Company Buys Two New Machines to Max-Out Capacity
SALISBURY, NC – November 10, 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 capacity, has added two more new machines to its equipment base — a Mikron E 700U 5-Axis machining center and a Agie Progress VP3 wire EDM machine.
Both machines arrived in late September and are already running at capacity.
The EDM, which stands for electrical discharge machining, machine is an exact copy of an Agie Progress that Advanced Machining already possessed while the new 5-Axis machining center is larger in size than what the Compass operating company previously owned.
Both new pieces of equipment expand upon Advanced Machining’s capacity to meet new growth goals and maximize what the company can do with its current building size.
“Future revenue goals, future goals, current goals were unachieveable without the additional spindles,” said Advanced Machining Operations Manager Patrick Reynolds. “Corporate’s got needs, and we needed to fulfill them, so we had to have some more equipment.”
In addition to being larger in size, the new 5-axis machining center has a five-station pallet changer and a 20,000 RPM spindle, which gives it a nice combination of high speed and torque. It is often used for machining tougher materials such as Inconel. Advanced Machining has been using it to satisfy customers in the power generation industry.
The 5-axis machining center has a slightly different setup than other machines at Advanced, but Patrick says the team learned it very quickly. And like other machines at Advanced, the five-station pallet changer allows for overnight and over-the-weekend production.
Ty Suggs, owner of RayTech Machine Tools, Inc., a Compass Precision equipment vendor who sold these two machines to Advanced Machining, says the Agie Progress VP3 is known for its top-of-the-line accuracy and surface finish.
It also allows customers to change the wire diameters without changing the wire guides. This is a big advantage, as it can lead to an enormous savings for customers. Advanced Machining is utilizing the machine primarily for customers in the aerospace and defense industries.
Both of these machines will greatly complement an already state-of-the-art facility in Salisbury.
“They [the Advanced Machining team] are fantastic,” said Suggs. “Those guys are very knowledgeable, and the nice thing too is that they have a preference for higher-quality, higher-precision machines.”
Patrick called the two new machines “the last piece of the puzzle” in order to get “maxed output.” The Mikron E 700U 5-Axis machining center and Agie Progress VP3 are filling the last available space on the shop floor at Advanced Machining.
The Compass operating company surpassed its 2020 shipping dollars total with two months left in the year. Patrick says backlog remains at an all-time high and that “orders are coming in hotter than we can imagine.”
Patrick and Keith Felts, Advanced Machining’s President, are actively looking for nearby floor space to support the company’s continued expansion.
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.