PMF Industries boasts a long and illustrious history, tracing its roots back to 1950, when Svensk Metallforädling (Swedish Metal Refining Co.) established its American subsidiary, Steelex, in Brooklyn, New York.
While initially, PMF manufactured specialty stainless steel products using a unique flow-turning process, under the leadership of Birger H. Engzell, the company expanded into components for jet engines, the food industry, and pulp and paper manufacturing, prompting a relocation to Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 1955, a move that helped launch Williamsport’s Industrial Park and set the foundation for PMF Industries.
In 1961, Engzell founded Precision Metal Forming (PMF) in Williamsport, leasing a 5,000-square-foot facility and setting the company up to grow quickly. The facility was expanded a number of times in the 1960s and 1970s to accommodate increased production and new equipment, and the company soon becoming known for precision stainless steel hollow-cone, cylinder, and ogive shapes serving the aircraft, food, filtration, and pulp and paper industries.
Leadership transitioned to Donald E. Alsted in 1982, and in 2001, PMF was acquired by principals John Perrotto and Ken Healy, with the remaining stock allocated to a PMF Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). This alignment of employee success with company growth fosters a motivated workforce.
Since the buyout, PMF has grown to 85 employees and over 175,000 square feet of manufacturing space, confirming its position as a leader with a bright future in advanced metal manufacturing.
“We’re committed to reinvesting in the company to best serve our growing list of customers,” says John Perrotto, President and General Manager. “We continue to bring on supporting processes to our niche—which is flowforming—and to do a lot of research and development. We’re always looking at new technologies. It’s all to do with the best way to manufacture a customer’s component.”
PMF’s 65-year milestone reflects its longstanding dedication to precision manufacturing, innovation, and strong customer partnerships, Perrotto adds. Since 1961, the company has become a trusted leader in flowforming and specialized metal forming for the aerospace, defense, energy, and industrial markets, with success driven by a skilled in-house engineering team, fully integrated manufacturing processes, and a hands-on, problem-solving culture.
“By keeping design, tooling, forming, machining, heat treat, and inspection all under one roof, PMF maintains exceptional quality control, protects customer confidentiality, and accelerates response times,” says Ken Healy, Executive Vice President and Director of Engineering. Additionally, with decades of technical expertise and a commitment to continuous improvement, PMF remains a go-to partner for complex, mission-critical components, perpetuating a legacy of craftsmanship, engineering excellence, and customer trust.
That trust is certainly enhanced by PMF’s in-house engineering team, a key strategic advantage that enables seamless collaboration between design, process development, and manufacturing. Working alongside machinists and operators, the engineers can accelerate problem-solving, improve communication, and optimize forming solutions. For customers, this means faster development cycles, higher reliability, and greater confidence in prototypes and final products. Sensitive designs and proprietary processes remain secure on-site, while PMF’s integrated approach ensures precision, consistency, and innovation, making the company a responsive and trusted partner.
It’s also important that PMF continues to emphasize investment and the development of supporting processes. “I don’t know of any other flowformer who is able to complement the flowforming process with the supporting process as we do,” says Perrotto. “These are processes that really give us the ability to produce the unique shapes and other products that customers are looking for.”
For example, incorporating heavy flanges within the flowforming process—a unique capability of PMF—is a result of PMF’s highly developed available technology as well as its extensive knowledge of manufacturing processes. “We also collaborate with our partners to come up with the best scenario; we just really work very well with our customers,” Perrotto says.
PMF actually works with its customers toward clear-cut, improved ways to make a part, adds Healy. “What are the areas they’re having problems with? Were they looking at trying to move from another vendor to PMF? What are some of the trouble areas we could re-engineer to make a better quality part for them?”
Once those questions are addressed, PMF handles everything from the initial quote to final inspection, keeping the customer fully involved. “We want them to be satisfied with what they have as a product,” Perrotto says. “That’s why our customers have kept coming back for more than 40 years.”
PMF also distinguishes itself from other contract manufacturers through its depth of expertise in advanced metal forming technologies, utilizing integrated manufacturing processes and rigorous quality control standards that serve critical industries worldwide.
“At the core of PMF’s capability is our proprietary flowforming process that achieves exceptional dimensional accuracy, uniform wall thickness, and superior mechanical properties, often eliminating the need for secondary machining or welding,” says Healy. Complementing these qualities are PMF’s deep drawing, hot spinning, press forming, and vacuum annealing capabilities, which can form complex geometries with a wide range of materials including stainless steels, nickel alloys, aluminum, and other specialty metals.
PMF’s fully integrated production facility provides complete in-house control over every stage of manufacturing, from raw material processing and forming to heat treatment, CNC machining, electropolishing, passivation, and finishing, an integration that ensures consistent quality, short lead times, and traceable production records that meet or exceed the most demanding customer and regulatory requirements.
Additionally, PMF’s engineering and tooling design teams collaborate closely with customers from concept through production, optimizing part design for manufacturability, cost efficiency, and long-term performance.
The company’s Nadcap-accredited quality systems and AS9100 certification reinforce its commitment to process control and continuous improvement. By combining decades of specialized metal forming experience, multi-process capability, and precision-driven manufacturing culture, PMF Industries sets the benchmark for technical excellence and reliability. The team’s continuous innovation and improvement in technological ability have paid off, and PMF Industries has grown significantly in recent years, driven by its advanced metal forming expertise and reputation for manufacturing precision-critical components.
“Leveraging our broad capabilities in flowforming, deep drawing, and precision machining, PMF is now being engaged by several of the industry’s top prime contractors to support next-generation defense and aerospace programs,” says Perrotto. “This includes the manufacture of rocket motor cases for military applications and high-pressure cylinders for commercial satellite and launch vehicle systems.”
This continued investment in technology, process development, and quality assurance has positioned PMF as a strategic supplier for complex, high-performance components and assemblies where reliability, strength, and dimensional accuracy are paramount.
Focused on expanding its market share through strategic investment in advanced manufacturing technologies and process innovation, PMF Industries’ technical roadmap includes increasing its in-house capabilities in heat treating, precision metal forming, and materials processing to enhance product performance and reduce lead times. In parallel, PMF is pursuing strategic partnerships with industry leaders to integrate complementary technologies—specifically carbon fiber overwrapping and additive manufacturing (3D printing)—with its core metal forming expertise.
These combined technologies will enable the production of next-generation hybrid structures that deliver superior strength-to-weight ratios, reduce lead time, and enhance design flexibility for aerospace, defense, and commercial space applications. With its collaborative engineering approach, PMF aims to deliver even greater value to customers and strengthen its position as a leading innovator in precision metal forming.
The company has also committed more than $7 million to expand its manufacturing capabilities in response to growing demand for commercial space components. This investment includes large-diameter spinning equipment designed to handle larger flow-formed cylinders, enabling the production of closed-end cylindrical vessels with precise material thickness.
Complementing this capability is one of the largest vertical heat treat spray-quenching furnaces for aluminum tempering in the industry, providing superior mechanical performance. Together, these state-of-the-art assets position PMF as a leading supplier of larger-diameter COPV (composite overwrapped pressure vessel) liners, supporting commercial space programs—strategic investments that underscore PMF’s commitment to advanced manufacturing, technological leadership, and the ability to meet the evolving demands of the aerospace and defense sectors.
Healy tells us that skilled labor shortages and delays in critical materials, necessitating careful planning and flexibility, remain a challenge in the industry; PMF, however, continues to deliver precision components 98 percent on time.
“The company has leveraged its in-house engineering and fully integrated manufacturing capabilities to overcome supply chain and staffing pressures, successfully supporting complex R&D programs and mission-critical production,” says Perrotto. “These achievements highlight PMF’s resilience, technical expertise, and commitment to customer success.”
In the coming years, PMF aims to expand its technical capabilities and manufacturing footprint with key milestones that will include advanced aluminum heat treating processes, large spinning operations, and hybrid manufacturing techniques.
“These will enhance the company’s ability to produce complex, high-performance components with efficiency, precision, and innovation, reinforcing PMF’s position as a trusted partner in the most challenging aerospace, defense, and industrial programs,” stresses Perrotto. “For the future, we’re always looking at coming up with the latest technical advances so we can enhance those processes.”
And, of course, he says, PMF will continue to place customer service at the forefront. “That’s one of the things that sets us apart: our ability to partner with our customers, helping them develop the best manufacturability of the products they’re looking to manufacture, and helping them research and develop that.”
