Etching has been around since the Middle Ages, it was used to decorate armor and by the printmakers of the 16th century as a method for producing printing plates. The process was developed as a manufacturing process by The Buckbee Mears Corporation from St. Paul, MN in the early 1900s and then further developed by Kodak during the 1960s. Kodak wanted to sell more film and photoresist so they ran a seminar on how to produce sheet metal parts via photo-etching – The Fotofabrication Corporation was founded in 1967 in Chicago, IL as a result of those seminars. Buckbee Mears went on to produce shadow masks for a large percentage of the cathode ray TV sets manufactured in America and throughout the world.

Fotofab provides a wide range of high precision metal fabricating services to produce components with geometries from simple to very complex. Whether the mission is a quick-turn prototype or a high-volume production run, Fotofab has been satisfying engineers for five decades. And while our core competency has not changed over that time, the technology of our production tools continues to evolve. As we look to our next decade, we see opportunities for our customers to benefit from our unrivaled experience, while knowing that their parts will be produced with state-of-the-art production methodologies and uncompromising quality standards.  Today, Fotofab is highly regarded by our customers for being responsive to their needs for product quality, quick response times and highly knowledgeable customer service. Located on Chicago‘s Northwest Side, our main plant houses multiple etching machines, and a thoroughly equipped CAE/CAD department. Our tooling, forming and stamping facility is located in Elk Grove Village, a short drive from our main facility and very close to O’Hare airport.