For over 40 years, Merrimack Manufacturing Company (MMC), located in Bridgton Maine, has been loyally serving their customer base and stoutly growing their business – positioning themselves in the industry as a resource to help clients work through the entire manufacturing process, from prototype to production.
Initially owned/founded by Robert Palme, Mark Gilmore and Alan Boyes, MMC has more recently established new ownership (as of 2020) with a renewed focus on engineering support for existing customers as well as providing valued expertise those soliciting their company’s help. By way of background, new owners Andrew Vasiliauskas (Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering with 5+ years of experience as a project engineer at a large scale industrial machine shop) and Lukas Brewington (Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology with 10+ years of experience in CNC machining, program and design) are uniquely and fundamentally prepared to help meet the needs of your company. In addition to the new ownership MMC has been able to retain all of the key employees under previous ownership regime, making the operation a continually turnkey service provider with eyes on technological and fiscal growth.
Who exactly is Merrimack Manufacturing Company?
Well, MMC is, from a geographical standpoint, a machine shop in the lakes region of Maine. Their focus is on contract and prototype manufacturing of precision screw machined parts for volume production across a wide variety of industries. Currently the facility has and operates 20 Brown and Sharpe screw machines with up to 2-3⁄8” bar capacity. In addition to the screw machine department MMC has a vast secondary operation department allowing them to efficiently manufacture the most complex parts a customer might desire. Some of the parts manufactured under the MMC roof range from bushings, to valves, to fittings.
Industries Served:
- Automotive
- Communications
- Dairy
- Energy
- Manufacturing
- Medical
- Military
- Oil & Gas
- Refrigeration
- And more…
Merrimack Manufacturing Company reaches a wide array of customers with an active focus on serving those customers that currently source some of their products to international vendors. With the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become more apparent to MMC (and in general) that the United States has become a country with an economy greatly dependent on international manufacturing. One industry outside of essential services least affected by this pandemic is manufacturing. At MMC, it has become a passion of theirs to attempt to bring back the products and jobs to the United States which have been sourced internationally for far too long.
Services and Support:
Merrimack Manufacturing prides themselves on being positioned to work customers through the entire
manufacturing process, from an idea testing prototype to final production to push a product to market.
Common Materials Used:
• Aluminum
• Brass
• Bronze
• Copper
• Mild Steels
• Plastics
• Stainless Steel
Once a design and material has been agreed on, MMC utilizes JobBoss Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for the
entirety of the production process, from quoting to shipping. Further, MMC offers 3D design support using Fusion 360
as their inhouse CAD and CAM software to make parts as efficiently and succinctly as possible. The company is familiar
with customer’s different Lean Manufacturing techniques and demands, which ensures product(s) is delivered on time.
Application Examples:
• Appliances
• Assembly Equipment
• Construction Parts
• Conveyors
• Flow Control
• Hand Tools
• Heavy Duty Trucks
• Hinges & Hoists
• Marine Bearings
• Plumbing
• Pneumatics & Hydraulics
• Power Equipment
• Work Holding
When a job/part has been released to be manufactured several different operations may be required:
Primary Operations
Automatic Brown & Sharpe screw machines provide the majority of the machining at MMC.
Secondary Operations
When making parts that cannot be machined in a primary operation, MMC utilizes the use of secondary operation machines which allows them to complete complex parts and jobs. Their fleet of CNC machines enables the ability to supplement the effectiveness of their inhouse screw machines with the efficiency of CNC machining.
Finishing
MMC utilize their vibratory tumbler to deburr pieces and parts. Additionally, they have access to anodizing, plating, and other surface finishes by subcontracting to their direct network of local vendors.
Standard Part Production List:
• Bolts
• Bushings
• Fasteners
• Fittings
• Flanges
• Hubs
• Molded Plastic Inserts
• Pinions
• Pins
• Shafts
• Tubing
• Valves
• Washers
Currently, Merrimack Manufacturing Company are offering production quantities from small prototype runs to product runs up to 50k parts. They plan to continue with this range of quantities, but have actively positioned themselves to progress into a company that can handle contracts greater than 50k parts – part of the growth initiative plotted by the current ownership team.
Green Initiatives
MMC has a recycling program in place to help optimize the use of some of the fluids within their machines. Due to the fact that they use different cutting oil for different materials, it has been deemed imperative to the operation that they separate and save as much oil as possible to reduce financial and economic impact. All oil drained from machines is filtered of any chips and sorted into drums for later use. All chips are separated by material to be recycled properly. Chips are then spun through their inhouse chip spinner and dryer. This cleans the chips of all machining oils, enabling the reuse of the oil and cleanly recycling of the chip byproduct efficiently and effectively.
The company is also excited to announce their quest of installing a solar panel array through the guise of Revision Energy in 2021. Currently they are active in figuring out the best path forward to installing a 36 kW rooftop solar system through Revision Energy during the first quarter of 2021. This project will generate roughly 42,960 kWh of electrical generation for the shop and offset 45,452 pounds of CO2 annually.
Moving The Industry Forward
Merrimack Manufacturing Company is proud to push the industry forward under the notion of their product and service sets being “Made in America” and “Made in Maine”, with a keen focus on bolstering their footprint by continuing their daily operative quest of providing high quality products with excellent customer service no matter the quantity of the order or the length of the customer relationship. MMC’s turnaround time for product development exceeds customer expectations with the hope that new customers notice and appreciate the attention to their business satisfaction and details that they might not see with current suppliers / relationships.
With the newly upturned ability to purchase new machinery and technology as a result of likeminded investors, MMC is conveniently positioned to handle an uptick in increased work capacity as required to meet the demands of current and prospective customers and their ensuing net-new orders. Company leadership is excited to be able to support larger order contracts based on this, and to continue to streamline and improve upon the contracts and business relationships they already have in place. In short, the future has never been so bright. For Merrimack Manufacturing Company, the next step in their lineage is that of moving onward and upward with their customers best interests in mind!
217 Harrison Road
Bridgton, ME 04009
(207) 647-3566
www.merrimackmfg.com