Byline: DEVELOPMENT REPORT By Joe Harwood The Register-Guard

Ecklund Industries Inc. in the next 30 days plans to break ground on a 14,000-square-foot manufacturing building next to its northwest Eugene metal fabrication shop.

The $700,000 addition will be built immediately to

the east of Ecklund's existing 30,000-square-foot facility, located on 2.9 acres off Prairie Road. The fabrication company, founded 30 years ago in Eugene by Arnie Ecklund, but now based in Tualatin, said it needs the extra space to keep up with its growing West Coast customer base.

"We've just outgrown our square footage," said Tony Bloom, the company's Eugene-based corporate sales manager. "Last year, we doubled in size in revenues and pounds (of finished steel) out the door."

The company won't disclose revenue figures. It says it supplied about 18 million pounds of finished steel to customers last year.

Ecklund's fast growth in an industry dominated by mom-and-pop job shops comes after the company in 2002 gambled on automation and an aggressive marketing campaign. Plagued by the peaks and valleys of the cyclical construction trades, Ecklund sought to diversify and increase its customer base in an attempt to keep work flowing through its two locations year-round, Bloom said.

The company invested about $3 million in automated laser cutting machines and press brakes - which bend and fold steel plate up to one inch thick - at a time when business was slow, and then added five new outside sales positions to beat the bushes for clients.

The investment paid off, Bloom said.

"When the (economy) started to take off again in January 2004, we had virtually unlimited capacity," Bloom said. "By having that capacity, we won customers."

Like most fabrication shops in the Eugene-Springfield area, Ecklund relies on the recreational vehicle industry for a good portion of its volume. But that dependence has waned a bit as Ecklund has increased the market segments it handles from six segments to two dozen.

The industries Ecklund now serves include the home and hearth sector (wood and pellet stoves), wood products mills, structural steel buildings, equipment manufacturers, steel for bridges and work for the military, Bloom said.

"By going the diversity route, no one market sector holds more than 20 percent of revenues, and no single customer more than 10 percent," he said.

Bloom said the addition of automated laser cutters meant the company had to hire programmers and other white-collar workers to supplement fabricators and welders.

The volume of work has allowed Ecklund to mostly avoid seasonal layoffs and keep its Eugene work force of 45 employed. The company has about 70 workers at its corporate headquarters and shop in Tualatin, Bloom said. By comparison, the company employed a total of 70 workers in the winter of 2002.

Ecklund supplied the three million pounds of structural steel used to build the temporary Interstate 5 bridge spanning the Willamette River, plus the one million pounds of steel for the interim I-5 bridge over the McKenzie River.

The company will supply the steel to rebuild nearly every bridge on Highway 20 between Bend and Boise, Bloom said.

The new Eugene facility should be completed by the first quarter of 2006, he said. The company is reviewing what type of equipment it will install in the building.

Development Report runs Tuesdays. To suggest items, contact Joe Harwood at 338-2364.

CAPTION(S):

Robert Johnson (left) and Tom Bryson study plans for an Ecklund project as Scott Hickman operates a grinder.