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Strom Manufacturing | Company News and Events

Compass Precision Celebrates 6-Year Anniversary (October 16, 2025)
Compass Precision Reaches Another Company MilestoneCHARLOTTE, NC – October 16, 2025 – Birthdays can be a difficult time for some Americans. So much so that it isn’t uncommon for people to shed a tear or two for growing another year older. There was no crying on the...

The Latest Compass Precision Acquisition: Q&A With Former Pocasset Machine Owner Barry Kent (September 30, 2025)
Compass Growing With Seamless Operating Company Acquisitions Compass Precision is growing its business in multiple ways. One of the fastest ways is through acquiring more operating companies. Compass announced purchasing Pocasset Machine Corporation in Pocasset, MA on...

Compass Precision Spotlight Focuses on Strom Manufacturing’s Joel Gonzalez (September 23, 2025)
Strom’s Top Setup Man Excelling Under New ManagementNORTH PLAINS, OR – September 23, 2025 – Compass Precision management stresses personal development as much as company growth with each of its employees across the United States. That’s why Compass’ nine operating...

Where Are They Now: A Look Back at Compass Employees of the Month Jan.-June 2023 (September 16, 2025)
First Half of 2023 Employee of the Month Honorees Then & NowCompass Precision has high expectations for its employees at all nine operating companies. When those expectations are met and even exceeded, those workers become eligible for the Compass employee of the...

Quality Products’ Dustin Jones Celebrates First-Year Anniversary With Compass Operating Company (September 9, 2025)
Quality Products Vice President Reaches MilestoneCHARLOTTE – September 9, 2025 – Quality Products & Machine, LLC has experienced terrific growth recently. The inception of that growth happened about two years ago. Then, the Compass Precision operating company...

Pocasset Machine Hires New VP & General Manager (August 20, 2025)
Mike Kane Enters Leadership Role at Compass Precision’s Latest Acquisition POCASSET, MA – August 20, 2025 – Compass Precision, LLC, a Charlotte-based manufacturer of custom, close-tolerance metal components for mission-critical applications, officially announced...

Compass Precision Promotes Keith Felts to VP of Engineering (July 31, 2025)
Compass Moves Advanced President Into New Corporate PositionCHARLOTTE, NC – July 31, 2025 – It’s been awhile since Keith Felts worked anywhere else besides Advanced Machining & Tooling. Keith became the company’s president when he co-founded it in 1985. He was in...

Compass Precision Promotes Bill Canning to President (July 24, 2025)
Compass’s COO Expands His RoleCHARLOTTE, NC – July 24, 2025 – Hard work pays off. At Compass Precision, the cliché applies to the newest employees at the entry level and to the parent company’s highest executive. Compass Precision, LLC, a Charlotte-based manufacturer...

Douglas Machining Acquires New Machine to Expand Capabilities (June 18, 2025)
Compass Precision Shop Adds Nakamura Mill-TurnWINONA, MN – June 18, 2025 – Douglas Machining Services, a Compass Precision operating company specializing in mill-turn capabilities, announced Wednesday the purchase and install of a new Nakamura WT-150-II MMY (pictured...

Strom Manufacturing’s George Salinas Named Compass Precision Employee of the Month in May (May 6, 2025)
Strom Manufacturing’s George Salinas Named Compass Precision Employee of the Month in May. Strom Machinist Earns Recognition.

Compass Goes to Germany in Pursuit of CNC Machines (April 8, 2025)
Only the Best Machines to Make the Best PartsBADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG, GERMANY – April 8, 2025 – Compass Precision, LLC has no limits to finding the best ways to satisfy a customer’s needs. Even if that means flying about halfway across the globe. Leaders of two Compass...

Strom Manufacturing Hires New VP & General Manager (March 18, 2025)
Keith Wenzel Takes the Reins at StromNORTH PLAINS, OR - March 18, 2025 - Compass Precision, LLC, a Charlotte-based manufacturer of customer, close-tolerance metal components for mission-critical applications, announced Tuesday that it has hired Keith Wenzel as its new...

One-Stop Shopping with Compass Precision: Q&A with VP of Sales Jim Miller (Feb. 18, 2025)
Making Customers’ Lives EasyCompass Precision is a leading supplier in CNC machined and fabricated parts. Compass makes components with demanding geometries, tight tolerances and exacting surface finishes. Some of the materials it works with are difficult to machine,...

Where Are They Now: A Look Back at Compass Employees of the Month July-Dec. 2022 (January 23, 2025)
2022 Second Half EOM Honorees Then and NowCompass Precision keeps a very high standard for all of its employees. Then, when an employee matches or exceeds that standard, they are rewarded. One of the most public ways Compass Precision rewards its employees is with its...

Advanced Machining Adds Mikron 5-Axis Machine (December 3, 2024)
Advanced Machining Fulfilling Full-Range of Part Size CapabilitiesTo specialize in 5-axis CNC milling capabilities, a machine shop can’t have just one 5-axis machine. It also can’t have all 5-axis machines of a specific type. That’s why Advanced Machining &...

COO Bill Canning Leaving His Stamp on Compass Precision (October 29, 2024)
Making It Happen, Making His MarkBill Canning (shown at left in photo above taken at customer location) has not quite reached his 2-year anniversary as COO at Compass Precision. That milestone will come in March 2025. But Bill’s Compass tenure hasn’t been short on...

Compass Precision Celebrates 5-Year Anniversary
Compass Precision Reaches Company MilestoneCHARLOTTE, NC - October 16, 2024 – A global pandemic. An historic national US election. A disruption in the supply chain. And of course, Taylor Swift dating Travis Kelce. A lot has happened over the last five years. The same...

Cutting Chips Horizontally: Q&A With Compass’s Justin Kovscek and Gary Holcomb (October 8, 2024)
Picking the Right Milling OrientationCompass Precision added to its technical papers library last month with the release of a publication titled “When Is Horizontal CNC Milling Better Than Vertical Milling?” The authors are Justin Kovscek, Vice President & General...

Chris Salinas Named Compass Precision Employee of the Month for October (October 1, 2024)
Strom Machinist Receives Great Honor It doesn’t get much better than the string of introductions Strom Manufacturing has experienced the past few years. After recommendations from a few different people, Chris Salinas began working at the Compass Precision operating...

What’s New with Compass?: Q&A With CEO Gary Holcomb (September 10, 2024)
Riding The WaveThere is never an easy time to run a machine shop. Customers either want it all now, or nothing until next year. Good employees are hard or impossible to find. And making that next big machine purchase? Future demand visibility has never been cloudier....