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The company prided itself with its slogan, “For Machinists by Machinists”. It was founded in the year 1960 and debuted in 1980 as Fadal Engineering (and was later renamed as, Fadal Machining Centers) and is reputed as the top producer for Vertical Machining Centers. Its manufacturing facility was located at Chatsworth, California. They are reputed in all parts of the world as the Largest Suppliers of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machinery and were known for their quality and affordable machine parts.
The company’s flagship machines are vertical machining centers and horizontal CNC lathes. Most of the parts produced by these machines are used in industries such as Energy, Medical, Automotive, and Aerospace.
Its humble beginnings started in the 1950s at the founder’s, Mr. Francis de Caussin’s, garage. In 1953, he worked as a tool maker in Detroit and moved to Van Nuys to work as a machinist. In the 1960’s, Francis opened his first shop which was located at North Hollywood and garnered small projects from local aerospace companies. With its success, the company started to expand and rented out eleven buildings to accommodate the influx of orders.
The company’s names originated from the family’s acronym (both father and children) – F – Francis de Caussin (the father), Adrian, David, and Larry. With Francis as founder, his sons Adrian, David, and Larry were responsible for the following operation: Adrian was the designer of the first ever Fadal CNC Control, David designed the tool changers and vertical machining, and lastly, Larry headed the implementation of the building process.
From the year 1960, the company continued to progress. Enumerated below is the timeline of the company’s progress beginning 1970 – 2014:
1970 – Fadal Machining Centers (then, Fadal Engineering) pioneered tool changer automation that allowed tools to change without the aid of a wrench.
1972 – A tool changer that can be attached to a mill was marketed and revision the tool changing process
1974 – The company started selling its first machine, an automatic tool changer and built their first ever machine tool. This machine supplemented the shop’s contract with its sales.
1979 – The first prototype for the Vertical Machining Center (VMC) was built. In the 1980s, the VMC was sold for around $100,000.
1984 – According to Larry De Caussin’s statement in the Los Angeles Times in 1993, when Fadal ceased to accept orders from private companies and started to create machines full time and were shipping 20 machines per month. After focusing on manufacturing and selling machines, its sales grew and caused the de Caussins to relocate to a $10-million building located at Chatsworth. Around this time, the building and its lot were all theirs.
1995 – The company was sold to Giddings and Lewis. With frequent merging and acquisitions, the company underwent several changes in terms of its name.
2008 – The company closed its manufacturing facility in Chatsworth California.
2013 – Business was reopened.
2014 – Fadal Engineering, now Fadal Machining Centers, relaunched in 2014 together with the Merill Technologies Group (MTG) and launched an all-new Fadal Machine Tool product line. In the same year, September 8-14, the company launched its new Classic series at the International Manufacturing Technology Show.
All the family members involved in managing the company learned the business by immersing themselves in the operation and learning it “hands-on style”. Note that none of the family members involved in the business has ever attended college.
After the death of Francis and his son, Adrian, the company was managed by David de Caussin – as the president – and Larry de Caussin as the Vice-president in the year 1993. It was mentioned on the December 21, 1993 issue that Dean de Caussin, who was 29 at that time, was set to manage the company after Larry (his father) and David (uncle) retired. To date, the person managing the company is Robert Yackel, the CEO of Merill Technologies Group (including the Fadal Machining Centers). If you’re interested in buying a used Fadal CNC Machine, contact us at S&M Machinery, the leading independent machinery dealer of late-model surplus used Fadal CNC machine tools in the United States. Look through our extensive inventory of used Fadal Machines and contact us today, we’ll help you find the right machine that’s perfect for your business.
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