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The old Southern Oregon Brewing Co. site is going through a transformation. Where beer once aged in tanks, Oregon Power will soon produce transformers. The end of one enterprise has paved the way for a new one. OpenGate Capital shuttered the massive Pacific Crest Transformers plant in White City last November, putting more than 100 people out of work. It also left vendors fuming and customers in a lurch. In the weeks after the manufacturing plant on Antelope Road closed, a handful of former employees put their heads together. They had the know-how and ability to build and maintain commercial and industrial transformers, but they lacked the financial wherewithal to begin anew. That need was met when Michael Jang of Han Chang Transformer Co., in Busan, a city on the southeast coast of the Korean peninsula, came calling. Jang had unsuccessfully attempted to partner with Pacific Crest in 2010, now the opportunity presented itself. He connected with Daniel LeGault, now Oregon Power’s sales vice president. Although Jang hoped to buy the plant and its assets, he arrived too late to put a deal together. But all was not lost. “Four or five of us were thinking about starting our own field service and transformer repair business,” LeGault said. “The timing was just perfect.” The meeting resulted in a sales outpost for the Korean manufacturer and provided resources for the start-up to acquire some of Pacific Crest’s production equipment at auction in February. “We knew it and knew it was good equipment.” LeGault said. “It was what we needed to start a small transformer repair facility, and small transformer manufacturing facility.” Pacific Crest was a global player, whose previous owners included French multi-national Areva. Oregon Power’s approach is more modest, producing smaller transformers, while doing service and repair for the scores transformers in operation around the country. Since beginning operations in April, the startup has performed remarkably well. By the end of the year, Oregon Power projects $12 million in sales — equivalent to what Pacific Crest did annually in its final years, said Chris Dearmon, Oregon Power’s business development vice president. “We’ve reached out to same companies we dealt with before, and they’ve been receptive,” Dearmon said. “Some of the vendors who were burned were excited to see us as well; we’re rebuilding those partnerships.” In many cases, the customer target is the same — Southwest oil, gas and solar firms. But there is a wave of the future, too. “Bit Coin operations have also been interested in purchasing many transformers from us,” LeGault said. A production line is still being assembled with a target launch date of early 2019. At that point, Dearmon anticipates the payroll will expand to 25 or 30 people. The size of the workspace and crane capacity limits the size of transformers the start-up can produce. In this case, Oregon Power is making 5 MVA — 1,000 volts and 5,000 amps — transformers, while Pacific Crest had the capacity to build 15 or 20 MVA transformers. Dearmon said its Korean partner just finished a $40 million expansion, giving it the ability to manufacture 200 MVA transformers. There is plenty of market share available, as evidenced by the approximate backlog of $15 million when Pacific Crest closed Dearmon said. “The bulk of Pacific Crest Transformers’ sales were for 5 MVA transformers and below,” he said. With 11,000 square feet, the new operation has 10 percent of the capacity of the failed operation. Larger orders will be channeled to Han Chang. “Obviously, we’re a lot smaller, but you’ve got to start somewhere,” Dearmon said. “We won’t be able to mass produce the way Pacific Crest Transformers did. We’d rather start with a smaller footprint and then expand to make sure we do it the right way, and don’t have hiccups.” Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @GregMTBusiness or www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31.