a third-generation & family-owned precision machining shop

Fritz Larson, Konstantine Thulander and Oscar Landquist founded LTL in 1917 at 1320 Woodruff St., Rockford, making specialty tools widely used in the auto business. The Landquist family became sole owners in the 1940s; Oscar remained active in the business until 1968.

The company has moved twice since its founding, to 743 20th St. and then to 4801 American Road in 1995. LTL survived a Great Depression, a Great Recession and the growing globalization of manufacturing. President Jim Landquist said the company lasted by diversifying.

“When I started, we mostly did tooling, and now we’re almost entirely making manufactured parts,” he said. “All of our business used to come from Winnebago County (Illinois). Now 90 percent of our work goes outside the area. We’ve stuck around because we hire good people, keep them and change with the times.”

LTL has learned to excel at CNC milling and turning, surface grinding, keyways and oil grooves, plus such secondary services as Mig and Tig welding, assembly, plating and heat-treating. It has more than 50 customers across the United States – including local stalwarts SPX Corp. and Ingersoll Production Systems – and an international customer in New Zealand. The majority of its work is making parts and components for the food packaging, machine tool, oil and gas, and aerospace industries.