Hexagon Machine and Manufacturing is expanding its Longmont facilities with new hires and equipment, company co-owner Matthew Newill said on Friday.
“We’re going to increase our footprint by 50%,” he explained. “We have floor plans designed; We have new equipment purchase orders that we’re reviewing, and it should be all done by later this year.”
Newill confirmed Hexagon is spending millions of dollars on the expansion, but an exact dollar amount has not been confirmed.
The company has already begun its search for new machinists, and has partnered with Front Range Community College and St. Vrain Valley Schools trade programs in an effort to search for new talent.
“Today we have 12 individuals at the company,” Newell said. “We would like to increase that by 25-35% this year … We are actively looking and have our fingers everywhere as it pertains to trying to hire new people.”
Hexagon Machine and Manufacturing works with more than two dozen companies, most of which are Colorado-based, to create parts and machines for satellites in the aerospace industry and communications in the defense industry.
“We start with a block of titanium, or other high-strength metals, and we machine it down with our team of expert machinists, into a small, high-strength component that’s utilized by companies that are building solar arrays for satellites or components that are being utilized in the broader space ecosystem,” Newill explained.
Hexagon was created seven years ago by lifelong machinists Sune Gravesen and Chris Fuhrmann. Both had their own separate businesses, but decided they wanted to become a team, Newill said.
“They were incredibly talented — rising through the ranks of different companies in the area, and they both had the entrepreneurial itch, and said ‘why don’t I do it myself,’ and they kind of did that independently, but had always been lifelong friends,” Newill explained. “Then in 2016, they said, ‘we both love working with each other, we enjoy each other, why don’t we just put our small businesses together?’ And so they did that.”
The pair looked to grow their business, and they brought Newill on board in 2022. The company also hired U.S. Veteran Doug Pederson, who had served in the U.S. Air Force and ran a section of its satellite and payload programs, to become head of business development.
While many Colorado manufacturing companies are currently competing for talent, Newill believes Hexagon offers employees a distinctive work culture.
“The business has a really unique small business culture of empowering the machinist … machinists here take great pride in their work, and they are also very entrepreneurial and independent, so they have the autonomy to make their own decisions — to ask for help when they need it, but also to provide some solutions that Chris or Sune might not initially think of,” he explained.
Former U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner visited Hexagon Machine and Manufacturing on Thursday to tour the facility and learn about its expansion plans.
“He’s been a leader in the Colorado aerospace universe, so it was just a fun activity for the employees to get a chance to spend a day with him,” Newill said.
