Hypertherm has announced that it expects construction costs for its new 156,000 SF Heater Road facility to top $35 million dollars. The company will award the first bids, overseen by Middlebury, Vermont-based Bread Loaf Construction, this week. Construction for the building is expected to get underway by the end of the month, and will eventually contain over 150 advanced manufacturing production machines and create up to 500 new jobs.
On hearing the news about the new facility, Governor John Lynch stated that, “Hypertherm has a well deserved reputation for being a strong innovator on all fronts and great place to work. The owners are second to none in their commitment to their country, their community and to their employees. We will do everything we can to help Hypertherm succeed in their goals.”
Hypertherm, an employee owned company, is pursuing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver certification for the new facility and is taking other steps to make the facility a model of environmental sustainability as part of its core values.
“Hypertherm’s success is built on the effort of our associates and the resources available to us. We have a responsibility to treat the world respectfully and responsibly,” stated Barbara Couch, Hypertherm’s Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility. “Leadership in community and environmental stewardship are core values at Hypertherm – a business model we hope others will follow. Simply stated, businesses do well while doing good.”
The Heater Road facility is designed to accommodate Hypertherm’s growth in a number of areas. It will expand Hypertherm’s current manufacturing space and complete a host of customer focused needs including a meeting space, a showcase for Hypertherm products, two state-of-the-art training classrooms and an amphitheater. The space will allow for an integrated team – everything from engineering to production—under one roof. It will also include an Innovative Product Application Center (IPAC), a state-of-the-art lab to meet the needs of research and development, testing and prototyping, and a new data center.
The focus on sustainability will lower costs and improve efficiency while being sensitive to the environment and larger community. For example, the LEED certification, monitored through an ongoing dashboard, requires vendors and materials to be acquired within a 500 miles radius of the project; the new lab will recycle water through filtration and heat capture instead of flushing 40,000 gallons of water a day, and the new machines will run at a lower level of power with increased production capacity.
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen applauded Hypertherm’s efforts to focus on sustainability saying that “the company is committed to a set of core values that will help our country maintain its ability create products here at home and at the same time preserve the environment necessary to create those products.”
Once complete, the 156,000 square foot facility will provide full-time jobs for up to 500 New Hampshire and Vermont residents. The jobs will include research and development, engineering and marketing, CNC machining and assembly positions. Hypertherm will rely heavily on support from its partnerships with River Valley Community College and the federal and states government of New Hampshire and Vermont to provide a well trained workforce.
According to George Bald, Commissioner of New Hampshire’s Department of Resources & Economic Development, “Hypertherm has been an excellent partner in pursuing state policy goals to employ and train individuals in need of good paying jobs and in helping to refuel the stagnant economy.”
Hypertherm designs and manufactures advanced metal cutting systems for use in a variety of industries such as shipbuilding, manufacturing, and automotive repair. Its product line includes handheld and mechanized plasma and laser systems, consumables, as well as CNC motion and height controls and cutting software. Hypertherm systems are trusted for performance and reliability that results in increased productivity and profitability for tens of thousands of businesses. The New Hampshire based company’s reputation for metal cutting innovation dates back more than 40 years, to 1968, with Hypertherm’s invention of water injection plasma cutting. The company, consistently named one of the best places to work in America, has more than 1,000 associates along with operations and partner representation worldwide.