Performance Pump of Estevan recently bought the machine shop they did much of their machining work with.
Universal Machine Shop is now known as Performance Machining.
The deal, effective Oct. 15, brings four people into Performance鈥檚 operation. This includes previous owners Nick Bourassa and Burke Barnstable, both journeyman machinists, another journeyman and an apprentice.
鈥淭hey all stayed on to work with us,鈥� said Kent Phillips on Nov. 14. He and Cort Barker are the owners of Performance Pump.
鈥淎ll the machining will be there,鈥� he said. This meant moving existing machining operations, and two journeymen machinists from their Malmgren Drive location on the west side of Estevan to Universal鈥檚 shop on the east side.
Performance Pump鈥檚 move to Malmgren Drive a few years ago was meant to consolidate into one location, but all that machining equipment won鈥檛 fit, thus they will be using both locations.
That equipment includes lathes, a boring mill and two CNC lathes.
One of those lathes was where Nick Bourassa was working that morning, cutting new threads on drill pipe. A few years ago they built a pipe handling system that is aligned through a porthole in the wall, allowing the pipe to remain on a rack outside and inserting the threaded end into the CNC lathe to recut it.
鈥淲e were looking at adding to our machine shop,鈥� Barker said. 鈥淭his added machines, a customer base and employees.鈥�
Phillips noted that there was a benefit to getting qualified employees to join them. 鈥淚f we added a machine or two here, we would have had to find someone to run it,鈥� he said, noting it can be hard to find skilled labour.
Universal鈥檚 work has been mostly oilfield, with some additional work in the mining, agriculture and power generation sectors.
While Performance Pump used to split their machining work between Universal and another shop, they can now do all that work in-house.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have to send anything to outside sources for machining anymore,鈥� Phillips said. That reduces costs and deliveries. 鈥淣ow we can do everything in-house. We don鈥檛 have to farm it out. We can pick our own schedule to get machining.鈥�
The addition brings the total workforce to 20 people.
Barnstable said, 鈥淥ur companies have been working hand-in-hand over the years on numerous projects, making the transition of ownership a seamless one.Barker said there was a lot of number crunching to get to where both parties were satisfied.
Barnstable said, 鈥淥ur companies have been working hand-in-hand over the years on numerous projects, making the transition of ownership a seamless one.Bourassa said, 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a good fit between the two businesses, as far as pump work and us adding the drill pipe, and casing and tubing repair. Their mechanics go hand-in-hand with the machining side of things.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e sticking around. We鈥檙e not going anywhere. We鈥檙e pretty young. We鈥檝e owned Universal for 13 years. I鈥檝e been machining since 1999, and Burke has been machining since 2000.鈥�
鈥淲e have a lot of good machines here and good equipment. It鈥檚 going to provide good service for our customers.鈥�
Barnstable said, 鈥淲ith all employees staying on, customers can expect the same quality of work and craftsmanship they have received over the years.鈥�
When Pipeline News visited, Bourassa was monitoring the CNC lathe rethreading drill pipe. 鈥淭his is a premium connection. It鈥檚 a DS-40 thread. Right now, I鈥檓 taking off about an inch. It鈥檚 worked hard, and we鈥檙e repairing it so it鈥檚 like new.鈥滺e was monitoring the CNC lathe rethreading drill pipe. 鈥淭his is a premium connection. It鈥檚 a DS-40 thread. Right now, I鈥檓 taking off about an inch. It鈥檚 worked hard, and we鈥檙e repairing it so it鈥檚 like new.鈥�
鈥淲e do a lot of drilling rig repair. We do a lot of casing repair, and we also do tubing as well,鈥� Bourassa said.
鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 been slow. We鈥檝e been busy. It鈥檚 mostly oil. We鈥檙e probably 80 per cent oil, and 10, 15 per cent power.鈥�
Barnstable said, 鈥淯niversal was a locally owned and operated business with my wife Jamie handling all the bookkeeping for the business. We would like to thank our customers for their support over the years and their continued support through this transition.鈥�
Bourassa鈥檚 originally from Bienfait, now Estevan, and Barnstable鈥檚 from Estevan.
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