Manufacturing
Big, Heavy and Nimble
T Bailey incorporated steelwindmill tower elements into the design of its new headquarters building inAnacortes. Whether working on projects thatare big and heavy or small and artistic, T Bailey Inc. is using its skill insteel fabrication as the basis for a successful business model. While theAnacortes-based company is best known for building large water tanks…
Is the Rush to Outource in China Finally Slowing?
GM Nameplate, a large, Seattle-based manufacturer, had plans to move more of its manufacturing to China, but decided to keep its existing manufacturing base in the United States after facing challenges at its Chinese plant. The Chinese plant, based in Dong Guan, will continue to manufacture nameplates for customers operating in China such as Flextronics….
Loving It Loud
Mike Soldano (right)in the Magnolia workshop of his company, Soldano Custom Amplification. With himare his longtime right hand Bill Sundt (left), and Don Blair (center, with back turned). Once upon a time, a young rock and roll guitarist moved fromSeattle to Los Angeles to try to make a go of it in the music industry….
Talking Points: R. Bradley Lawrence
Brad Lawrence had been chief operating officer at EsterlineTechnologies for just nine months when he was appointed CEO of the leadingaerospace and defense supplier in June 2009, replacing longtime CEO RobertCremin. Before joining the company in 2002, Lawrence held various executivepositions at Rockwell International, Paccar and Flow International. Youth: I was raised in western Pennsylvania…
Budding Bamboo
A Seattle clothing startup, Five Bamboo, hopes to clean up the dirty process used to make bamboo fabrics and capitalize on the market for organic clothing, which is taking up a growing part of the $220 billion fiber market, with sales rising 55 percent to $360 million in 2008 from 2007. Most bamboo fabrics are…
Don Root, Chief Executive, GM Nameplate (Seattle)
DonRoot bought controlling interest in GM Nameplate, a Seattle maker of graphicoverlays, touch screens, brand identity nameplates and other machinedcomponents, from the founding families in 1977 and guided it through dramaticchange in his own industry (the move to digital technology) and in his customerbase (the move of many manufacturers to offshore production). Under hisleadership, GM…
Bryan Goodman, vice president of operations, Columbia Machine Inc. (Vancouver)
In 2009, Bryan Goodman, vice president of operations atColumbia Machine Inc., established a new services division for theVancouver-based company, one of the worlds largest manufacturers of equipmentfor concrete plants, to custom-build parts and equipment for a whole new set ofclients, generating $1 million in additional sales while the economy wasslowing. He also led an effort…
David Giuliani, founder and CEO, Pacific Bioscience Laboratories Inc. (Bellevue)
Pacific Bioscience Laboratoriesdirector of operations, Bill Vrana (left), and president, David Giuliani, standin the companys Bellevue factory. Can lightning strike twice for anentrepreneur in the highly competitive consumer-products field? Can an Americancompany make it in the consumer products industry while still keeping itsmanufacturing in the United States? David Giuliani hopes so. Havingscored once with the…
Roy and Connie Haskins, Haskins Steel Co. (Spokane)
The Haskinses started their metalservice company, Haskins Steel, in 1955. Since then, the company says, it has never reported anannual loss, not even in 2009. Whats the secret to staying afloat in turbulentwaters? Our innovation in working with our customers has been to loosen creditterms and collaborate more with them in relationship management and treat…
J.D. Sitton, President and CEO, Infinia (Kennewick)
J.D. Sitton, CEO ofKennewick-based Infinia, has led the solar energy technology company from aresearch-driven firm to one on the brink of commercialization. J.D. Sitton arrived at what wasknown at the time as Stirling Technology, a company that had been living onresearch grants but faced considerable questions about its technology,financing and leadership. Today, that Kennewick business…
TiLite (Kennewick)
Wheelchairs can be as frustratingand debilitating to their users as the physical disabilities that require theiruse. TiLite chairs feature titanium and aircraft-grade aluminum, as well asimproved design, to reduce weight and the strain on users to propel itscustom-designed-and-built chairs for daily activities or for sports, a segmentin which the companys name is well known. (Click…
Natures Path (Blaine)
At its Blaine manufacturing plant, Richmond,B.C.-based Natures Path makes organic cereal. But it defines being a green companybeyond using organic food ingredients. Working with Impact Washington and theDepartment of Ecology on a lean and green program, Natures Path has beenreducing waste as well as energy and water use in the plant, changes that willsave tens…
Cascade DAFO (Ferndale)
Cascade DAFOs warehouseand distribution center in Ferndale is a repository of every orthotic mold thecompany has ever made. DAFO stands for dynamic ankle-footorthoses, and thats what the company makesflexible plastic braces forchildren with birth defects that affect musculoskeletal development. Thecompany also makes products and sizes for adults. Those braces had been handcraftedthrough a multistep process….