Genie tells story of success in Moses Lake at GCEDC quarterly meeting
Brewer outlines projects in works for county, economy
MOSES LAKE — Genie Industries got to show off its Moses Lake plant managers new and old.
The company delivered the main program Thursday morning at the Grant County Economic Development Council's quarterly membership meeting at the Moses Lake Convention Center.
Before word came from Genie, GCEDC executive Terry Brewer addressed those in attendance at the meeting, and updated them on recent activities.
Those activities included the GCEDC's work with officials from the Port of Quincy and Columbia Colstor requesting public funding for public infrastructure development assistance at the Port's intermodal industrial park. The CERB board approved the application and the Port secured money to assist with developing a rail spur onto the property to serve a proposed new Columbia Colstor cold storage warehouse and distribution center, planned for construction in 2006. Brewer said the center will create about 30 new jobs.
In addition, Brewer said a Fortune 500 company located out at the north end of the Grant County International Airport is in the stage of adding half a million dollars' worth of new equipment and facility renovation to allow delivery of more product to their customers.
"Those are two for-sure positive signs that our local community economy is growing," he said.
Some projects that the GCEDC is close to winning include Pacific Rim Ethanol, which nearly came to Moses Lake two years ago. Brewer said the project has new life and has been renewed in a different form as a corn-based ethanol plant, larger than originally proposed and expecting a 100 million gallon annual output. Brewer said the company has signed an option to purchase with the property owner, and is moving forward with engineering.
"It's still a $100-plus million project," he said. "They expect to move forward and maybe even have commitments by the end of 2005 for financing on that project to be ready to go early next year."
Brewer said he was using code names for those companies he could not name for reasons of confidentiality.
"Swift" is a chemical manufacturing company that has signed a purchase agreement with a local landowner. Brewer said the project is about $20 million in value and is expecting an announcement later this year.
"Seasons" is a building products manufacturing plant that has ceased looking at any other site except in Grant County. Brewer said the company is eyeing sites in Quincy and Moses Lake, and working internally to select a site for long-term operating benefits. He is expecting a decision, and an announcement, within the next month. The project is about $40 million and the largest employer the GCEDC is presently working with, with about 125 manufacturing jobs, Brewer added.
Seattle-based equipment manufacturer "Sparkle" is small, but Grant County has their attention, Brewer said. They have signed a purchase agreement option with a local landowner and facility owner, and are working through details.
"They have got new equipment on order from Italy, they need to have a place to put it when it arrives, and it's going to be Moses Lake," Brewer said. "It's not absolutely a done deal yet, but I'm expecting within a couple months, we'll have an announcement on that."
The GCEDC is also working on a dozen or more other projects that look promising, Brewer said.
Matt Fearon, Genie vice president of operations, ushered the audience through Genie Industries' history before the company made the move to Moses Lake in 1998, including a timeline of the lift products that the company produced.
Fearon also spoke to the audience about the 2002 purchase of Genie Industries by Terex Corporation, the third largest construction equipment manufacturer in the world.
"Terex is looking at us as a very good manufacturer, and that's very good for all of our futures," he said, pointing at the success of Genie as it began to engineer several products for the corporation.
Outgoing plant manager Dave Schille, who will be moving back to the Genie plant in Redmond, talked about the time after the plant arrived in Moses Lake.
When he first arrived in 1999, Schille said he was told he might have a hard time hiring a workforce with the required skills. The facility administrators came in to Moses Lake with the mindset that it was necessary to hire someone with a manufacturing background.
"(My) mindset has completely changed, as we've taken people from this area, that did not necessarily have a good manufacturing background, but had a great work ethic and we've been able to teach them," he said. "Actually, in a lot of cases, it's gone better than moving people over here from Redmond that already had experience."
The company produces five models in Moses Lake, including a stick boom that reaches 125 feet, the S-125, which is the largest boom Genie ever made and the first boom ever made in Moses Lake.
In 1999, the plant employed about 60 people, and is anticipating, with the recovery of the industry and the economy, to employ about 400 people this year. The facility has produced over 5,000 booms since Genie arrived in town, and numbers are expected to be up for 2005 over 2004.
Schille said Thursday was his last day with the Moses Lake facility.
"I wasn't born here, but I got here as quick as I could," incoming plant manager George Santiago told the audience, to applause. He added that the feeling is that the market will be strong through 2008. "As the construction industry continues to see robust growth, we're going to benefit as an organization from that growth."
The Moses Lake facility has the opportunity, when it makes sense, to look at moving additional products from sister plants, which are busting at the seams, Santiago said, and utilize the space, work ethic and labor pool of the area.
"We think that we've got a perfect fit in Moses Lake and the future plans that we have for out here, without making any commitments that something's going to happen next week or next month, but we are constantly looking at this area as an opportunity for growth," Santiago said.