Made in Colorado 2013: 250 manufacturers making good in-state.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: Company overview

From the Western Slope to the Eastern Plains, Colorado is home to all sorts of businesses that make all sorts of things. Satellites. Banjos. Pharmaceuticals. Animatronics for haunted houses.

Oh, and custom gorilla suits, of course.

Colorado famously has more than its fair share of breweries, and distilleries have followed in their wake. Naturally the Rockies inspire ski-and snowboard-makers. Other notable clusters: natural and organic foods, bikes and bike accessories, high-end audio, medical devices and outdoor gear.

We've got a good number of toy makers and defense contractors. There are also local standouts in categories that have mostly abandoned the good ol' US of A--backpacks, printed circuit boards and plastics--but these companies have continued to manufacture right here in Colorado.

On the following pages we've highlighted 250 of the best, brightest and longest-burning stars from all over the Colorado manufacturing universe, showcasing the wide range of products made in the state, profiling startups to Fortune 100 companies and everything between.

Our second annual Made in Colorado issue is embodied by the company mantra of slingshot titan Trumark Manufacturing Co. (see p. 40), which held its ground while most of its competition left for China almost a decade ago. According to Trumark President Mark Ellerturg, "We say, 'Import from Colorado.'" And ColoradoBiz couldn't agree more.

AEROSPACE 12 BEER 13 BICYCLES & ACCESSORIES 16 CLEANTECH 18 CLOTHING, BAGS & JEWELRY 20 ELECTRONICS 22 FOOD & DRINK 24 HOME, KITCHEN & BATH 26 MEDICAL & BIOSCIENCE 28 MISCELLANEOUS SPORTS 30 MUSIC & SOUND 32 PET PRODUCTS 34 SPIRITS & WINE 36 TECHNOLOGY & INDUSTRY 38 TOYS 40 WINTER SPORTS 42 BALL AEROSPACE

Broomfield www.ballaerospace.com

Spacecraft and aerospace components

WITH 90,000 SQUARE FEET OF BRAND-NEW MANUFACTURING space, Broomfield-based spacecraft and component maker Ball Aerospace is hoping 2013 will be a pivotal year for the 57-year-old company.

Ball, which counts 2,800 employees nationwide, recently put the finishing touches on $75 million expansions of its Boulder and Westminster facilities, doubling the company's spacecraft production capacity.

And Ball is already using its updated workspace to construct a number of high-profile spacecraft. Company spokeswoman Roz Brown says Ball is in the midst of constructing a remote-sensing satellite for DigitalGlobe that will provide the images for Google Earth's satellite views, a spacecraft for the B612 Foundation that will help search for nearby asteroids like the one that caused destruction in Russia in February, and an antenna suite for the military's F-35 Lightning II fighter jet.

Although 2013 is looking rosy for Ball, which earned sales of $876.8 million last year, the company warned that its fate remains contingent on an unimpeded flow of funds from the government to its various customers. The warning is noteworthy considering continued bickering over funding programs like NASA.

PRIMUS METALS

Lakewood

www.primusmetals.com

Aerospace metals

KNOWN FOP ITS ABILITY TO MACHINE VIRTUALLY ANY aerospace metal, Primus Metals is in expansion mode.

The company, launched in 1989, recently acquired Primus Wind Power, setting its sights on the small-scale wind turbine market. Primus Metals also plans to broaden its core aerospace manufacturing business into the medical component industry and expects to obtain its ISO 13485 medical certification for that effort this year. Finally, Primus hopes to develop its core component manufacturing operation further into Europe.

Why so much expansion? "Because we can," says President Randy Brodsky, adding that his plan is to "accelerate the growth rate of the company."

Brodsky said Primus--which runs its 42,000-square-foot Lakewood facility with 75 employees--is "approaching" annual revenues of $20 million for 2013, which Brodsky says represents a growth rate around 15 percent.

INTREX AEROSPACE

Louisville

www.intrexcorp.com

Aerospace components

BY JUNE, INTREX AEROSPACE WILL HAVE A NEW HOME. The company, based in Louisville, plans to leave its current 23,000-square-foot facility and move into a new 70,000-square-foot location in Thornton.

Intrex, founded in 1977, previously manufactured components for all kinds of equipment, from locks to automobiles. But in 2009, Michigan-based manufacturer Demmer Corp. acquired the company and refocused its business solely on the aerospace sector. The relocation into its larger Thornton facility will allow Intrex to sell more deeply into its existing aerospace customer base.

"We're maxed out at our current location," says Jim Duggins, Intrex's director of sales. "This will help facilitate our growth plans."

Intrex employs 70 workers now and expects to increase that number to 80 after the move. The company anticipates maintaining its 20 percent growth rate in 2013 that it has enjoyed during the past several years.

NEW BELGIUM BREWING

Fort Collins

www.newbelgium.com

Craft beer

AS USUAL, THERE'S PLENTY OF NEWS EMANATING FROM THE MACRO-MICROBREWERY that is now the nation's third largest craft brewer and seventh largest overall.

They're getting ready to break ground on a new $175 million brewery in Asheville, N.C., that could nearly double production capacity and will shift some production to more effectively target the Northeast, since folks haven't been able to find Fat Tire north of D.C. The beverages will be available in Alaska, Louisiana and Florida in March, April and July, respectively, making for a 30-state market that spans, well, from Alaska to Florida. The company also went from 42 percent employee-owned to 100 percent in January while also becoming a B Corporation.

But let's not forget the beer: New Belgium's big news for 2013 is Hop Kitchen, a new quarterly rotator release with an emphasis on happy beers.

Why's Colorado such a great state for craft beer? "You see a proliferation of small craft brewers and micros and that begets a savvy beer drinker," says New Belgium spokesperson Bryan Simpson. "That feeds the creativity of it and helps the startup brewer."

ODELL BREWING CO.

Fort Collins

www.odells.com

Craft beer

ODELL BREWING CO. WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1989 BY DOUG ODELL, HIS WIFE WYNNE AND HIS sister Corkie. It's come a long way in the quarter-century since.

Amanda Johnson-King, marketing and branding manager, says the biggest Odell news in 2013 has been the groundbreaking for an expansion to bring annual capacity up to 100,000 barrels. By fall, she expects to have more brewing capacity, a storage cellar and a new beer garden.

Growth remains steady, adds Johnson-King. "We finished last year up about 15 percent. Were not expanding into new states, but focusing on existing markets and diving into them." To this end, Odell now has five out-of-state sales reps, up from two in 2012, covering a 10-state market.

Odell is releasing its first variety 12-packs later in May, dubbed Montage. Each will include three bottles of four different Odell beers.

TRVE BREWING CO.

Denver

www.trvebrewing.com

Craft beer

AFTER CUTTING HIS TEETH HOME-BREWING IN HIS GARAGE, NICK NUNNS WENT PRO AND launched TRVE (metal-speak for "superlative") in Denver's Baker neighborhood in summer 2012 with a novel funding concept. He sold $50 memberships that included a half-dozen growler fills and another half-dozen discounted growlers.

"There was an outpouring of support from the neighborhood," says Nunns. "We sold out of 266 memberships in the first two days."

The ploy staked TRVE with seed money to launch and the hyper-local nano-brewer is now getting ready to offer 366 memberships for its second year. "We're already looking at expanding the brewhouse," says Nunns, noting the recent Wednesday and Thursday taproom closure. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have any beer for the weekend," he explains.

"We like to think of ourselves as a bar that brews its own beer," says Nunns. "We're just taking it one step at a time and focusing on brewing the best beer possible."

UPSLOPE BREWING CO.

Boulder

www.upslopebrewing.com

Craft beer

AFTER A DECADE OF WORKING IN HIGH-TECH MANUFACTURING BY DAY AND HOME brewing by night, Matt Cutter co-founded Upslope in 2007 with Dany Pages, a pro brewer from Argentina. At the time, it was the first new brewery in Boulder in roughly a decade.

Cutter's high-tech background gave him "a look at working at a startup and working in manufacturing," he says. "It was great training for Upslope."

Upslope's growth curve is aptly described by its name. Cutter anticipated production of 400 barrels in 2008, but the company hit 1,100 and it's gone gangbusters ever since. "We've grown 181 percent from 2010 to 2012," he says, touting production of 5,300 barrels last year. After outgrowing its North Boulder space, the brewery recently expanded into a second location in Flatiron Park

WYNKOOP BREWING CO.

Denver

www.wynkoop.com

Craft beer

COLORADO'S FIRST BREWPUB (AND ONE OF THE NATION'S LARGEST), WYNKOOP BREWING CO. is also the first brewery founded by a future governor since President Sam Adams.

But Wynkoop has not been resting on its laurels since Gov. John Hickenlooper traded suds for politics. It's been canning its flagship Railyard Ale since January 2010, and is expanding to can a fourth year-round beer--Belgorado Harvest IPA--manually in the basement of its LoDo post.

Brewed with hops from Misty Mountain Hops near Olathe and malt from Colorado Malting in the San Luis Valley, Belgorado is an all-Colorado product, says brewery spokesman Marty Jones. "We wanted to showcase homegrown hops and malts," he explains. Our fans like small-batch, artful things, especially when they're made in Colorado.

"We're tired of these wine people dominating terroir," adds Jones. "We beer folks can wave the terroir flag, too."

PANDA BICYCLES

Fort Collins

www.pandabicycles.com

Bamboo bicycles

JACOB CASTILLO, CO-FOUNDER OF PANDA BICYCLES, SAYS THE COMPANY WAS ONE OF THE first manufacturers to embrace bamboo for bike frames. Launched in 2009...