Compass Operating Company Scores 97 Out of Possible 110
Oldsmar, FL – June 20, 2023 – R&D Machine proudly announced Tuesday that it has attained a score of 97 out of a possible 110 points as measured against the Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level Two program requirements as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Program (SP) 800-171 .
“There is a whole lot of jargon and misunderstanding surrounding the US Department of Defense’s cybersecurity initiatives,” explained R&D VP and General Manager Justin Kovscek (pictured above left with Operations Manager Kat Pennison, center, and Production Control Manager Tim Carter, right). “But the reality is that keeping confidential information secure is extremely vital to the security of our country. And by scoring so highly against these standards, R&D Machine is a machining vendor that the DoD and its supply chain can trust to maintain digital security.”
CMMC is a relatively new initiative by the DoD intended to keep confidential information out of enemy hands. Until very recently, most military programs only required ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D certification. But increasingly, many defense prime contractors are adding CMMC requirements, sometimes expressed as a minimum score versus the maximum possible of 110 points as measured against the NIST SP 800-171 standard.
“Shortly after Compass acquired R&D Machine in April 2022, we learned that several customers would no longer do new business with us until we satisfied the CMMC requirement,” stated Jim Miller, Compass’s VP of Sales. “But even after we began our efforts to become compliant, the CMMC requirements evolved. So, we evolved with it. Now with a score of 97, we can begin accepting RFQ’s and orders for new components that were off limits to us before.”
“I am proud of the way we stepped up and accepted our responsibility to keep our country’s confidential information safe,” added CEO Gary Holcomb. “One customer told us the ‘new inquiry and order floodgates’ would open once our score was at least 90. With 97, we did better than that. And we won’t stop until we have a perfect 110 score.”
Many of R&D’s customers are in the aerospace and defense market, although not all of them are subject to DoD requirements. To serve these and other customers, R&D Machine competes based on differentiated CNC machining capabilities. The company has extensive 5-axis milling capacity along with state-of-the-art coordinate measuring machines for automated dimensional inspection. R&D also has lathes and 4-axis mills. Using computer models of customer parts, the company expertly programs both the cutting tool paths needed to machine these components and the CMM’s to automatically measure every dimension.
R&D Machine specializes in producing intricate custom metal components and assemblies. In addition to its blue chip aerospace and defense customers, the company also serves the rapidly growing space markets. The firm operates from an 10,000-square-foot facility in Oldsmar, FL, supplying both local and Florida-based customers as well as clients scattered through the US. The company is home to nine 5-axis vertical machining centers, three 4-axis VMC’s, seven lathes (two with Y-axis, live tooling), and three coordinate measuring machines.
R&D’s quality system is certified to the ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D standards. This system ensures each customer receives machined components which dimensionally meet their part specifications and are finished correctly. The company’s customers can use their machined parts for further assembly without any additional work or inspection.
Parent company Compass Precision was founded in 2019 based upon the simultaneous purchase of three precision CNC machining companies in North Carolina – Advanced Machining & Tooling (Salisbury, NC); Quality Products & Machine (Charlotte, NC); and Tri-Tec Industries (Charlotte, NC). Compass added Gray Manufacturing Technologies (Denver, NC) to the fold in August 2020, then acquired Douglas Machining Services (Winona, MN) in March 2021. Since then, Compass has purchased R&D Machine (Oldsmar, FL) in April 2022; Strom Manufacturing (North Plains, OR) in July 2022; and Bergeron Machine (Westford, MA) in April 2023, bringing its number of operating companies to eight.
For more information about R&D Machine and Compass Precision, please contact Gary Holcomb, Compass CEO at [email protected].