Continuous Composites Inc., a Coeur d'Alene-based carbon fiber parts and machines manufacturer, is planning to expand its workforce following a successful move to a new office and warehouse space at 3875 N. Schreiber Way in the Coeur d’Alene Commerce Park, says Richard Janney, vice president of finance at Continuous Composites. 

“We're doing the final touches of the office, hanging pictures, putting things together, and getting everything all set up,” Janney says.

The new building is over 200% larger than the company’s former space, a leased building at 216 E. Coeur d’Alene, in downtown Coeur d’Alene. That site site had 5,500 square feet for both the company’s continuous fiber three-dimensional printing machines and office space.

“Our production facility is probably three times the size of what it was in the previous place,” he says. “We have more offices here. We have more square footage for more engineers and support staff.”

Continuous Composites’ new facility on North Schreiber Way is 17,000 square feet in size, with 6,000 square feet of office space and 11,000 square feet of warehouse space. 

The company will lease the building for at least five years from Post Falls-based KWI LLC. Janney declines to disclose the terms of the lease.

With the additional room, Janney says the company plans to expand its workforce by 15% to 20% through 2026 and 2027, up from 30 employees.

New employees will be hired as needed as Continuous Composites is offered more contracts. The company will hire predominately engineers at first followed by additional support staff as the engineering workforce grows, Janney explains.

Continuous Composites was founded in 2012 in Coeur d’Alene and produces robotic arms to build high-tolerance composite parts for aerospace and defense applications, the Journal previously reported. The advanced composites, including carbon fiber, are 3D printed robotically, resulting in fast manufacturing times and strong, lightweight components.

“We'll get a request from a customer to print a particular panel, or whatever the case is, and then we'll deliver that panel — we're not manufacturing thousands of parts a month or a week,” he says. “We're doing special projects for a customer, a specific deliverable, probably one-off, or twice, maybe three times.”

Normal business operations were impacted for about two weeks as manufacturing machines were broken down and transported more than 2 1/2 miles northwest to the company’s new building.

Continuous Composites typically works with about 10 clients at any given time. Janney declines to disclose the company's latest annual revenue, but says it’s trending upward because of an increase in customers and contracts.

Janney says he doesn’t expect the company to move from its current location anytime soon, but would rather acquire another building to serve as an additional production facility if the need arises.

“The company is growing; we’ve found a niche in working with the aerospace and defense industry,” he says.