Company Adds Second DMG Mori NLX 2500/700 SY Mill/Turn Machine
SALISBURY, NC – Sept. 22, 2020 – 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) machining, announced Monday that it has installed a new DMG Mori NLX 2500/700 SY turning center at its facility.
“The start-up process went as planned and the support we received from DMG Mori was excellent,” said Advanced Machining President Keith Felts. “This NLX is a mill/turn machining center with twin spindles, live tools, and 4-axis machining capabilities. It can turn both ends of a part as well as mill slots and other non-round features, drill off-axis holes, and create other complex surfaces with just one set up. We get more done faster with less room for error because of reduced part handling.”
This is the second DMG Mori NLX turning center Advanced Machining has acquired. The Compass Precision operating company installed its first DMG Mori NLX in May 2019.
“Our mill/turn capacity had gotten really tight,” stated Patrick Reynolds, Advanced’s Operations Manager. “The second NLX is identical to the first except for a few features that give us more flexibility. So now we have doubled our ability to manufacture a class of components that fits most naturally on a mill/turn machine.”
Advanced Machining’s investment in a second NLX mill/turn CNC machining center comes on the heels of Compass’s acquisition of Denver, NC-based Gray Manufacturing Technologies last month. Gray Manufacturing manufactures precision metal components for liquid-propellant rockets engines, launch vehicles, orbital spacecraft, satellites, and other demanding aerospace & defense applications.
Complementing Advanced Machining, Gray Manufacturing also possesses tremendous mill/turn capabilities. Similar to Advanced, Gray excels in 5-axis machining as well.
“We are focused on growing both organically as well as via acquisition,” explained Compass President & CEO Gary Holcomb. “Advanced quickly sold out capacity of its first NLX purchased in May 2019, so we added a second unit. Compass has the necessary financial resources to buy expensive CNC machines as well as pursue acquisitions. And in addition to these two investments, we also started up a new 4-axis CNC vertical machining center at Tri-Tec and a new automated sheet metal loader/unloader for Quality Products’ 2,500 watt laser cutter in September.”
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, focusing on blue chip customers in the telecommunication, medical, aerospace and defense markets. Felts 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 Quality, Advanced and Tri-Tec, with an emphasis on strong decentralized management at each individual operating company.
In August 2020, Compass added Gray Manufacturing as its fourth operating company.