Meet The Team
Built like a race team.
Run like an aerospace partner.
Momentum is the Business Model
Not your typical take-anything job shop.
Our mission is to be the go-to manufacturing partner for niche industries that need low to medium quantities of parts produced quickly, correctly, and consistently. That means investing in the right people, the right equipment, and the right systems to drive you forward.
The goal is bigger than making parts. We’re building momentum: for our customers, for our team, and for the next generation of high-performance manufacturing.
Meet the Guys Running the Show
DDM’s momentum starts with two leaders who have the dedication and experience to keep raising the bar.
Patrick Hardy brings the discipline of enterprise systems and the ambition of a serial entrepreneur. Rocky Helms brings decades of motorsports machining, aerospace standards, and shop-floor leadership.
Together, they’re building DDM into the kind of manufacturing company that people want to be part of.
REMOVING OBSTACLES
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Patrick spent 30 years in enterprise software with companies like Oracle, IBM, and SAP before buying his first business. Since then, he has built a portfolio that includes 30 Sport Clips franchises across North Carolina and a high-end custom furniture store.
DDM is his next chapter: a chance to build something tangible, create opportunity for skilled people, and turn a capable manufacturing business into a focused company with serious momentum.
He is not interested in running a job shop that takes anything that walks in the door. Patrick wants DDM to choose its markets, name its customers, and become the kind of manufacturing partner demanding industries can count on.
LEADING THE WAY
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Rocky comes from the top of the motorsports machining world. He spent years as General Manager of the machine shop at Richard Childress Racing, one of NASCAR’s most storied teams.
When NASCAR moved to a single-source parts model, many race team shops shifted toward aerospace and defense. Rocky followed that path, spending years leading AS9100-certified work for military and aerospace customers.
He joined DDM with deep technical experience, a strong industry network, and a clear standard: DDM is not here to accept POs and ship parts. It is here to be the team customers call when they have a problem.
From Digital Design & Modeling to DDM Manufacturing
DDM was founded as Digital Design & Modeling on February 19, 1999, by Tom and Sharon McGuire. The company began with a highly specific purpose: milling taxidermy forms with digital precision.
Over time, the work evolved. What started in design and modeling grew into a broader manufacturing business serving customers who needed formed, machined, fabricated, and assembled parts. As the company changed, the original name no longer told the full story.
When Patrick Hardy purchased the business in 2023, he saw more than a plastics-focused shop. He saw the foundation for a focused, high-performance manufacturing company. Since then, DDM has expanded its team, brought dormant machining capacity back online, and continued building toward the industries and customers it is best equipped to serve.