Made here since 1973.
Five people started this company with one goal: to manufacture high-quality press brake tooling in the United States, for the people who bend metal for a living. Fifty-three years later, that is still the whole job.
It started in less than 4,000 square feet
Power Brake Dies was founded in 1973 by five individuals with a shared vision. The facility in South Holland was modest — under 4,000 square feet.
What the five of them brought to it was grit and an unwavering commitment to quality, engineering excellence and customer service. They held to all three, and the reputation came quickly: this was the shop that solved unique and complex fabrication challenges. The kind of bend a catalog tool will not make.
Over the years that shop grew into a modern manufacturing operation of more than 22,500 square feet. The work that built the reputation has not changed, and neither has the standard.
2005: The next generation takes over
A new generation of leadership took the helm, and kept the values the company was founded on: premium-quality press brake tooling, manufactured in America, from high-grade alloy steel.
Nothing about that sentence is decoration. The steel is specified, the tooling is made here, and the people who make it are in the building.
Two ways to make a die — and we make both
Most of this industry picks a lane. We did not.
Planer-style tooling
The way this shop has built tooling since 1973. Heavy, forgiving, proven, and still the right answer for a great deal of production work. Our planer operators have been doing it for a long time.
Precision-ground tooling
As customer requirements tightened, we added precision-ground tooling to complement the planer-style line — interchangeable with the American, Amada and Wila standards already on your brake.
Why we went looking in Europe
Adding a precision-ground line meant finding a partner who could hold that standard. We did not rush it: the search took two years.
In 2021 we formed a partnership with Eurostamp, an Italian tooling manufacturer founded in 1970 and recognized throughout Europe for producing some of the industry's finest precision-ground tooling. We chose them because their values and their commitment to quality closely mirror our own — which, after two years of looking, turned out to be the rare part.
Together, Power Brake Dies and Eurostamp bring more than 100 years of combined tooling expertise to the bench. Conventional planer-style tooling and world-class precision-ground tooling, from one supplier, for virtually any press brake application.
- 1970Eurostamp is founded in Italy
Precision-ground press brake tooling for the European market.
- 1973Power Brake Dies is founded
Five people, under 4,000 square feet, South Holland, Illinois.
- 2005A new generation takes the helm
Same values: American manufacturing, high-grade alloy steel.
- 2021The Eurostamp partnership
After a two-year search. Planer-style and precision-ground under one roof.
- Today25 people, 22,500 square feet
New tooling, reconditioning and flame-hardening, from South Holland.
Twenty-five people, and you can talk to all of them
Machinists, planer operators, straighteners, material handlers, engineers, sales representatives and administrative staff. Twenty-five people whose job is to make sure the tool that leaves here is the tool you needed.
A person answers the phone.
Call during business hours and a live team member greets you, then connects you with whoever is best equipped to help. We believe personal service builds stronger relationships than any automated system could.
We do not only sell tooling. We keep it working.
Alongside new tooling, we provide reconditioning services and flame-hardening treatments — work that extends tool life, improves performance, and protects what you already spent.
Tooling reconditioning
Bring a worn tool back into spec instead of replacing it. Send it in and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth doing.
Flame-hardening treatment
Surface treatment that extends tool life and improves performance in demanding production.
Five decades, four principles
American manufacturing. Quality craftsmanship. Engineering excellence. Exceptional customer service. Everything above is just the record of holding to those four since 1973.
Clients We Serve
