Our History
From humble beginnings in New York
Phoenix Specialty Mfg. Co., Inc. was established February 26, 1907 in New York, New York. The Company originally provided washers and gaskets for a number of local industries, including power utilities and railroads.
In 1927, Mr. Albert H. Lowman purchased the Company from the founders; to this date, Phoenix has remained in his family's ownership. He relocated Phoenix to Freeport, New York in 1949. Phoenix expanded into more stamped parts and began to specialize in metal washers, servicing both distributors and manufacturers. General Electric Aircraft Engines became a regular customer of hardware components in the 1950s.
In 1960, Mr. Robert R. Hurst, Sr. became Executive Vice-President and relocated the manufacturing facilities to Garden City, New York. Under his direction, Phoenix Specialty enlarged its customer base and modernized the production facilities. Tooling for special washers was standardized and stocking of finished parts was initiated.
After decades of quality service and reliability, the stage was set for even more growth—and a big move…
To a new facility in South Carolina
In 1967, Phoenix Southern Washer & Gasket was incorporated in Bamberg, South Carolina to increase production and improve our competitive edge in manufacturing. Phoenix became a national company servicing hundreds of manufacturers. Major customers included automotive (ITT Industries, Fram), office equipment (Pitney Bowes, Xerox, Kodak), and aerospace (General Electric, Sperry, Honeywell, Bendix, Plessey). In 1976, Phoenix relocated all manufacturing to Bamberg, South Carolina.
Under the direction of the third generation, Phoenix Specialty Mfg. Co. expanded to serve thousands of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) while supplying tens of thousands of different parts annually. Our customer base continued to expand, with Aerospace becoming the dominate industry. We expanded our raw material inventory to include many gauges of brass, copper, phosphorus bronze, stainless steel, and aerospace nickel alloys.
A history of excellence, a future of exceptionalism
In 2007, Phoenix Specialty Mfg. Co. celebrated its 100th year in business. Over that century, a lot has changed: not only what we make and how, but who our customers are—including industries unimaginable in 1907.
What hasn’t changed, however, is our reliability. Our precision. Our dedication to excellence.
We have ensured our growth by significant investments in CNC equipment including lathes, milling machines, Swiss screw machines, Wire-EDM and Water Jet as well as updated presses. In 1998, Phoenix Specialty Mfg. became one of the first companies registered to AS9000 and later achieved AS9100 accreditation.
We are proud of 100 years of excellence, and look forward to many more.