R&D Machine Exceeds Customer Demand With Help From 9-Axis Multi-Tasking Machine & Robot Loader
When Compass Precision management states its operating companies meet customer demands, it’s not just a saying or word salad.
That’s true even when the demand seems insurmountable.
R&D Machine, the Compass operating company located in Oldsmar, FL, announced Tuesday that during the first quarter of 2026, it used its Okuma 9-axis mill/turn machine with a robotic loader/unloader to officially complete a 4,500-part order for an aerospace & defense company.
R&D Machine is proud to announce it completed the project ahead of schedule while running its team of machines at 97% utilization 24/7 during the final months of 2025.
The operating company met every deadline for its customer despite the first one being just a few weeks after the order was placed.
“They were extremely happy,” R&D Machine VP & General Manager Justin Kovscek said of the customer. “Not only to hit the deadline in the upfront but to crush it in the end.
“They’re on the hook to build a very important part. They had to hit a deadline by the end of 2025. They were ecstatic that we helped them achieve that.”
The origins of the project began years ago. In 2023, the customer asked Justin and R&D Machine to submit a quote and engineering input. That process repeated itself over the course of a couple years.
But then toward the end of Summer 2025, the customer became serious about placing an order and needed the parts within weeks. Justin assembled the R&D management team to discuss if it was even possible.
“At the conclusion of that first meeting, no one thought we could do it within the requested time frame,” Justin said. “But I didn’t really leave no as an option because we needed to deliver for this customer.
“We banded together, and over the course of a few more meetings, we figured out how to do it.”
Justin described the project as “all-hands on deck” and said during the process, the parts never sat anywhere. The “team effort” enabled R&D to make the first 375 pieces within four weeks.
Once R&D finalized its process, it was able to produce 150 new pieces every day until the PO was filled.
What made the project particularly challenging was the material had to be purchased squared and then rounded. The order also required a double process of premachine and surface coating.
But then once the material reached a rounded state, machining could begin on R&D Machine’s Okuma mill/turn, which the company purchased in May.
The mill/turn machine ran 24/7 for more than 12 weeks to complete the project. Without that equipment purchase in May, Justin said fulfilling the customer’s demand wouldn’t have been possible.
But with it, a few weeks into the project, Justin said he was “letting the project flow” naturally through the shop.
Behind the team’s efforts to meet the customer’s high demands, R&D nearly doubled its previous monthly record for revenue during December 2025. Justin couldn’t be more proud of how his team responded to the difficult project and maximized its new equipment.
“This just shows the capability and the technology when you can automate and when you can run lights-out, your production can increase significantly,” said Justin. “But I’m just so impressed with the team. How we did it, I’m very happy. I can’t express it in words.
“The success alone just in showing the capability of the automation and that it was the right decision to make that investment in R&D, and giving the people here the confidence that they can do it, means the world to me.”
Successfully completing complicated, fast-track projects is becoming a trend at R&D. About 18 months ago, the company finished a difficult job for another A&D customer that relied heavily on one-and-done 5-axis machining.
Compass Precision’s operating companies seek to do challenging work, making parts that most competing shops no quote. R&D has a history of doing this while supporting quick deliveries at the same time.