Spotlight: 2018 Colorado Mfg. Awards Finalists
The third annual Colorado Manufacturing Awards showcase the best and brightest stars from all over the state and its many manufacturing sectors.
CompanyWeek‘s crack writers have caught up with the 30 finalists across 10 categories to shine a light on their successes, innovations, and new initiatives. While they make everything from bourbon to spacecraft, there are common threads: dynamic growth, a commitment to quality, and a focus on innovation.
We’ll showcase three or four categories per week in the run-up to the April 5 event, when winners from each category will be announced.
Outstanding Aerospace Manufacturer
By Eric Peterson
AMPT
Durango
Advanced Mobile Propulsion Test, or AMPT, has been a leader in the niche of testing rocket engines for major manufacturers and federal agencies for the better part of a decade.
Now the company is looking to disrupt the market with a revolutionary low-cost thruster it plans to manufacture. “We have developed the prototype and had very good results,” says founder Daudi Barnes. “We see the future for our company in actually developing engines and spacecraft systems.”
The opportunity revolves around a broad sector move from big government contracts to commercial missions that demand nimbler manufacturers and less expensive technologies. “Activities in space are a hugely expanding market,” says Barnes. Emerging companies “are filling in all the niches between the big players. Some of them are potentially big niches where there’s an opportunity for small players to become big players. An example of that is SpaceX.”
He calls the industry’s evolution “the ideal manifestation of the competitive capitalist market.”
AMPT won a $250,000 grant from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade in early 2018 that will be used “to refine the additive manufacturing part of the process,” says Barnes. “It closes the loop to do R&D development in-house. . . . We’re going to be looking at dynamic design features and testing them out.”
That will make for a more manufacturable product, he adds. “We want to be able to hand off a set of machine parameters to people who could potentially do production for us.”
Barnes says AMPT’s thrusters could be in production and on spacecraft in the next one to three years if all goes to plan. “There’s a lot of potential for growth,” he notes.
CompanyWeek profile: www.companyweek.com/company-profile/advanced-mobile-propulsion-test
Air Comm Corporation
Westminster
Founded by CEO Keith Steiner’s father, Norm, in 1987, Air Comm offered a solution to a problem. “He found a lot of helicopters operated in extreme climates,” says Keith. “The heating and AC systems from the factory were simply not enough to get the job done.”
So Norm started making heaters and AC units for the helicopter aftermarket, but they proved popular enough that Bell and other manufacturers started offering Air Comm products as factory-available systems in the early 1990s.
The company diversified into environmental control systems for fixed-wing aircraft with the 2013 acquisition of Texas-based Keith Products. Air Comm consolidated manufacturing operations under one 53,000-square-foot roof in Westminster in 2017.
The move doubled the size of the company, says Keith, as it now employs about 100 people. It also made the company less dependent of the helicopter market, which is famously dependent on high oil prices. “It was good to add another leg to the stool,” he says.
For the last five years, the Air Comm crew has been working on new systems for Cirrus Aircraft and Pilatus Aircraft. “We’re now entering full-rate production for both of these aircraft,” says Keith, forecasting 10 percent growth for 2018. “We’re setting up a second shift. It’s keeping us very busy.”
Air Comm is bringing a significant piece of its supply chain in-house.”We’re going to be producing a line of brushless electric motors,” says Keith, citing quality, timing, and price as factors in the decision. The motors will be used in Air Comm’s products, but also available on the broader market.
Another recent move: Air Comm is expanding its in-house maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) operation to offer services to outside clients.
Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Space Systems
Louisville
Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Space Systems has 2020 circled on the calendar. That’s the year the company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft is slated to arrive at the International Space Station.
“Last year, we did a flight test at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base,” says Kimberly Schwandt, SNC Space Systems communications manager. “It was a beautiful sunrise in the California desert. You could not have a more majestic setting.”
More importantly, the November 2017 test flight was a success. Dropped from a helicopter at 12,000 feet, the Dream Chaser glided down to Earth in a minute and performed as planned.
That test vehicle is now back in Colorado at a new 100,000-square-foot facility in Louisville where the company will manufacture the final product. “The Dream Chaser will be built there,” says Schwandt.
But the Dream Chaser is not the only big project underway at SNC Space Systems. “We won a NextSTEP-2 contract with NASA,” says Schwandt. The competitive project involves developing “a lunar outpost as a gateway to go deeper into space.”
In 2019, the Louisville-built prototype will compete against others to win the final contract to build the structures on the Moon.
To support these big initiatives, SNC Space Systems has hired more than 100 employees since 2015; the head count in Louisville is now about 450. “We’ve added a lot of jobs,” says Schwandt. “We’re going to continue to add jobs.”
CompanyWeek profile: www.companyweek.com/company-profile/sierra-nevada-corporations-space-systems
Outstanding Contract Manufacturer
By Bart Taylor
Faustson Tool
Arvada
Faustson Tool is angling to become a two-time CMA winner, a reward that would be very much in keeping with the company’s lofty accomplishments.
“We’re a high-precision Colorado manufacturer that has a part on or around every planet in our system,” notes Heidi Hostetter, vice president. “And, among other things, we’re a sole source supplier for two critical parts on [Lockheed Martin’s] F-35.”
The “other things” constitute a long list. Hostetter points to NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, hemoglobin mirrors for the renal industry, the Mars Rover, and Northrop Grumman’s Guardian anti-missile system as other high-profile Faustson projects. The company’s stake in 3D metal printing also continues to set the company apart, including a founding role in the ADAPT Center at the Colorado School of Mines, with Manufacturer’s Edge, Ball Aerospace, and others.
But for Hostetter and Faustson CEO Alicia Svaldi, slowing down to appreciate how a business overcomes challenges and manifests success in the community means as much as its impressive résumé. “We have been tenacious surviving some of the most difficult trials and tribulations that any business can face,” says Hostetter. “As a result, we have definitely come to appreciate that leadership comes in your darkest hours, not your finest moments. We believe in the golden rule and we believe that our innovation efforts make leadership in technology possible, but we are also quite aware that our employees make us the company we have been and will continue to be.”
CompanyWeek profile: www.companyweek.com/company-profile/faustson-tool
Tecomet Boulder
Boulder
It’s no surprise that Tecomet Boulder is a finalist in this strong category: Tecomet acquired Mountainside Medical, an inaugural Colorado Manufacturing Award winner, in 2016.
The company’s regional legacy machining precision parts for the medical device industry is as formidable as its $1.2 billion top line. Tecomet is today the largest orthopedic contract manufacturer worldwide, with 17 plants spanning the United States, Europe, and Asia.
The challenge of maintaining a lofty regional perch in Colorado’s contract manufacturing ecosystem today falls on Dave Capkovitz, Tecomet’s new general manager in Boulder.
Capkovitz seems like the right person for the job. He cut his teeth in the manufacturing-rich business ecosystem throughout the Midwest, but longed for a mountain view. With Tecomet’s Boulder location providing the backdrop, Capkovitz is motivated to maintain and grow his company’s footprint in Colorado.
“Colorado is very important to Tecomet,” says Capkovitz. “The skill level and talent that Colorado’s colleges and universities are turning out is the next generation workforce that will expand future technologies in our field. Colorado is also an area where people have a strong work/personal balance in their lives. This encourages innovation and outside-of-the-box thinking that will help keep Tecomet a leader among its peers.”
It’s a worthy goal for a company that’s demonstrating what it takes to stay on top. “Tecomet Boulder has shown growth of 25 percent over the last three years,” Capkovitz says, “and is projected to grow another 89 percent over the coming five years.”
For Capkovitz, the dynamic growth is a byproduct of employee engagement and customer satisfaction. “Tecomet takes pride in being a part of the lives of our valuable employees, supporting them, their families, and their communities,” he says. “Our leadership is one of a culture that breeds inspiration, caring, and growth. We pride ourselves in making a difference with the patient, the customer, and our communities.”
CompanyWeek profile (Mountainside Medical): www.companyweek.com/company-profile/mountainside-medical
Manes Machine and Engineering
Fort Collins
Manes Machine and Engineering might be one of Colorado’s best-kept secrets. Not for long.
“Business is very good,” says President and CEO Bruce Page. “Our target market is companies like Boeing and Lockheed, but also smaller companies that are big companies in their own right, who also sell to Boeing, Lockheed, and Airbus. We have 15 to 20 companies we deal with all over the world.”
Manes is also working with arguably the most innovative aerospace OEM going. “We’re also getting a fair amount of work from SpaceX,” says Page, referencing a Manes product on the mission in late February.
As strong as the market is today for commercial and defense-related aerospace — Boeing and Airbus are coming off back-to-back record years, and Lockheed is poised to benefit from a bigger defense budget — operating in the supply chain of the world’s biggest aviation companies also has its challenges. “Boeing just came down with a new stipulation, where fewer suppliers will be able to participate,” says Page, citing requirements for lower tolerances and higher-precision parts.
Page notes that Manes has had to reengineer its business to stay competitive in a sector that’s rapidly deploying new technologies. “When we first moved here from Southern California, we were known for known for manufacturing big, structural-type parts, and that served us well,” he says. “But over the last couple of years, we’ve made a 180-degree shift in what we’re doing here. We’re selling off a lot of our bigger equipment, and moving into smaller equipment that’s more automated.”
Automation is paying off in other ways. A new generation is taking note, important for a sector struggling to attract a new workforce. “Technology is changing the game,” Page says, adding that potential employees get a “bounce in their step when they see what we’re doing here.”
Outstanding Small Food Brand
By Gregory Daurer
The Real Dill
Denver
Justin Park and Tyler DuBois started The Real Dill in 2012 “making pickles for fun in our home kitchen,” says Park. The artisan dills quickly caught on, and the company’s product line has expanded beyond pickles in the years since.
Case in point: The Real Dill’s Bloody Mary Mix is now its top-selling product. It originated after Park and DuBois devised another use for the salted cucumber water they used to dispose of. After the product took off, they were forced to “reverse engineer” the cucumber byproduct, in order to have enough on hand to fulfill orders for the Bloody Mary Mix.
“We joke that we started a pickle company, but now we’re really a blood mary company with a pickle problem,” says Park.
The Real Dill now boasts more than 600 accounts in 35 states. “We’ve grown every single year,” says Park. The company saw 40 percent growth in 2017 over 2016, shipping out 14,000 cases of its products. For 2018, Park projects a total of 20,000 cases. “The challenge we’re constantly facing — and having fun with — is continuing to scale up our production, while maintaining or improving the quality of the product that we’re making,” he says.
With continued growth, change has come to the company: It now automates the filling and labeling of its Bloody Mary Mix. But some things remain the same: “We take a lot of pride that we make everything 100 percent from scratch,” says Park.
Just like the cucumber water no longer going down the drain, the food waste isn’t going into dumpsters. More than 500 pounds of vegetable scraps is diverted from the landfill weekly and used by a local nonprofit to make compost. As for becoming a “zero-food-waste company,” Park says, “It was just the obvious and the right thing to do.”
CompanyWeek profile: www.companyweek.com/company-profile/the-real-dill
Blue Moon Goodness
Woodland Park
Kelly Strong began selling batches of her gluten-free, vegan soup to restaurants and cafes around Colorado Springs in 2013. “We jarred our first soups by hand [in January 2014],” Strong says. “We made a few cases. We ran a few dozen labels, and I presented [the soup] to City Market and King Soopers here in Colorado and they liked it.”
By the end of 2014, Blue Moon Goodness was in every Kroger store in Colorado and some surrounding states. Safeway picked up the brand in 2018.
Blue Moon Goodness’ soups — Moroccan Vegetable, Tomato Fennel, and Vegan Green Chile — are now available in 300 stores in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah. Strong is planning to expand the company’s geographical distribution, perhaps tripling to 900 outlets by next year.
Strong says a new distributor has told her, “Nothing exciting has happened in the soup aisle in a long time.” Her response? “Party in the soup aisle! I think there’s a great opportunity for new packaging, new flavors, and something really different.” Her jarred soups — some organic — have a two-year shelf life.
Strong credits the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Colorado Proud program for helping to make local products an in-demand commodity in the state. “It gave us a real opportunity,” she says. “I have to admit that it wasn’t just luck.”
Still, she considers herself lucky in business. “Just the fact that people like my product — that I get to make real food for real people — it’s a joy,” says Strong. “It’s a privilege making people happy.”
Cusa Tea
Boulder
Founder Jim Lamancusa had his “aha!” moment during a hike in Colorado, as he watched friends prepare their instant coffee. Lamancusa recalls thinking, “I want that! I want instant tea that actually tastes good on the trail.”
But the subtle flavors within tea leaves are destroyed by high-heat dehydration, a process which works just fine for coffee beans. So Lamancusa developed new technology in order to see his dream become a reality. First, the tea leaves are cold-brewed under high pressure for eight hours. Then, the liquid is slowly dehydrated, leaving a crystallized powder.
Lamancusa says, “When the consumer then opens the tea stick and pours it in the water, it just instantly rehydrates. And it tastes exactly like a freshly brewed cup of tea, because we haven’t done any high heat or extreme-cold dehydration to it.” Pouring warm water over Cusa’s powdery crystals results in a cup of tea within three seconds.
For a company that launched in May 2017, Boulder’s Cusa Tea has undergone rapid expansion. The tea varieties (Green Tea, English Breakfast, Chai, and Oolong) can be presently found in 500 locations, including King Soopers and REI stores. “By the middle of summer we should be in about a 1,000 retail locations,” says Lamancusa.
The USDA-certified organic teas are grown, processed, and packaged in Southeast China. “It’s been helpful to be next to the tea farm, because we can constantly do R&D work over there,” says Lamancusa.
The top comment Lamancusa receives from consumers and retailers is, “Why has no one done this before?”
Lamancusa, who’s worked at startups throughout his career, observing their strengths and weaknesses, says, “If you don’t have a real innovative idea — and if you just make a me-too product — you’re probably not going to make it.”
Outstanding Energy & Environmental Manufacturer
By Chris Meehan
Lightning Systems
Loveland
In less than a decade, the manufacturer of fleet-vehicle efficiency technologies has expanded into three categories, moving from a hydraulic hybrid system into pure electric vehicles and vehicle analytics.
The company has sold about 250 of its hybrid systems which use hydraulic fluids compressed as part of the braking process to provide a boost to the acceleration process for vehicles like garbage trucks and beverage vehicles. “Because you need as much payload as possible it can still be a good spot to look at hybrid systems rather than electric. It’s difficult to electrify really heavy vehicles,” explains co-founder Tim Reeser.
In 2018, Lightning Systems is making a strong push into electric fleet vehicles for such companies as DHL, FedEx UPS, Comcast, and AT&T. As of March, it had sold five of its electric Ford Transits, but more sales are on the way. “We’re working on some fairly large orders,” says Reeser. “We expect to deliver 200 this year based on our current order pipeline.”
The company also has introduced an electric fuel-cell version of the Ford Transit cargo van that uses a hydrogen fuel cell to charge the vehicle’s battery, extending its 50-mile range to 200 in a zero-emission vehicle.
Lightning Systems has a strong local supply pipeline and is continuing to work with Steelhead Composites, which makes accumulators and gas tanks. Longmont’s UQM Technologies supplies the motors and some fuel cell parts and Loveland’s Casper’s Electronics makes its wiring harnesses.
Reeser says growth in this type of vehicle will be strong as more cities adopt and look at adopting rules to outlaw internal combustion engines, like London, Paris, and Amsterdam. “That regulatory drive is certainly pushing people toward the the zero-emission space,” he notes.
CompanyWeek profile: www.companyweek.com/company-profile/lightning-hybrids
AMP Robotics
Denver
An acronym for Autonomous Manipulation and Perception, AMP’s Cortex robots rapidly identify and sort certain materials in a single-stream recycling line using the company’s Neuron artificial intelligence system. The robots are used on recycling centers’ container lines to sort multi-material cartons — like juice or wine boxes — and plastics.
The system is capable of scanning, identifying, and sorting 60 containers a minute. But it detects far more in that short period of time, explains Rob Writz, AMP’s director of operations. “Our vision system does perceive aluminum, paper, mixed papers, and corrugated products,” he says.
AMP has numerous robots installed at recycling centers across the U.S., including Alpine Waste and Recycling in Denver and Dem-Con Companies in Shakopee, Minnesota.
“All of our robots combined now have over seven man-years of operation,” Writz says. “They’re adding up very quickly because they operate two to three shifts everyday. Two of our units have been operating for over a year, another one for over half a year.”
The robotic systems are currently in the hands of early adopters. “Our work with them over the next few years will push out into the broader market,” says Writz, “and the later adopters who let the early adopters sort out the commercialization challenges and technology.”
The interest is strong because it’s hard to retain employees as sorters. “It is a very dangerous, dirty, and dull job,” explains Writz. “They have rapid turnover rates and are looking to stabilize their throughput on their lines that they operate many shifts per day,” he explains.
Writz anticipates more growth in 2018. “We look to grow to about 15 people, tripling the size of our company in the span of a year,” he says. The majority of the jobs will be in software and mechanical engineering.
RavenWindow
Denver
“Our product is like putting sunglasses on a building,” explains CEO Del Bankston. “It enhances the view and does not disrupt the connection.”
Bankston emphasizes that the company’s product, a thermochromic filter applied to window or skylight glass, darkens automatically once glass hits a certain temperature and reduces or eliminates glare and UV degradation, increasing health, comfort and productivity.
That’s what he leads with, but the glass also reduces solar heat gain, increasing energy savings. “It’s able to reduce your energy costs by up to 30 percent based on geography and exposure, building use and so on,” Bankston explains. It’s also much less expensive than options like electrochromic technologies which require external energy sources to darken.
After more than a decade of research and development, the company’s Gen3 technology is protected by more than 40 patents and starting to ship. “We’ve got 14 projects that are under one phase or another of construction,” says Bankston.
RavenWindow currently has about 20 employees and can manufacture 50,000 square feet of its product. By 2019, Bankston anticipates producing up to 100,000 square feet of the product and doubling staff in the second half of the year. “We’re not concerned about sales, our phone is ringing off the hook and our website is blowing up with business,” he says.
In the future, Bankston wants to supply major window and skylight manufacturers like Pella and Velux. “The intention is to sell the filter to be non-disruptive to the industry, to be another product they offer in their portfolio to their customers,” he says.
CompanyWeek profile: www.companyweek.com/company-profile/ravenbrick
Outstanding Craft Brewery
By Angela Rose
4 Noses Brewing Company
Broomfield
After a 91 percent increase in 2017, 4 Noses Brewing Company’s founder, Tommy Bibliowicz, is planning to nearly double his brewery’s output again this year, forecasting minimum production of 8,000 barrels.
The rapid growth is necessary to keep up with demand. Bibliowicz partnered with Elite Brands last year to launch his previously self-distributed beers statewide. “Prior to signing with Elite, we were only in the Front Range with some presence in the mountains and Colorado Springs,” he explains.
The brewery’s portfolio has expanded as well. “There’s a long list of experimental ad hoc products that we were able to come out with in 2017,” Bibliowicz says. One such release was a Russian imperial stout called Ryeciprocal, which recently won gold in the wood- and barrel-aged dark beer category at the Craft Beer Awards.
“Some of the other ad hoc beers that we put out successfully last year are going to move from in-house only to a little more widespread availability,” Bibliowicz adds. “We’ll also have a lot of big barrel releases throughout the year as well as beers in our wild saison and sour programs, which are really coming along well.”
While brewing good beer is decidedly important, Bibliowicz says 4 Noses’ success has also been built on the excellence of his team. The company brought on a new director of brewing operations last year and had very little turnover of which to speak.
“We have a great team, and we kept it almost entirely intact throughout 2017, so I would definitely put that as a big success as well,” he says.
CompanyWeek Profile: www.companyweek.com/company-profile/4-noses-brewing-co
Left Hand Brewing Company
Longmont
The craft beer industry has changed a lot since Eric Wallace co-founded Left Hand Brewing Company in 1993, but the business has weathered every storm. One of the ways they’ve done so is to instill a sense of ownership — figuratively as well as literally — in their employees.
“Back during the first craft beer shakeout in 1998, we began offering some of our employees equity in the company in order to keep that talent around,” says Wallace. In 2015, Left Hand took employee ownership a step further, creating an ESOP, or Employee Stock Ownership Plan, for its team of 115.
Maintaining “Righteous Independence” has also contributed to the brewery’s success. Wallace says Left Hand remains a “cash-flow driven company” to this day. “We’re not outside funded,” he adds. “You have to run mostly on your own cash or somebody else is going to own you.”
The model has served Left Hand well, enabling them to focus on more than the bottom line. While they were unable to increase production last year due to a voluntary recall, Wallace is aiming to boost total barrels from 69,535 in 2017 to 75,000 this year.
In the area of innovation, a partnership with Ball Corporation allowed last year’s release of Milk Stout Nitro in American-made widget cans. “Prior to this, all the widget cans used in the U.S. were made in Europe and shipped over,” Wallace says.
Left Hand has continued raising funds for charities as well, with over $900,000 in donations generated in 2017. “We’ll crack $3 million for Bike MS this year since we first started sponsoring teams in 2008,” Wallace says. “That’s pretty cool and shows that we’re community minded.”
CompanyWeek Profile: www.companyweek.com/company-profile/left-hand-brewing-company
Paradox Beer Company
Divide
When Jeff Aragon and Brian Horton founded their brewery in 2012, they were dissatisfied with the industry’s status quo and determined to produce beers that would challenge convention as well as the palates of adventurous beer drinkers.
“We’re still doing it six years later,” Aragon says, “and we plan to continue with our experimentation and pushing of boundaries. It’s one of the things that really differentiates us from other breweries.”
Paradox released its first coolship beer last year, making it the only brewery in the U.S. at a significant elevation (Divide is at 9,165 feet) to experiment with open spontaneous fermentation. The first in the Divide Ethos Spontaneous Series, the beer garnered rave reviews at the Big Beers, Belgians, and Barleywines festival in January.
“We’ll be using the coolship a lot more this year,” Aragon says. Paradox is planning to increase production by 15 to 20 percent over 2017’s 2,000 barrels and will be expanding distribution as well. “We just added Virginia and are getting ready to launch a couple more states,” he continues. “We’re working on some stuff that may happen overseas, too.”
The brewery’s physical footprint will also grow this year with the addition of a new 2,400-square foot building for offices and a dedicated humidity-controlled barrel room. “We’re going to double our foeder capacity as a result,” Aragon adds.
He expects to continue brisk business in Paradox’s scenic taproom as well. “The taproom was our focus last year,” he explains. “It used to be more of a place where you’d buy bottles and go, but we expanded our hours, food selection, and beer menu. That really contributed to 2017’s success for us.”
CompanyWeek Profile: www.companyweek.com/company-profile/paradox-beer-company
Outstanding Outdoor Industry Brand
By Chris Meehan
Alchemy Bicycle Co.
Denver
Founded in 2008, Alchemy is rolling out more handcrafted bikes than ever as it change