January 1, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. | Updated June 14, 2022 at 1:08 p.m.
Businesses everywhere are having pandemic-driven supply-chain issues, but probably not quite like the recent hiccup for Chattanooga-based Precision Machining Services. Production Cnc
"We got a notification that a big crate of [our] warheads got lost," says Stephen Johnson, Precision's vice president for sales. "I mean, that's a 4-by-4-by-4 crate. You can't just walk around something that big and not notice it."
Precision has manufactured high-end parts for use in various industries, but Johnson says 99% of its work now involves making parts – including warheads, missile components and rocket motors – for large contractors in the defense industry.
"We've done other types of work," he says, "but it seems our true niche is in the defense realm."
Wayne Oettinger admits he might not have been thinking quite that big when he launched Precision in the garage of his Chattanooga home 40 years ago.
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