Inside South Bend Lathe: How The Factory That Won WW2 Was Destroyed By One Decision

In 1906, two Irish twins rented a one-room shop in South Bend, Indiana for $65 a month. By 1930, they were building 47% of every engine lathe sold in the United States. The US Navy trusted their machines through two world wars. In 1975, the Chicago conglomerate that owned South Bend Lathe decided to close it. The 500 workers who stood at those machines refused to let it die. They borrowed against their own futures, gave up the pensions they had earned, and bought the company outright the first 100% worker-owned company in American history. The company the O'Brien's built and the men of South Bend briefly owned is gone. CHAPTERS 0:00 Half the Nation's Lathes From One Indiana Town 1:36 Two Irish Twins and a $65 Shop 3:11 The Lathe That Became the World Standard 5:37 The Machine That Armed America 6:04 How Does a Company This Dominant Lose Itself? 6:56 The Chicago Conglomerate Takes Over 8:01 The Industry Collapses and Amstid Does the Math 9:16 The Workers Refuse the Closure 10:05 The First 100% Worker-Owned Company in America 10:40 The Miracle Year 11:26 The Trap Buried in the Buyout Structure 12:21 The Workers Strike Against Their Own Company 13:26 The Contradiction That Never Resolved 14:08 Foreign Competition and the Debt That Wouldn't Stop 14:22 Who Actually Killed South Bend Lathe 15:43 Springfield Remanufacturing 16:36 What Remains of the South Bend Name 17:43 What These Men Actually Did