What Principal Manufacturing makes

Principal Manufacturing Corporation is a fine blanking and metal stamping company in Broadview, Illinois. Fine blanking is its signature process: presses from 100 to 700 tons produce close-tolerance parts with fully sheared edges, high flatness, and tight positional accuracy in a single stroke, so components come off the press ready to use with little or no secondary machining. The company has offered fine blanking since 1966, which makes it one of the longer-running fine blankers serving North American OEMs and their Tier 1 suppliers.

Alongside fine blanking, Principal runs conventional metal stamping up to 700 tons with bed lengths up to 168 inches, covering progressive die, compound, and high-speed stamping. It molds plastic over metal through injection overmolding and insert molding, and it machines parts in-house with CNC turning, milling, EDM, plasma, and waterjet cutting. Value-added and secondary operations, including automated assembly, grinding, drilling, tapping, broaching, and welding, run under the same roof, so many parts ship already assembled. Typical automotive work includes trunk latches and closure systems, engine and powertrain hardware, brake and transmission components, HVAC parts, seating and headrest supports, sensor mounts, and trim brackets.

The company designs and builds its own tooling in an on-site toolroom, which lets it adjust dies during development rather than waiting on an outside shop. Its engineering team engages early on design-for-manufacturability review, the kind of up-front work that shortens new-part timelines and takes cost out before a die is cut.

Industries served

Automotive is the anchor. Principal supports automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers and, in a 2022 company profile, described making parts for roughly 30 different vehicle platforms rather than a single model line. Beyond automotive, the company's own materials list appliance, HVAC, hand tools, and broader industrial work, with historical parts as varied as heavy-truck, boating, and motorcycle components. That diversification across sectors is how a mid-sized stamper smooths out the cyclicality of any one end market.

Ownership and history

Principal Manufacturing is family-owned and independent, with no parent company. The bylined 2022 trade profile the company reprints states it was founded in 1939 and began offering fine blanking in 1966; the company's current website frames it as delivering engineered solutions for more than 40 years. Either way, it is a long-established, privately held manufacturer, and it credits much of its growth since the 1990s to automotive stamping and fine-blanking work. The company emphasizes accessibility and continuity, citing a 2% employee-turnover rate as evidence of a stable, experienced workforce. Corporate Manager Dave Millunchick, quoted in the company's own profile, has framed the business around single-source supply and speed to market: performing stamping, machining, molding, and assembly in-house so customers can consolidate intricate parts and assemblies with one supplier.

Operations are consolidated in a single 170,000 square foot plant at 2800 South 19th Avenue in Broadview, a western suburb of Chicago. The company says it serves customers across North America and ships to overseas customers as well.

Certifications and quality

Principal is certified to IATF 16949:2016, the automotive quality-management standard, with the certificate current through October 2027. It also holds ISO 9001:2015 (through October 2027) and ISO 14001:2015 for environmental management (through February 2028), with dated certificates posted on its own site. The company runs a measurement lab with contact and non-contact inspection systems, digital gauging, and statistical process control, and it integrates inspection into production to support traceability on automotive programs. Its quality lineage on record runs back through ISO/TS 16949, the predecessor to IATF 16949.

Known customers

Principal does not publish a named customer roster, which is normal for a stamper serving OEM and Tier 1 programs under confidentiality. Its own materials describe supplying automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers across roughly 30 vehicle platforms, plus appliance, HVAC, and industrial accounts. In US import bill-of-lading records, BorgWarner appears as a counterparty, consistent with automotive-program work, though customs data alone does not establish a buyer relationship. Absent an independent filing that names a specific program, this profile reports the customer base at the sector level the company itself documents rather than asserting individual accounts.

Sourcing evidence

Principal's US import footprint is small, which is what you expect from a domestic stamper that buys most of its steel and tooling in North America. The public record shows 11 US import shipments, most recently in May 2025. The named foreign counterparties are telling for a fine blanker: Feintool Technologie, the leading maker of fine-blanking presses and tooling, alongside Easylink Industrial, TCM Manufacturing Services, and BorgWarner TTS Beijing. That mix, specialized press and tooling equipment rather than finished goods, is the signature of a company that builds parts in Illinois, not a reseller importing product. Because most of a US stamper's inputs move by truck and rail and never appear in ocean-freight manifests, this small count understates the company's real activity. These are US ocean-import records only; air, truck, and rail movements do not appear, and manifest product codes are noisy. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.

Frequently asked questions

What does Principal Manufacturing make?

Principal Manufacturing makes fine-blanked and stamped metal components and assemblies. Fine blanking is its specialty: presses from 100 to 700 tons produce close-tolerance parts with fully sheared edges in one stroke. It also runs metal stamping up to 700 tons, plastic injection overmolding, in-house tooling, CNC machining, and assembly, and it supplies automotive parts such as latches, powertrain hardware, and brackets.

Who owns Principal Manufacturing?

Principal Manufacturing is a family-owned, independent company with no parent corporation. It operates from a single 170,000 square foot plant in Broadview, Illinois. The company describes itself as family-owned and operated with a 2% employee-turnover rate.

When was Principal Manufacturing founded?

The company's reprinted 2022 profile states it was founded in 1939 and began offering fine blanking in 1966. Its current website describes delivering engineered solutions for more than 40 years. It has been a privately held Illinois manufacturer throughout.

Where is Principal Manufacturing located?

Principal Manufacturing is at 2800 South 19th Avenue, Broadview, Illinois 60155, a western suburb of Chicago. All production runs from that single 170,000 square foot facility. The company serves customers across North America and ships to overseas customers as well.

Who are Principal Manufacturing's customers?

Principal does not publish a named customer list, which is standard for an automotive stamper. Its own materials describe supplying automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers across roughly 30 vehicle platforms, plus appliance, HVAC, and industrial customers. BorgWarner appears as a counterparty in US import records.

What certifications does Principal Manufacturing hold?

Principal Manufacturing holds IATF 16949:2016 (current through October 2027), ISO 9001:2015 (through October 2027), and ISO 14001:2015 (through February 2028), with dated certificates posted on its site. It runs a measurement lab with statistical process control and integrated in-process inspection.

Last verified September 28, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.