Company History

Oakes Foundry, a privately held company in Trumbull County Ohio, was incorporated by the Oakes Family on December 20, 1929. Under the direction of Andrew L. Oakes, Arthur Oakes, and Grant A. Oakes I, Oakes Foundry commenced serving OEM companies such as Blaw Knox, Wean, Taylor Winfield, Elwell Parker and Federal Machine and Welding. Eventually, Oakes Foundry was purchased by present Owner and President, Grant A. Oakes II on July 1, 1974.

Service Guide, as we know it today, was incorporated by Grant A. Oakes II on April 17, 1964 with an initial bank loan of $6,104 that was repaid one year later. From its origin, Service Guide provided our customers with on-time delivery aided by our own fleet of commercial tractors and trailers. Top machine performance with the tightest of specifications grew the business to such a level that expansion was required.

Triangle Machine was purchased from Freedom Forge on September 25, 1995 as an ancillary operation to Oakes Foundry. The competitive nature of a global economy forced steel mills and aluminum plants to reconsider the practice of repairing equipment in-house thus initiating the era of “contracting out”. Today, Triangle Machine is our CNC machine center supplemented by vertical and horizontal milling machines, manual engine lathes, and vertical CNC machining centers.

Plant 2-Warren was purchased from Titan Wheel on September 25, 1999 as a direct result of market demand and customer confidence. The additional 283,000 square feet of space now houses our Assembly, Bearing Reclamation, Roll Force Cylinder Center and Press Operations.

Service Guide, Inc. is the nation’s leading industrial repair business (393,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity) for steel mills, aluminum plants, paper mills and mining operations. Our extensive customer base includes Mexico and Canada. Gross annual revenue is approximately $21 million, with a business market value of $20-25M.

Our products and services include chocks, bearings, couplings, spindles, roll force cylinders, mill rolls, copper rolls, guides, liners and 600T press.