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 Wednesday it has hired Mike Kane as its new Vice President & General Manager at Pocasset Machine in Pocasset, MA.
Mike is the first general manager of the operating company since Compass acquired Pocasset Machine on July 21. Previous owners, Barry and Chris Kent, are retiring.
”Mike was absolutely our first choice for this important position,” explained Bill Canning, Compass’s President & COO to whom Mike reports. “We liked him so much that we made him an offer even before we closed on the deal.”
Mike took an unusual risk joining Pocasset as its general manager. He accepted the role without visiting the operating company on site or even knowing the name of the machine shop.
“I liked the Compass team. I liked what they were doing, but they couldn’t tell me the name of the company because they hadn’t closed on the sale yet,” Mike said. “So, they made me the offer before closing and gave me a general idea of the business.
“Some of it was me going in blind, so to speak, but I’ve been around with enough experience in manufacturing and CNC machining that I felt I could address any issues with the company, whatever they may be.”
Mike first met Compass CEO Gary Holcomb for an interview in Philadelphia. Mike then flew to Charlotte, where Compass has its headquarters at Quality Products & Machine, to meet the rest of the Compass management team.
The machining expertise of the Compass group stood out as a major positive for Mike.
“I thought they were very technical, which was great. I’ve been an engineering manager and a general manager for a long time, and generally, when I have talked to higher level management, they wouldn’t know what I’m talking about,” Mike said. “That’s not an issue at Compass. Everybody knows what I’m talking about. They know machining.”
Mike stressed that he really tries to stay at companies for a long time. But he left his previous operations manager role after just 10 months because he couldn’t pass up the chance at Compass.
Wherever that chance was going to end up being.
“I liked the opportunity to run a business, and I liked the opportunity to build and grow a business, which obviously aligns with Compass,” Mike added. “That’s what caught my interest.”
Mike, who started at Pocasset Machine on Aug. 4, arrived at the Compass operating company with more than 25 years of machining experience. During his career, he has previously served as a manufacturing engineer/CNC programmer, engineering manager, operations manager as well as a general manager.
With every role, Mike’s focus was in CNC machining with a variety of different materials.
One of Mike’s first goals at Pocasset Machine is to upgrade the company’s technology. Mike said the company is more paper-driven than he expected and aims to modernize the way Pocasset Machine organizes its important business.
But Mike emphasized his main goal in the first several months of his tenure is to learn the company’s business.
“Every CNC machining business is the same but different,” Mike said. “Little different equipment, different people and different customers, so I really want to learn that and build that. Sometimes you need to learn it before you can grow from it.
“But clearly, there’s room for growth, and there’s upside here, which is huge.”
Pocasset Machine became the ninth Compass operating company on July 21. It joined Bergeron Machine as Compass’s second machine shop in Massachusetts.
The Compass operating model has proven to be highly effective at integrating and supporting geographically dispersed machine shops. Compass has united nine operating units around the United States to create cross-selling and cross-sourcing opportunities, which allows each operating company to succeed in ways not possible while working as an individual machine shop.