The 2016 Washington Manufacturing Awards: Executive of the Year, Large Firms

Western Integrated Technologies started in 1969 as Hydraulics Components Company, a small distributor of hydraulic-system components. Bill Hill and a partner bought it in 1986. Bolstered by acquisitions and a strategy to move into manufacturing, Western Integrated today designs and builds the fluid-power and electronic systems that run industrial facilities like lumber mills, power-generation plants and aerospace factories, from a network of locations in the western United States, including a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Kent.

WIT builds and stocks custom components for the systems it sells, cutting from weeks to hours the time it would take to get a replacement from the original manufacturer. The company also developed its own remote-monitoring hardware and software system, allowing customers to check on the location and operating condition of mobile equipment.

Having guided Western Integrated through diversification and growth, Hill hired a president for the company. The move gave Hill more time to plan the next phase and to focus on issues of concern to the regional manufacturing community, such as workforce development and encouraging careers in manufacturing.