Manufacturing
Governor’s three-part, $9.8 million proposal to woo the 737 MAX
Gov. Christine Gregoire on Wednesday delivered a three-part proposal for $9.8 million in state spending in support of the aerospace industry. The proposal is meant to encourage Boeing to build its 737 MAX in Washington state. Accenture, a management consulting firm with offices worldwide, released a study comparing different contender states aerospace manufacturing strength. The…
The Practical Environmentalist
https://seattlebusinessmag.com/sites/default/files/Watson-ClifMcKenzie-Ad…Attorney, Paradigm Counsel I keep a photo close to me. Its an image of me and my three-year-old son sitting in a field talking baseball (actually, talking Ken Griffey Jr.) I can recall that conversation as though it were yesterday, although today my son is a twenty-three-year old Marine Corps 2nd Lieutenant. Life goes by…
Redmond manufacturer Clarisonics sells to French beauty products leader L’Oreal
Pacific Bioscience Laboratories, the maker of the Clarisonics skin cleansing devices, announced Thursday that it is selling itself to L’Oreal USA. The company, launched by David Giuliani in 2001, has 300 employees and had sales last year of $105 million. The company had recently moved its manufacturing facilities from a small space in Factoria to…
The Reindustrialization of Washington
https://seattlebusinessmag.com/sites/default/files/Leslie_Helmweb2.jpgAttorney, Paradigm Counsel It was three decades ago that business magazines first started talking about the deindustrialization of America. A tsunami of competition from Japan had devastated United States industries such as steel, machine tools and consumer electronics, forcing companies to slash hundreds of thousands of jobs. U.S. companies responded by cutting costs and improving…
Boom or bust?
At this years Paris Air Show, airlines ordered more than $100 billion worth of aircraft and engines from the likes of Boeing, Airbus and General Electric. Since then, Boeing has announced significant production increases over the next couple of years for every one of its commercial aircraft models. It plans, for example, to build 42…
It’s Not All Bad for Boeing
The Paris Air Show was deemed disappointing; manufacture of the already much-delayed Dreamliner has been frozen for a month. While reading about oscillating stock prices, NLRB conflicts, high-profile accusations of hemorrhaged funds in the companys military tanker program, and this weeks anxiety over American Airlines contracts, a Washingtonian may well wonder: What is going well…
Aerospace and defense supplier summit coming to Seattle
Manufacturers and suppliers from major global aerospace and defense industries will meet in Seattle next year to help create business opportunities and share information. The Aerospace & Defense Supplier Summit, March 12-15, 2012, will be hosted by BCI Aerospace, an event facilitator based in Boulogne, France, with major support from The Boeing Company and the…
2011 Washington Manufacturing Awards
China. The recession. The lack of a robust recovery. How to retain workers whose training youve invested in. Where to find trained workers to replace those who retire. Where to find credit. Weighing the cost and complexity of environmental regulations and health-care reform. Did we mention China and the recession? With all theyve had to…
The Support System
> Impact Washington (impactwashington.org). Formerly known as Washington Manufacturing Services, the Mukilteo-based organization provides fee-based consulting to manufacturing companies on ways to improve productivity, efficiency and competitiveness. > Center for Advanced Manufacturing Puget Sound (camps-us.com). CAMPS has grown to the point that it has two membership pods, one in the Kent Valley, the other in…
Food Processor of the Year
Featured Category – Food Processor of the YearNorthwest Frozen, Seattle From left, Northwest Frozen vice president of operations Henderson Mar, CEO Phil Sinz and president James Foreman, photographed by Andrew Waits. Some foods, no matter how popular they are when freshly made, dont translate well to frozen. That was the conventional wisdom, anyway, with sushi….
Emerging Manufacturers of the Year
Small Company (tie)Smartplug Systems, Seattle Seen one electrical plug, youve pretty much seen them all, right? Thats not true anymore in the industrial segment, where SmartPlug has come up with a new design for a shore-power plug for the marine industry. Ken Smith, the founder of SmartPlug, got the idea from repairing fire-damaged boats, thinking…
Manufacturing Innovators of the Year
Small Company (tie)Advanced Rail Concepts, Snohomish Ive been working on the railroad no longer means gangs of workers pounding spikes and lifting rails. Much of the work is now mechanized, but you cant just take any piece of construction equipment and put it to work. Aside from the matter of the rails interfering with the…
Manufacturing Executives of the Year
Small Company (tie)Diane and Cole Waldo, FSX Equipment, Granite Falls General manager Cole Waldo and president Diane Waldo of FSX Equipment, photographed by Hayley Young Diesel particulate filters are roughly equivalent to catalytic converters on cars, except theyre fitted to the exhaust stacks of heavy-duty trucks and construction equipment. Formed in 2007, FSX makes the…