Circle Gear & Machine Company Inc.

What Circle Gear & Machine Company Inc. does

Circle Gear & Machine Company, Inc. is a family-owned custom gear manufacturer founded in 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, now operating from a 122,000 sq ft multi-building manufacturing facility in Cicero, IL. The company produces precision gears across seven distinct product lines — bevel and spiral bevel gears, helical gears, herringbone gears, internal gears, splines, spur gears, and worm gear sets — in lot sizes ranging from a single prototype to 1,000+ pieces. A third-generation family member serves as company president, and operations are ISO 9001:2015 certified, with technical capabilities reaching AGMA Class 13 for ground-tooth gears and diameters up to 120 inches for helical and spur gears. Spiral bevel production uses the Gleason system covering standard-cut, hypoid, and zerol variants.

The business model is sales-led B2B with quote-based custom manufacturing. Customers submit RFQs through the company website or contact sales directly via phone and email, and pricing is project-based reflecting material, dimensional, pitch, and finish specifications. Revenue derives from four streams: custom gear manufacturing, reverse engineering from worn samples or prints, precision gear grinding services, and gearbox rebuild/repair including emergency breakdown service. The customer base is horizontally diversified across automotive, heavy equipment, construction/mining, medical, chemical/oil & gas/pharmaceutical, marine, aviation, and general industrial equipment segments, with no disclosed named accounts.

Distribution relies on minimal digital infrastructure — primarily the company website with RFQ functionality, direct sales contacts, and reputation-driven referrals accumulated over 70+ years. The company claims a global footprint while remaining anchored as a leader in the Midwest and Chicagoland market. No revenue figures, funding rounds, M&A activity, patents, or institutional investment are disclosed in the available data.

Name

Circle Gear & Machine Company Inc.

Legal name

Circle & Gear Machine Co., Inc.

Website

https://circlegear.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1951

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Circle Gear & Machine Company is a family-owned custom gear manufacturer founded in 1951 in Cicero, IL, producing precision bevel, helical, herringbone, spur, worm, and internal gears plus reverse engineering and gearbox repair services for industrial B2B customers across automotive, heavy equipment, marine, medical, and aerospace segments.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Custom Gear Manufacturing

NAICS

Speed Changer, Industrial High-Speed Drive, and Gear Manufacturing (333612), Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing (3327)

SIC

Metalworkg Machinery & Equipment (3540), Machine Tools, Metal Cutting Types (3541)

akta.pro primary industry

Gearmotors, Gearboxes & Speed Reducers (IMAGACAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Grinding, Honing & Superfinishing Equipment (IMAHADAE), Metal Forming & Fabrication Machines (Presses, Bending, Shearing, Stamping) (IMAHADAC)

Keywords

• Custom gear manufacturing
• Precision gear machining
• Reverse engineering gears
• Gearbox rebuild services
• Industrial power transmission

Headquarters

HQ city

Cicero

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Custom Gear Manufacturing: Circle Gear manufactures custom gears and gearboxes to customer specifications. Pricing is project-based and determined through RFQ process. The company produces gears in quantities from 1 to 1000+ pieces, supporting both prototype/low-volume and high-volume production runs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Circle Gear manufactures custom precision gears and gearboxes—including bevel, spiral bevel, helical, herringbone, internal, spur, worm gears, and splines—in lot sizes from 1 to 1,000+ pieces, produced from customer drawings or reverse-engineered from worn samples. The company complements its gear manufacturing with three specialized services: precision gear grinding (up to 120 inches), full engineering and reverse engineering, and gearbox rebuild, repair, and emergency breakdown services.

Product overview

Circle Gear & Machine Company Inc. is a full-service gear manufacturing company offering a comprehensive portfolio of precision-engineered gears and related services. The core product portfolio includes seven distinct gear types: Bevel Gears and Spiral Bevel Gears, Helical Gears, Herringbone Gears, Internal Gears, Splines (Involute and Straight Sided), Spur Gears, and Worm and Worm Gear Sets. These gear products are complemented by three specialized services: Gear Grinding Services for precision finishing, Engineering and Reverse Engineering for custom design and reproduction, and Gearbox Rebuild, Repair, and Emergency Services for maintenance and repair. The company operates a 122,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility and produces gears ranging from small lot prototypes to large-scale production runs, serving industries including automotive, chemical, construction, electronics, food processing, HVAC, machinery, marine, medical, mining, nuclear, oil and gas, packaging, pharmaceutical, and pulp and paper.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bevel Gears and Spiral Bevel Gears Conical-shaped gears with angled teeth used to transfer energy between shafts at various angles, available in straight and spiral configurations with diameters up to 48 inches, for industrial power transmission customers.
• Helical Gears Cylindrical gears with angled teeth that engage more gradually than spur gears, providing smoother and quieter operation, capable of diameters up to 120 inches for industrial drivetrain applications.
• Herringbone Gears Double helical gears with a V-shaped tooth structure featuring opposing helixes that cancel out axial forces, suitable for high-torque applications in large transmissions.
• Internal Gears Gears with teeth cut on the inner surface of a ring or cylinder, used in planetary gear systems and other applications requiring compact design.
• Splines - Involute and Straight Sided Spline shafts and internal/external splines for torque transmission between rotating components, available in involute and straight-sided profiles.
• Spur Gears Cylindrical gears with teeth projecting radially, designed to transmit motion between parallel shafts, available up to 120 inches in diameter.
• Worm and Worm Gear Sets Worm gears with screw-like threads meshing with gear teeth, providing high reduction ratios and smooth, quiet operation; worm diameter up to 10 inches and gear diameter up to 120 inches.
• Gear Grinding Services Precision gear grinding services for finishing operations including form grinding, precision grinding, and regrinding for bevel, helical, herringbone, internal, and worm gears up to 120 inches in diameter.
• Engineering and Reverse Engineering for Gears and Gearboxes Full-service engineering including design, testing, reverse engineering from worn samples or drawings, CAD design, failure analysis, ratio changes, recutting, and pinion modifications.
• Gearbox Rebuild, Repair, and Emergency Services Comprehensive gearbox services including full and partial rebuilds, gear changes, seal changes, case rebuilds, and emergency breakdown services for multiple manufacturers including Winsmith, Western, Cleveland, Foote-Jones, Chemineer, D.O. James, and Marley.

Quantifiable outcome

• Quality gearing up to AGMA Class 12
• +3 more outcomes

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Arrow Gear Company: Downers Grove, IL-based custom precision gear manufacturer producing spiral bevel, spur, helical, and worm gears for similar industrial customers. Highly comparable due to overlapping product portfolio, similar Midwest US location, and shared focus on AGMA-quality custom gearing.
• Forest City Gear: Cleveland, OH-based precision gear manufacturer offering spur, helical, bevel, worm, and internal gears with AGMA-quality certification. Comparable as a similarly-sized US custom gear shop serving aerospace, defense, and industrial customers.
• Bourn & Koch: Rockford, IL-based manufacturer of gear hobbing and grinding machines, plus a precision gear manufacturing service line. Comparable as both a competitor in custom gear manufacturing and as a supplier of gear-production machinery to the same precision-gear market.
• Gear Motions (formerly Nixon Gear): Syracuse, NY-based custom gear manufacturer producing precision cut and ground gears for industrial, aerospace, and defense customers. Directly comparable in product mix (custom spur, helical, bevel) and B2B RFQ-driven sales model.
• Winzeler Gear: Custom gear and spline manufacturer serving automotive, industrial, and aerospace markets with similar mid-size US footprint. Comparable in offering custom-machined precision gears with reverse engineering and emergency repair services.
• ABA Industries: Custom gear manufacturer producing spur, helical, bevel, and worm gears for industrial OEMs. Directly comparable as a similarly-sized US custom gear job shop serving similar end-markets including heavy equipment and industrial machinery.
• St. Marys Gear & Machine: Family-owned custom gear manufacturer producing precision gearing for industrial markets. Comparable in scale, ownership structure, and product focus on custom-to-spec gears and gearbox repair services.

Broad incumbents

• Rexnord (Regal Rexnord): Large diversified power transmission and gear manufacturer with a broad portfolio including gearboxes, bearings, and couplings. Competes broadly with Circle Gear in industrial power transmission but at much larger scale and across far more product categories.
• Flender (Siemens Mechanical Drives): Global manufacturer of mechanical drives including gear units, gearboxes, and couplings under Siemens. Comparable in industrial gearbox manufacturing but operates at global enterprise scale with broader product lines than Circle Gear's custom shop.
• SKF (Industrial Division): Global bearings, seals, and power-transmission components manufacturer. Overlaps with Circle Gear in industrial drivetrain applications and serves similar end-customers, though SKF is a broad industrial incumbent rather than a custom gear specialist.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Circle Gear & Machine Company Inc.