Paul Schurman Machine makes bid for bigger jobs

Paul Schurman Machine employees Howard Berry, left, and Greg Somero finish up installation Tuesday of a planer mill that will let them work on larger milling projects, opening up new markets for the local company. (Photo by Steven Lane/The Columbian)

Matt Houghton General manager and owner of Paul Schurman Machine Inc.

Dave Allen from Paul Schurman Machine, Inc., is helping finish up installation, Tuesday, July 7, 2009, of a new used planer mill that will let them work on larger milling projects, opening up new markets for the local company. (The Columbian/Steven Lane)

Paul Schurman Machine, Inc. is finishing up installation of a new used planer mill that will let the company work on larger milling projects, opening up new markets. (The Columbian/Steven Lane)

It's pretty clear-cut. In the machining industry, bigger jobs require even bigger machinery.

That's where the market seems to be headed, according to Matt Houghton, general manager and owner of Ridgefield-based Paul Schurman Machine.

Houghton, 36, a fourth-generation leader in the family operation, expects his company's $500,000 purchase of a 75-ton Ingersol planer mill to pay off if his hunch is correct. The equipment could lead to new contracts to repair and fine-tune huge metal parts, such as wind energy components and large pump and valve parts.

"It's a niche market that some companies in the Portland area have had for years. We're trying to penetrate it," said Houghton, who employs 20 people in Schurman's 28,000-square-foot shop on Northwest 10th Avenue, near Interstate 5.

Houghton purchased the 80-foot-long planer secondhand from a machine shop in Tigard, Ore.

"They were going out of business," he said.

It's a real threat to the region's small machine shops, like Schurman, which also has lost work during the continuing economic slowdown.

Local machine shops are especially vulnerable if they can't make up for vanishing work from the area's once thriving pulp and paper mills. The paper industry once generated between 30 percent and 40 percent of the workload for Schurman Machine, which makes and repairs metal machine parts.

"You've got to just gather yourself and say, 'I'm going to re-invent myself for the next round,'" Hougton said.

For Schurman Machine, the makeover started with last year's purchase of two vertical boring mills that are designed to take on larger projects.

"We were able to gain contracts with companies we hadn't had before," Houghton said.

He believes the planer equipment will help Schurman rebound from revenue declines. Revenues were down by about 37.5 percent to $2.5 million this year, Houghton said.

"This piece of equipment should put us up in the $4 million range," he said.

The equipment took nearly a year to install.

"They've rebuilt this piece of equipment from the ground up," said Houghton, who expects to have the machinery up and running for an important Friday demonstration.

"We're having an open house for about 80 of our potential customers and clients," Houghton said. "We're targeting the markets of heavy equipment manufacturing and repair."