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Sixty-four years of heavy steel in Rockford
A family-owned contract manufacturer building weldments and assemblies for equipment OEMs since 1962.
Our Story
Built in Rockford Since 1962
Tolliver Manufacturing started in 1962 as a six-person weld shop on Rockford's south side, building hitch frames for a farm equipment maker a few miles away. That customer is still with us, and so is the idea we started with: build it right, ship it on the date, and pick up the phone when something goes wrong.
Today we run 180,000 square feet across two plants. The Rockford plant handles cutting, forming, welding, painting, and assembly. The Belvidere plant, opened in 2011, is our machining operation, with horizontal boring mills and large-envelope CNC work for parts that need to be machined after they are welded.
We are 210 people on two shifts, and most of our customers deal with the same five or six of them for years. We think that is a feature. The engineer who reviewed your print is the one who will answer when a revision comes through.
Meet Our Team
The People You Will Actually Talk To
Walt Tolliver
President
Third generation. Started on second-shift deburr in 1988 and still walks the floor every morning.
Renee Okafor
Operations Manager
Runs scheduling across both plants. Your delivery date is her number and she guards it.
Marcus Bell
Manufacturing Engineering Lead
Fixturing, robot programming, and DFM feedback on new prints before they are quoted.
Milestones
How We Got Here
- 1962
Founded with six people and a single weld bay, building hitch frames.
- 1985
Moved into the Harrison Avenue plant and added a paint line.
- 2004
ISO 9001 registration and the first robotic weld cell.
- 2011
Opened the Belvidere machining plant for post-weld machining.
- 2023
Installed the 12 kW fiber laser and an automated powder coat system.
Manufacturing and Production
One Purchase Order. One Supplier. Every Process.
Most of our customers came to us with a part moving between four vendors and a week of freight in between. We pulled it under one roof, cut the lead time in half, and took the finger-pointing out of the corrective actions.
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