About

E.H. Schwab (EHS) is Pennsylvania's largest privately held manufacturing business specializing in precision metal spinning and forming.

For more than 90 years we’ve offered complete custom solutions from design through prototype and full production. We manufacture many different shapes for a wide range of industries using various metals, including aluminum, steel, stainless, copper, brass, exotics, and others.

We are dedicated to providing our customers with the lowest cost, highest quality parts. We have strong technical knowledge, state-of-the-art equipment, and skilled craftsmen that provide the foundation for these efforts. Our design expertise often results in lower cost parts for our customers, which is why our customer retention rates are high.

Quality is ingrained in our culture. We’re committed to getting it right the first time. Consequently, our average returns are less than 1/10th of 1%.

> 0.1%
Average Returns
ISO9000-2015
Compliant
2000+ Days
Zero Lost-Time Accidents
50+ Tons
Metal Recycled Each Year

We welcome the opportunity to earn your business.

Serving Many Industries

At E.H. Schwab, we’re as malleable as the metals we’ve worked with. We’ve provided parts across a wide range of industries, including Steel, Oil & Gas, Nuclear Power, Defense, Power Transmission, HVAC, Transportation, and Agricultural and Medical, just to name a few. Each industry has provided us with a unique set of challenges, which has resulted in our ability to handle the most difficult designs and stringent specifications regardless of the industry.

Thousands of Shapes & Part Designs

When it comes to bringing your idea to life, let our design history speak for itself. We’ve manufactured many thousands of different designs in broad range of materials. Please visit our Product Photo Gallery to view a small sampling of these products.

Wide Range of Materials

We manufacture parts from spinning Aluminum, Steel, Stainless Steel, Copper, Brass and exotics such as Inconel, Monel, Titanium, and Silver. Each material is unique in its characteristics and can have a major impact on part geometry, tooling design and price. Understanding these nuances is critical to ultimately manufacture and deliver a high-quality, cost-competitive finished part.

Finished part pictured in video
Signage and Wall Art

After nearly a century in the industry, we are proud to remain a successful family-owned and operated contract manufacturing business.

1929

In the midst of the Great Depression, Brothers Ralph and Earl Schwab opened their garage doors for business in Pittsburgh, PA. Initial orders focused on custom metalwork and parts dedicated to one of Ralph Schwab's 3 patented products — two for the beauty salon industry and one for commercial lighting.

1934

E.H. Schwab moved into a new 6,000 square foot building in Homewood, PA. The customer list has grown to include customers such as Westinghouse, Mine Safety Appliance, US Steel, and other Pittsburgh-based industrial companies.

1940

Ralph Schwab invested in additional manual metal spinning equipment to take part in government-contracted work to support the War effort.

1968

E.H. Schwab was contacted by NASA to spin an aluminum lens cover for the camera that would be used on the Apollo 11 moon landing. The cover was ejected and remains on the moon today.

1969

E.H. Schwab was purchased in-full by R.F. Harrison and relocated to the present facility in Turtle Creek approximately 20 minutes east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1971

E.H. Schwab purchased its first automatic spinning lathe from AutoSpin which expanded the spinning department capacity and increased the material thickness capabilities into heavier gauges.

1984

E.H. Schwab invested in our first hydraulic deep draw press from Sweden. Today, this department houses 3 deep draw presses ranging from 80 ton up to 200 ton. Additional hydraulic and mechanical presses provide complementary capabilities.

1993

After multiple additions to the original 12,000 square foot manufacturing space, a new office is constructed to house the growing office staff including a dedicated inspection room.

1997

Due to expanding business opportunities in the region, E.H. Schwab undertook its largest construction project to date with the addition of a second adjacent building dedicated fully to manufacturing. This brings the total manufacturing footprint to 45,000 square feet at the Turtle Creek location.

2004

E.H. Schwab purchased its first CNC machine lathe used to cut small and medium sized spin tools and fixtures. Since that initial purchase, we have made multiple upgrades and investments in our CNC machining and milling capabilities. Today steel, phenolic and/or wood tools and fixtures are drawn in CAD and downloaded directly to the CNC equipment.

2007

With 7 CNC spinning lathes utilizing multiple programming software packages unique to each OEM, E.H. Schwab began a multi-year process of upgrading software on all spinning lathes to a common programming platform. Hardware upgrades were made where required, including to hydraulic systems, electric motors and machine reconditioning.

2012

E.H. Schwab unveils the 1,000 Day Safety Challenge with the goal of zero lost time accidents for 1,000 consecutive days. The goal was successfully reached in mid-2015. In September 2021 we exceeded 2,000 days in a row and are now marching- carefully- towards our goal of 3,000 days in a row without a lost time accident.

2013

E.H. Schwab purchases the first SmartSpin metal spinning lathe in the United States. This machine is a unique hybrid. Programs are made by spinning manually and then production is run automatically similar to a standard CNC machine. This allows for better efficiency and improved part consistency on low volume custom metal spinnings.

2015

While various cutting technologies had been explored in previous years, in 2015 E.H. Schwab committed to a state-of-the-art 2000 watt Fiber Laser. Capable of cutting both ferrous and non-ferrous materials with ease, the Fiber Laser also cuts faster and more efficiently than comparable CO2 lasers. This translates to lower cost and shorter lead times for our customers.

2018

In 2018 E.H. Schwab upgraded the laser cutting capabilities to a new 6,000 watt Fiber Laser. 3x faster than the laser it replaced, this cutting edge technology provides even greater efficiencies than the prior equipment with outstanding cut quality.

2019

2019 saw E.H. Schwab celebrating 90 years in business. All employees joined in a day of celebration which included a visit and private tour of the famous Carrie Blast Furnace in Braddock, PA.

2020

E.H. Schwab invested in our first welding Cobot with the purchase of a fully-loaded Lincoln welding system. The Cobot has dramatically increased efficiency and has been used for welding steel, stainless steel and aluminum assemblies.

2022

The purchase of a new Leico CNC Spinning Lathe from Germany represents the latest addition to our metal spinning capabilities. With a maximum diameter of 47”, this state-of-the-art machine is capable of spinning most materials up to 0.250” thick.

TODAY

E.H. Schwab is uniquely positioned to produce parts for a broad cross-section of industries. Core custom metal forming technologies are state-of-the-art and are supported by an ever-expanding arsenal of secondary capabilities including rolling, punching, piercing, blasting, stud welding, auto seam welding and more. We are proud to remain a successful family-owned and operated contract manufacturing business.

Explore our services, or contact us for assistance with optimizing part design or quick prototyping.