Started by Alex Brill as a one room building in 1965, as a place for him to work on and store ginseng equipment.
Our History
Northwest Tool started out in 1965 as a small machine shop that provided a service to local area factories. Throughout the following years, Northwest Tool gained a reputation of being a reliable machining source. Now with a 22,000 sq. ft. facility and some of the trade’s most modern equipment, Northwest Tool has the size, capability, and capacity to make us one of the most versatile shops in the area.
1965
1970
Alex was doing work for Marathon Electric on the side at Northwest Tool & Engineering, as he worked there.
1977
Alex Brill sold Northwest Tool and Engineering to Greg Brill. Greg continued with the work that his father was doing.
1979
Jim Brill purchased half of the company from Greg on October 1st of 1979. At the time of purchase, the name was changed from Northwest Tool & Engineering to Northwest Tool & Manufacturing.
1981
On October 1st of 1981, Jim Brill purchased Greg Brill’s shares of Northwest Tool & Manufacturing; becoming sole owner. Northwest Tool & Manufacturing was operating with a handful of employees, and was no longer a two-man shop.
1989
Jim Brill added on the first addition to the original building – today called the Manual Room. In this room, Northwest Tool worked exclusively on Marathon Electric machinery, which they had moved into the building.
1990
Northwest Tool & Manufacturing purchased an EDM machine, expanding beyond conventional machining processes.
1991
Marathon Electric removed their machines from the building, and Northwest Tool began to expand their customer base. Jim Brill added on once again. Today this building is our Production Machining Area. Northwest Tool & Manufacturing purchased it’s first CNC Machine, a Mazak AJV-25/405.
1993
A larger EDM room was built, making room for the second machine of this type.
1994
Offices were added to the building.
1999
Jim Brill’s final addition went on, which is today, the Welding/Shipping Department.
2000
Matt and Jeff Brill, Jim Brill’s sons, purchased the company on October 1st, 2000.
2010
Purchased property to the north to allow for future expansion.
2012
Matt and Jeff Brill added the largest addition to Northwest Tool & Manufacturing, the CNC building. They also purchased the property to the west to allow for future expansion.
2017
Northwest Tool & Manufacturing began doing high volume machining, a new type of machining for them. 2 additional machines were purchased in order to expand into this line of work.
2019
Matt Brill became sole owner of Northwest Tool & Manufacturing on April 15th, 2019. On October 1st, 2019, Allison Dean, Matt Brill’s daughter, and Jim Madden, long-term employee at Northwest Tool, became partners with Matt Brill.
2020
Office Remodel began in 2019 and ended in 2021.
2021
Expansion of our Design Department, as Northwest Tool & Manufacturing dives further into specialized machine building.
2021
Small Business of the Year Award Recipient.
2021
In December of 2021, Northwest Tool & Manufacturing became ISO 9001:2015 certified