Company Purchases Haas VF-4 Machine with Fourth Axis
CHARLOTTE, NC – Oct. 12, 2020 – Tri-Tec Industries, a Compass Precision operating company specializing in low-to-mid volume OEM component and part contract manufacturing, has purchased a new vertical machining center and installed a fourth-axis capability to provide the company an advantage it’s never possessed previously.
“We’ve never had one (a 4-axis machine),” said Rick Loyd, Tri-Tec President. “That’s what’s great about it.
“It’ll allow us to do jobs that we weren’t able to do before.”
Tri-Tec bought the new vertical machining center, a Haas VF-4 machine, and attached a HRT160 fourth-axis capability to it in late September. As soon as the installation finished, the Compass Precision operating company received a job perfect for the new setup.
“I can quote on parts now that I used to not quote on because if it was 500 parts that had all of this indexing on the outside or 100 parts or 20 parts even, I wouldn’t quote it (in the past) because there was no way I could be competitive,” said Rick.
The fourth-axis capability eliminates the need for manually indexing, which significantly cuts down production time. This will enable Tri-Tec to become competitive in bigger orders and/or for jobs containing more complex parts.
The new VF-4 machine possesses a 50-inch table, making it the second-longest work space at Tri-Tec. The company’s longest table is 60 inches, but the same continuous job routinely occupies that machine, so the new VF-4 VMC provides Tri-Tec with another longer table for creating bigger parts.
The HRT160 can be removed from the VF-4 and replaced with a smaller or bigger fourth-axis capability, but Rick described the HRT160 as perfect for Tri-Tec. Acquiring this machine falls right in line with what Compass Precision envisions for future expansions at Tri-Tec.
“Buying a new 4-axis vertical mill for Tri-Tec is part of Compass’s on-going plan to add new capital equipment at all its operating companies,” stated Compass CEO Gary Holcomb. “Last year, we addressed a need at Tri-Tec by purchasing a new Doosan Puma 2600 turning center. This year, we added the Haas VF-4 VMC as well as a new delivery vehicle. Next year will bring something else.”
Tri-Tec operates from its Charlotte, NC facility at 200 Peachtree Drive South. It provides solutions and quality parts to leading companies in industrial automation, chemical processing and OEM’s across the southeast and globally.
Tri-Tec was founded in 1997. ZP Enterprises, LLC, an Atlanta-based firm, acquired majority interest in the company in 2016.
In 2019, ZP Enterprises decided to seek new ownership for three of its portfolio companies, including Quality Products & Machine, LLC, and Advanced Machining & Tooling, LLC, as well as Tri-Tec. It quickly reached an agreement with Main Street Capital Holdings, a Pittsburgh-based private equity firm. Main Street acquired Tri-Tec, along with its two sister firms, and placed them under a new umbrella company, Compass Precision, LLC.
In August 2020, Compass Precision added Gray Manufacturing Technologies, LLC of Denver, NC as its fourth operating company.