Beehive Industries acquires two Ohio machine shops to scale 3D-printed jet engine production for defense applications
Hardware
Originally reported by The Defense Post
Beehive Industries has acquired the assets of Able Tool Corporation and its subsidiary Planet Products Corporation, two Ohio-based precision machine shops, as the company transitions its Frenzy jet engine into full-rate manufacturing. The facilities will become Beehive's Production Machining Center of Excellence, complementing its existing site in Knoxville, Tennessee, which will serve as the Production Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence. Together, the two centers are expected to support an annual output of more than 8,000 engines, combining metal laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), machining, and post-processing under a unified manufacturing network focused on defense propulsion. CEO Darius Ehteshami stated the acquisition provides immediate precision machining capability, proven talent, and operational experience to scale at the speed the modern warfighter demands.
This acquisition fits the pattern of defense-driven AM scale-up, where additive and subtractive capabilities must be integrated rather than treated as separate production steps. Beehive's move reflects a broader push by US manufacturers to build domestic AM production capacity as demand grows across defense and aerospace. The company recently announced a $50 million investment in EOS LPBF systems, adding 30 metal machines across its Colorado and Tennessee facilities. This vertical integration strategy addresses a key bottleneck in AM production: the gap between printing and finishing. By owning both additive and subtractive capacity, Beehive can control quality, lead times, and cost across the full manufacturing chain, which is critical for defense programs that require certified, repeatable output at scale.
From a practical standpoint, Beehive is executing the hard part of AM industrialization: turning a capable printing process into a repeatable factory system. The 8,000-engine annual target is ambitious but grounded in a dual-site strategy that pairs additive with conventional machining. The company must now demonstrate that it can maintain quality and throughput across both centers while meeting defense certification requirements. For buyers and program managers, the key question is whether Beehive can deliver on schedule and at cost, not whether the technology works.
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