Founded in 1971, GDE began building molds in a small “garage shop” on Porter Street SW in Wyoming, a suburb on the south end of Grand Rapids. A few years later the business moved into a larger facility on Boston Street.

In 1979 Impact Industries, a die cast company located in Sandwich, Illinois, purchased GDE. Two years later GDE moved to a new 15,000-square-foot facility on 47th Street in Grand Rapids. GDE continued doing business at that location for almost 20 years.

In 1996 the owners of GDE purchased  Arbor Mold & Engineering, Inc. a 25,000-square-foot facility on the southwest side of Grand Rapids. The acquisition allowed GDE to fill a niche, giving it the ability to manufacture molds up to 80,000 pounds. 

By the year 2000, with both facilities nearing capacity, plans were made to expand the Clay Avenue facility and merge both operations into one. Ultimately the consolidation would streamline operations and allow the company to be more competitive. In the fall of 2001, the expansion was completed giving GDE 68,000-square-feet of manufacturing space.

Most recently, GDE has expanded it’s engineering disciplines to include vacuum form molding and appliqué trim dies, producing tools for the 'In Mold Applique' process.

The success of GDE, in an industry that demands excellence, is no small achievement. Due to global competition manufacturers have been forced to raise the standard of quality on their goods while simultaneously lowering costs.  GDE has met the challenge.  From investing in their people, to upgrading equipment and software, to expanding services into new tooling fields, GDE contiues to grow.  This is a testament to the inovative thinking and teamwork of all of the companies employees.

GDE prides itself on serving every customer by striving for 100 percent on-time delivery and providing the best quality at competitive prices. The company is currently certified to ISO9001:2008.

A key factor in GDE’s success has been the teamwork of it’s highly skilled work force. GDE is committed to meeting rigorous delivery schedules while producing only the finest-quality molds and trim dies.  Why? Because at GDE we believe "There is a difference."