Construction crews have spent the late summer and early fall moving earth and laying gravel roads across a 180-acre field in Great Falls’ AgriTech Park. By the time the work is finished, years from now, that ground is expected to hold an $800 million manufacturing campus for Janicki Industries, which local TV station KRTV has described as the company’s largest.
The company behind the project is not a household name in Montana. Here is a look at who the Janickis are, how a machine shop in a small Washington timber town grew into a major aerospace supplier, and what the company has said about its plans for Great Falls.
From boat molds to aircraft parts
Janicki began in 1993 as Janicki Machine Design, founded by Peter and Susan Janicki in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, a Skagit County town of about 12,000 people north of Seattle. Peter’s brother, John Janicki, joined a year later and is now the company’s president. Peter Janicki serves as founder and CEO.
According to the company’s own history, the original plan was to build and sell large five-axis, computer-controlled milling machines to the marine industry. The mills were designed to be both very large and very precise. Instead of buying the machines, boat builders hired the young company to cut hull molds and plugs for them, replacing slow hand-shaped work with machined tooling.
That precision work caught the attention of aerospace manufacturers. Over the next three decades Janicki moved into composite tooling, then into making composite and metal parts, prototypes and assemblies itself. Today the privately held company describes its customers as spanning aerospace, defense, space, marine and architecture, and it reports operating more than 1 million square feet of production space in Washington and Utah, with more than 2,000 employees.
Why Great Falls
On June 2, 2026, Janicki announced that Great Falls had won its search for a new manufacturing site after a multi-month evaluation driven by growth in its aerospace, defense and space programs. Great Falls news site The Electric reported that the finalists came down to Great Falls and Twin Falls, Idaho, and that the company was seeking state and local tax incentives and infrastructure support.
Before the announcement, in mid-May, the Great Falls City Commission and the Cascade County Commission approved tax abatements for the project, The Electric reported. Under the state law governing the abatement, qualifying property is taxed at 50 percent of its taxable value for the first five years after construction begins, with the rate stepping up until full taxable value is reached in the tenth year. Janicki estimated the property’s full annual tax bill, once complete, at roughly $6.5 million. County commissioners also approved an equipment abatement at the 80 percent level.
The company is buying the land in AgriTech Park, near 18th Avenue North and 67th Street on the city’s northeast edge. John Janicki told KRTV at the July groundbreaking that the company had “checked out the whole state” before settling on Great Falls, and that workforce availability and housing were key factors.
The groundbreaking and the timeline
Gov. Greg Gianforte, U.S. Rep. Troy Downing, Great Falls Mayor Cory Reeves and Great Falls Development Alliance President and CEO Brett Doney joined the Janicki brothers for the ceremonial start of construction on July 10. Rather than turn a shovel, John and Peter Janicki climbed into two excavators and moved the first dirt themselves, according to the company.
The plan calls for about 1.6 million square feet of production space built in phases over roughly a decade. Janicki has said it expects about 1,000 jobs within five years and more than 2,000 at full build-out. Operations are expected to begin in the first building with about 200 employees, with hiring added as more buildings and production lines come online.
The opening date for that first phase has moved. Company materials from June and July pointed to the end of 2027. In an October report, KRTV said the first phase is now expected to open by the end of 2028. A Great Falls Development Alliance official told the station that the coming winter’s weather will help set the pace of concrete work.
A local leader for the Montana campus
On Oct. 8, Janicki announced that Daniel Voorhies, a retired Air Force colonel who most recently commanded the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, had joined the company in September as senior director of operations for the Great Falls campus. The company said he will oversee day-to-day operations there. Voorhies served 25 years in the Air Force, including tours at Malmstrom and at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
“Great Falls has become my home, and this is a chance to help build something lasting in my community,” Voorhies said in the company’s announcement.
Voorhies told KRTV that the company intends to hire locally and that hiring will come “in waves” as each building nears completion. The Great Falls Development Alliance has been referring potential subcontractors, vendors and suppliers to the company, and Janicki has been recruiting at events such as a career expo at Great Falls College MSU.
What it could mean for the region
For Great Falls, the appeal is clear: a privately owned manufacturer with a long record in precision work, promising skilled jobs in a city that has long relied on Malmstrom, health care, agriculture and retail. The development alliance has pointed to local machinists and mechanics whose skills could transfer, and Janicki says it trains many of its own workers in-house.
The open questions are the ordinary ones for any large, phased project: how quickly the buildings rise, how fast customer demand grows, and how the local housing market absorbs hundreds of new workers. Janicki has said it expects most of the Great Falls workforce to be Montanans, and John Janicki estimated to KRTV that 85 to 90 percent of the campus’s future employees already live in the state.
Janicki posts updates on the project and job openings on its Montana page at janicki.com/montana.
Sources
- Janicki, “About Us”: https://www.janicki.com/about-us/
- Janicki, “Janicki Selects Great Falls, Montana for $800 Million Manufacturing Campus Expansion,” June 2, 2026: https://www.janicki.com/janicki-selects-great-falls-montana/
- Office of the Governor, “Gov. Gianforte, Janicki Industries Break Ground on $800 Million Manufacturing Campus in Great Falls,” July 10, 2026: news.mt.gov
- The Electric, “Janicki selects Great Falls for $830 million expansion,” June 2, 2026: theelectricgf.com
- KRTV, “Janicki groundbreaking moves Great Falls aerospace campus into construction”: krtv.com
- KRTV, “New Janicki operations director prepares to lead Montana campus, construction progresses”: krtv.com
- Janicki, “Janicki Industries Names Daniel Voorhies Senior Director of Operations for New Montana Campus,” Oct. 8, 2026: janicki.com