Schweitzer Labs to expand

Fast-growing Pullman-based Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. will soon build a new manufacturing center and add 300 more jobs, the company’s president said Thursday.

Owner and founder Ed Schweitzer said the new facility will add 100,000 square feet for building and assembling products for its customers.

“It’s 90 percent likely it will be in Pullman,” Schweitzer said.

Schweitzer Engineering has seen incredible growth over the past four years. The company already has 900 Pullman workers and another 400 elsewhere.

It’s campus comprises nine buildings on 40 acres in Pullman. The company has begun construction on a 10th building on an adjoining parcel that will become a mixed-used project including retail, housing and commercial developments.

Its first Pullman manufacturing building has 105,000 square feet of space, but Schweitzer said the company has run out of room to handle future growth.

The company develops power-management and digital relay devices for utilities and large corporate customers. Relays monitor and protect transmission lines from unusual spikes in voltage. Schweitzer Engineering has designed relays that collect and deliver information about the status of transmission lines.

Schweitzer said sales continue growing by 20 percent a year. Nearly every utility in the country uses SEL products, the company has said.

He didn’t set an exact start date for the building project but said it will be ready within 18 months.

The 300 new production jobs are in addition to more than 200 other jobs SEL is trying to fill this year, said company spokeswoman Susan Fagan. Schweitzer Engineering pays at least $10 an hour for assembly jobs.

During a meeting this week at the Pullman Chamber of Commerce, Schweitzer hedged his bets on where the new facility would be built. He noted that Idaho has offered to help him find locations across the state line.

He also mentioned Texas and Florida as business-friendly options.

What keeps the company in Pullman and in the United States is the ability to automate key processes, he added.