CPI can fix and repair ‘almost anything’

Phil Klauka (above) has worked with CPI for more than 25 years. MAYFIELD TWP — Jerry Jasper solves problems every day. As the owner of Center Point Industries in Mayfield Township, better known simply as CPI, Jasper is used to figuring things out and making those solutions realities.

Jasper says he fixes and repairs “most anything,” in addition to supporting local manufacturers and others with machining work.

CPI does all kinds of general machining. It is home to equipment ranging from CNC mills to surface grinders. Other equipment includes a Bridgeport, RAM EDN, lathes, drill presses, and other types of presses, like ones that use steel dies to run parts. CPI has a lathe that will turn a piece up to 30 inches in diameter.

Genova has been a CPI customer for a number of years. CPI has made hangers for eavestroughs. Lately, Jasper says, “We’re making brackets to fasten a plastic tray to pegboard.”

Jerry Jasper, owner of CPI in Mayfield Township, stands next to a sheet metal press in the Bowers Road machine shop. One long-time customer repairs truck axles all over the state. He comes to CPI for specially machined parts that allow him to make quick semi repairs at a fraction of the cost.

“People walk through the door with different things,” says Jasper. He says that CPI does small-engine repair, too. “We do welding.... a little of everything. If it's possible to do, we try to help people out.”

Jasper remembers a couple that had a self-propelled walk-behind mower with problems. Another shop proprietor told them the mower was junk and he would take it off their hands for them. The couple eventually brought it to CPI. “The bolts that held the motor on just needed to be tightened,” says Jasper.

“We’ve had a lot of people come back,” says Jasper. He says that customers know they’re being treated fairly and not being overcharged.

“I try to help people out,” says Jasper. Last summer, a woman came to CPI seeking a solution for her wheelchair bound 16-year-old son. He wanted to be able to mow grass. CPI designed, engineered and built a special frame that would hold the mower and allow it to function while attached to the wheelchair. “It took longer to think about it and engineer it, than to build it,” laughs Jasper.

Although the facility probably dates to the ‘50s, Jasper acquired in the business in the early ‘80s. For years the enterprise was busy with automotive work. Jasper says there used to be eight people on staff. He says things really started to change in the last decade.

“About six or seven years ago, you could see it starting to happen,” says Jasper. Places that CPI did business with started to disappear, as the automotive industry declined.

Now, CPI is manned by Jasper and another skilled, expert problem-solver, Phil Klauka. Klauka has worked with CPI for more than 25 years.

Jasper’s not sure where he acquired his extensive problem-solving skills. He grew up on a dairy farm in Deerfield Township. When his older brother left the farm and his dad was suffering from arthritis, responsibility for the farm fell on his shoulders.

“At 5 a.m. I milked cows,” says Jasper. “Nothing could go wrong” if he was going to be able to make the 7:15 a.m. school bus. In tenth grade, Jasper started attending school half-days in order to manage the farm.

Jasper took on additional work at Vesely’s, which later became Durakon, in order to earn some extra money. He got a position in the tool room there.

“A lot of things came easy to me,” Jasper says. “I could see things that some people couldn’t see.” He speculates that working on the farm equipped him with unique ways of looking at things. “We fixed things with whatever we could find.”

In addition, he was motivated. “I tried really hard. I thought, I’m going to make this work.” That spunk eventually helped him land a job at GM as a sheet metal die maker. After a couple of years, he moved into injection molds. Jasper retired from GM in 2007 after 30 years.

CPI got its start when someone approached Jasper about building a die. It started with a little shop on the farm. Eventually, he purchased the Bowers Road facility, and moved his equipment there.

It’s no surprise that word-of-mouth gets many CPI customers to the door. Jasper recalls a customer who describes the work at CPI this way, “They take something in all rusty and you get it back all shiny.”

CPI is at 1449 Bowers Rd. in Mayfield Township. Details: 810-664-8686.