Our history

Seventy Years from a trailer to a continent.

One millwright outfit in Richmond, California, in 1955. Today, a single-source industrial contractor building across North America and beyond.

the lilja story

Seven Decades, Five Chapters.

Every step below was earned on a job site. The people, the places, and the moments that turned a specialty crew into an industry standard.

THE CONCEPT

1955–1979

Lilja was founded in 1955 primarily as a millwright specialty outfit by Robert Lilja as Lilja Industrial Construction Company. From our first location in Richmond, California, we began meeting the growing needs of industrial and manufacturing clients. And we grew, too — rapidly developing our capabilities to include refractory and concrete.

We soon outgrew our tiny trailer and moved to a large, centrally located site in San Ramon, California. It was here that Bud Field joined us in 1973, bringing a vision to life to expand beyond the San Francisco Bay Area. His leadership and marketing savvy secured industrial-sized furnace rebuilds at Latchford Glass and Diamond Bathurst, which blossomed into larger, long-term relationships.

Archive photo: crane set on a plant site

THE TRANSFORMATION

1980–1999

It was a time of transformation in America, and Lilja helped lead the way, developing new techniques and methods that moved our industry forward. Joining our team in 1989, Vic Miesel helped Bud scale our nationwide presence. Together, they opened branches in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. And in 1992, we officially changed our name to Lilja Corp.

Archive photo: furnace equipment installation

GOING INTERNATIONAL

2000–2012

Lilja's innovation led to accelerated growth and momentum in the years that followed. Broader services, staff, and client base came soon after. We made international headway in 2003, establishing our Canadian offices. Just three years later, current CEO and President, Walter Bowe, took ownership of the company. The fresh perspective and relentless passion were fueled by Bud's vision for innovation. Within years, our revenue doubled, our client portfolio rose by 30%, and our work was no longer limited to the glass manufacturing industry. Such success enabled us to truly hone our craft, creating worldwide demand, while guaranteeing customers the best product possible.

BRINGING IT IN-HOUSE

2013–2019

We opened a steel fabrication and sheet-metal facility near Nashville, Tennessee. We did this to provide our clients the in-house fabrication and installation services they require of us at the quality and time parameters they demand. In 2019 we tripled the square footage of the facilities to now over 18,000 sq ft while adding a fiber laser cutting system, two 10-ton bridge cranes, a paint shop, and more, allowing us to perform all aspects of our work in-house.

Lilja also invested in a new warehouse facility in Streator, Illinois, to centralize our tooling. This allows us to respond rapidly across the country in order to meet the demand for our services.

ACROSS THE AMERICAS

2020–Today

In 2020, the world changed; Lilja decided to change as well. While maintaining core values in quality and efficiency for our existing client list, Lilja took full advantage of the reset to expand even further, forming partnerships and capabilities to bring our business model and knowledge to Mexico, Latin America, and South America. We continue to listen to customer needs and have broadened internal capabilities in supervision, sales, safety, shipping, design, and equipment. In addition, in 2025 we launched our world-class engineering department based in Maumee, Ohio, with personnel boasting a combined century of experience.

Everything above has resulted in Lilja being the single-source platform the entire construction industry would prefer. We continue to evolve and meet our customers' demand as the world leader in industrial construction for the glass manufacturing industry, while solidifying our reputation in construction for major customers in aerospace, automotive, agricultural, food and beverage, and beyond.