Doerfer Companies

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Doerfer Advantage

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2004	Doerfer acquires RTS-Wright Industries in Nashville, TN. Doerfer consolidates assets of Doerfer Engineering and TDS Automation and closes the Doerfer Engineering office in Cedar Falls, IA.
2003	Doerfer acquires GMT’s Waverly, IA – based TDS division. Doerfer renames the company TDS Automation.
2000	Doerfer acquires Advanced Automation in Greenville, SC, and completes major office renovations, information technology and software upgrades at Williams White. UK-based RTS group acquires Wright Industries in Nashville, TN.
1999	Doerfer acquires H&H Machine Tool, merging its assests with those of Doerfer Engineering. GMT creates company structure of three divisions: Tool-Die-Systems (TDS), production machining division and production fabrication division.
1998	Doerfer Companies acquires Williams, White & Company in Moline, IL, expanding the business to include custom machinery and automated solutions. Wright Industries further expands its Nashville facilities to include structures for engineering and assembly on Elm Hill Pike. Doerfer Companies acquires the assets of Key Automation, dissolving the company after a few years.
1995	Doerfer Acquisition Company acquires Doerfer Engineering in Cedar Falls, IA from Jefferson Smurfit.
1994	Williams, White & Company delivers its first hydroform press to General Motors.
1986	Jefferson Smurfit acquires Container Corporation of America and its division, Doerfer Engineering, from Mobil Oil.
1985	Advanced Automation becomes an early integrator of robotics technology.
1984	Mobil Oil acquires Container Corporation of America and Doerfer Engineering.
1981 - 1989	Williams, White & Company expands to increase hydraulic and electrical assembly, provide two 250-ton overhead cranes, an 8-inch boring mill and a stress relief furnace.
1981	Scott McCrary, Brian Claycomb and Bob Heiks purchase McBride Engineering, renaming the company Advanced Automation.
1980	Brian Claycomb joins McBride Engineering.
1979	Bob Heiks affiliates with McBride Engineering as a contractor.
1978	Scott McCrary joins McBride Engineering as a technical contributor.
1977	Bailey Robinson III, Fred Wright’s son-in-law, is named president of Wright Industries; Wright dies that same year.
1976	Joe McBride opens McBride Engineering in Greenville, SC.
1973	Larry and Jill Graening open General Machine and Tool Company in Waverly, IA. Dick Doerfer sells Doerfer Engineering to Container Corporation of America.
1969	The Fred D. Wright Company changes its name to Wright Industries, Inc.; Wright’s AEF subsidiary moves to Nashville.
1963	The Fred D. Wright Company acquires Chicago-based American Electric Fusion Corp. (AEF); paving the way into international markets.
1961	Dick Doerfer opens Doerfer Engineering in Cedar Falls, IA; early projects included agricultural equipment design. Fred D. Wright Company moves to a current Nashville location on Spence Lane.
1955	Fred D. Wright Company forms the Bramlett Manufacturing Corp. in St. Petersburg, FL.
1953	Fred D. Wright Company forms Tennessee Die Supply Company, Inc.
1952	Fred D. Wright Company forms its first subsidiary – Southeastern Engineering Company – with services that include the design and build of specialty machines and production components, automation, inspection, and assembly. Williams White & Company becomes a primary machine producer for the plastics industry.
1933 - 1953	Williams White & Company becomes a pioneer and major supplier of hydraulic and multi-opening hot plate presses.
1948	Fred D. Wright Company moves to larger facilities and includes 10 employees
1945	Fred Wright opens the Fred D. Wright Co., a tool and machine shop, in a dirt-floor structure with two employees.
1933	Williams White & Company survives the Great Depression with government contracts and sales of machinery to make Russian farm equipment.
1880	Williams, White & Company invents the "Bull-Dozer", a machine with nearly universal manufacturing applications.
1871	Williams & White incorporates under the Illinois Corporation Act of 1857, becoming Williams, White & Company.
1867	Charles Heald retires from Williams, Heald & Company; the company changes its name to Williams & White.
1854	New England entrepreneurs Alfred and Parley Williams, Charles Heald and Marvel White open Williams, Heald & Company and Molline Iron Works in Moline, IL.