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CORONADO MANUFACTURING, LLC.
REINVENTING THE COMPANY IN THE EYES OF THE CUSTOMER.
Dale Carruthers is the CEO at Coronado Manufacturing, LLC. and has been there for a little over two years. He’s spent his career in
various industries in a variety of positions, but to simplify things, he is a problem solver. You can tell right away he likes helping people solve their problems. “My position as CEO at Coronado is a humbling experience,” explains Dale. “It isn’t about me; it is about the people I’m around. It’s about finding solutions, jelling as a team, and building relationships. For 61 years we’ve manufactured standard sized, tight tolerance, medium to high complexity parts. We primarily serve the aerospace, medical and telecom industries, but honestly our core competency is in servicing the customer.”
Coronado Manufacturing is owned by the Bay Area investment firm VOPNE Capital. VOPNE in Icelandic is a noun meaning “a weapon used to gain advantage in a contest or battle.” Dale started here on day one with VOPNE and the influx of capital has been a great advantage for this So-Cal based company. You don’t make it 60 plus years in business without doing things right, but sometimes you need more to grow more. “VOPNE is about investing in the right technology to make businesses create value and do things better,” explains Dale. “VOPNE
identifies companies with potential and helps them grow. I had a snapshot of operations in my first 3 months here, but here at Coronado we never look back, we always move forward. From day one, reinventing the company in the eyes of the customer has been my top priority.”
Coronado is on the rise because they are flexible enough to help customers when they really need it. As a company of modest size with 15,000sq.ft., 42 employees, and 30+ CNC machining centers, Coronado are not burdened down by bureaucracy. Many times, a solution is just a phone call away. “Flexibility means different things to different companies,” tells Dale. “For us it means being able to respond quickly to our customer’s needs. My phone rings and I will do everything I can to assist and make your problem go away, or at the very least be less of a problem. We are fortunate enough to be able to come through for customers when their own manufacturing centers are overflowing, or when other vendors are leaving them in a bad place. Flexibility means I get the call, I meet with the team, we decide on a course of action, and put than plan into effect. We’ve been able to act fast to get parts done when others haven’t. Our customers love that, and we’ve earned new business because of it.”
With a shop full of mills, lathes and grind centers,
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CNC WEST August/September 2021