Ricaurte Precision Inc., one of Orange County’s fastest-growing small firms, produces parts such as pistons, turbines and sensors for some of the biggest aerospace and defense companies in the nation, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
And it’s about to get bigger.
President Hernan Ricaurte told the Business Journal that the company aims to outgrow its current 14,000-square-foot facility in Santa Ana in the next three years.
Ricaurte Precision is a contract manufacturer within the aerospace, defense and medical device industries and specializes in precision machining. The 39-person local team handles the machining of metal and plastic custom components for major manufacturers—such as L3Harris, SpaceX, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Rocket Lab—when those firms lack the capacity to produce those parts in-house.
“Usually, those companies, they don’t have all the resources to make every single part that they build for a rocket, for an airplane,” Ricaurte told the Business Journal.
To outgrow its current location, the company’s goals are to double production and revenue.
Ricaurte Precision creates and ships out around 10,000 pieces plus 300 unique precision parts each month from its Santa Ana site, which operates 24 machines.
In the 12 months ended June 30, 2025, Ricaurte generated revenue of $7.5 million, marking a 38% jump in the last two years. In 2023, the company reported $5.4 million in 12-month revenue. It is ranked No. 3 among Orange County’s fastest-growing private companies in the small category.
The implementation of new technologies and equipment is key driver of growth at the company.
“We want to grow at an approximately 25% year over year from a revenue standpoint, while maintaining our margin,” Ricaurte said.
Scaling Through Technology
In precision machining, Ricaurte said that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will send a custom part out to shops depending on its required material, dimensional tolerance and geometric shape.
Ricaurte wins contracts from these companies, who then provide the designs for the pieces they need the shop to manufacture. The firm accomplishes these jobs with mills, lathes and drills automated by computer numerical control (CNC) machinery and wire electric discharge machines (EDM).
“You need very specific machines, or very specific skill sets in order to make those parts,” Ricaurte said.
Ricaurte Precision works with a variety of materials to make parts such as screws, connectors, pistons, turbines, sensors, scalpels and forceps. Some of these plastics and metals have a dimensional range that can be thinner than a single strand of hair, Ricaurte pointed out.
“We’ve got million-dollar machines out there. And that type of precision doesn’t exist at auto shops,” he said.
“Machining is a huge industry for Southern California because of the aerospace industry that we’ve got here, the defense industry that goes down, and also the medical industry,” Ricaurte added. “The micro-economy exists, and it’s not going away.”
The firm’s core business consists of aerospace parts manufacturing, with defense and medtech clients rounding out the business.
To outgrow Ricaurte’s current facility, the president plans to welcome new technology companywide.
Its newest automated machines can process multiple jobs at a time, switching out tools and materials as needed, and can also manufacture and contour more complicated geometric pieces compared to older, manual machines.
Raising the Bar
Hernan’s father Luis Ricaurte, a proficient machinist, founded the business in 1986.
The younger Ricaurte was in high school when his father started the shop; he joined the business a few decades later.
Originally, he had no interest in machining, he said.
He joined in 2016 when his father decided it was time to walk away from the top role. At the time, Hernan had been traveling for six years between California and Japan, helping healthcare and medical device companies develop new services and expand international footprints.
Then, he decided to stay in one place and take over for his father.
After 18 months of learning the ropes, Ricaurte entered the role of president.
“Since I came on board, it’s been (about) trying to continue to raise the bar in the tech, medical side of our guys, while giving them the tools they need in order to be successful,” he said.
