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Metal Stamping Firm
What Randolph manufacturer is capable of producing 50 million of a certain item every month? (That’s 4800 each minute.) What Randolph company ships its products to Mexico, China, the Dominican Republic and India? What Randolph company, because of its efficiency and quality, has just obtained a contract for manufacturing that has been produced in China? What Randolph company has tripled its business since 2000? Finally, what Randolph company has as its principal owner a man who recently won a 150-mile marathon run in Antarctica? Flunked the quiz, didn’t you? That’s not surprising. "We like to keep a pretty low profile, acknowledged Bruce Uryase, president of New England Precision, Inc. Urase was interviewed recently at company headquarters on South Pleasant Street Ext. in Randolph. The topic was the latest expansion of New England Precision, which will now take over the entire premises sometimes known as the old Rodco building. When the firm moved into the building in the 1990s, it occupied only a small portion of the space, sharing it with Progressive Plastics, Quik-Pull, Inc., and several smaller manufacturers. This month, however, New England Precision notified the final remaining co-tenant, Quik-Pull, that it will need the entire building for its growing metal stamping business. That’s fine with Quik-Pull, according to Maynard Nelson. Nelson is president of Clifford of Vermont which includes Quik-Pull as its manufacturing arm. Nelson has already secured 25,000 square feet of space in the former Ethan Allen building on Hull Street in Randolph. The move will take place in about 100 days, he estimated. The new space should be good for his company as well, Nelson said, offering the expansion space that Quik-Pull, too, may need. Started in Beanville New England Precision, which will now occupy the entire "Rodco" building, was started about a half mile away—in the industrial building at the end of South Pleasant Ext. in Beanville. Financed by David Threlkeld, then of Brookfield, it was operated by his brother John. Uryase was part of the management team almost from the beginning. He was recruited from a brass manufacturing firm in Connecticut by David Threlkeld. Threlkeld was a worldwide metals trader who specialized in copper, and he had become acquainted with Uryase through his contacts with manufacturers of brass, which is principally made of copper. New England Precision at the time established a specialty in "stamping" (cutting out) automobile keys from strips of metal, working for some of the nation’s largest automotive companies. In 1993, Harry Holland of Norwich, then the owner of Clifford of Vermont, purchased the majority interest in the company from the Threlkeld brothers, with Uryase already serving as president. Holland and his family sold Clifford of Vermont to Power & Telephone Supply Co. of Memphis in 2003, but they kept control of New England Precision, and they kept ownership of the old Rodco building, moving New England Precision to that space. Once in their new quarters, the metal stamping company grew impressively, adding its own tool and die design and tool production shop, so that it could make the tools that would make the metal parts the company manufactures. Along the way, the company acquired two smaller metal stamping shops in Massachusetts and one in Connecticut, moving their business to Randolph. Urayse noted he has also been able to convince some big clients to fold up their in-house stamping operations and let New England Precision do the work. As a result, total sales have risen from $12 million in 2000 to over $36 now, he said, making New England Precision one of the top-grossing firms in the White River Valley. Employment has been steady but has not grown as fast as sales, because of increasing efficiencies, he said. The firm runs two shifts a day and employs 65 people. These employees operate more than 40 stamping presses of all sizes and speeds, which will stamp (cut out) metal at thicknesses as thin as less than one-thousandth of an inch and as thick as three-sixteenths of an inch. One of the newest presses in the Randolph facility was purchased especially for a new job ordered by Tyco, which makes fire sprinkler systems. Tyco had been sending the job to China, but it became convinced that Randolph would be better. "We’re more competitive, when you consider quality, travel, and shipping, etc.," Urayse explained. Also, he said, China is having to drop some of the manufacturing subsidies that have helped its firms undercut American factories. Plant Tour A visit to New England Precision’s offices starts in a bright reception and office area, featuring a well-trimmed Christmas tree and the air of an informal and friendly office culture. Uryase himself, though president of a $36-million company, wears jeans to work. Next door is an impressive conference room lined with huge photographs of workers and manufacturing processes, all produced by the designer of the company website—newenglandprecision.com. A key ingredient is the tool shop, which makes what Urayse calls "progressive dies." That is, the dies, which will form the manufactured parts, have as many as six or seven "stations" on them. As the raw metal strips move through the presses, they will be shaped in various ways at each "station," so that each press completes several operations, to produce the finished manufactured piece. New England Precision thus advances the important industrial occupation of local tool-and-die shops that have been an important part of the success of GW Plastics and has given employment to a number of independent tool-and-die makers in central Vermont. The company’s 40 metal presses come in all sizes and shapes and speeds of operation. Some seem brand spanking new, such as the press acquired for the Tyco sprinkler production. Though the machines look as if they would last forever, Uryase said New England Precision replaces them about every four years. The atmosphere is well lit and ventilated. Each operator must take responsibility for several machines. Making automobile key blanks is still an important part of the business, with two presses devoted full-time to this task. The company manufactures many items you’ve never seen or heard of, but also many little pieces you’ve seen but have never thought of as being manufactured somewhere. Large manila envelopes, for instance, have little clasps that close through a hole in the envelope flap to secure the envelope. They’re tiny, almost unnoticed—but somebody has to make them. Turns out it’s New England Precision. The company has one metal press that every day, for hour upon hour, makes these little brass clasps, spitting them out in what looks like a long metal bar that separates into hundreds of clasps. Make that thousands. Make that millions—this is the machine that produces 50 million items a month. Other customers include a lot of work for the fire protection industry, especially Tyco. The company also manufactures builders’ hardware and automotive parts, and is making inroads into the medical supplies industry, Urayse said. International Reach Though almost unknown here, the Randolph company has an international reach. Uryase is tuned in to the international markets, and the status of the U. S. dollar. The weaker dollar, of course, makes his products more affordable abroad, and he said that the trend has helped. "We have begun to get into the United Kingdom market," he noted. The weak dollar, however, makes it more expensive to buy the metal strips that feed into the stamping presses. The price of copper has increased from about $1 a pound to $3, largely because of growing international demand, especially in China. Buying metals is an international adventure. New England Precision has more than a dozen metals suppliers, including a variety of metals and alloys. The suppliers include firms in Mexico, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Germany. With such an international scope, perhaps it’s appropriate that one of the principal owners runs races in Antarctica. That would be Joe Holland of Norwich, son of Harry Holland and the New England Precision’s chief financial officer. Holland, 42, returned last month from a 150-mile ultra-marathon. He won the race, too, beating 11 others. It’s not the only extreme race that Holland has competed in. He specializes in deserts, running in the Gobi Desert and the Sahara and the Atacama Desert in Chile. In the sports world, Holland is also known as an Olympic athlete. He competed in two Olympics—1988 and 1992—in both ski jumping and cross country ski racing. Compared to Joe Holland’s exploits, the achievement of his and Uryase’s burgeoning company in Randolph is indeed "under the radar," but the radar doesn’t always pick out the important stuff. |
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