HANOVER – Hypertherm, the world’s leading manufacturer of plasma cutting technology based out of its world headquarters on Great Hollow Road, has come out of the recession stronger, more focused and more profitable, associates of the company said Tuesday.

The company experienced record sales in 2011 and is projecting growth again in 2012.

There were challenging times, though, from 2008 to 2010. The company has a policy to not lay off employees, said Charlie Hackett, corporate improvement leader, and Jim Miller, vice president of manufacturing.

On Tuesday Hackett and Miller, along with president of Duggan Associates Kevin Duggan, an expert on lean operations who has been working with Hypertherm for over a decade, gave operational excellence or lean operations representatives from other manufacturing companies across the country a tour of its headquarters and manufacturing plant.

Hackett and Miller expect to see Hypertherm, which manufactures in the U.S. and ships to countries around the world, including China, grow into a billion dollar company in the next 10 to 12 years, they said.

The recession was a great time for the company to test its core values and invest in new products, both of which are paying off today, according to Hackett and Miller.

There were certainly lessons learned along the way, Hackett and Miller said.

“We have some core values that are very important to us. And certainly we wouldn’t be in business today if we didn’t have a high-tech product that we believe in and a way of focusing our attention in a way to provide the best services possible,” said Hackett. “But over time we realized that it is also equally important that we take advantage of the human capital, so to speak, that we have in the company. And so many of our core values represent how important we feel it is that our individual associates provide us with that competitive advantage over the long haul.”

The company was started by Dick Couch 44 years ago in a small two-car garage not far from where the headquarters are located today.

Couch was a Dartmouth College student who had an engineering research position at a company in Hanover in which he created a radial, water injection plasma device for the Air Force to test the effect of extreme heat on different materials to simulate how the materials are affected when reentering the atmosphere.

“The intent there was to put an excess heat load on certain materials so you could test them to see how long they would survive,” Hackett said. “What he found was that it was a very effective device in destroying materials.”

The research company wasn’t interested in developing the technology as a cutting tool, so Couch started Hypertherm.

The company continues to move forward with plasma cutting technology as well as other areas of the “cutting spectrum.”

“We see our business growing not just into plasma, but also into laser cutting where we have a small but growing presence as well as into oxy fuel and water jet in the future,” Hackett said.

The recession hit in 2008, but at Hypertherm its lowest point was in 2009 when the company had 110 more associates than it needed for its operations.

They did not turn to layoffs or to the contracting out of jobs, Miller said.

They managed by not filling positions left open when associates left or were terminated for performance reasons, as well as by “redeploying” associates to other duties such as mowing the lawn and office maintenance.

“We’ve been committed since our founding to a no layoff philosophy and we do a number of unique things to protect employment here,” Miller said. “One of the things that we learned is we have a very valuable and flexible work force.”

Holding on to employees was also important since the company has spent years working with its local community to train workers in collaboration with River Valley College in Claremont.

“There aren’t a lot of great machinists walking around,” Miller said.

In almost 20 years the company has grown tremendously in sales and in its number of associates. In 1995 Hypertherm had 260 associates, in 2005 around 700 associates and currently around 1,300 associates.

“Over the course of that period our domestic associates have doubled, but our international associates have quadrupled. And I think that points to the fact that we are really investing in our international presence,” Hackett said.

From Europe to South America to Asia, Hypertherm has sales and service offices. It also has some manufacturing in Italy, but 98 to 99 percent of its manufacturing takes place in the U.S. with the majority of that taking place in the Upper Valley region.

In three months it plans to open a new 160,000 square feet plant on Heater Road.

Hypertherm has a long history of profit sharing. For the past five years the year-end bonus averaged 24 percent of the base salary of the individual associate, Hackett said. “That’s a tremendous incentive if you know that at the end of the year there’s a potential for a 20, 25 percent profit sharing pay out. There’s a tremendous incentive to contribute to the overall improvement of the company.”

Each year associates are also given a certain amount of shares in the company, so they are really owners of the company not just employees.

The associates also really value other aspects of the company such as the three paid days a year to volunteer in their local communities, Hackett said.

Recently the company has undertaken a new approach towards lean operations to create a better work flow and environment. .

In accounts payable on Tuesday team leader Carol Marsh said her team of six was somewhat resistant to the new approach which required the team to work, well, more like a team.

They tackle incoming tasks together and Marsh keeps track of the day’s progress on a large white board throughout the day.

Over a year later, the team member says they love the new approach. Because they work as a team, when they take time off for any reason they don’t come back to an overflowing mailbox, they said.

Miller said before they changed their work flow, Marsh was asking for an additional full time worker. Now the team manages well without needing a new employee.

The same process is taking place on the floor of the manufacturing plant, in which task boards are used to keep track of incoming orders and what machines are needed for each.

It keep the work day flowing and associates can manage themselves, allowing the team leaders to tackle more themselves.

“For us this concept of operational excellence starts with our culture,” Hackett said.