A specialized Swiss manufacturer is investing $70 million to expand from Broward to Palm Beach County and add another 100 jobs
Hoerbiger Corporation of America (HCA) is not exactly a household name in the U.S., let alone Florida, but this Broward County-based subsidiary of Swiss multinational Hoerbiger Holding AG manufactures more than 1.5 million valves, rings, and other products annually for industrial compressors.
HCA has been making these specialized components for reciprocal compressors for more than 45 years, along with compressor control systems and other products. Business has been so brisk that HCA decided to build a new manufacturing plant in Delray Beach in Palm Beach County. It broke ground on the plant in April, and completion is projected for 2026.
“Our new state-of-the-art location includes nearly 200,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing and office space, and will employ 400,” says Arek Drydol, an electrical and electronics engineer who is managing director of HCA and head of North America for Hoerbiger. “Total cost for the new facility, including new technologies, machinery, automation, etc., is more than $70 million.”
That is a substantial expansion for HCA, which currently has about 300 employees at its Pompano Beach facility, says Drydol, “including design and applications engineers, skilled production technicians, machinists, and other supporting staff.” All will relocate to Delray Beach.
The specialized items HCA makes are precision components for large reciprocating compressors used in the oil, natural gas, and petrochemical sectors, and for power plants, a/c systems, and other industrial applications. In the oil industry, for example, these machines compress natural gas and move it through pipelines to processing plants. They also provide air under high pressure for enhanced oil production and refinery processes.
HCA produces the components here and ships them to compressor manufacturers and their clients, who use these complex machines in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.
One of HCA’s oldest clients is Ohio-based Ariel Corp., which uses HCA products to build top-line compressors for international energy companies. Ariel last year used HCA components to manufacture the first commercial compressor (HCP500) designed to fuel trucks and buses with hydrogen in Germany.
“HCA plays a critical role in South Florida’s manufacturing ecosystem,” says Matthew Rocco, president of the South Florida Manufacturers Association. “These kinds of companies represent the advanced manufacturing sector that is vital to our region’s global competitiveness.”
While South Florida manufacturing doesn’t always receive as much attention as tourism, trade, finance, and technology, it is a major force in the state’s economy. “Across the tri-county area, there are approximately 7,000 manufacturing companies, ranging from small, specialized shops to large-scale industrial operations,” Rocco says. These enterprises – including aerospace, medical devices, food processing, and advanced materials – employ over 100,000 people and add more than $9 billion to Florida’s $72.9 billion manufacturing GDP, he says.
HCA is one of six global manufacturing centers for Hoerbiger’s compression branch, and their only U.S.-based production facility (it also has customer service and repair centers in other cities.)
“The new facility … will feature the most innovative manufacturing equipment and technology available today,” Drydol says. “Our new, larger campus is the latest step in our ongoing strategy to enhance customer service throughout the U.S., Canada, and Latin America, while also providing space for future growth.”
Parent company Hoerbiger is based in Zug, Switzerland. With five divisions (compression, automotive, rotary machine parts, internal combustion engines, and safety/explosion protection) it operates in 40 countries with about 6,500 employees and 2024 revenues of $1.7 billion. The company launched its U.S. manufacturing operations in 1967 in Queens, New York, and moved HCA headquarters to Pompano Beach in 1979.
