KTM machinists on the shop floor in New Athens, Illinois

Since 1971

Fifty-plus years of holding tolerance.

Since 1971, Kaskaskia Tool & Machine has manufactured precision components, weldments and assemblies for customers where failure is not an option — machining, grinding, fabrication and inspection under one roof in New Athens, Illinois.

Our Story

Milestones

1968

It Starts in the Garage

Nights and weekends, Roy Albert machines stamping dies and parts in his New Athens garage — the side job that grows into Kaskaskia Tool & Machine.

1971

KTM Incorporated

The side work has outgrown the garage, so Roy converts a former soda-bottling plant in New Athens into a full machine shop and incorporates the company.

1975

First Building Addition

A first addition makes room for final product staging and painting under one roof.

1978

Doubling the Footprint

A major expansion doubles the shop’s square footage, with structural I-beams set to carry two separate bridge-crane bays.

1990

Design Goes Digital

Tooling and part design move off the board and onto the computer with AutoCAD.

1993

First CNC and CAM

The shop’s first CNC machine and CAM programming come online, beginning the shift from manual to CNC manufacturing.

1994

84-Inch Blanchard Grinder

An 84-inch Blanchard rotary grinder adds large-diameter flat grinding capacity.

2000

Big-Envelope Grinding

A Mattison surface grinder and a 129-inch Blanchard — among the largest in the Midwest — bring big-envelope precision grinding in-house.

2001

Quality System Established

KTM formalizes the quality management system that governs every job — prevention over detection, from order review through certified delivery.

2005

Third Expansion

A third expansion adds floor space and another bridge crane, bringing the facility toward its current 35,000 square feet.

2008

ISO 9001 and AS9100

Registration through NQA certifies the shop to ISO 9001 and AS9100, opening the door to aerospace and precision work.

2018

CNC VTL and Horizontal

A Daewoo ACE-B130 horizontal machining center and a Toshiba CNC vertical turning lathe add large-envelope machining and turning capacity.

2020

Johnford 5-Axis

A Johnford 5-axis machining center extends the shop’s reach into complex, multi-face geometry in a single setup.

Ownership

Second generation, still on the floor.

Second-generation family-owned. Brothers Dan and Brian Albert grew up on the shop floor — late nights to get projects out the door were a family affair, and Roy handed them real responsibility early: running equipment, designing tooling, maintenance, managing projects. In the early 1990s the brothers pushed KTM into CNC, taught themselves programming, G-code, CAM and CAD on the shop’s first machine, then trained the workforce. Through the expansions since, they’ve built KTM into a fully integrated CNC machine shop.

Brian AlbertGeneral Manager / Owner

Grew up in the shop and ran his first machines under Roy. In his early twenties he taught himself CNC programming, CAM and CAD on KTM’s first CNC mill — then taught the shop. He leads operations, technology and customer engineering today.

Dan AlbertVP of Operations & Quality Management Representative

Same shop-floor upbringing, with a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. He leads KTM’s AS9100 quality system and day-to-day operations.

Mission

Prevention instead of detection, with zero defects as the ultimate goal — we work to continually improve our ability to meet or exceed our customers’ needs in a timely, cost-efficient manner while understanding and minimizing risk.

The Facility