The Columbian from Vancouver, Washington • 79

Vi- i- 9t The Columbian i Vanalco Aluminum maker has weathered tough times over 55 years Pag Hi dark County 1945-1995: The great changes rp A Kalsar Ship Yard ran at night during World War II it FUnflMMumblaii Manufacturing has long been a part of the Clark County economy but the products have changed Greg Wilson operator of the 1938 Colby Whirl oy crane for Mar Com Inc keeps material for workers on the Chesapeake the ship that is being repaired at Columbia Business Center By JULIA ANDERSON Tha Columbian In 1945 the battle against tyranny was won Germany and Japan were forced to an unconditional surrender and the J5 government began returning control of the nation's economy to private industry Shoe rationing ended So did rationing of meat butter and tires In August President Thiman ordered restoration of civilian consumer production and a return to free markets In 1945 while govern- ment focused on international peace and the formation of the United Nations average citizens began to make a peace of their own So it was in Clark County The Kaiser Ship Yards on the Vancouver waterfront and Alcoa's giant aluminum smelter near the Vancouver Lake lowlands made remarkable contributions to the American victory Thousands of people worked around the clock at both facilities pumping out war materials When peace came Alcoa found plentiful consumer uses for its aluminum There was less demand for Kaiserk battleships production of which was dosed Little change after war For the next 35 years Clark County's industrial profile remained little changed froml945 Heavy industry and the jobs they produced at Alcoa the Crown Zellerbach Corp paper mill the FMC Corp chemical plant and the Carborundum Inc grinding-materials plant to name a few shaped Clark County's character The profile was blue collar unionized and fiercely dedicated to the patriotic legacy of World War IL Laborers who didn't work at a mill found jobs cutting timber and sawing logs or working cm a form The jobs paid good money compared with store clerking or pump- ing gas A young man could walk out of high school and into a mill job knowing he could afford to get mar ried raise a family and buy a house Times were good as Americans got back to the business of peace By 197L little had changed Crown Zellerbach was the biggest manufacturing employer in Clark County with workers fhistimi Tho outfitting dock bustles with "baby escort carriers Alcoa was second with 1485 One thousand people worked for Western Electric Co producing telephone equipment Jantzen Co -employed 432 making swimwear About 400 people worked for Boise Cascade Corp making paper Other corporate names on the 1971 Clark County roster included Del Monte Corp Bemis Bag Co Lucky Lager Brewing Great Western Halting and Frito-Lay Inc In 1971 according to a study by the Columbia River Economic Development Council Clark Coun-tyk manufacturing base was composed of four primary industries: pulp and paper aluminum fabrication lumber and food products By the late 1970s everything was changing Industrial giants such as Alcoa and Crown Zellerbach began to feel the pressure of worldwide competition on their American markets Industrial machinery that was brand new in 1945 began to wear out or prove inefficient Between 1975 and 1995 Clark County'S IndustrialAnanufacturing profile changed dramatically as industry looked for ways to improve efficiency cut costs and get out of unprofitable businesses Some were able to evolve with the changing business climate Others took on new owners and new names Some gave up and left the scene In 1980 Clark County was poised to join in the birth of the Information Age powered by computers and their integrated circuits Much of Clark Countyk industrial manufacturing transformation came as the result of the new Glenn Jackson Bridge better known as the Interstate 205 bridge linking Interstate 84 east of Portland with the Portland International Airport and Clark County The bridge opened in December 1982 Anticipating the transportation connection Hewlett-Packard Co Tektronix Inc and SEH America Inc all established operations in Clark County During the next 10 years land along the Interstate-205 corridor sold to corporations such as Sharp Microelectronics Technologies Inc Kyocera Corp Furuno Corp Underwriters Laboratories Inc and Hereaus Shin-Etsu America Co The fastest growing among these newcomers were tied to computer technology For example Kyocera makes ceramic material used in integrated circuits SEH America produces silicon material also used to build integrated circuits Sharp designs and produces integrated circuits as small as half a micron (about one-seventieth the diameter of a human hair) in sizes for use in a variety of high-powered computer products Sharp also moved into production of liquid-crystal display panels used in laptop computers and video games Hewlett-Packard makes computer printers H-P becomes No 1 In 1994 Hewlett-Packard became the largest manufacturing employer in Clark County H-P surpassed James River Corp which bought parts of Crown Zellerbach including its paper mill in Camas in the mid-1980s H-Ps work force totals well over 2000 James River has been cutting jobs mostly through attrition for 10 yean and now employs about 1600 at the paper mill In the meantime about $500 million has been invested to make the mill competitive in tough worldwide paper markets Alcoak aluminum mill on Lower River Road west of Vancouver has experienced a similar transformation Alcoa closed its smelter in the midst of a labor dispute Eventually it sold the smelter and most of the 1000-plus acres around it to a variety of eager buyers The smelter now is operated by Frito-Lay Inc Jantzen Co Boise Cascade Pendleton Woolen Mills Inc Columbia Machine Co Bemis Bag and Great Western Malting to name a few But if you could put a face on the new manufacturing profile of Cl ark County it would include a whole lot of newcomers and a lot of nonunion high-tech employers In 1993 Hewlett-Packard added 1000 workers to its Clark County work force when sales of its computer printers took off And desperate for more space H-P rented Tektronix Inck entire facility on Southeast 164th Avenue after Tek pulled in its horns and went back to Beaverton In 1994 1000 manufacturing jobs tied to computers metal products manufacturing and electronics were created in the county After 50 years of growth and change Clark County has a diverse mix of manufacturing employers Itk no longer just pulp paper aluminum and lumber Vanalco Inc a corporation controlled by Bay Resource Corp a private Massachusetts investment firm About 740 people work there Vanalco uses work teams to produce aluminum on five potlines At the time Alcoa shut down in 1986 600 people working three potlines lost their jobs Nothing remains of the Carborundum plant at the Port of Vancouver It was closed and the port razed the property for a car park Luxury townhouses litter the former site of the FMC plant on waterfront Del Monte is gone Del Monte Way the street near its food-processing plant became Kotobuki Way when American Kotobuki Industries Inc began making combination TV-VCRs in a nearby warehouse Lucky Lager is gone killed off by mega-mergers in the beer industry Western Electric pulled out and disappeared But there are plenty of survivors Columbia Business Contort The road from ship- yard to industrial park PagG3 muThai In July 1942 Kaiser Ship Yard was booming with wartime activity: I fcjft.