Company History

I.I.C., Inc., parent company of Milltronics Mfg., was founded in 1973 by Gary Welch, an Electrical Engineer employed with Control Data Corporation who had the idea of using microprocessor technology to run a machine tool.

Alvin Welch, Gary’s father, joined him in 1975 to develop a customer base in the machine tool market and to evolve the computer for servo control.  Al’s mechanical engineering experience with Gorton Machine, Honeywell and MTS prepared him well to design machine tools and hydraulic servo systems.
Tahir Khan, a Pakistani citizen, worked part-time for Gary and Al as he studied Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Minnesota.  T.K. elected to continue his efforts after graduation, making the U.S. his homeland.   I.I.C., operating from a shopping center basement, had several employees assembling and testing product.

I.I.C. set out to market its Spartan and Journeyman CNC controls that had innovations never yet heard of in the machine tool industry, including a full 360° circle in a single instruction, prompted language programming, and a magnetic tape cassette for program storage.  The Spartan evolved into the Centurion 3, the first of a family of controls for mills and lathes as well as a simple toolroom control.

Their first viable account was Tree Machine Tool, a reputable and established builder of milling machines.  In the late 70's Tree Machine was very successful with the I.I.C. controls.  This association introduced them to Tim Rashleger, Tree National Sales Manager, and Bonar Sabby, Tree's Service Manager.

Gary saw an opportunity to restructure the business and utilize the backgrounds of T.K., Al, Tim and Bonar to develop the company.  In 1980 the new partners brought the count to five, and together they developed a volume of ten to fifteen controls a month.  They moved into a larger rented space and gambled that they could make a go of it.
Tim Rashleger has an extensive background in machine tools and servo systems.  He served in the USAF as an Electronics Technician and then earned a degree in Electronics while working first as a CNC machinist, and then at Gettys Mfg. and Westamp, where he sold and applied servo systems.

Bonar Sabby is also a veteran of the USAF and has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin.  After military discharge he worked for Gettys Mfg. and Tree Machine Tool as the Field Service Manager.
The early CNC computers were sold in the late 70s and 80s to machine tool builders.  The company grew slowly but found it harder and harder to find American machine tool builders to buy its CNC.  With the tremendous influx of Japanese machine tools into the US market, many old US builders were folding.  Many US builders became convinced that they could not compete with Asian-built machine tools.

It was a case of having a good mousetrap but no one to sell it to.  The demise of the American machine tool industry was quick and merciless.  Some builders discontinued most of their manufacturing and began to import machines from Asia under their own trade name.  I.I.C. sold controls to some of these builders.  The second challenge came when the US government, in a move years too late, implemented strict import quotas on machines from Asia.  This forced up the price of machine tools and made it difficult for our customers to get imported machines.  Now there were a limited number of US builders and a shortage of machines.  It was nearly impossible to find customers for this great mousetrap.

Solutions to these challenges came in many forms.  When confronted with the dwindling number of builders to sell controls to, we recognized the need to sell a turnkey product to end-users.  We decided that if the other builders could import machines, then we could as well.  The Milltronics Mfg. Division of I.I.C., Inc. was formed in 1983 to serve the machine tool industry by retrofitting and selling CNC machines and controls to the end-user market.  The first machines were called Partner models.  Business began to grow with the CNC installed on an imported machine that we imported.  Later difficulties with the import quota system and heightened competition from Asia forced the owners to look at developing an American-made machine for the Milltronics control.

We were going to try to do what most failed machine tool builders had tried to do.  The difference would be how we would do it.  With very little money and against all odds of success, we began work on our design.  We strove to keep the number of parts to a minimum and designed components that would solve several needs on the machine.  This became the cornerstone of a very low cost design that could be sold at the lowest market prices ever seen.
A small local bank believed in us and understood manufacturing.  We called upon our personal relationships with vendors and negotiated extended payment plans to help with components and engineering.  Even our employees agreed to take a whopping 20% pay cut which we would later repay.  When we took our new US-built machine to market, sales took off at a phenomenal rate and we found ourselves expanding our building and hiring new people.

T.K. left the company in 1988 to form his own business specializing in motion control systems.  With Al's earlier retirement in 1986, Gary, Tim and Bonar became the sole owners.

Company growth exceeded one million dollars per year over the first twenty-seven years.  As the new Millennium began the future of Milltronics was indeed promising, but new aggressive engineering efforts would certainly be required to meet the new challenges of tomorrow.  Tim Rashleger chose to further challenge the promise of Milltronics purchased all outstanding shares on August 31, 2000.  After the departures of Gary Welch and Bonar Sabby, Tim shared management of the company with Benjamin Rashleger. 

Over the next six years, with a new factory, major capital investments, and new employees, it became obvious that not only could you manufacture machines in America, but you also could manufacture machines at the highest value in the world.  Milltronics has significant inventory, a stable workforce, and leading-edge technology to produce machine tools reliably and competitively.  It is proud of the Midwest culture that provides talent and hard-working staff.  It is "Our People That Make the Difference”.

Milltronics today has evolved into a leading supplier of machine tools worldwide, from manual and toolroom CNC equipment to production products, both milling and turning centers.  We know that toolroom machines, even though less expensive, must be designed to no less high standards than production machines, and the new Centurion CNC is truly a dynamic, technically advanced high speed CNC.

Tim believes very strongly that the Milltronics employees are the reason for its success.  For the first time in history, a company's ability to compete in the global and technology-driven economy is determined more by the skill and commitment of its employees than its access to financial or natural resources.  Each American-made machine has a plaque listing the names of all employees; that's how strongly Milltronics believes in its people.  The imported products share in the design goals and quality standards that Milltronics has developed through its own manufacturing.  The evolution of products has never been greater.  Focusing on customers and their needs drives performance enhancement and reliability goals.

Liberty Diversified Industries purchased Milltronics on June 4, 2007.  LDI is also a family-owned business that has a culture that closely matches that of Milltronics.  It has diverse manufacturing companies throughout the U.S. and intends to invest in the future growth of Milltronics and its employees.  Like Milltronics, LDI believes the path to success lies not in building the cheapest machines, but in building the highest value machines. 

Tim Rashleger retired in the Fall of 2008.  In 2008 Roger Goff, General Manager, stepped in to oversee all operations.  Roger joins the Milltronics team with several years of manufacturing experience.

The employees of Milltronics are the heart and soul of the company, and Roger  recognizes and is proud of their dedication and commitment.  Input from each and every employee is valued and welcomed.  Each employee deserves to take pride in the high quality machines they produce, and in the customer service and satisfaction, they provide.