$3M expansion to support RoMan Manufacturing’s growth into new markets

$3M expansion to support RoMan Manufacturing’s growth into new markets
Company and elected officials mark the groundbreaking of RoMan Manufacturing’s $3.3 million expansion in Wyoming. Credit: Kayleigh Van Wyk, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business

A $3.3 million expansion for Wyoming-based RoMan Manufacturing Inc. will add more than 50 jobs as the company grows to serve new markets.

RoMan executives and employees, along with state and local government officials, gathered Thursday for a groundbreaking to mark the start of construction on the expansion. 

The project involves a new 27,000-square-foot production facility on the same campus as RoMan’s headquarters at 861 47th St. SW in Wyoming. The new facility will house product lines to help serve the semiconductor, data center and other technology-based industries. 

President Nelson Sanchez, who took over as RoMan’s first non-family president in early 2023, said the expansion is a major milestone in the company’s 43-year history, as the team has worked to recast RoMan’s corporate vision in recent years. 

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“This new facility will allow us to expand our overall capacity to serve our existing core business, which is what we grew up on — the markets of resistance welding, furnace, and glass — and create space to serve these new market opportunities in the semiconductor and data center space, the rise of technology and vehicle electrification,” Sanchez said. “We’re excited to be a part of these new markets and continue to bring solutions to our customers.” 

Nelson Sanchez
Nelson Sanchez

Founded in 1980, RoMan began as a family-owned niche welding business developing low-voltage, high-current water-cooled transformers. Company executives later realized the power supplies could be used in other industries. 

“We decided to expand outside welding and start to chase other industries that could use us so that we didn’t get caught up in just the automotive ups and downs,” Executive Vice President Kurt Hofman said during Thursday’s event. 

The diversification has paid off for RoMan, which had a record year for revenues in 2022 at just north of $45 million and started 2023 with 210 employees and 30 openings, Sanchez said earlier this year. At the start of this year, resistance welding made up roughly 50% of the company’s revenue, and the company has a three-year plan that aims to grow annual revenues beyond $100 million.

The company has been at its Wyoming site since 1982, beginning with an 8,000-square-foot building and adding several new buildings and developments since. In 2015, RoMan completed a $3 million expansion and renovation project with 9,000 square feet added to the office buildings and 15,000 square feet added to one of the industrial buildings. 

industrial building rendering
A rendering of RoMan Manufacturing’s 27,000-square-foot expansion. Credit: Dixon Architecture

The new facility also will house RoMan University, a new training and development program at RoMan, and the company’s U.S. Department of Labor-approved apprenticeship program featuring four state-certified apprenticeships. 

“With the talent shortages that we’ve been facing for many years, and the demographic trends that are pointing to continued shortages in the labor force, RoMan has been investing heavily in talent attraction, development and retention,” Sanchez said. 

State Sen. Mark Huizenga and Wyoming Mayor Kent Vanderwood also attended Thursday’s groundbreaking. 

“On behalf of the entire city council, I want to congratulate RoMan Manufacturing on its new production facility and say thank you for choosing the city of Wyoming and for providing additional job opportunities for our residents and the West Michigan community,” Vanderwood said. 

Grand Rapids-based Copper Rock Construction serves as the general contractor on the expansion project.

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