New Horizons

The region with what may be the healthiest economy in Washington is also, not coincidentally, the region with what may well be the most vibrant and innovative manufacturing sector in the state.

It’s a region that, should the green economy deliver even a portion of what the hype promises for new jobs and economic growth, is most likely to capitalize on those opportunities.

It also happens to be more than 200 miles from Seattle.

To find this oasis of economic vitality, you’ll need to head to the decidedly un-oasis-like locale (unless you’re close to the Columbia River) of the Tri-Cities.

Stats alone tell an impressive tale. The Tri-Cities unemployment rate in September, even though up from a year ago, was still nearly three percentage points better than the rate for the state overall and for King County.

The easy explanation for that level is Hanford, the huge Department of Energy installation where scientists, engineers and workers are now cleaning up what was left behind by decades of nuclear weapons production. With federal stimulus money pouring in, Hanford alone added 1,500 jobs from May to August.

But what’s going on in the Tri-Cities is much more than Hanford. It’s also businesses like food processing and health care. “These are certainly great industries to have when going into the ‘Great Recession,'” writes Dean Schau, regional labor economist with the state Employment Security Department.

Just as significant, though, is what the stats don’t show: The flourishing of an entrepreneurially driven manufacturing sector.

Take a quick survey of some of the region’s companies: The Bogert Group, developer of a jack to enable soldiers to change tires on Humvees quickly; Cadwell Laboratories Inc., which makes monitors for neurophysiology; Viper Aircraft Corp., makers of two-seater jets; UniWest, which manufactures equipment to detect defects in materials; Surgical Implant Generation Network, a nonprofit that produces implants and tools for treating bone fractures and providing orthopedic care in developing nations; Shelby SuperCars, which makes what it says is the world’s fastest production automobile (more than 250 miles per hour) and is now developing a power train for use in electric vehicles; Northwest Jet Boats, producer of aluminum-hull watercraft; TiLite, a manufacturer of titanium-frame manual wheelchairs; and dozens of wine-producing companies in the viticulture belt stretching northwest through the Yakima Valley and east to Walla Walla.

How did the Tri-Cities get to have such a sizable concentration of enterprising manufacturers? Again, the easy answer is Hanford, as well as the brainpower and technology it has brought to the region over the decades.

Lots of towns have research facilities but little entrepreneurial activity. Richard Bogert, president of his namesake company, offers another explanation: “We all hate working a regular job. People get tired of doing that and start their own company.”

Brainpower, research muscle and attitude also help explain why the Tri-Cities, not Puget Sound, are most likely to grab a disproportionate share of whatever growth the green-energy sector generates.

It’s an area that’s already all about energy production and research, from nuclear, wind and hydropower generating facilities to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, deeply involved in investigating crucial questions about producing, transmitting, storing and using energy.

This region’s entrepreneurial bent is already showing up in the energy sector in such companies as Infinia Corp., developer of a solar-powered electricity generator.

Being a leader in energy and innovative manufacturing isn’t just a nice thing for the Tri-Cities; it’s an economic necessity. Although at times it seems like a perpetual project, Hanford cleanup (and the attendant dollars and jobs) won’t last forever. But if the Tri-Cities can sustain and build the manufacturing sector it already has, if it can seize opportunities in the clean-energy sector, it could find itself not only geographically at the center of Washington state, but also economically.