🔒The $575M idea: VulcanForms expands as Devens firm works to streamline U.S. manufacturing

Eleven years ago, researcher and MIT professor John Hart had a thought: What if a manufacturing company could build its materials in-house, eschewing the expensive and complex supply chain? Turns out, that idea was worth $575 million, and counting. Since launching VulcanForms in 2015, Hart and the Devens-based manufacturer’s leaders have raised $575 million through six funding rounds, including $220 million from primarily two venture capital firms in January.

Already with two locations, VulcanForms is constructing a 100,000-square-foot processing facility in Devens while planning for a fourth location. The company has grown to 305 employees worldwide and is set to scale, working with manufacturers across sectors to simplify their supply chains. “They have perfected advanced manufacturing at scale in a way that so many others have tried and failed,” said Joe Voboril, partner and head of research at Florida-based 1789 Capital, one of the main investors in the $220-million raise.

Minimizing the supply chain

VulcanForms manufactures custom metal parts for companies in the aerospace and defense, medical, automotive, and consumer industries. Instead of sourcing components from other regions or overseas, VulcanForms brings the extensive manufacturing supply chain under one roof. The firm collaborates with clients to design parts, manufacturing them with in-house technology before handing the finished part back to their customers. VulcanForms uses its proprietary, industrial-scale 3D printers to turn metal powder into parts, which are then heat-treated in a furnace and smoothed or further shaped by the company’s subtractive machinery. These processes create a wide range of components, from those used in orthopedic implants to jet engines. “Inside that factory are all the processes and expertise, both physical and digital and human, to be able to work with the customer, take their design, generate the manufacturing instructions, and then produce that part,” Hart said. This consolidation helps solve one of the most challenging aspects of manufacturing: the supply chain. Typically, raw materials are made and assembled in separate locations, one step at a time, requiring manufacturers to coordinate and communicate with suppliers across the world. “It’s extraordinarily inefficient in terms of money, time, quality,” said Hart.

In particular, tariffs and the time it takes to ship components pose great logistical and financial challenges, said Pat Baliva, vice president of sales, North America at the manufacturer Saint-Gobain Abrasives in Worcester. For example, many U.S. manufacturers source aluminum and steel from Canada, Baliva said. With the President Donald Trump Administration fluctuating tariffs to Canadian and other U.S.-trading partners, American metal manufacturers have to navigate the uncertainty of changing price tags. Tariffs come on top of the cost of delivery and time spent waiting for materials to be delivered, he said. “If your lead time is a month on a product, in a week of that month it's strapped to a truck being transferred,” said Baliva. “So you have money tied up on the back of a tractor-trailer moving it. It's not great.” Minimizing the supply chain by producing materials on site, as VulcanForms does, keeps production local, speeds up the manufacturing process, and saves money.

VulcanForms’ focus on keeping manufacturing processes and jobs in the United States was a big part of what drew Eclipse Ventures to the manufacturer, said Greg Reichow, partner at the Palo Alto-based venture capital firm that co-led the $220 million raise along with 1789. The push to reshore manufacturing to the U.S. has been around for decades, but without many practical solutions, he said. “What I saw in Vulcan was this very different approach that would allow us to build high-volume production manufacturing in the U.S. and compete globally with it. And, quite frankly, build far better products than anybody else could,” said Reichow.

Building capacity

VulcanForms plans to use $220 million raised in January for growth and scaling, Hart said. With operations already in Newburyport and Devens, the manufacturer is constructing a second Devens facility: 100,000 square feet focused on 3D printing and post-processing. A fourth VulcanForms facility is already in planning, said Reichow. “The technical risk is gone. The market risk is not there,” Reichow said. “It’s time to go scale.”

Reichow and Eclipse have been investors in VulcanForms since the manufacturer's $2-million seed funding in 2017. 1789 Capital invested in VulcanForms for the first time in January, attracted to its scalability and strong commercial viability, said Voboril. “What you'll start to see is more and more original equipment manufacturers will be asking VulcanForms to make a product for them that they currently make in a different way that's way more expensive,” he said. Although VulcanForms declined to disclose exact revenue figures, Hart said the manufacturer has several billion dollars in demand, including a backlog. One of its biggest clients is looking to increase its volume output tenfold. Eventually, VulcanForms would like to make its own metal powder, integrating yet another outsourced service into its operations. “While we’ve come a long way, the company is 10 years old and this round is a big announcement, it’s just one step in a much longer journey to create a really significant and meaningful manufacturing company,” said Hart. Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education industries.