Oregon Manufacturer Growing With Green Technology

http://www.manufacturing.net/article.aspx?id=242738&wnnvz=1750,01300036218

Amid a general decline of manufacturing and the wreckage of the economic downturn, Oregon Iron Works, once a traditional welding and fabrication shop, is beating the odds and emerging as a national leader in green technologies.

And they're hiring.

The Oregon-grown company recently made headlines by landing a contract to develop North America's first commercial ocean wave-energy system. With recent investment of millions of dollars, the company is also carving out niches in hydroelectric systems, unmanned seaplanes, nuclear-containment equipment, steel bridge girders and space-launch platforms.

Brown, one of two Oregonians invited to attend President Barack Obama's Jobs Summit in December, often serves as the public face of the company. But the seeds of Oregon Iron Works' transformation were planted long before she arrived.

"We've come a long way from a small, traditional fabrication company," said Terry Aarnio, company president. "But everything we're doing today is still building on those core competencies."

When Aarnio bought Oregon Iron Works in 1975, not long after dropping out of college just shy of graduation, the business comprised all of 12 employees jammed into a 5,000-square-foot shop in Northeast Portland. Sales that year totaled $850,000.

Today, nearly 400 employees occupy work bays covering 305,000 square feet. A separate facility in Vancouver, recently rebuilt after a major fire, handles final assembly. Anywhere from five to 20 separate projects are under way at any one time, spinning benefits for more than 300 local and national vendors. This year's sales will exceed $120 million.