About - Fort Manufacturing, LLC

YOUR SOURCE FOR CNC MACHINING FFL SERVICES CNC PLASMA CUTTING FIREARMS FIREARMS MANUFACTURING BARREL FLUTING IN KEARNEY NEBRASKA

How it all began – Aircraft parts.

Hi there and a sincere thank you for visiting!

Where to start… let’s start in 2018, and maybe jump around a bit. Here goes nothing…

In early 2018, I was working on my private pilot’s license. I’m a bit of a klutz, and rolled my ankle while getting the mail one day. I was put in a boot for a couple of months, and was unable to fly. During this time, I started work on building a Thatcher CX5 kit airplane. With my background as a machinist, I quickly realized that using a CNC machine to cut repetitive parts would save years of my life! In researching them, I found that the guy who was producing the parts was selling his business. I flew to Georgia and bought his manufacturing business.

Jumping back to 1996 – I was a couple years out of high school, and didn’t have a plan. I took a job at a machine shop, and it just sort of clicked. I ended up working as a machinist for a few years, then worked for Zeiss IMT building, repairing, and installing Coordinate Measuring Machines. I even had the chance to work with the R&D team on a few CMM designs including the Vista and Contura!

Fast forward to 2019, I bought a small CNC plasma table to cut some 4130 steel parts for the wings. However, before I had a chance to cut one, my younger brother asked if I could use it to make him a metal sign for his friends wedding. I said “Sure!” – and the rest is history! I started out posting a photo of it on Facebook and Instagram, and got inundated with orders from friends, family, friends of friends, people I didn’t know… etc. So as Christmas approached, I decided to list a few things on Etsy – HOLY WOW!! Things blew up, I even had to hire some part-time help to get orders out… what a crazy time!

Growing up

As the metal sign business ~~grew~~ exploded in 2020, I found myself wanting to focus more on machining to try to bring a more consistent revenue stream in. Using a CNC knee mill and CNC router that were acquired in 2018 for the airplane parts business, I was able to win some machining jobs for a fortune 500 company, as well as several smaller local and out of state companies and individuals.

With growth and the desire to offer expanded services and quicker lead-times, I ordered a new, larger CNC plasma table in September of 2020, this allowed me to meet the increased demand of the holiday season. Between the machining work and the sign business continuing to grow exponentially, I made the hard decision to focus on the manufacturing business, and in early 2021, I halted operations of the airplane parts business.

Moving out

At some point in everyone’s life, it’s time to move away from home, right? In February 2021, we moved the shop out of our garage and into a commercial space. This has allowed more focus on manufacturing, given us the space we need to make parts and the space to grow! In April 2021, we ordered a brand new CNC milling machine which will allow us to increase our production capabilities, and add additional capability to our operations.

In addition, we received our FFL Type 7 for manufacturing firearms and parts in the comfort of our shop here in Kearney, Nebraska. With this, we setup a new website fort.army to keep this portion of the business separate from the sign business site – fortmfg.com – and setup a mailing list so we can notify you when we have parts ready for sale!

We’re also looking for job-shop and production work for the machines to make sure they keep humming along. Reach out if you need parts made, in any quantity.

Thanks for coming along on the journey with us,

-Ben (old guy) and Emmett (boy)

What can we do for you?

Worldwide delivery

Most CNC machined parts can be shipped anywhere in the world. Due to various government restrictions, firearms and parts may not be able to be shipped to you.

Family Owned and operated

We’re located in Kearney Nebraska, and are a family owned business. Mom stops by and cleans sometimes, my son Emmett helps with shipping, saw cutting raw stock, running the CNC plasma table. Dad helps by running scrap to the recycler, helps with assemblies and installations, etc. If you want to support local small business, it doesn’t get much smaller or more local than this!

24/7 Support

In these days of being chained to your cell phone, we try to use it as a tool, not a crutch. If I’m up in the night, I’ll respond to your email. If you have an urgent parts need, I’ll make sure to stop by the shop before church and after to keep parts running!

Quality, Precision and Reliability

If you’ve ever struggled with an unreliable vendor, you know how valuable working with someone who is responsive, and delivers on-time is. Our goal is the highest quality parts delivered to you when we say we will.