Falls City

Charles D. Hargadon started a machine shop business in June of 1950. He called it Charles D. Hargadon Manufacturing Co. He was a journeyman tool maker and experienced in running a plant from his previous positions as supervisor at two large manufacturing concerns. He was well equipped to embark on his new career.

The first shop was located in the 10,000 square foot basement of the “Snead Building” on Market Street in Louisville, Kentucky. As in any business the first years were a struggle. One thing that insured the survival of the company was the diversity of the type of work that was performed. Mr. Hargadon firmly believed that a shop with many areas of expertise would cope with hard times better than one that specialized in one field. Growing steadily by 1968 the company could no longer tolerate the over-crowding at the first plant.

The second location was the 20,000 square foot plant at Mellwood Avenue in Louisville. Over the years the company continued to grow and was recognized as a high quality machine shop in the Louisville area.

In 1976 after many years of service to the business community, Mr. Hargadon was looking forward to retirement. He wanted to sell the company, but he also wanted to insure the well-being of his employees. He accomplished both when he chose to sell to Packaging Service Corp. of Kentucky. In June of 1976 the “new” Charles D. Hargadon Manufacturing Company came into being as a subsidiary of PSC Corp.

Due to additional equipment and an increasing number of customers, the company was running out of space again. In 1981 a larger building was purchased for Hargadon Manufacturing, the old Falls City Beer bottling plant. In June of 1981 the company moved into its present 112,000 square foot facility at 667 S. 31st. Street. In 1987 it was determined that the company could no longer be named Charles D. Hargadon Manufacturing Company, since Mr. Hargadon had no legal affiliation with the company. A new name had to be found so we became Falls City Machine Technology.

Due to Mr. Hargadon’s philosophy of diversity, Falls City Machine Technology (FCMT) excels in several areas of machining services. We do maintenance machining, the repair of broken, or fabrication of obsolete machine parts so that our customers can keep their manufacturing machines in production. We also do production machining. FCMT is the only commercial business that does heat treating in the local area. We harden, temper and anneal metal parts for many local and regional customers. We are one of the few machine shops in the Louisville area to do design and fabrication of custom equipment. FCMT has built machines for Pillsbury, Inland Container, Gates Rubber, General Foam and of course PSC to name a few of our customers.

After more than 60 years in business, Falls City Machine Technology still holds to the principles of quality workmanship, fair pricing, customer service and satisfaction. Our experienced employees are dedicated to doing the job right. We aren’t satisfied with just doing the job, we do it right!