In 1984, Dan Freidel — son of Emil Freidel — was working in the maintenance department at Continental Web Press in Itasca, Illinois. Emil, then the service manager at Harris Contrell Corporation, often called on Dan’s skills as a degreed engineer and machinist to help with complex field work across the Chicagoland area.
Concerned about job security, Dan began planning for the future. When he found a machine shop for sale, he purchased it with a vision to build something of his own. Soon after, Emil visited Continental Web Press to meet with Senior Vice President Don Wiencek. During their conversation in the cafeteria, Dan joined them and presented his idea: lease space from Continental Web so he could continue supporting their maintenance team while launching a business with his father.
After reviewing the proposal, Continental Web agreed — and Freidel’s Erecting Inc. was born.
For the next four years, the father-son team worked tirelessly in the printing field. Their success allowed them to design and build a 45,000-square-foot facility in Romeoville, Illinois, which they moved into in 1989. With this new facility came a new venture: Freidel’s Manufacturing, Inc.
In 1995, following Emil’s passing, Dan became president and merged Freidel’s Erecting into Freidel’s Manufacturing, renaming the company FMI. Under the FMI name, they pioneered a new approach to the commercial printing industry — acquiring older equipment, completely remanufacturing it with upgraded components and electronics, and delivering machines that were often better than the brand-new models available at the time.
In 2005, Dan launched Dantech Industries to expand into engineering, packaging, and RFID technology. By 2011, a name conflict with another company prompted the creation of FMI Industries, Inc., under which all previous companies were consolidated.
Today, FMI Industries continues to evolve — with operations spanning restoration services, electrical contracting under FMI Electrical Service, and ongoing innovation in packaging and commercial printing. What began as a small leased shop inside a printing plant has grown into a diverse, forward-thinking industrial leade