This High-Tech Factory Makes Parts For Rockets And Fighter Jets Ten Times Faster

Forbes

Hadrian founder and CEO Chris Power has raised $180 million to manufacture metal parts at warp speeds at his California factory. Now he’s got plans to build a network of them across the country to make more parts better, faster and cheaper.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2024/08/15/this-high-tech-factory-makes-parts-for-rockets-and-fighter-jets-10-times-faster-hadrian-chris-power/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, this high-tech factory makes parts for rockets and fighter jets 10 times

00:06faster.

00:08At Hadrian's Torrance, California factory, the machines keep working after their operators

00:13go home.

00:14Swing by after hours and you'll see them, displays aglow as they crank out parts in

00:18the dark.

00:20Chris Power, Hadrian's 33-year-old founder and CEO said, quote, we're running 24-7.

00:27There's a crew of people during the day and then it just runs itself.

00:30That's what our software does for manufacturing.

00:33Power's vision is somewhat different from other startups building tech to make other

00:36companies' factories more efficient.

00:39He's developed proprietary software to run Hadrian's own factory, which allows it to

00:44churn out all types of precision metal parts for aerospace, space, and defense companies

00:49faster, more efficiently, and with fewer people.

00:53Now he wants to build out a network of cookie-cutter, high-tech machine shops across the country

00:58to shake up a giant and fragmented industry.

01:01That's a difficult and capital-intensive project, but one that Power argues is crucial for America's

01:06industrial base.

01:08Investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, and Lux Capital, have bet $180

01:14million on it, and the company is now worth roughly $500 million.

01:20While the three-year-old business is still small, having just launched commercially in

01:242023, it's growing fast.

01:27It brought in $3 million in revenue last year, and Power expects to increase that number

01:32tenfold this year, reaching at least $30 million, as it ramps up production from its factory

01:38near Los Angeles.

01:40Those numbers helped Hadrian make the cut for this year's Next Billion Dollar Startups

01:44list, which was released last week.

01:47The Next Billion Dollar Startups list is Forbes' annual showcase of the 25 companies we think

01:52most likely to reach a $1 billion valuation.

01:57There are huge risks to building a new high-tech manufacturing business.

02:01Metal parts that go in rockets or satellites need to be extremely precise, yet production

02:06quantities of each part are very limited.

02:09That's quite different from automotive factories, where manufacturers churn out standardized

02:13parts in vast quantities.

02:16As a result, many machine shops for such specialized parts have stayed small, despite the industry

02:21being as large as $50 billion.

02:24According to Power, Hadrian currently produces thousands of parts each month, comprising

02:28hundreds of unique ones.

02:31John Hart, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and director of its Laboratory for

02:36Manufacturing and Productivity, said, quote,

02:39There is certainly an opportunity to improve the speed and efficiency with which parts

02:43are made.

02:44That said, machining is still really complicated.

02:48Hadrian's software is what enables its existing factory to make spaceflight-grade parts ten

02:53times faster and more than 40% more efficiently than legacy manufacturers.

02:58That software allows Hadrian to take legacy designs or CAD files from customers and turn

03:04them into digital instructions to make finished parts.

03:07It also operates as a brain for the factory, letting it track and schedule jobs, and allows

03:12the machines to run on autopilot and be inspected autonomously.

03:17That permits Hadrian to produce parts at a speed that has its customers excited.

03:21This is a market where the delay in one small part can mess up an entire rocket launch or

03:26postpone a delivery of a needed fighter jet.

03:29Dana Grayson, co-founder of Construct Capital, an investor in Hadrian and other manufacturing

03:34startups, said, quote,

03:36I think we're just at the early innings of how to change the whole industrials market

03:40into a technology market.

03:42Power said that the need for a more efficient machine shop is so great that Hadrian has

03:46been growing at rates of 20% or more each month, despite not having set up a sales team

03:51until this spring.

03:53Now he wants to build out additional factories, speeding towards his vision of a network of

03:58automated plants across the country that can, as he sees it, help the U.S. maintain its

04:03industrial power against China.

04:06Power said, quote,

04:08If you want something made, we'll make it for you, higher quality, faster, and cheaper.

04:13For full coverage, be sure to watch our Forbes feature video on Hadrian and Chris Power,

04:18and check out Amy Feldman's piece on Forbes.com.

04:22This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:25Thanks for tuning in.

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