The Beginning
My Grandfather, Sam Cole (the C in C&M), was a true machinist at heart. He always had a pocket full of parts ready to show you what he had just made. He would often be found at a local Dunkin Donuts drawing up his next fixture design on a coffee-stained napkin with a cigarette burn. In 1979, Sam had just spent the last few years helping a "friend" build a manufacturing company from the ground up. For his hard work, he was promised equity in the business he helped to build, only to find out that his "partner" sold the company behind his back and gave him nothing. He was venting to his son-in-law, Paul Villemaire, about the raw business deal, which was the spark that ignited the origin of C&M.
At that moment, Paul, a true entrepreneur at heart, told Sam he would help him start his own machine shop. The plan was to have Sam run the shop, and Paul's longtime Marine buddy, Roger Martin (the M in C&M), would manage the office portion of the business. The three had equal shares in the company, and Paul continued working on his other manufacturing and real estate businesses.
On March 19th, 1979, C&M Screw Machine Products incorporated and opened the first location with 10 screw machines in a 5,000-square-foot shop on Canal Street in Nashua, NH.
Leadership Transition
Around 1990, Sam retired and passed away shortly thereafter. Paul acquired his shares in the business and decided to become more involved in the day-to-day operations. Paul would rely heavily on the expertise of one of Sam's proteges, Gene Fantozzi, who was among his first hires. More than 40 years later, Gene is still with the company as a Senior Quotation Engineer (and much more than that). I was young when my Grandfather passed away, and I love being able to hear stories from Gene about him. He was tough but fair, and you always knew where you stood with him. Everyone agrees that he would be absolutely amazed by the technology today and be very proud of what we have become.
When Paul started to commit more time to C&M, we invested in CNC Swiss Machines. He saw CNC Swiss machinery in action at a trade show and believed it was the future for our business, Bringing in automation and changing the way parts could be machined.
Creating Market Opportunities
In 2010, Paul worked with an emerging defense contractor. Through that relationship, he learned about the need to protect vehicles in the war in Afghanistan from rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks. After determining how to manufacture a metal netting system kit most effectively to solve the problem, Paul proposed investing in helping the defense contractor develop a manufacturing process and ramp up production. These developments occurred within two months and on a handshake.
At first, the partnership utilized "ramp partners" to support the production needs while we waited for our new equipment to arrive so we could perform the work in-house. We delivered over 30 million components in less than two years following that investment. At the same time, Roger retired, and Paul purchased his shares, becoming the sole owner of C&M.
After graduating from college in the mid-2000s, I joined the company to learn the business from the ground up. I have worked at C&M for over 15 years while my father continues his involvement as an advisor.
In 2013, we officially moved to a 90,000-square-foot facility on Flagstone Drive in Hudson, NH, enabling us to bring all our capabilities under one roof.
Not long after the RPG project ended, we developed a strategy to expand into related markets and solidify our position as a manufacturing partner for precision components in the Defense, Semiconductor, Industrial, Medical, and Aerospace industries. That approach continues to guide us today.
We added many new capabilities, following the entrepreneurial spirit that's been with us since the beginning. We jump right in when a strategic customer asks us to develop a process for them. These partnerships led us to add EDM, a Class 8 Clean Room for Assembly, and, more recently, automated 3, 4, and 5-axis CNC Milling.
While the first 45 years have been highly dynamic, I foresee the next 45 being even more so, given the rapid pace of technological change and market conditions. Cheers to Sam and Paul for starting a generational company that is helping to bring manufacturing back to the USA.