Westbrook-based Lee Co. has opened a $20 million, 27,500-square-foot innovation center designed to accelerate product development for one of Connecticut’s largest family-owned manufacturers — with data center cooling technology among its first targets.
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Thomas Frosell, vice president of innovation for the Lee Company in Westbrook, showed off a small solenoid valve, covered in wires and attached to an improbable looking test rig.
“We sell millions of these, it’s been a bread-and-butter product line for us,” he said. “And we figured out how to make it work in this other market.”
The tiny valve has been used for years in medical devices, specifically in benchtop diagnostic equipment. But Frosell and his team want to repurpose it for the hottest new industry around — data centers, which need huge amounts of water for cooling.
Engineers are working on adapting the compact valve to precisely regulate cooling water used to manage heat from computer chips. Its small size could allow it to be integrated closer to the chip itself for more targeted, energy-efficient cooling.
The project illustrates the type of research the Lee Co. hopes to accelerate at its new 27,500-square-foot Innovation Center in Westbrook — a $20 million investment aimed at expanding product development.
The company recently debuted the innovation center during a public event attended by several top executives, including Chairman Bill Lee.
“We Lees, we’re all dreamers, and one of my dreams was this building,” he said, calling it “a vibrant place to attract young engineering talent and people who want to work in innovation.”
The facility will employ about 25 people when fully staffed, mostly engineers, along with drafters and machinists.
The company said it is also hiring for production roles.
“Whether machinists or engineers, digital talents, marketing talents, assembly — whatever, we need people at all levels of our organization,” Lee said.
Lee Co. manufactures precision fluid-control components used in aerospace, automotive, health care and other industries. One of the largest family-owned companies in the state, it employs about 1,200 people across its Westbrook and Essex locations.
The investment comes as research spending has steadily increased across U.S. industries in recent years. Research and development expenditures were estimated to reach about $993 billion in 2024, up from $937 billion in 2023, according to the National Science Foundation.
