NORWAY – With a little motivation from Central Maine Power, Grover Gundrilling in Norway recently purchased a state-of-the-art, computer-operated drilling system.
The cash incentive was part of CMP’s Custom Solutions program, which helps businesses invest in equipment that will increase productivity. CMP benefits because the equipment utilizes more electricity.
“We’re trying to help a customer who is going to be a better customer for us,” said John Carroll, a spokesman for CMP.
Grover Gundrilling, located on Aldrich Avenue, specializes in precision deep-hole drilling, and produces parts for customers in a variety of industries, including plastics, aerospace and medical.
According to the company’s president, Garth Grover, the new machine, designed and built by a Michigan company called Nagel, works especially well for rectangular parts and produces at a rate nearly 50 percent greater than most of the company’s other machinery.
“We’re investing in our technology so that in the future we can compete” with China and other countries, he said.
Without being specific about the price of the machine, Grover said it was “around the cost of a nice house.”
Grover said that even though the new machinery would increase the company’s productivity, there would be no loss of jobs.
“Dear God no,” he said. “We’re not replacing three human workers with one robot.”
And though it isn’t likely that additional jobs will be created right away, Grover said, the new machinery’s increased efficiency will “give customers the best price possible” and hopefully contribute in the long run to the company’s expansion and capacity for job creation.
Grover Gundrilling was founded in 1983 by Garth Grover’s father, Rupert Grover, and it currently employs 45 people.
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