Graham Corporation engages in the design and manufacture of mission critical fluid, power, heat transfer and vacuum technologies for the Defense, Energy & Process, and Space industries.
The company designs and manufactures custom-engineered vacuum, heat transfer, cryogenic pump, and turbomachinery technologies. For the Defense industry, its equipment is used in nuclear and non-nuclear propulsion, power, fluid transfer, and thermal management systems. For the Energy and Process industries, the c...
Graham Corporation engages in the design and manufacture of mission critical fluid, power, heat transfer and vacuum technologies for the Defense, Energy & Process, and Space industries.
The company designs and manufactures custom-engineered vacuum, heat transfer, cryogenic pump, and turbomachinery technologies. For the Defense industry, its equipment is used in nuclear and non-nuclear propulsion, power, fluid transfer, and thermal management systems. For the Energy and Process industries, the company supplies equipment for vacuum, heat transfer, and fluid transfer applications used in oil refining, downstream chemical facilities, fertilizers, ethylene, methanol, edible oil, food and beverage, pulp and paper, and multiple alternative energy applications, such as hydrogen, small modular nuclear, concentrated solar, and geothermal processes. For the Space industry, the company's equipment is used in propulsion, power, thermal management systems, and life support systems.
The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Barber-Nichols, LLC (BN), based in Arvada, CO, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells specialty turbomachinery products for the Defense, Space, Aerospace, Cryogenic, and New Energy markets.
Products, Customers, and Markets
The company manufactures high-quality, highly reliable custom-engineered products for critical applications. It has updated its end market disclosures to better align with how management evaluates the business and product portfolio. As part of this change, revenue previously classified as Refining, Chemical/Petrochemical, and Other, which included New Energy product sales, will now be consolidated into one market, which has been renamed Energy and Process. The Defense and Space end market classifications remain unchanged.
Defense
Power plant systems - ejectors, and surface condensers.
Torpedo ejection, propulsion & power systems - turbines, alternators, regulators, pumps, and blowers.
Thermal management systems - pumps, blowers, and drive electronics.
Energy & Process
Heat transfer & vacuum systems - ejectors, process condensers, surface condensers, liquid ring pumps, heat exchangers, and nozzles.
Power generation systems - turbines, generators, compressors, and pumps.
Thermal management systems - pumps, blowers, and electronics.
Space
Rocket propulsion systems - turbopumps, fuel pumps, cryogenic pumps, and nuclear propellant pump
Cooling systems - pumps, compressors, fans, and blowers
Life support systems - fans, pumps, and blowers
The company’s products are used in a wide range of applications, including:
Defense: Aircraft carrier program (CVN), Virginia fast-attack submarine program (SSN), Columbia and Ohio ballistic submarine program (SSBN), U.S. Navy torpedoes (all size classes), refueling, overhaul replacement, and fleet sustainment equipment, and advanced radar and laser systems.
Energy & Process: Conventional oil refining; oil sands extraction and upgrading; ethanol plants; cogeneration power plants; geothermal and biomass power plants with lithium extraction; concentrated solar power; molten salt reactor development; small modular nuclear reactor development; hydrogen fuel cell power; hydrogen production, transportation, distribution, fueling; zero-emission aviation; ethylene, methanol and nitrogen producing plants; urea and fertilizer plants; plastics, resins and fibers plants; downstream petrochemical plants; coal-to-chemicals plants; gas-to-liquids plants; edible oil plants; food & beverage plants; pulp & paper plants.
Space: NASA xEMU next-generation space suit and commercial derivatives; in-space nuclear thermal propulsion turbomachinery; propellant recirculation pumps; space exploration blowers; satellite active cooling pumps; various commercial space propulsion, fluid and heat transfer applications; and space simulation chambers
The company’s principal customers include tier one and tier two suppliers to the Defense and Aerospace industry, refineries, petrochemical plants, large engineering companies that build installations for companies in the Energy and Process industries (or Engineering Procurement Contractors), and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). A representative list of its customers includes Air Liquide, Applied Research Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University, Aramco, Axiom Space, Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc., Blue Origin, Boeing, CERN, China State-owned Refiners, Cummins, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Echogen Power Systems, General Atomics, General Dynamics, ExxonMobil, Fluor Corporation, Intuitive Machines, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Kairos Power, Koch Fertilizer ENID LLC, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, MHI Compressor International Corporation, NASA, Newport News Shipbuilding, Northrop Grumman, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Radiant Nuclear, Raytheon Technologies, Relativity, Rolls-Royce North America, SAIC, SES, Sierra Space, U.S. Navy, United Launch Alliance, and Varian.
The company’s products are sold by a team of sales engineers whom it employs directly. Two customers each accounted for more than 10% of its revenue in fiscal 2025. As a result of its diversification efforts to more extensively support the U.S. Navy, the company has increased its concentration in domestic and Defense sales. Domestic sales accounted for approximately 81% of total sales in fiscal 2025, while sales to the Defense industry were 58%.
Strategy
The company’s strategy is to build a diversified business that provides mission-critical, high-compliance products requiring exceptional engineering know-how and a highly-skilled and engaged workforce. The company plans to pursue clearly defined markets with significant barriers to entry; and optimize processes and tools to deliver superior performance.
Competition
Defense: The company’s competitors include DC Fabricators, Joseph Oat, PCC, Triumph Aerospace, and Xylem.
Energy and Process: The company’s competitors include Croll Reynolds Company, Inc., Gardner Denver, Inc., Schutte Koerting, and GEA Wiegand GmbH.
Turbomachinery OEM – Defense and Space: The company’s competitors include Ametek, Inc., Concepts NREC, Curtiss Wright, Honeywell, and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions.
Turbomachinery OEM – Energy and Process: The company’s competitors include Donghwa Entec Co., Ltd., KEMCO, and Oeltechnik GmbH.
Turbomachinery OEM – Power and Power Producer: The company’s competitors include Holtec, KEMCO, Maarky Thermal Systems, and Thermal Engineering International (USA), Inc.
Energy and Process: The company’s competitors include Croll Reynolds Company, Inc., Edwards, Ltd., Gardner Denver, Inc., GEA Wiegand GmbH, Korting Hannover AG, and Schutte Koerting.
Turbomachinery OEM – Energy and Process: The company’s competitors include Chem Process Systems, Donghwa Entec Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Turbine Equipment Co., Ltd., KEMCO, Mazda (India), and Oeltechnik GmbH.
Turbomachinery OEM – Power and Power Producer: The company’s competitors include Chem Process Systems, Holtec, KEMCO, Mazda (India), SPX Heat Transfer, and Thermal Engineering International.
Seasonality
Since the majority of the company’s revenue is driven by direct labor hours, its fiscal third quarter, which ends on December 31st, is typically its lowest revenue quarter of the year due to the holidays that fall in that quarter (year ended March 31, 2025). Additionally, the company’s Energy and Process business is highly cyclical as it depends on the willingness of its customers to invest in major capital projects. To help mitigate this risk, the company has taken steps to diversify its business into the Defense industry. Conversely, sales to the Energy and Process markets, which are more cyclical in nature, represented approximately 35% of revenue in fiscal 2025.
Research and Development (R&D) Activities
During fiscal 2025, the company spent $4,039 on research and development (R&D) activities.
History
Graham Corporation was founded in 1936. The company was incorporated in Delaware in 1983.