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About Us

The Armor Group History

In 1927, the Edward C. Bott family started Armor Metal Products in downtown Cincinnati.
The company’s products were primarily steel workbenches, shop cabinets, and tables. 

In 1948, the Bott family moved the business to Beekman Street just 5 miles north of downtown. Armor continued to manufacture various industrial products with an employment base of 20-50 workers depending on current demand

During the 1970s, Armor was purchased by LeBlond Machine Tool Company to assist in the fabrication of LeBlond lathes. LeBlond changed the company name to Armor Metal Fabrication. Beginning in the 1980s the LeBlond family began selling ownership in the machine tool company to Makino. The LeBlond name eventually changed to LeBlond Makino and then to just Makino as the Japanese company bought 100% ownership from the LeBlond family. Makino decided to exit the lathe business to focus on machining centers. Although Armor continued to fabricate various components for Makino, after the lathes business was gone, Armor became more of a job shop doing work for other OEMs.

Brief Overview and Recent History:

With Armor’s acquisitions and growth, we now offer full-service contract manufacturing along with our own product lines of industrial can washers & ovens, commercial kitchen washing equipment, waste & recycling receptacles, cleaning & finishing systems for the metal and food industries, specialty mobile medical vehicles, Kamlok couplers, generator enclosures, and prefabricated industrial metal shelters along with aftermarket services & OEM parts.

In 2000, Armor moved our Beekman Street operation to a newer and larger facility in Sharonville, Ohio. Our continued growth generated the need for an even larger facility and in 2006, Armor moved its Sharonville operation to a 315,000 square-foot facility in Mason, Ohio. Later, Armor opened manufacturing operations in Shanghai, China, Lebanon, Ohio, Benton Harbor, Michigan and Elkhart & South Bend, Indiana.