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Forest City Gear was founded in Rockford, IL in 1955 by Evelyn and Stetler Young, parents of the current CEO, Fred Young. A classic family-run business, Fred operates Forest City Gear with his wife, Wendy, as well as their daughters and a son-in-law, who are all active in the business.

The company has invested over $6 million in the purchase of new capital equipment for the manufacture of gears, during the last 18 months. According to CEO Young, this reinvestment of revenue was made for a variety of reasons, primarily to expand the company's manufacturing capabilities and to maintain Forest City Gear's industry-wide reputation for staying on the leading edge of manufacturing technology.

"Our customers expect Forest City Gear to always lead the way in devising new production techniques to make better gears for them, at competitive cost and with superior service. That's a tall order, but it's one we welcome. Our track record speaks for itself in this area, as Forest City Gear has reinvested an average between 25 percent and 40 percent of our annual revenue for the last 30 years in the purchase of gearmaking machinery and ancillary equipment. In addition, we've made some major investments in green technology, over the last two years," Young also noted. 

He further explained the company's strategy in purchasing new, high-technology equipment at Forest City Gear. "We always buy high-end equipment, not only because it generally affords us higher quality, service and training from our suppliers, but also because we realize better performance, lower maintenance requirements, better trade-in value and more substantial depreciation allowances."

Young also commented that one impetus for these new purchases was the company's success in supplying many of the gears on the 2011 Mars Rover, a win achieved in part because of the previous investment in leading edge technology. "We never wait until we get an order to buy machines with enhanced capability. We already have it and have developed it, before we start exploring new opportunities. That's a real advantage for FCG."
Gene Fann, gear technology manager at Forest City Gear, joined Young in detailing these recent equipment purchases and the new capabilities that resulted from this substantial investment. These include:

• Gleason PSA 500 gear shaper with electronic helical guide to eliminate the need for helical lead guides; special face gear attachment (perhaps the only one in the U.S. currently) allows increased shaping capability, more prototype capability and shorter lead times, along with more accurate face gears, which in some instances can substitute for bevel gears.

• Gleason PSA 300 gear shaper with electronic helical guide and automatic column inclination, also accepting our face gear attachment.

• Fellows/Bourn & Koch MS450-125 CNC gear shapers with radial crowning and electronic helical guideless shaping.