Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation

U.K. West buys Compton Wood Products

Mar 5, 2008
By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer. A new company is moving into an 80,000-square-foot manufacturing facility formerly known as Compton Wood Products.

U.K. West Inc., a five-year-old company with locations in Atlanta and New Jersey, bought Compton in November, according to Umash Khaitan, co-owner of U.K. West.

Khaitan’s partners in Compton include Sameer Mittal and Regent Private Capital, a private equity company based in Tulsa.

The three bought the local business in the Patriot Centre at Beaver Creek industrial park to expand after learning that Joseph Carroll “J.C.” Compton planned to retire, Khaitan said.

The Martinsville facility “is in a strategically good location” to U.K.’s customer base, Khaitan said. That, combined with the availability of wood as well as the technical labor force, attracted U.K. to the area, he added.

Compton Wood Products offered several different products and services, according to the former company’s Web site. Wood components, finished store displays and fixtures in solid wood, laminates, veneers, packaging and upholstery were among its product line.

The new, blended company will continue manufacturing storefront fixtures, Khaitan said, but also will be able to produce kitchen cabinet doors.

U.K. is investing about $2 million to add new equipment at the plant, Khaitan said.

He said he hopes the new equipment will be installed by April or May and at that time, “we should be able to move forward and add value to the community there,” he said.

U.K.’s “main business” has been purchasing cabinet doors from outside the United States to resell to builders and others, he said. The new operation will mean domestic production of the doors.

“We are going against our grain here, but we realize there is a big value in offering domestic” products, Khaitan said, especially when they are needed quickly.

Although domestic may be a bit more expensive, lead times for the products will be 15 days, he said, compared with the 90-day lead time for imports.

Imports are less expensive. With the expansion into the Henry County plant, customers can purchase imports and save money or buy domestically produced products and save time, Khaitan said.

He expects imports to remain an integral part of the business and said a new Web site will expand the company further by allowing it to cater to smaller companies.

Currently, there are about 45 employees at the plant, compared with 75 when Compton Wood Products was thriving, Khaitan said.

“Hopefully, once we’ve got the new equipment in” and sales are up, the company once again will employ at least 75, he said.

Compton Wood Products opened in 1987, with J.C. Compton, business partner Garland Smart and friend Doug Eanes among the founders.