Delfab, Inc. was created by the former employees of Partek Forest, a Finnish company whose U.S. factory was in Gladstone. Partek made forestry equipment. They had been the latest in a line of similar businesses to occupy the premises at 103 N 12th St., which had been built in 1917 for the Marbles Motor Company.

When Partek Forest bought a Shawano, Wis. company, Partek left Gladstone at the end of 2002.

According to documents filed with the State of Michigan and reports in the Daily Press, Delfab, Inc. was incorporated in April 2003 by W. Craig Westlund, Donald J. Flinn and Duano Deno primarily, with other former Partek employees also on board. Their operation took over the Partek building, secured a contract to keep making forestry machinery, and made arrangements to parter with other firms that would also work out of the old building.

Delfab was relatively successful for some time, but also struggled with hurdles at points.

Gladstone-based Delfab won "Best Small Business of the Year" in 2003 from the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center. (Courtesy photo)

In 2003, the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center named Delfab the “best small business of the year.”

The company was at their peak around 2007 with about 28 employees, Westlund said this week.

After the recession of ’08, Delfab was “barely surviving with a negative cash flow” from 2009 to 2013 as they struggled to weather an economic recession, wrote the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC) in 2016.

“Delfab had stopped making their signature feller buncher in response to decreased demand, but managed to turn out other products to avoid a complete shutdown,” MMTC wrote. “The Center partnered with Delfab to keep them afloat and launch their revitalization. …The Center offered financial and business coaching, website development consulting, and training programs … Delfab modernized the machinery to meet market demand and needs.”

At the 2015 Great Lakes Logging and Heavy Equipment Expo, Delfab announced a teaser for the DF703.

Gary Vollmar, CEO of AMI Industries, Inc., speaks to the Gladstone City Commission in July 2025 about the Lewiston-based business’s plans to expand in the DelFab building on Gladstone’s North 12th Street. The deal was never finalized. (Daily Press file photo by R. R. Branstrom)

By 2016, after securing loans, Delfab was again manufacturing three-wheeled feller-bunchers. Though production had stopped in 2008, the updated model — DF703 Phoenix — was introduced “because of the machine’s ease in handling and its greater efficiency compared to four-wheeled units in the market,” reported the Daily Press in October 2016 after an interview with Westlund and Flinn.

One of Delfab’s loans had come from the City of Gladstone, which announced in 2020 that the company had met the goal of growing the business and hiring more employees.

Since COVID, Delfab’s business has consisted of the manufacture of replacement parts for the forestry industry.

Delfab and its 138,000-square-foot manufacturing space didn’t make headlines again until 2025, when a company from downstate expressed interest in purchasing their facility.

Aggressive Manufacturing Innovations, Inc. — which often goes by AMI — is headquartered in Lewiston, Mich. and also has locations in Cass City and Sault Ste. Marie. In 2025, they were making plans to buy the building at 103 N 12th St., remodel it, and lease part of it back to Delfab.

This surface grinder is one of the many items being sold at Delfab's bankruptcy auction, which closes Tuesday evening.

In June of 2025, CEO Gary Vollmar of AMI wrote a letter to the City of Gladstone to request the establishment of an Industrial Facilities Tax (IFT) district for the property, which would waive taxes for up to 12 years so that the building could be fixed up.

The plan, as he explained to the Gladstone City Commission in-person at a meeting on July 28, would be to bring two new businesses to the Delfab building in Gladstone: one would be another branch of the same type of work AMI already does — manufacturing components for automotive systems — and another would be to do powder-coating and stainless steel brazing.

“We buy outside, today, about $1.5 dollars worth of powder-coated product. Same thing with stainless steel brazing. We buy a lot of stainless steel brazing support to make the product we have, and we can bring them all in house. So most of it is set. You just have to have a place to put it, and we think this would be a great place to put it.”

He proposed calling the new business “Gladstone Braze and Power Coat LLC.”

Of course, in order to do advanced precision work, a 110-year-old dilapidated building wouldn’t do, hence the ask for the IFT. Gladstone approved AMI’s ask, and gave permission for the IFT proposal to be submitted to the state.

The exterior of the building at 103 N 12th St., built in 1917, is shown. After a string of manufacturing owners and tenants, the facility is for sale. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

After that, the situation got muddy, and accounts conflict.

Delfab owner Craig Westlund said that his company signed the contingency agreement to affirm that Delfab would lease back part of the building from AMI once the sale went through.

“November 20 was going to be the closing date,” Westlund said.

When talking to the Press this week, Westlund said that Delfab stopped hearing back from AMI after about August.

AMI, however, shared a different story.

Clipping from a 2003 newspaper. (Daily Press file)

After applying for the IFT, Vollmar said, AMI also tried to see if the State of Michigan could provide any grant funds to help with the refurbishment of the Delfab facility. According to Vollmar, the State’s response was that they were unable to assist because the IFT had already been filed.

He also said that Delfab did not sign the lease.

Without support from the State and without the assurance that Delfab would rent part of the building, Vollmar said, purchasing the facility wasn’t feasible.

After Nov. 20, seeing that AMI wasn’t going to buy, Delfab listed the Gladstone property for sale through a realtor. It’s currently on the market.

“It would have been nice if somebody would have taken the whole shebang, but because that didn’t happen, we listed it right after Nov. 20, because we couldn’t move forward,” Westlund said.

With no buyer, “finally, Jan. 30, we claimed bankruptcy,” he added.

Now, the assets of the Gladstone manufacturer have been prepared for liquidation.

“A large online bankruptcy auction featuring the assets of Delfab, Inc. will take place on Tuesday, June 9, giving local businesses, manufacturers, contractors, machine shops, welders, and the general public the opportunity to bid on industrial equipment located right in Gladstone,” read a press release issued Tuesday. “More than 500 lots will be offered, including metalworking machinery, fabrication equipment, welding equipment, forklifts, shop support items, and other industrial assets.”

Open to the public, the auction will be conducted through Orbitbid.com under Bankruptcy Case No. 26-90011. Details and assets are available for viewing and blind bidding now.

“Auction highlights include a Cincinnati Autoform 230 AF x 8′ Hydraulic Press Brake, Daewoo D110RT Horizontal Boring Mill, Giddings & Lewis 340-T Horizontal Boring Mill, Lodge & Shippley Power Squaring Shear, MG Industries Plasma Cutting Table, Warner & Swasey Turret Lathes, Mazak M4 1500 CNC Lathe, Supermax Max-1 CNC Vertical Machining Center, Miller welders, Ingersoll Rand air compressor, paint spray booths, band saws, jib hoists, and multiple forklifts, including Caterpillar, Clark, and Allis Chalmers units,” states the press release. “The auction also includes equipment for welding, cutting, drilling, painting, material handling, compressed air, shop maintenance, and general industrial use.”

The notice shows that public bidding will be open Monday from noon to 5 p.m. and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As for AMI, the company hasn’t found a new location to start a powder-coating facility. Vollmar said they’re still interested in the U.P., as he believes the region has the workforce.

In researching Delfab’s history, the Press contacted MMTC, the consulting center that helped the Gladstone company get over the recession.

Upon hearing the local business had gone bankrupt, MMTC promptly deleted the nine-year-old article about Delfab from their website.

“With Delfab’s longstanding history in Gladstone, we recognize the unfortunate impact this development may have on its employees, partners, and the region,” said MMTC’s marketing manager in an email.