996 The Cudahy Forging enters into a joint venture agreement with Weber Metals to process large, hot-die forgings on Weber’s 35,000-ton hydraulic press.
1997 Ladish acquired Stowe Machine in Windsor, Connecticut, a machiner of complex, jet engine components.
1997 Ladish receives ISO 9002 certification.
1999 Ladish's wholly-owned subsidiary Stowe Machine Co., Inc. acquires Adco Manufacturing, a precision finish machiner serving the gas turbine industry.
2000 Ladish acquired an investment casting business, located in Albany, Oregon, and renamed it Pacific Cast Technologies, Inc.
2005 Ladish acquires Zaklad Kuznia Matrycowa (ZKM), a forging operation based in Stalowa Wola, Poland, establishing a strong presence in the EU.
2006 Ladish acquires Valley Machining, located near La Crosse, Wisconsin.
2008 Ladish acquires Aerex Manufacturing, located in South Windsor, Connecticut.
2008 Ladish acquires Chen-Tech Industries, located in Irvine, California.