“I had a comfortable corporate job that didn’t inspire me anymore,” shares Devin Brown. “Ten years in biotech, and I had never spoken to a customer and never touched our product. It was very abstract!” Brown says he has always enjoyed tangible, hands-on craftmanship like boat repair, home renovation and cabinet making. It was time to chart a new course.
Growing up listening to Bruce Springsteen songs about rusty factories, Devin assumed that there wasn’t much manufacturing left in the United States. He decided to contract a business broker, who assured him that there were still many small companies in the manufacturing sector. “Admittedly,” says Brown, “I was afraid of buying a “boring” business but soon discovered CNC machining and felt that it could hold my interest for the rest of my career.” “I have found it to be a fascinating challenge!”
Devin bought J&J Machine from its previous owners in 2014. They had grown the company from a single lathe in their garage into a mature mom & pop operation employing a dozen people.
At first the transition was rocky. Devin didn’t have a machining background, and his corporate experience and education didn’t fully prepare him for the challenge of running a precision manufacturing business. Devin had to keep things running while making decisions that aligned with his new vision for the company: creating a professional organization able to support medical and aerospace customers. Achieving this vision ultimately required different employees, the creation of a management team, a new culture, new processes, new customers, new vendors and new equipment.
A decade later, J&J was a transformed company ready for a new brand. With a great team in place, Brown decided to include his employees in the rebranding process. Employees helped to pick the new name, colors, and logo. They worked together to articulate the company’s mission, vision and values. During the website launch, employees enthusiastically participated in the photo shoot and video production. After their participation in the rebrand, employees eagerly embraced the goal of becoming New England’s premier prototype CNC shop!
What’s in a name?
For Brown, the new name embodies his passion for excellence and indicated that he and his team were getting closer to making it a reality.
The new name, Bristol Precision is a nod to the Devin’s love of sailing in the waters near Bristol Rhode Island, as well as to the nautical phrase “shipshape and Bristol fashion.” The 19th century term refers to Bristol England, an active transatlantic shipping port. Twice daily, Bristol Harbor experienced intense tidal surges. The vessels from the area were known to be exceptionally strong and well-built to withstand them. Bristol Precision is dedicated to quality, care and precision and committed to building excellence for their aerospace, medical, scientific, commercial and defense industry customers. – “shipshape and Bristol fashion!”
The voyage!
Devin began working on his vision by investing in his employees and in new equipment. Bristol Precision received two grants and scheduled a very ambitious list of training and certifications through MassMEP.
Between 2023 and 2025 MassMep’s John Grover was the project manager who provided a good deal of the training. The Bristol Precision team received instruction on Continuous Improvement Tools like Value Stream Mapping to help them understand the structure of their organization and the flow of processes to help define gaps in their systems. Systematic Layout Planning had them model their current state and develop a future state with far less waste and a better workflow. They did several rapid improvement Kaizen events to help reorganize the shipping area, reduce waste and create space for new equipment; to work to understand their tooling, where things were located, what tooling was on hand, what was needed and what was obsolete, and to organize cabinets and establish set quantities and replenishment systems. Then they developed standard work procedures to sustain the improvements, as well as to create accountability and ownership of the processes they developed. They did Kaizens to help track purchase orders and sales orders, a Pull System Kaizen for setting up a Min/Max system for replenishment and did a Visual Factory Kaizen to teach the team to “make things visual” using colors and pictures to quickly relay messages that are understood by all and to indicate, “What good looks like!”
The team also received training in Basic G D&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing) Shop Math and Metrology and were offered on-line training to brush up on skills as well. “Doing manufacturing skills training like G D & T helped make sure everybody was on the same page and had the basics to build on as we move in our new direction,” says Brown. “It gave the team more confidence in understanding the complex prints we often work with!”
The Bristol team participated in TIPS- Team Involvement Problem Solving which provided tools to solve problems and systematic ways to help get results.
It was also very important that everyone at the company devote four hours per month to train in Safety and Compliance. And speaking of compliance, during this time Bristol Machine received not one, but three ISO certifications: ISO 13548:2016, ISO-9100 and ISO-27001-2017!
Additionally, Devin applied for and received an MMAP grant to invest in capital equipment and purchased a HAAS 5 Axis CNC machine and a Zeiss CMM to enhance their capabilities and capacity to meet customer requirements.
Winds of Change
When considering all the training and accomplishments the Bristol Precision team has experienced, Devin feels that the most beneficial were the ISO certifications, all the Kaizen work and the capital investment for the new equipment. These elements enabled them to set their course towards growing their business through more advanced manufacturing applications. And becoming New England’s premier prototype CNC shop!
“Before being involved with MassMEP, we tried to take on the 5s (sort, shine, set in order, standardize and sustain) process on our own but have to admit that neither me or the employees were sure about what things we needed and what had just been kept around from years ago.” admits Brown. “We got really smart and had some hard-working, professionals (from MassMEP) come in to help us 5s our facility. “It was like the place got bigger!” Bristol Precision got organized and found things they didn’t know they had. 5s helped them make the shop their own! The process gave them the courage to toss out some of the old items they had been holding on to from J&J and focus on the things that are needed and used now.” Everything feels lighter,” Brown laughs. “We had been thinking we would have to move, that we had outgrown the building. Now with the space we have gained by removing all the excess, we can stay where we are!”
Brown admits, “Initially I was concerned about the employees and our customers with the rebrand, would there be a cultural impact? The employees have been great! They have taken pride in the changes and improvements because they were part of the decision-making and their ideas were considered. They feel more invested in the company now and even had a say in the design of the new logo.” Bristol Precision employees have seen the investments their company has made in training them, in new equipment, in safety and ISO certification so they can move to higher levels and take on more complex and challenging work. They are becoming more skilled and more valuable and are being compensated. “We are all invested in making the company a success,” says Brown, “and working as a team toward our long-term goal of being New England’s premier prototype CNC shop!
“Sales were up 20% in 2025, it was our best year to date!”
Devin attributes this to the company’s focus on sharpening their skills, their investment in training people, making improvements to their facility and processes, investment on a 5-axis Haas CNC and the Zeiss CMM for quality inspection, earning three ISO certifications and rediscovering their space by cleaning, organizing and getting rid of things they didn’t need.
“It is still a struggle to find skilled employees so, we focused on training and upskilling the terrific team we have and providing them with a pleasant, challenging and team focused environment. We’ve invested in safety, quality and sophisticated machines which allow our team to focus on the work we have and produce the highest quality parts for our customers!” Devin Brown, President, Bristol Precision.