Metals Companies Undergird Manufacturing Base
Published Mar 21, 2008
Employee Vladimir Krasnogorov works on the United Streetcar prototype.
While some communities across the United States are suffering from a manufacturing slump, Portland boasts a diverse, thriving industrial sector buoyed by a number of successful metals-related ventures.
“There is a great manufacturing base here,” says Chandra Brown, vice president of Oregon Iron Works Inc. “A lot of people don’t realize how big manufacturing is, not just in Oregon but specifically here in Portland – for example, with steel fabricators and bridge builders. We draw from a skilled workforce, which is critical.”
Portland ranks 16th nationally for the number of metals-related jobs, and Oregon Iron Works, with about 400 employees in the region, is one reason why.
“The company has been around since 1944, but it’s certainly morphed during that time,” Brown says. From its beginnings as a bridge and hydroelectric-equipment fabricator, OIW has expanded into the marine, aerospace and nuclear fields. Ocean-going barges, U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels, and components for America’s ground-based missile defense are some of today’s OIW products.
Railcars, Plane Parts
An OIW team dubbed Innovation is moving the company in the direction of wave-energy devices and mass transit, particularly streetcars. “Over the past few years, we’ve realized there are new emerging markets and niches that we want to take advantage of, especially things that are unique to the region,” Brown says.
Expected to roll out in fall 2008 is a streetcar prototype, produced by United Streetcar, an OIW subsidiary. That first vehicle has been sold to the city of Portland.
“We’re very excited to be bringing back manufacturing. We’re insourcing rather than outsourcing,” Brown says. As the nation’s first modern streetcar manufacturer, United Streetcar is creating jobs in the Portland area, giving purchasers an option to buy an American-made product rather than one produced in the Czech Republic or elsewhere in the world. “We’re bringing a whole new industry alive,” she says.
A lively transportation-industry sector is nothing new for the region, considering that Gresham is the location of a massive Boeing Co. aircraft parts plant. The aerospace giant is expanding the facility’s operations to produce components for its new Dreamliner 787 wide-body passenger jet. The expansion is expected to add at least 140 new jobs to the 1,320-employee roster.
Transportation is also the forte for The Greenbrier Cos., headquartered in Lake Oswego. The company’s Gunderson operations in Portland build railroad cars and barges, repair and refurbish freight cars, and provide wheels and railcar parts across North America.
Metals for Construction
Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. is another example of Portland’s manufacturing know-how. The company is a global leader in recycling metals and using recycled scrap to help produce finished steel products such as reinforcing bar, known as rebar, for the construction industry.
The thought of construction brings a smile to the face of Drew Park, president and chief executive officer of Columbia Wire & Iron Works, which was founded in Portland in 1902. The Park family is just the second owner of the company, with a client list that includes some of Oregon’s largest commercial contractors.
Architectural and structural steel, stairways and railings, and seismic upgrades are all Columbia specialties. With 90 employees, the largest staff in the company’s history, Columbia is successful “because there’s work to be done here,” Park says.
Story by Sharon H. Fitzgerald
Photo by Jeff Adkins
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