Seco Manufactures 40-Year Success Story
Parts Supplier Serves Rail, Automotive, Industrial Markets
Richard Seccombe founded Seco Machine in 1985.
At a time when most people think of retiring, Richard Seccombe decided to start his own business.
The 64-year-old entrepreneur and longtime manufacturing executive contracted with the Timken Company, a global producer of bearings and steel, to provide specialized machining services from a small shop in North Canton, Ohio.
Seco Machine was born.
For the next decade, Dick, his wife, Mary, and a handful of employees hustled to keep up with Timken’s growing demand for specialized parts.
“By the mid-1990s, we were producing more than 300 different products for Timken,” recalled TOM SECCOMBE, senior vice president and general manager.
It was around that time that Tom and his brother, Steve, joined Seco. The company was expanding its capabilities to serve several new industries, including rail.
“We eventually acquired Stucki as a customer, which set the stage for our eventual acquisition and merger into the Stucki family in 2010,” said Tom.
By that time, Seco had expanded to 75,000 square feet of space in North Canton — space it would quickly outgrow.
“Those were the days of NAFTA, and Stucki had been outsourcing its machined parts,” said Tom.
“We were able to streamline the manufacturing process to improve their products and ultimately lower the cost, both for them and their customers.”
Today, Seco operates from a 120,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Green, Ohio, just a few miles from Dick’s original shop.
More than 70 employees provide cast and forged metal machining and molded urethane component manufacturing for rail, automotive and other industrial customers.
The company machines axle end caps, backing rings, bearing cones, plugs, center pins, side bearings, yoke bushings and other parts for the rail industry, including polyurethane-molded products designed for suspension and wear reduction.
“No matter how much we’ve grown over the years, we’ve maintained the family atmosphere and team approach that my dad instilled at the very beginning,” said Tom.
“Without it, we wouldn’t be where we are today, and I know he’d be pleased to see what has become of the business he started 40 years ago.”
Team members gathered shortly after Seco was acquired by Stucki in 2010.
Tom Seccombe (center) is pictured with machinists Steve Brown (left) and Jeff Childress. The three are Seco’s longest-tenured employees, each having been with the company for more than 35 years.
