Metalcraft is a third-generation metalworking company. We’re a family business in the best sense of the word—each successive generation of company leaders learned the business from the bottom up.

Our heritage stems from Rochester, New York in the mid-1940s when two cousins, Joseph Caschette and Alfred Zillioux, left Eastman Kodak to form their own tool and die shop. The company, A&J Tool and Manufacturing, quickly grew from primarily serving Kodak to offering tool and die and fixture products for iconic companies such as Friden (later purchased by Singer Corporation), Rochester Products (a division of General Motors), and Haloid Company (later called Haloid Xerox and then, of course, Xerox).

The company, renamed Genesee Metal Stamping in 1965, was next led by Joseph’s two sons, Jerry and Jack. Jack began with the company in 1963 as a journeyman tool and die maker. Over time, the brothers expanded the company through acquisitions in Texas, Tennessee, and Colorado.

In 1987, Jack moved his family from New York to Colorado, where he purchased several metalworking operations, including Denver-based Wester Tool & Die (renamed Genesee Wester). Jack spun off Genesee Wester to form Metalcraft Industries, Inc. in 2001 and began transitioning the operative control to his sons Darrin and Larry that same year.

Over the next two decades, the company continued to expand, including the acquisition of two metalworking companies in Washington State. Those facilities are operated today as a wholly owned subsidiary, Northwest Metalcraft, managed by Darrin, while Larry runs Metalcraft’s Denver operation.