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Telemark likes Battle Ground’s small pond

Company's workers helped choose site for relocation

By Gordon Oliver, Columbian Business Editor
Published: April 13, 2011, 12:00am
3 Photos
Gary Henderson, president of Telemark, asked employees whether they'd rather move to Clark County or Nevada when he decided to move his company out of California.
Gary Henderson, president of Telemark, asked employees whether they'd rather move to Clark County or Nevada when he decided to move his company out of California. They chose Clark County. Photo Gallery

Gary Henderson wanted out of California. His complaints about the Golden State may sound familiar: too much traffic, too many taxes and regulations, too much political and social change.

But Henderson had an unusual challenge. He wanted to move not only himself, but his small high-technology manufacturing business. And he wanted his skilled employees to come with him.

He considered Florida, Texas and Nevada before finally settling on Battle Ground. He relocated Telemark from the Silicon Valley in November, bringing 15 employees and so far hiring nine workers. He’s now recruiting three more local workers.

As the former Californians shake off their first gray Northwest winter, Telemark will host an official plant dedication Saturday for their families as well as invited suppliers and officials from local government and business. Although the company didn’t make a blip in the Silicon Valley world of Google and Cisco, Henderson finds himself getting the red carpet treatment in Clark County,

“These types of businesses are game-changers for a small community like Battle Ground,” said Mayor Mike Ciraulo. “The City Council has worked hard the last few years to make Battle Ground attractive for businesses. Having Telemark come is a good sign we’re successful.”

The specialized process equipment manufacturer brings only a minuscule increase in employment to job-starved Clark County. But this could be just the beginning. Henderson said he may move Telemark Cyrogenics, a division that stayed in Novato, Calif., to Battle Ground, increasing his employee count to more than 40 workers. He said he might even move some production from a subsidiary in Australia.

Also, local leaders note that Telemark is stimulating the economy by contracting with area companies such as Vancouver-based machine shop A1 Precision, which had just lost one big job to a Chinese firm. That’s why community boosters are delighted with their catch.

“He’s a big fish in a small pond,” Ciraulo said of Henderson. “We want him to feel like a big fish.”

Telemark, which had been on the outskirts of Silicon Valley in Hayward, Calif., operates in a small technology niche called vacuum deposition. Its technicians hand-produce power supply units and other components used to clean and coat products, including such consumer goods as high-quality sunglasses and iPods.

“It’s an exotic business to be in,” said Henderson, who was trained as a certified public accountant. “That’s good, because we don’t have 50 people competing against us.”

Henderson purchased Telemark in 1990 and has led its steady growth to $19 million in sales last year. In recent years he’s seen a big shift to exports, which now account for 65 percent of the company’s sales, as customers have moved production to Asia.

Picking the place

Though he’s 68 years old, he wanted to continue leading the company rather than retire. “This is what I’ve always done,” he said. “I’d rather work than play golf.”

Telemark’s success is due in part to a highly skilled and loyal work force, Henderson said. So when the frustrations of life in California finally put him over the top, he put it to his workers: Where would you like to move?

Florida and Texas were quickly ruled out. They were simply too far away from friends and family.

That left Nevada and Washington. Henderson concluded that Carson City, Nev., offered incentives and a tax structure that would be better for the bottom line. But his workers preferred Clark County, with good schools, tolerable traffic, proximity to Portland, and opportunities to buy affordable housing in an area with plenty of open space. Once the decision was made, all but five decided to make the move.

Henderson agreed with the consensus. One son and daughter-in-law and their two daughters live in Portland, making Clark County an easier sell to his wife, Carol. (Their other sons live in Moscow, Russia, and San Mateo, Calif.). The absence of a state income tax in Washington didn’t hurt. And his friend Ken Fisher, who has hundreds of employees in Clark County and is considering moving his Fisher Investments headquarters here, urged him on.

“We did compare notes over a barbecue,” Henderson said.

Moving the business wasn’t without challenges. Henderson first looked at Vancouver and met with the Columbia Region Economic Development Council. To his surprise, the city had no financial incentives to offer for a company like Telemark. When he launched a property search, he was stunned to find building leases higher than in Silicon Valley, with landlords unwilling to lower prices despite a glut of empty space.

The Port of Kalama offered financial incentives for him to locate in a new industrial park. That’s where he was headed until Battle Ground developer Dennis Pavlina heard second-hand about Telemark and offered to build a new plant in Battle Ground. The pitch worked: the city gave quick approval that met Telemark’s short time frame, and Pavlina negotiated a five-year lease purchase option for the 20,000-square-foot building.

“The real incentive for him is that he has the option to purchase the building,” Pavlina said.

Telemark is one of several examples of companies fleeing California for Clark County. Fisher Investments is building a new campus in Camas and may move corporate offices for similar reasons — taxes, heavy regulation, and housing costs in the Bay Area. Agave Jeans owner Jeff Shafer moved his company from Southern California to Ridgefield so his family could enjoy a better quality of life.

Gino DiCaro, communications vice-president for the California Manufacturers and Technology Association in Sacramento, says the state has lost 630,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001 — representing one-third of the state’s industrial base. It’s unclear where those jobs have gone, but the assumption is that many headed to Asia or have simply disappeared. Some studies suggest that few California manufacturers have migrated to other western states.

Economic development officials caution that it’s unlikely that the trickle of business relocations to Clark County will turn into a torrent. “Moving is so disruptive, and it’s so expensive,” said Bart Phillips, president of the Columbia River Economic Development Council. He said that landing Telemark was a huge victory for Clark County and Battle Ground.

Donovan Day, 33, had a personal reason to rejoice about Telemark’s arrival. He had spent 21 months on unemployment before landing a job as a technician there last year. He recalls applying for a job at Wacom that attracted 480 applicants. “I made the top 40 but not the top five,” he said.

Day spent three months training at the company’s California plant before Telemark’s move. At work, he tutors the former Californians on local driving habits and ways to cope with the seemingly endless string of gray days. At home, he’ll celebrate his first wedding anniversary in July, and he’s a new homeowner to boot.

He’s thankful for the job.

“I’m liking it,” he said. “I’m working a lot of hours and the pay is very good.”

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Columbian Business Editor