Our History

On January 17, 1957, Winterville Machine Works, Inc. was incorporated and launched with $22,500 of startup capital. The five founders decided to open Winterville Machine Works as a local Machine Shop, servicing conventional job shop orders, repairs, and small production jobs. With the exception of Runkle, the founders took a large risk in quitting their full time positions at DuPont. Runkle continued to work and manage DuPont’s Machine Shop, which gave Winterville Machine Works its first customer with consistent cash flow.

In the early years, most of Winterville Machine Works’ business was local and within North Carolina. The Company furnished a good living for the owners’ families and employed many local employees from the Winterville job market. Profits were reinvested, putting the growth and development of the company as the top priority. In 1966, the Company implemented Computer Numerical Control (CNC) technology and began to get ahead of competitors, leveraging the capabilities of CNC automation.

As time progressed, so did Winterville Machine works. The Company continued to be dynamic and innovative with its business model, expanding in the range of products and services it provides. In 1986, Winterville Machine Works added Marine Fabrication to its service offering. Since that time, the Company has established itself as a distinguished Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) supplier to major boat manufacturers.

Today, WMW excels in all segments of its service offering manufacturing of small and large OEM component parts, special machines, machine assemblies, and spare parts for machines. The company applies its experience and talent in metalworking and fabrication to help client companies achieve product development objectives. Further, in efforts to operate at the utmost quality and potential, Winterville Machine Works achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification in 2006, an international recognition for high quality service, operation, and customer focus in business-to-business commerce. Today’s Winterville Machine Works is capable of handling all machining and turnkey jobs, whether simple or complicated. Its in-house capabilities for fabricating and machining, all within one plant, enables WMW to deliver products with less lead time, greater quality, and more cost control.