Therm-Tech expands into Loveland, Colorado

Northern Colorado Business Report
August 7, 2009

Heat-treating specialist Therm-Tech of Waukesha, Wis., has set its sights on the growing aerospace industry and has opened Therm-Tech of Colorado in Loveland as its regional manufacturing base.

Therm-Tech signed a lease in April for 26,000 square feet in the former Water Pik building at 629 14th St. Joe Palieri, who brokered the deal for Chrisland Inc., said the addition of Therm-Tech to the northwest corner of the building brings it to full occupancy, with Technology Drive Products filling 70,000 square feet and Colorado vNet in the remaining 40,000 square feet.

According to Therm-Tech Operations Manager Tina Maestas, the Loveland facility is the company's first location outside Wisconsin.

"We're pretty excited about the expansion," she told the Business Report Daily. "Northern Colorado is becoming a hotspot for the aerospace industry, but of the four heat-treating companies in Colorado, there isn't one that supports that industry, so companies have to send their parts out of state, to California, Arizona or Kansas."

Therm-Tech hopes to pull business from surrounding states as well, including Wyoming, Nebraska and Utah, Maestas said.

Therm-Tech of Waukesha, founded in 1982, does work for the auto industry, and as a result has seen its business drop about 40 percent over the past year. Maestas said the company was following the adage that "it's good business to expand in a recession" when it decided to open the Loveland facility and target an underserved market.

Part of Therm-Tech's move into the aerospace arena is completing Nadcap standards certification for several processes. Maestas said that is still about six months away. In the meantime, Therm-Tech's services for manufacturers of all types of products include a range of processes for hardening and strengthening a range of metals from aluminum to steel.

The company currently employs seven people, hired locally, and is in the process of training and installing the last of the equipment needed to become fully operational. Maestas said the timing will depend on sales, but the facility will have the capacity to run three shifts of six to eight people each. The Wisconsin location employs about 100 workers.

Stacy Johnson, business development manager for the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp., which helped bring Therm-Tech to Loveland, said the company's primary jobs will help strengthen and diversify the region's economy.

"We're lucky to have them," she said.

Therm-Tech plans an open house in mid-September to showcase its services. For more information, visit www.thermtech.net.