With the expansion of Redmond’s industrial and manufacturing sectors comes the expansion of one of the city’s largest companies: BasX Solutions. The company has seen meteoric growth over the last year and has continued to be one of the city’s largest employers.

BasX bought a 2-acre plot of land north of the current complex next to Highway 97 last year and plans to develop and build a 35,000-square-foot welding facility. After the year-long construction project is complete, the company plans to add 35 more jobs, according to REDI.

Additional upgrades to their Redmond operations include adding another tube laser and milling center and purchasing another laser cutter and powder coat facility.

According to Dawn LaPolla, BasX marketing and multimedia specialist, the company has seen 56% year-over-year growth and expects the trend to continue.

“2022 was a tremendous year for BasX,” said Dawn LaPolla, marketing and multimedia specialist for the company, in an email. “The work we have continues to grow and our focus will be to continue investing in this organization and this team.”

BasX, which is pronounced “basics,” develops, designs and builds HVAC systems, cleanrooms and cooling centers. Their products are used by in a range of industries, including for pharmaceutical companies, data centers, semiconductor manufacturing and other industrial uses.

Matt Tobolski and Dave Benson founded the company in Portland in 2014 and began renovating a defunct Walmart building into the modern Redmond facility. They finished construction in 2021 and are continuing to look towards expansion.

In December 2021, BasX was acquired by Aaon, Inc. — a public HVAC manufacturer based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. According to Aaon’s 2022 annual report, they acquired the company for $180 million.

Additionally, the company spent $22 million to purchase the BasX headquarters in Redmond, according to Deschutes County property records.

“From a developmental perspective, the Aaon acquisition of BasX has become an amazing collaboration between both companies,” LaPolla said. “We are learning, on a weekly basis, from each other, which allows internal production and process growth at a higher rate of speed.”

According to LaPolla, this benefits each organization, the employees and their customers.

The company’s rise in revenue goes hand-in-hand with a significant increase in employment over the last year. At the beginning of 2022, the company had 266 employees. That number has nearly doubled and now stands at 525 employees.

Despite their employment successes, however, hiring has still been a difficulty for BasX like many other companies.

“As with other local employers we are affected by the population and available employment pool in Central Oregon,” LaPolla said. “We have extended our advertising and recruitment efforts to cover the bigger cities in Oregon to find the right talent.”

According to LaPolla, they are also planning on reaching out to high schools and are aiming to attract recent graduates to increase their workforce numbers. She said the company offers entry-level positions with on-the-job training as well as the potential for growth within the company.

According to the company’s hiring portal, open positions include roles in engineering, electrical work, piping, quality control, welding and others.

Most opportunities are based at their 200,000-square-foot Redmond headquarters, however, the company has an office in West Linn with some openings.

The company said it expects continued growth in the industry and an increased need for HVAC systems. According to LaPolla, there has been a significant shift in the car manufacturing environment with “tremendous growth” in electric vehicles.

The increase in electric vehicles, she said, has increased the need for battery manufacturers, which will in turn need HVAC systems in their production lines. This opportunity opens another industry segment for BasX, LaPolla said, that will continue to fuel growth for their products.

“The scale of development in data centers, battery plants and semiconductors is absolutely phenomenal and no recession is forecast within these markets,” LaPolla said. “This incredible growth will increase the size of the projects that we acquire.”

But, LaPolla noted that there have been some challenges in the last year, including pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and part shortages that have caused production delays.

Although these issues have diminished since the pandemic, they have continued to affect the business.

“We are working diligently to put plans in place to mitigate these challenges,” LaPolla said.

Additionally, inflation has continued to affect BasX as well. LaPolla said they are trying to find the delicate balance between increasing wages to account for inflation while not pricing them out of being cost-competitive within the industry.