Company history

Our commitment to engineering and building the best industrial cutting solutions on the market dates back more than 50 years. From humble beginnings in a two-car garage to  manufacturer of advanced cutting solutions sold around the world, our story is one of innovation, hard work, and customer focus.

1968 Dick Couch and Bob Dean invent water-injection plasma-arc cutting in a two-car garage in Hanover, NH.
1970 First product sale: two PAC-400s are installed at the Mixing Equipment Company in Rochester, NY.
1975 Our flagship corporate and manufacturing facility opens at across the street from the garage where it started.
	1985 We sell our 1000th system and enter the air-plasma market.
1989 Global growth begins with the opening of our first international subsidiary, Hypertherm Plasmatechnik GmbH in Maintal, Germany.
	1991 First Asian subsidiary opens in Singapore.
1992 Our commitment to world-class quality systems is recognized with ISO 9001 certification for Hypertherm plasma products.
1993 The first OMAX waterjet systems are introduced.
	1999 The Centricut® brand joins our family and we open our European headquarters in the Netherlands.
2001 “Our company is our people; our people are our company.” Hypertherm becomes Associate-owned with an Employee Stock Ownership Plan; First South American office opens in Brazil.
	2002 Fortune Magazine ranks us #12 on its list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For"; our Robotmaster® brand introduces its first CAD/CAM based robotic programming software.
2003 We open and office in Shanghai, China and establish a Global Stock Value Plan to extend stock Associate ownership to international Associates.
	2007 As part of our commitment to local manufacturing, the Hypertherm Technical Training Institute is launched as a public-private partnership for training skilled machine operators.
2008 Product portfolio growth continues through the addition of Esse A., an Italian manufacturer of laser cutting consumables, and our ProNest® brand of nesting software.
	2010 The HOPE Foundation is established as a public grant-making non-profit 501(c) 3 foundation.
2013 Multi-technology expansion continues with acquisition of our AccuStream® waterjet brand. We expand our Employee Stock Ownership Plan to become a 100% Associate-owned company.
	2015 We expand our robotic capabilities with the addition of our Robotmaster® software brand; Robotmaster named a 20 Most Promising Robotics Solutions Providers.
2016 The Ethisphere Institute names Hypertherm one of the world's most ethical companies.
	2017 Hypertherm introduces the world's first X-Definition® class plasma; Our OMAX brand achieves ISO 9001 certification.
2018 We celebrate our 50th anniversary and are named one of America's Best Employers by Forbes Magazine.
2019 Hypertherm acquires OMAX to form the industry's leading waterjet offering.
2020 Business New Hampshire Magazine names us a Business of the Decade.
	2021 Hypertherm introduces the Powermax SYNC®, the world’s first smart plasma systems with a single-piece cartridge consumable; the New Hampshire Tech Alliance names the product a “Product of the Year” finalist.
2022 OMAX introduces a new generation of waterjet called the OptiMAX; Hypertherm changes its corporate name to Hypertherm Associates.