Northwest Aerospace News June | July Issue No. 3 | Page 50

Thompson Precision: SUCCESS MEANS
QUALITY IN PRODUCTION and QUALITY OF LIFE
By Staci Nelson, Executive coordinator for the Inland Northwest Aerospace Consortium
A
nyone who has ever traveled to Glacier National Park in Northwest Montana can tell you
that you some of the most stunning vistas in North America are in that area. What many people
don’t know is that the Flathead Valley is also home to some exceptional manufacturing compa-
nies, including Thompson Precision, Inc.
Staci Nelson
Executive coordinator for the Inland
Northwest Aerospace Consortium
www.inwac.org
INWAC SPOTLIGHT
50
Thompson Precision is a world-class machining company founded by Ray Thompson, a native
to the Kalispell, Montana area. Ray started his career as an aerospace engineer, but eventually
migrated to the high-tech semiconductor market. He started Semitool — a capital equipment
manufacturer for that industry — in 1978. The company experienced exponential growth as the
need for semiconductor chips contined to grow, and he eventually sold out to Applied Materi-
als in 2009. In 2011, he started Thompson Precision in an old tractor barn on the family farm
north of Kalispell.
While initially manufacturing parts for the semiconductor and petrochemical industries, Ray
saw a need for high quality, complex finish machining work in the aerospace industry and
shifted the company’s focus to filling that gap. The move proved to be a wise business decision
that also allowed Ray to return to his original passion for aerospace.
NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS