Compotech: From Startup to Leading Manufacturer

Compotech began as a two-person engineering start-up in 2014. Now, with more than 75 employees, it is the 31st fastest growing manufacturer in the U.S. – and third fastest in Maine, according to Inc magazine’s 2025 list of the country’s 5000 fastest growing companies.

This month, Compotech was named the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2026 Small Business Manufacturer of the Year for both Maine and the entire New England District.

Paul Melrose, president, and his co-founder spun the company out of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, where Paul had spent a decade putting his degrees in engineering to use, learning the world of composites, and leading a team that secured and executed multi-million-dollar contracts.

The company is now a leading defense contractor, with its manufacturing facility in Brewer and software engineering offices at the UpStart Center for Entrepreneurship. It produces ballistic protection systems, military shelters, and AI digital solutions that support defense missions. These include:

• Composite fencing systems (Expeditionary Shelter Protection Systems)

• Expeditionary Shelters (E-PACS), which are lightweight, rigid, rapidly deployable shelters suitable for command centers and other military uses

• FRAG-CT, software designed to collect data on munitions fragmentation

• DETECT-ML, a groundbreaking software package that uses AI to rapidly provide quality assurance

Paul’s first contact with the UpStart Center was as that spin-out in 2014. Now, he says, he’s come full circle with the company’s software development team at the Center.

Compotech is a textbook example of how a startup spins out of a critical university R&D center, gets a foothold to commercialize new products, and, through leadership, university-inspired expertise, constant innovation, and risk management, follows an accelerating growth curve.

Congratulations to Paul and the entire Compotech team!