Rockford manufacturer to add jobs after merger brings new product line here from England
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
Get our mobile app
ROCKFORD — A Rockford manufacturer is expanding its repertoire and adding jobs after a recent acquisition brought a new product line here from England.
Bourn & Koch, which offers a range of machine tool services from its facility at 2500 Kishwaukee St., and England-based Mollart Machinery were each acquired by the InCompass family of machinery companies last year. Now, the Rockford machine tool shop is taking on the deep hole drilling machine operations and field support services previously handled out of Chessington.
“I remain excited that we’ve joined the InCompass family of machine tool builders and am thrilled to be given the opportunity to integrate the manufacturing and assembly of the Mollart gun drilling line of CNC machines within our facility,” Todd Well, vice president of operations for Bourn & Koch, said in a statement to the Rock River Current. “I think this is great opportunity for growing our team and a compliment to Rockford’s long-standing history of machine tool manufacturing.”
Wells said the company has already added a couple team members to support the transition. About five to 10 employees are expected to be hired to take on the additional work.
The company is upskilling new hires with support of The Workforce Connection, which won an Illinois Quality Jobs Program grant to support training at Bourn & Koch and several other initiatives.
Bourn & Koch “was chosen as a partner on this project because of the many quality jobs practices that they have already integrated into their workforce,” said Gina Caronna, executive director of The Workforce Connection. “Intentional hiring practices, job-embedded opportunities for training and advancement, and an organizational culture that value employees making meaningful contributions to the workplace are just some of the quality jobs practices that mark (Bourn & Koch) as a leader in the quality jobs arena.”
Chiante Tucker, an electrical assembler, is one of the company’s latest additions starting near the end of June. He came to Bourn & Koch after a recommendation from Rockford Career College. He was drawn to the tuition reimbursement and the potential for upward mobility with the ability to earn more by adding new job skills.
“What really sold me was the fact you can grow here and they help you with the schooling,” he said.
Bourn & Koch started to transition production to Rockford at the start of the year with numerous orders for Mollart already in its backlog.
The move to Rockford was made in part because many of Mollart’s customers already are located in North America. The company said providing field service and support out of Rockford will cut down on service response time for customers in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Bourne & Koch specializes in manufacturing Blanchard grinders, gear hobbers and Fellows gear shapers. It supports companies such as John Deere, Caterpillar, the Department of Energy and a few dozen other machine tool companies with a variety of services.
The company was founded in 1975 and has claim to some of Rockford’s rich manufacturing history. It’s 130,000-square-foot factory is the former Rockford Machine Tool Co. building, which it purchased in 1984. It also purchased assets of the Barber-Colman Co. machine tool division and Reed Chatwood, among other companies.
Interested in work?
Anyone interested in working at Bourn & Koch can email resumes@bourn-koch.com to submit a resume or inquire about a job. More information is available HERE.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
