(BasX new warehouse | Photo courtesy of Basx Solutions)
BasX Solutions President and Co-Founder Matt Tobolski shared he has met people who aren’t quite sure what happens in the former Redmond Walmart building, visible from Highway 97 with its bright red BasX sign. “We have been told people thought we were a bowling alley or a paintball arena,” Tobolski, Ph.D., said.
BasX Solutions designs and manufactures high-efficiency data center cooling solutions, cleanroom systems, custom HVAC solutions and modular products for data center, medical, bioscience, military and semiconductor companies.
Its name shares the company’s values. “BasX is about focusing on basic and solid business practices,” Tobolski said. “We take pride in our products and the people who work with us. We honor our word and our commitments. We are in business to make money, but we are focused on doing what is right and not solely driven by profit. If we make a mistake, we own up to it.”
BasX Solutions was founded in 2013 by Tobolski and CEO Dave Benson in Portland, and moved to the former Walmart in Redmond in 2014. Combining their knowledge, talents and leadership skills, their company designs and builds state-of-the art products to meet their clients’ individual needs.
“Dave and I met when I was working as a consultant for his former company,” Tobolski said. “I had a consulting firm in San Diego. He was thinking about retiring, and I told him he was too young to retire and encouraged him to start a company with me.”
Benson has 35 years of experience in the HVAC industry as the HVAC design engineer and operations manager at Intel, the past-president and founder of Cleanpak, and the president and founder of Huntair. Benson, 63, has pioneered the development and manufacturing of products shaping today’s industry standard of air-handling technology and efficiency. “Dave is well-known in the industry as a creative industry mind in solving problems and finding innovative and industry changing solutions,” Tobolski said.
Tobolski grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and moved to San Diego, California, to earn his Ph.D. in structural engineering from the University of California, San Diego. Tobolski, 38, was the president and founder of Tobolski and Watkins structural engineering firm in San Diego.
“When Dave shared that he would like to locate the company in Central Oregon, I had to ask him where it was,” Tobolski said with a chuckle. “I visited here with my wife and saw everything Central Oregon has to offer.”
On a Monday morning in October, Tobolski toured the manufacturing plant where teams were busy assembling HVAC to clean rooms, painting or powder coating materials and other tasks. The company’s team includes electricians, welders, sheet metal fabricators, painters, plumbers, assembly technicians, architects and engineers along with support staff. “We are proud of our entire staff and how they have supported us and contributed to our growth,” he said.
Tobolski said BasX’s team designs and builds items from the size of a desk to 100 feet long. “We build everything on site and ship it to the customer so it’s ready to be installed,” he said. “Our goal is for there to be minimal work at the site to have the equipment be fully operational.”
While everything the company builds is complicated, it’s also simple because it’s based on solid engineering practices. “We start by listening to what the customer wants built and how they want the product to work,” he said. “Our responsibility is translating what the customer says and delivering the product the customer wants.”
Tobolski continued to say that the supply chain shift due to the pandemic has created a demand for items such as computer chips manufactured in the United States. “Our goal is to support the needs of U.S. manufacturing companies who need clean rooms and more,” he said.
Tobolski said he and his team are grateful for the support their company has received from the Redmond community, including Redmond Mayor George Endicott, Redmond Economic Development Inc. (REDI), the Redmond Chamber of Commerce, the city of Redmond and Economic Development for Central Oregon, or EDCO.
REDI Senior Director Jon Stark said BasX Solutions is one of the largest employers in Redmond who pays good wages, makes philanthropic investments and purchases items from local suppliers in Redmond.
Stark said BasX Solutions is a good fit for Redmond’s economic development goals because it is “exactly the type of gazelle company we look to locate in Redmond. Their hockey stick growth curve helps strengthen our tax base and the wealth of our community.”
Stark continued, saying that BasX is a proven example of how a company can move, start and grow in Redmond, being one of the fastest growing companies in Oregon, according to the Portland Business Journal in 2016. “The innovative talent of their team gives us great confidence on what lies ahead for this company here in Redmond,” Stark said.
Redmond Mayor George Endicott recently attended the celebration of BasX installing an 80-foot American flag. “I am really proud to have BasX in Redmond because they make great products, have great employees and great community members,” Endicott said. “I am impressed with the state-of-the-art science they use and the science behind what they do and why they do it. The products they are building are state-of-the art.”
Mayor Endicott said BasX is a first-class business, from start to finish. “The company is highly respected within its industry and that’s a reputation well-deserved and well-earned,” Mayor Endicott said.
