Throughout its nearly 100 year history, Bergen Machine has been a family owned and operated business. Dating back to 1907, the Founders opened a small machine shop in Bergen County, New Jersey, bringing with them years of machining experience. This shop did everything from sharpening scissors and skates to fabricating state-of-the-art machinery.
By 1923, one of the Founders had diversified into cinder and concrete block production. Using a hand-tamped rollover machine located at the same site, 300-8" or 200-12" block were produced daily.
The late 1930's brought growth to Bergen Machine, as well as to the block manufacturing business. Consequently, by the end of the decade Bergen Machine owned and operated two machine shops and the block manufacturing facilities had expanded to five plants - operating nine machines.
With the onset of World War II, the government's demands on U.S. industry resulted in shortages, some of which had damaging effects on the block industry. Those shortages forced Bergen Machine to begin fabricating its own molds and machine parts. Other area block producers, finding themselves in the same predicament, soon began buying Bergen-made mold and machine parts. Shortly after the end of the war, Bergen Machine found itself shipping mold parts nationwide.
In the early 1950's, Bergen Machine began manufacturing an industry standard - the "3-at-a-time" cam driven block machine. The block industry continued to grow and the need for a larger and more efficient machine soon became apparent. Bergen Machine recognized this opportunity and in the early 60's introduced the industry's first "4-at-a-time" cam driven block machine. A decade later, Bergen Machine once again set new standards for the block industry with the introduction of the first "5-at-a-time" cam driven machine.
With the additional workload generated by machinery production, it soon became necessary to expand the machining branch of the business. In 1951, Bergen Machine purchased a 100,000 square foot turn-of-the-century manufacturing facility in Hackettstown, and built an 18,000 square foot warehouse in Nutley. Both existing shops were consolidated into the one Hackettstown facility. All sales, administrative, and engineering functions remained in Nutley.
In 1991, nearly 8,000 square feet of office space adjacent to the production offices at the Hackettstown facilities was completely renovated. All business functions were transferred to the Hackettstown location.
1991 also brought the retirement of one of Bergen Machine's original pioneers, Joseph Pitha. Mr. Pitha's son Jay, who had been directly involved in Bergen Machine for nearly 40 years, was named his successor.
In 2003, all operations were moved to a new facility located in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania.
No longer directly involved in block production, Bergen Machine is still applying more than 90 years of machining experience and nearly 70 years of block manufacturing experience to the design and manufacture of molds for the concrete block industry.