Subsidiary of Braidy Industries lays off several workers, citing financial constraints

A Massachusetts subsidiary of Braidy Industries, the taxpayer-subsidized company that plans to build a $1.7 billion aluminum mill near Ashland, laid off about seven workers last week, according to company documents obtained by the Herald-Leader.

The downsizing came just days before it announced a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, in partnership with the University of Kentucky.

Veloxint officials sent a letter to employees Feb. 20 saying that it “made the difficult decision to implement a workforce reduction ... necessitated by financial constraints.”

The company declined to provide details on its decision, but issued a statement to the Herald-Leader that said it “remains committed to developing key enabling technologies for the digital transformation of manufacturing.”

“Last week, Veloxint eliminated a small handful of positions as part of a normal business review,” the company said. “We are thankful for the contributions of these team members, and are assisting those impacted as they transition into their next role with job placement assistance and salary continuation.”

The company declined to say how many people it employed, but its Linkedin page says that 30 users identify themselves as Veloxint employees.

Braidy Industries acquired Veloxint in March 2018, describing the company in its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings as a “MIT-incubated lightweighting solutions company ... which is producing some of strongest and stiffest metal ever manufactured.”

According to its website, the company aims to develop nanocrystalline metal alloys that are two to five times stronger than traditional alloys from the same source metals.

Veloxint recently announced that the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office will award the company a $5 million, 3-year grant to conduct research.

The grant will pull together researchers from GE Research, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Kentucky.

“This is an exciting opportunity for our research team — and the University of Kentucky,” said UK engineering professor Matt Beck, in a news release. “UK and the state of Kentucky are committed not only to developing next generation technologies addressing global problems — but also to building domestic manufacturing capability and capacity, and to training a next-generation workforce.”

Braidy Industries has made headlines recently for its publicly contentious split from former CEO and board Chairman Craig Bouchard.

The company and Bouchard are litigating the dispute in a Delaware court, and state officials have raised concerns over the company’s delays in construction.

Braidy Industries still needs to raise about $500 million before it can begin constructing the mill, which officials have said could bring an economic renaissance to northeastern Kentucky.

Former Gov. Matt Bevin, who helped coordinate a $15 million taxpayer investment into the company, said in 2018 that the mill “has the potential to be as significant as any economic deal ever made in the history of Kentucky.”