Premier Pump & Power
President: Bill Scholtes.
Number of employees: 15.
Revenue: $8 million in 2010;
$15 million so far this year.
What it does: Custom-made portable industrial pumps.
Address: 2300 E. First St., Unit A, Vancouver.
Coming next: The company is seeking a bigger location.
Economic hardship is nowhere to be found at Vancouver-based Premier Pump & Power.
The company, a custom maker of portable industrial pumps used for everything from siphoning floodwater to delivering freshwater, is pumping up its growth.
After netting about $2 million in sales annually for several years, Premier grew revenue by 300 percent last year to $8 million. So far this year, the company has already raked in $15 million in revenue — an 87 percent increase over last year’s sales in just three-and-a-half months.
Meanwhile, the company is adding workers: About 14 months ago, it had five people on staff, including President Bill Scholtes. Now, it boasts a total of 15. “We’re planning on hiring at least three to five more people,” Scholtes said during an interview at his office, which is near the Grand Boulevard intersection with Highway 14.
Premier’s expansion seems counterintuitive: Here’s a Clark County manufacturer doing well in a county that lost 6 to 7 percent of its entire job base in the economic crash, with manufacturing shedding about 20 percent of its jobs.