Heather Falcone, the chief executive of Thermal-Vac Technology Inc. in Orange, says her team has celebrated the company’s success and profitability with “tacos and piñatas stuffed with $20s.”
“Can’t beat that,” she told the Business Journal late last month. Her one-word summary of how things are going for the company: “terrific.”
Thermal-Vac won a Family-Owned Business Award in the medium-sized company category from the Business Journal last August.
Falcone’s father, Steve Driscol, founded the company in 1985.
Her brothers—Sean, Shane, and Shannon—also work at the company, where nearly a quarter of the employees are related in some way.
Her company operates a brazing, heat-treating and finishing facility, for products used in the inner workings of space vehicles, as well as other aerospace and military products.
Brazing is a process using heat to join pieces of metal together, using a molten filler metal in the joint. Think of it as a metallic, high-temperature glue, which can withstand the stresses of rocket launches and deep space travel.
Thermal-Vac also prides itself on partnering with Chrysalis, a nonprofit dedicated to helping individuals experiencing homelessness, extreme poverty, and the criminal justice system to return to the workplace and gain self-sufficiency.
“We have onboarded two new team members, both of whom are Chrysalis clients,” Falcone told the Business Journal on April 27.
In fiscal year 2020, the company had $12 million in annual revenue, with 600 customers, Falcone said in August.
NASA-JPL Partner
Thermal-Vac has worked on space shuttle flights and other prominent outer-space projects.
“We recently successfully completed work on the SphereX project as a partner to NASA-JPL,” Falcone said late last month.
The SphereX Observatory will collect data on more than 300 million galaxies along with more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way to explore the origins of the universe.
The company’s work is used in missile defense, deep space exploration, commercial and space heavy payload launch vehicles, medical devices and oil exploration among many other areas.
Falcone said last year the company offers services to a wide customer base, including NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Honeywell.
