Company Hires Dwayne Davis
CHARLOTTE, NC – Jan. 25, 2022 – No matter the industry, no matter the company, an organization can never have enough experience in its employees.
Quality Products & Machine, LLC has added machining experience to its staff in a large way this winter by hiring Dwayne Davis as Machining Manager. Dwayne brings more than two decades of manufacturing experience on both the shop floor and in customer service.
“We really needed someone to run the machining side of Quality Products’ operation,” said President Kevin Farmer. “Dwayne has strong CNC machining knowhow and is proving to be a great leader. We are very happy that he has joined us.”
Starting at Quality Products in the middle of October, Dwayne has already adjusted to his new role. In his first three months, Dwayne learned a new E2 system and has begun taking on multiple responsibilities, including material quotations and supervision of the shop floor.
Dwayne arrived impressed with how Quality Products has built relationships with its customers. He says he’s pleased with his transition and that it’s his goal to streamline the machining process at the Compass Precision operating company.
“[Everybody] gave me a good understanding of what is required of the job,” said Dwayne about his first three months at Quality Products. “With my machining background, I just thought it was a great fit for me to be able to bring in some of my ideas to be able to make things a lot better.
“Not to really just come in and just change things but come in and help the machine shop, increase their production and efficiency to get a better turnaround.”
Prior to joining Quality Products, Dwayne worked 11 years at ASKO, Inc. He began his tenure at the company as a Machinist Lead and then served as Production & Supply Chain Supervisor for about six years.
Dwayne also spent time at Winchester Electronics as a CNC Machinist. A few years into working there, he received a promotion to a Customer Service role.
“We were attracted to Dwayne because of his diversity of experiences as well as his CNC machining knowledge and managerial abilities,” explained Gary Holcomb, CEO of parent company Compass Precision. “It is not often you find someone skilled in CNC machining, strong in supervision, and tactful enough to deal directly with customers. Dwayne is all those things.”
Regardless of his position, Dwayne has often worked for big companies in his career. That’s been another change switching to Quality Products, a machine company with just 26 employees.
But Dwayne says he likes the diversity of products across all the Compass operating companies. The investments Compass has made into its companies and employees was a contributing factor in his decision to join Quality Products.
“I didn’t know how to quite take being at a small company. I came from a big company,” said Dwayne. “But then I got the understanding of how Quality Products is doing things, and actually, going up to Compass Precision, there are a lot of acquisitions, and the company is growing. That was the thing that kind of sealed the deal.”
Dwayne earned a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management from Strayer University. He then earned his masters degree in Supply Chain Management & Logistics from Liberty University.
He has been employed in the machining sector since 2000.
Quality Products operates from a 47,000-square-foot facility in Charlotte, NC at 4600 Westinghouse Boulevard. The company has both machining and fabrication capabilities, all under one roof. It manufactures complex prototype and low-to-mid volume metal parts, with a focus on defense and power generation markets.
The Compass operating company was founded in 1962. ZP Enterprises, LLC, an Atlanta-based firm, acquired majority interest in the company in 2010, then purchased the remaining ownership in 2018.
During 2019, ZP Enterprises decided to seek new ownership for three of its portfolio companies, including Advanced Machining & Tooling, LLC of Salisbury, NC and Tri-Tec Industries, LLC of Charlotte, NC as well as Quality Products. It quickly reached an agreement with Main Street Capital Holdings, a Pittsburgh-based private equity firm. Main Street acquired Quality Products, along with its two sister firms, and placed them under a new umbrella company, Compass Precision, LLC.
In August 2020, Compass Precision added Gray Manufacturing Technologies, LLC of Denver, NC as its fourth operating company. Then in March 2021, Compass expanded outside North Carolina by acquiring Douglas Machining Services, LLC in Winona, MN.