Manufacturing
Seattle’s business boom is the envy of the nation.
The national news has been filled in recent days with stories about Seattle. And it’s not just about Ballmer’s impending retirement. The New York Times this morning has a front page story on how Amazon is remaking our downtown. Yesterday the paper had a piece on Glenn Kelman of Redfin. The Wall Street Journal has…
Get your World of Warcraft avatar, fresh off the printer.
While few would call the activity productive, tens of millions of people have spent billions of hours inventing characters and playing in elaborate virtual worlds created for games such as Minecraft and World of Warcraft. Kirkland-based FigurePrints has found one small way to make the virtual world real. Ed Fries, an avid player of World…
OutBack Power Opens New Headquarters Amid Solar Industry Growth
OutBack Power Technologies, Inc. is an innovative company making important contributions in areas around the world beyond the reach of the electric grid. It makes inverters, chargers and battery systems used everywhere from clinics in Haiti to fishing villages in Borneo. With a new headquarters building in Arlington they will be stepping up their product…
Diono knows belt-tightening
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a companion story to a larger feature about Diono. See that story here. Russ and Steve Berger invented the Mighty-Tite ratcheting belt tightener after watching a 20/20 report that revealed 89 percent of all child car seats were unsafe because they werent secured properly. The seats were too hard to secure…
Car-seat maker Diono’s revenues soar
Brad Keller admits that back in 1999, he wasnt sure that a car-seat belt tightener would go very far or generate much revenue. But he was intrigued enough by Russ and Steve Bergers invention that he jumped ship to see where the Mighty- Tite, a ratchet that helps parents tighten their childrens car seats properly…
New Fish Consumption Estimates Could Lead to Strict Environmental Standards
A Boeing-backed blowup over a fish-consumption study in the final days of this years legislative session points toward a major showdown next year over water-quality rules and also about that eternal and unfathomable question for Washington lawmakers, what does Boeing want? Next year regulators at the Department of Ecology are poised to adopt standards so…
Bright Idea: Illuminating Decision
Jonathan Junker and Seth Grizzle saw the light in 2008 when most business owners werent seeing even a glimmer at the end of the recessionary tunnel. The two architects founded Graypants Inc. as a way to tap their seemingly boundless creative energy. In that first year, they continued working at separate Seattle firms while moonlighting…
Seattle Business magazine honors the state’s top manufacturers
Seattle Business magazine honored 20 of the top manufacturers in the state at the 2013 Washington Manufacturing Awards on April 25 at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel. Seattle Business hosted 275 members of the states manufacturing community, placing the spotlight on each of the honorees as keynotes for the evening. In a letter distributed at the…
George Weyerhaeuser, Tacoma civic leader, dies
George Weyerhaeuser, whose father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather all headed the Federal Way timber products company bearing their surname, has died. Weyerhaeuser, 59, suffered a heart attack Sunday. According to The News Tribune, Weyerhaeuser had a 30-year career at Weyerhaeuser Co., including a five-year tenure as president and CEO of Weyerhaeuser Canada, before retiring in…
2013 Washington Manufacturing Awards: Food Processor of the Year
Winner: Cucina Fresca Gourmet Foods, SeattleIt started in a mom-and-pop storefront at Pike Place Market 30 years ago. Today, Cucina Fresca makes more than 30 retail productspastas, of course, but also soups, sauces and ready-to-eat mealsthat are available in more than 1,000 stores nationwide. It offers more than 130 products for the food-service industry, too….
2013 Washington Manufacturing Awards: Innovator of the Year | Small Firms
Winner: 3 Phase Energy Systems, AuburnSerial inventor and entrepreneur Pete Agtuca (Pacific Air Cargo Transfer, Laser Cutting Northwest, 3 Phase Energy Systems) is back with a new innovation, Powersails, a portable low-cost, easily deployable wind-power system. Instead of a rigid material like fiberglass, the Powersails system uses sailcloth and can generate electricity at wind speeds…
2013 Washington Manufacturing Awards: Innovator of the Year | Midsize Firms
Winner: B.E. Meyers, RedmondWhen operating in hostile environments, military and law enforcement personnel need all the advantages they can get. Providing that advantage in the form of optoelectronics technology is the operating niche of B.E. Meyers & Co. With more than 150 employees, the 38-year-old firm makes night-vision systems, nonlethal lasers for identifying targets and…
2013 Washington Manufacturing Awards: Emerging Manufacturer | Small Firms
Winner: Laser Techniques Company, RedmondLasers are remarkably versatile and powerful. One business putting that power and versatility to good use is Laser Techniques Company, which makes inspection devices for energy, defense and aerospace applications. Need to quickly and accurately map the condition of nuclear steam-generator apparatus? Laser Techniques makes a tool for that. How about…