A Southbury-based advanced manufacturer is quietly building electric vehicle chargers, medical air filtration systems, and even an electric motorcycle — and State Rep. Jason Buchsbaum recently stopped by to see it firsthand.
Buchsbaum (R-69) toured Gyre9’s 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, meeting with Founder & President Edward Gilchrest, Chief Research & Design Officer Frank Von Holzhausen, and Sales & Project Manager Lori Galanis.
Gilchrest founded the company in 2006 as a contract product design and engineering firm, adding contract manufacturing in 2012.
The company designs, engineers, and contract-manufactures a wide range of products, with clients including Henkel, Abbott, and Hurst Jaws of Life. Its in-house brand, G9EV, focuses on domestically manufactured EV charging infrastructure. The April 7 tour included a look at products Gyre9 has helped bring to market over its 20-year history.
Gyre9 currently employs more than 20 people at its Southbury facility in roles ranging from industrial designers to mechanical, electrical, software, and manufacturing engineers.
“I think one of the hurdles that small companies and start-ups find with doing business in Connecticut is the somewhat disjointed nature of state government and quasi-public agencies, having to navigate the various state agencies involved in a particular sector,” said Buchsbaum, who is a member of the state’s Commerce Committee.
Another challenge Buchsbaum and the Gyre9 executives discussed is the absence of an overall database of businesses to connect them to one another and to access state resources. This could help not only with networking, they said, but also with filling their needs with a Connecticut workforce.
“We need to work to make Connecticut more business-friendly,” said Buchsbaum, who also serves on the legislature’s Bipartisan Manufacturing Caucus. “One of the ways we can do that is by helping to streamline processes and make state resources more easily accessible.”
He stressed the importance of understanding the needs of local business owners, including state-based manufacturing and innovation leaders like Southbury’s own Gyre9.
In 2024, Gyre9 was honored with the “New Business of the Year” award at the Southbury Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting & Awards Dinner, following the company’s relocation from Oxford to its expanded site in Southbury.
“I look forward to sharing information about Gyre9 with my colleagues on the Commerce Committee,” said Buchsbaum. “Raising awareness about Connecticut-based companies is key to helping them network and grow the local workforce.”
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