Compass Expands to Eight Operating Companies
CHARLOTTE, NC – April 10, 2023 – Compass Precision, LLC, a Charlotte-based manufacturer of custom, close-tolerance metal components for mission-critical applications, announced Friday that it has acquired Bergeron Machine, Inc. in Westford, MA.
Founded in 1948 by Paul Bergeron, Bergeron Machine is precision Swiss-style machine shop manufacturing extremely tight tolerance parts from a variety of exotic metals including Inconel, Monel, and titanium alloys. Compass purchased the company from Mark Kelly and Sidney Kuo, who bought the firm from Chuck Bergeron, the founder’s son, in 2008.
“Compass is extremely pleased to add Bergeron Machine to its portfolio of shops with highly differentiated capabilities,” said CEO Gary Holcomb. “Our mantra is ‘We make the hard stuff’. Bergeron certainly does.”
Bergeron Machine operates from a 14,700 square foot facility in Westford, MA, approximately thirty-five miles from downtown Boston. The company has about twenty-five employees and thirty CNC machines, many purchased in the past five years. Most of its customers are in the semiconductor, aerospace, and defense industries.
“Sid and I ran Bergeron Machine for fifteen years and loved every minute of it,” stated Mark Kelly. “We bought a great company and expanded it significantly. Now it is time to hand the reins to Compass for the next phase of growth.”
“We picked Compass over other buyers because we are comfortable with their knowledge of our business and the way they treat customers and employees,” added Sidney. “Our legacy is safe in their hands.”
Mark Kelly and Sidney Kuo will remain with the company during a transition period up to six months before retiring. As with its other acquisitions involving retiring owners, Compass is recruiting a new President. All other Bergeron employees will remain with the firm including General Manager David Herbst, Sr; Quality Manager Noelle LeBlanc; and Office Manager Karen Vezeau.
“Continuity is very important to us,” explained Jim Miller, Compass’s Vice President of Sales. “As is the ability to machine parts most competitors can’t do. Bergeron’s Swiss turning capabilities fit in perfectly with our suite of highly differentiated processes. I look forward to cross-selling what Bergeron can do to other Compass customers.”
Bergeron Machine will become the eighth operating company under the Compass umbrella, and the fourth situated outside the Charlotte area, location of the company’s headquarters. The Compass operating model has proven highly effective in integrating and supporting geographically dispersed operating units. In particular, Compass believes that numerous cross-selling and cross-sourcing opportunities exist to enable each operating company to succeed in ways not possible by itself.
Compass Precision was formed with the acquisition of Advanced Machining & Tooling, LLC; Quality Products & Machine, LLC; and Tri-Tec Industries, LLC in October 2019. In August 2020, Compass added Gray Manufacturing Technologies, LLC as its first add-on acquisition. Seven months later, Douglas Machining Services, LLC became Compass’s second add-on acquisition in March 2021. R&D Machine, LLC was acquired in April 2022, and Strom Manufacturing, LLC in July 2022, becoming Compass’s third and fourth add-ons.
Together, Compass’s operating companies, now numbering eight including Bergeron Machine, serve a diversified group of blue-chip customers in the aerospace & defense, space, semiconductor, medical, industrial automation, power generation, telecommunications, high tech, and specialty industrial markets.
For more information on Compass and this acquisition, please contact Gary Holcomb, Compass’s CEO, at [email protected].