Company Adds Fourth 5-Axis Machine
SALISBURY, NC – April 19, 2021 – Advanced Machining & Tooling, LLC, a Compass Precision operating company with CNC 5-axis milling and multitasking mill/turn capabilities as well as wire and sinker EDM (electrical discharge machining) capacity, announced Monday that it has added two machines to its equipment base — a Mikron HPM450U 5-axis machining center and a Mikron VCP1000 3-axis vertical CNC mill.
Both arrived slightly used but still in pristine condition. Following the typical Compass business model, each purchase was made as proactive investments.
“We were just needing some additional capacity, room for growth, the ability to offer our customers improved deliveries,” said Advanced Machining President Keith Felts.
The Mikron HPM450U is the fourth 5-axis machine Advanced Machining has acquired. It is similar in size to the other three, but the Mikron HPM450U is a “much faster, more dynamic” machine. Along with a pallet changer, it possesses a 20,000 RPM spindle, 1G of acceleration and expanded tool-changer capacity.
While it adds even more efficiency to Advanced Machining’s equipment base, because it’s a Mikron machine, the staff at the Compass Precision operating company did not require any additional training to use it. The new 5-axis machine was up and running on day one.
As for the Mikron VCP1000, it’s an “exact copy” of a machine Advanced Machining already had in its arsenal. But acquiring “a twin” of a machine Keith says they are very happy with will double capacity.
“Keith and his team have added two very productive machining centers to Advanced’s already impressive equipment base,” explained Compass CEO Gary Holcomb. “Santa came early to Salisbury and brought us a couple of great machines.”
With both additions, Advanced Machining will continue serving the medical, power generation, aerospace & defense, telecommunications and other OEM markets.
Advanced Machining operates from a 10,000-square-foot facility in Salisbury, NC at 215 Forbes Avenue. It manufactures complex prototype and low-to-mid volume metal parts for a variety of blue chip customers. Keith and his partner, Bobby Miller, founded Advanced Machining in 1985. ZP Enterprises, LLC, an Atlanta-based firm, acquired majority interest in the company in 2011.
In October 2019, Main Street Capital Holdings, a Pittsburgh-based private equity firm, acquired Advanced Machining, along with its sister operating companies, Quality Products & Machine, LLC and Tri-Tec Industries, LLC, both in Charlotte, NC, from ZP Enterprises. Main Street established Compass Precision, LLC at that time as the parent company of Advanced, Quality, and Tri-Tec, with an emphasis on strong decentralized management at each individual operating company.
Last August, Compass added Gray Manufacturing Technologies, LLC in Denver, NC as its fourth operating company. In March, Compass expanded outside of North Carolina with the purchase of Douglas Machining Services, LLC in Winona, MN.