Manufacturing support strong

LONGMONT — Longmont is home to numerous small manufacturers, most of which find their sustenance in projects outsourced from larger companies.

Although they may seem to be many small, scrappy fish devouring a limited food supply, each company has developed a niche that keeps the manufacturing ecosystem working. And when a source of work is eliminated during lean economic times, shifting to another keeps these companies in business.

?With the economy as it’s been, a lot of the larger manufacturing companies have been taking the smaller-run projects,? said David Halleck, director of business development at Longmont-based HWI Manufacturing.

In a flush economy,…