Clark County will become corporate headquarters for business in February
Rose City Printing & Packaging Inc. is completing a migration from its namesake town north to Vancouver in the next several weeks, a $5 million move that has been in the works since 2006.
In February, Vancouver will become the corporate headquarters for the 64-year-old company. Offices are under construction at the company’s newly established printing facility at Columbia Tech Center business park. The east Vancouver production line makes specialty printed and folded cardboard packaging for regional clients such as Starbucks, Nike, Widmer Bros. Brewery and Harry & David.
About 30 Portland office employees will transfer to the Vancouver offices. It is being built within the 80,000-square-foot building leased by Rose City, said Steve Lobis, co-owner, vice president and general manager.
“We will be up to around 80 full-time employees” in Vancouver, he said.
The final phase of relocation is expected in March when Rose City expects to open a Gresham, Ore., facility where it will manufacture bigger packaging orders for its large-scale food customers, companies like Seattle-based Continental Mills, which makes Krusteaz pancake and baking mixes.
What: A manufacturer of printed, folded carton packaging.
Owners: Rick Safranski, president and CEO; Steve Lobis, vice president and general manager; and Chris Farm, director of operations.
Established: 1945.
Employees: About 80 in January: to grow to about 110 in March.
Sales: Approximately $60 million over the next three years.
Looking ahead: After moving print operations to Vancouver two years ago, Rose City will open corporate offices here in February. In March, it will open a second manufacturing facility in Gresham, Ore.
Vancouver office: 900 S.E. Tech Center Drive.
Lobis said the two plants — Vancouver and Gresham — will provide backup for each other to assure timely delivery of products. He said the Vancouver operation is designed to meet the needs of its smaller clients.
“That printing press can do changeovers really quickly for our quick-turn clients,” Lobis said.
He said Rose City continues to gain new customers, which is why the company is on track to see sales increase by 25 percent in 2010, despite the economic recession. The company expects to generate about $60 million in sales over the next three years, Lobis said.
What: A manufacturer of printed, folded carton packaging.
Owners: Rick Safranski, president and CEO; Steve Lobis, vice president and general manager; and Chris Farm, director of operations.
Established: 1945.
Employees: About 80 in January: to grow to about 110 in March.
Sales: Approximately $60 million over the next three years.
Looking ahead: After moving print operations to Vancouver two years ago, Rose City will open corporate offices here in February. In March, it will open a second manufacturing facility in Gresham, Ore.
Vancouver office: 900 S.E. Tech Center Drive.
“Our existing customers have definitely cut back on the amount of boxes they buy, but we’ve been lucky that our new clients are making up the difference,” Lobis said.
The Gresham facility will be outfitted with an enormous printing press being shipped from England in parts that will be loaded into six shipping containers.
Lobis said between 25 and 30 people will work at the Gresham plant in 62,000 square feet of finished industrial space at the Sandy Boulevard Business Park, built in 2008.
Closer to home
Rose City owners chose the Vancouver headquarters site because they all live in Clark County, said Lobis, co-owner of the company with Rick Safranski, president and CEO, and Chris Farm, production manager.
The owners selected the newer Gresham site for the company’s second plant after realizing Rose City’s productivity had increased in its newer, more modern Vancouver space, Lobis said. Original plans called for keeping the large-scale side of the operation in the company-owned Portland space, at 3100 N.W. Industrial Way near Montgomery Park. Rose City now plans to sell the older, 107,000-square-foot site.
“We had such great success in Vancouver with our more modern, rectangular-shaped building,” Lobis said.
Electricity rates are also lower in Vancouver, an advantage for printing operations, which typically use large amounts of power, said Bill Connelly, a vice president with Eric Fuller & Associates Inc. in Vancouver.
“Clark Public Utilities (rates) are dramatically less than either PP&L or PGE” (in Portland), he said.
Lobis and his partners also expect Rose City’s $5 million expansion to help the company increase its staff of skilled laborers. Wages range from $14 per hour for a floor helper to between $27 and $28 per hour for printing press operators.
