Quality Products Machinist Anthony Palermo Becomes Compass Precision Employee of the Month
Opportunity can come anytime and anywhere. Anthony Palermo learned that through experience less than a year and a half ago.
While working at O’Reilly Auto Parts in Mooresville, North Carolina during the winter of 2018-19, Anthony helped a customer find a hose clamp. That customer was Quality Products Operations Manager Patrick Mayne.
The two began talking and discovered they shared a common interest in CNC machining. Patrick then invited Anthony on a company tour of Quality Products and a few weeks later, he offered Anthony a machinist position.
“I started off just pushing buttons,” Anthony said of his early tenure at Quality Products, which started in February 2019. “And then they kind of worked me into what the codes are, how to set up, what to look for with issues and all that.”
Less than 15 months after his start date, Anthony has been named Compass Precision’s April Employee of the Month.
Anthony struck a bit of luck running into Patrick, but he created his own fortune by electing to attend the UTI school in Mooresville instead of the campus in Orlando, which is closer to his family. Anthony took his “big leap,” as he called it, during the summer of 2017, following his passion for automobiles. At Quality Products, he runs and sets up the CNC machines and ensures everything is running smoothly in order to create top-notch parts.
He described working with his fellow employees and supervisors as his favorite part of Quality Products and is extremely excited to have joined the company so early in his career.
“This place is going to be humming here within the next few years having new customers and different products,” he said. “It will be very interesting to see what happens in the near future. It’s a good opportunity.”
In his free time, Anthony likes to work on cars. He recently built a V6 3.8-liter supercharged engine to plug into a 2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. His parents, who still live in Florida, play a role in his hobby. Anthony’s father helped construct the engine while Anthony acquired the car from his mother.