Custom, precision-machined parts for everything from the Stealth Bomber to the last Boeing you flew in to Chicago is made-to-order at May Technology & Manufacturing, Inc., a more than 50-year-old company that just completed its eighth expansion in its Blue River Valley Industrial Corridor location. The customers for May’s high-tech, high-value product are principally in the aerospace industry and can be found all over the U.S. The company’s Custom Precision Machined Parts, Assemblies, Ground Support Equipment and Industrial Tooling are in use throughout the world.
Starting with a solid metal block, computer programs guide the precise machining of parts made to order for customers from all over the country.
May Technology & Manufacturing, Inc., is one of many innovating companies that have chosen to locate, stay and grow in the Blue River Valley Industrial Corridor (BRVIC), a 4,600-acre area with some of the most robust transportation and power infrastructure in the metro. While the BRVIC has endured decades of disinvestment, an EDCKC-led redevelopment strategy is underway to bring more quality jobs to the East Side and repair the environment while making the most of the location, infrastructure and workforce assets. The strategy is one of the Five Initiatives EDCKC recently announced to help drive job creation and investment in the City.
Just last month, Bayer Crop Science LP, located at the company’s 8400 Hawthorne facility in the BRVIC, announced an expansion that would add 40,000 square feet, retain 100 jobs and could lay the groundwork for another expansion in 2022. EDCKC assisted in putting together the development plan, including the use of Chapter 100 bonds.
Brothers Reno May, left, and Steve May, right, pictured here in a small museum-like room showcasing some of the company’s original equipment and furnishings, now run the high-tech, high-value customer manufacturer started by their father in 1964.
At May Technology, Steve May, president, and his brother, Reno May, vice president, now run the company founded by Ernest & Theresia May in 1964. Their recent expansion added 54,000 square feet to the existing facility which now totals more than 100,000 square feet. “The Blue Valley Industrial Corridor location is logistically awesome,” said Reno May. “We are minutes from nearly every major highway and 30 minutes to any other part of the metropolitan area.”
A small museum-like space that was the original shop houses some of the company’s first machine shop equipment and furnishings that today are dwarfed by the giant equipment May Inc., now employs for its CNC, or computer numerical control, machining, driven by computer programs that control feed rate, location, speed and more in a precise, repeatable manner to produce the complex shapes of the products the company’s customers demand.
Steve May said “The company’s success is built on the strength of our 125+ employee team. We have a very advanced manufacturing facility and produce some very complex products. To put out high-quality products requires a very professional, skilled workforce. We try to hire experienced talent, but will hire for attitude and train for skill. They are why we have been able to produce high-quality work for more than 50 years in the Blue Valley Area.”
An industry leader, the company has dozens of awards recognizing its quality and reliability. Locally, May, Inc., invests not only in its facilities but in its community and expects to continue to do so for years to come.