BC Machining up and running in Clay County

Submitted photo Charlene Cestroni and Bob Merril are excited about the future of BC Machining.

Area manufacturers now have a local supplier to turn to with the opening of BC Machining in Clay County.

BC Machining is a contract manufacturing business which machines metal parts. The company specializes in machining low-volume, highly specialized parts, but also does large-run production machining.

Owners Bob Merrill and Charlene Cestroni are confident that the business will be a success. They already have a number of clients expressing interest and offering contracts.

"Local companies are outsourcing work every day and we want to grab a part of that business and keep it in the area," said Merrill. "As companies go more and more 'lean', they look for ways to limit inventory and having a local company that can meet their machining needs with a quick turnaround will be a boon to many of them."

Merrill knows what companies are looking for in a machine shop and in lean manufacturing processes. He has 35 years of machining experience and six years working with lean manufacturing, which is a philosophy of production that focuses on minimizing the resources used, including time.

Along with this experience, Merrill also served on the Tri-County Community College's Machinist Training Program Advisory Board. The board has worked with the college to increase the number of trained machinists in the area through the creation of the machinist training program and the Cherokee County Center for Applied Technology.

"The success of the machining program at Tri-County and the program's support by local companies is a telltale sign that they recognize the need for a business of this type," said Cestroni.

While working on this project, Merrill learned about the Small Business Center.

"When I became aware of the Small Business Center, I worked with them to start one successful business," said Merrill. "When we started thinking about opening BC Machining, I came back to them as a satisfied customer."

The Small Business Center provided help with crafting and reviewing the business plan, which involved a lot of work and a lot of back and forth as well as connecting the pair with numerous resources.

"The services the SBC provided were invaluable," said Cestroni. "Once the business plan was done they hooked us up with a network of federal, state, and local connections. We would have been going into this blind without their help."

Small Business Center Director Cecilia Crawford says that the Center's biggest asset is its pool of resources, which are growing all of the time. Banks, attorneys, accountants and many others resources are available to help clients.

"This was a very complex and exciting project and it has been a thrill watching everyone come together," said Crawford.

"BC Machining has been a wonderful example of the importance of partnerships in business," said Paul Worley, Director of Business Outreach Services at TCCC. "We had a

lot of people working together on this project, including John Snow, Jr. at Nantahala Bank, Vicki Greene at the Southwestern Commission, Erik Brinke at Blue Ridge Mountain EMC along with the Small Business Center to make this a reality."

The NC Department of Commerce even got involved. Tamera Crisp of the Business and Industry Division said "It was a pleasure to collaborate with county leaders, Tri- County Community College, the Small Business Center, and Southwestern Regional Commission to help this company open in Clay County."

What does all of this mean for the area?

"For us, it's about creating and keeping jobs," said Vicki Greene, Director of Planning, Development & Workforce for the Southwestern Commission. "More than $8 million a year is contracted out of the area and BC Machining can keep some of that here while creating good jobs."

The company believes that it can create good jobs.

"We plan on creating five machining jobs in the short term and are looking to grow more than that," said Cestroni. "We're excited about the partnerships we have been able to develop with local industries and we're also looking at bringing in work from other parts of the country."

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