Published April 2005

Business Briefs

Quinton to merge
with California company
Quinton Cardiology Systems, a Bothell manufacturer of heart-related medical products, will merge with Cardiac Science Inc. of Irvine, Calif., officials said.

The boards of both companies approved the merger unanimously, a spokesman said. The deal, which is subject to regulatory review, is expected to be completed this summer.

Quinton, which has operations in Bothell, Wisconsin and China, manufactures a line of heart monitors, stress test equipment and other systems used in monitoring patients and diagnosing disease. Cardiac Science, with operations in California, Minnesota, England and Denmark, manufactures defibrillators and heart monitors and offers comprehensive training.

The merged company, to be called Cardiac Science Corp., will continue to focus on the management of cardiac disease, officials said.

John Hison, Quinton’s president, will be chief executive officer of the combined companies, and Michael Matysik, chief financial officer for Quinton, will remain in that spot after the merger. Raymond Cohen, Cardiac’s chief executive, will become chairman of the board of the new operation.

Lynnwood OKs zoning
for taller buildings
After five years of discussion and planning, the Lynnwood City Council in March unanimously approved zoning that would allow for mid-rise buildings, parks and walkways in the city’s core.

Market forces and city funding will determine how quickly the vision of a downtown will materialize, officials said. It won’t happen overnight.

The City Center plan, as it is called, would allow for buildings up to 350 feet tall in the central part of the designated area between 44th and 36th avenues W. and I-5 and 194th Street SW. The strip-mall buildings there now are one-story structures.

Buildings in the entire City Center area would house retail businesses, offices and homes. Heights of buildings abutting single-family residential areas would be limited to 35 feet.

Design guidelines will encourage and in some cases require open space, landscaping and walkways, and will govern the appearance of buildings, signs and parking areas.

The city estimates its long-term costs for parks and improvements to streets and utilities at $120 million. The council has yet to approve any funding.

The city will buy the land for the parks and a promenade, then allow the zoning and market forces to drive development, city planning manager Kevin Garrett said. Street and utility improvements will be made as necessary, he said.

Sonus cancels plans
to acquire French biotech
Sonus Pharmaceuticals has canceled its takeover of a small French biotechnology company, deciding instead to focus on gaining approval for its chemotherapy drug.

The Bothell-based company announced its intention in November to buy Synt:em, a privately held company in Nimes, France.

Synt:em has worked with peptides, special proteins that can improve the way a drug targets the part of the body it is meant to treat. The company, which like Sonus employs about 40 people, has early-stage drug candidates that could help treat cancers and control pain.

In March, Sonus’ president and chief executive, Michael Martino, said the acquisition would have been too much of a distraction and a potential drain on resources at a critical time for the company.

Sonus hopes to begin the final steps later this year toward receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Tocosol paclitaxel. Tocosol, the firm’s most advanced product, belongs to the family of taxane-based treatments, the most widely used chemotherapy drugs in the world.

Microvision lands $400,000 contract
Microvision Inc., which makes augmented vision and display technology, said it will perform another $400,000 in development work for an unnamed customer that previously contracted with the Bothell-based company.

With the add-on work, Microvision has announced new contract bookings in excess of $7.6 million so far during the first quarter.

Intermec wins RFID contract
The federal government has awarded Everett-based Intermec Technologies Corp. a blanket purchasing contract to provide radio frequency identification tags to the Department of Defense and the Coast Guard.

The contract is part of a government initiative to improve its equipment management.

Everett Transit to get new
bus platform at Everett Mall
Steadfast Cos., the owner of the Everett Mall, is spending about $100,000 to build Everett Transit a new bus platform and shelter across from the retail center’s Mervyn’s store.

Steadfast will lease the land to the city agency for $1 a year for 30 years. The platform was scheduled to open March 15.

The mall proposed paying the full cost for the platform and 40-foot-long shelter as a way “to show our support to transit and to our community,” said Linda Johannes, general manager of the mall.

An Everett Transit stop is now on W. Mall Drive, about 100 yards from the mall. Steadfast wants to reroute W. Mall Drive and put mall parking on that spot as part of its redevelopment of the shopping center. Everett Transit has used a bus stop there rent-free for years, said Tom Hingson, transportation systems manager for Everett Transit.

The Everett City Council recently approved the relocation of the bus stop.

Jeld-Wen to furlough
43 workers, retool factory
Jeld-Wen, an Everett door factory, has temporarily furloughed 43 workers as it retools so it can make more high-end doors.

The company told employees about the move in March. The company said the cuts will affect not quite a quarter of its work force.

The factory primarily builds softwood doors. The market for them is slumping due to cheap imports and the relatively high cost of North American softwoods.

Jeld-Wen laid off 66 workers last summer in response to the falling market.

To stay competitive, Jeld-Wen last year began shifting its emphasis toward custom hardwood doors. That requires retooling the Everett site, and while that’s under way, 43 people will be out of work.

The company said it hopes to begin recalling workers within the next one to two months after the production line is retooled. Jeld-Wen plans a national marketing program this spring to drum up demand for hardwood doors.

In the meantime, the furloughed workers will get help finding temporary jobs through local employment agencies, said a spokeswoman for the company, which is based in Klamath Falls, Ore.

Mall retailer Zumiez
plans to go public
Everett-based mall retailer Zumiez Inc. has filed its intent to sell up to $57.5 million worth of stock in an initial public offering.

The documents filed in February with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission don’t list how many shares the company plans to sell, an initial offering price or the date shares will go on the market.

The company does plan to list its stock on the Nasdaq market under the symbol ZUMZ, according to the SEC documents.

Zumiez (pronounced zoomies) has its headquarters on Merrill Creek Parkway and has one store in Snohomish County at the Everett Mall. It’s one of 140 stores Zumiez operates in 18 states, according to the documents filed with the SEC.

The company specializes in action sports apparel, including clothing, shoes, equipment and accessories geared toward skateboarders, snowboarders, surfers and bicycle and motorbike riders ages 12 to 24.

In the filing, Zumiez said it tries to bring “the look and feel of an independent specialty shop” to its stores by featuring couches and “action-sports-oriented” video games, which encourage its young customers to stay longer and also make the stores a destination within shopping malls.

Jobless rate rises in county, state
Seasonal layoffs at stores, bars and restaurants pushed Snohomish County’s jobless rate up half a percentage point in February to 5.7 percent, the state Employment Security Department reported.

Statewide, the unemployment rate was 6.4 percent in February, an increase of two-tenths of a percentage point.

Donna Thompson, a labor economist for the department, said the economy is still well ahead of where it was a year ago. In February 2004, unemployment was 6.7 percent and there were 8,600 fewer jobs.

In February, job gains in manufacturing and real estate were offset by seasonal cutbacks after the holidays at retail stores and elsewhere, Thompson said.

Manufacturing added 500 jobs, including 300 positions at the Boeing Co. and other aerospace firms. Jobs in metal fabrication and transportation equipment also rose in February, as did the real estate, rental and leasing sector, up by 200, and the employment services sector, up by 300, she said.

JobMakers.com scrutinizes
state legislation
The Association of Washington Business and Washington Roundtable have launched JobMakers.com for 2005.

In its third year, the site analyzes legislation under review by the Washington state Legislature that, if passed, will impact private-sector job creation in Washington, the site sponsors said. The site also follows actions the governor and legislators take on each bill.

JobMakers.com analyzes bills in seven competitiveness categories: budget and taxes, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, health care, regulations, infrastructure (water, energy and transportation), and education and work force.

The site also scores lawmakers based on sponsorship and voting records.

JobMakers.com updates the site throughout the legislative session. For more information, go online to www.JobMakers.com.

Applicants sought for research grants
The Washington Technology Center is currently accepting applications for its spring 2005 Research and Technology Development Awards program.

WTC awards more than $1 million annually to projects that partner Washington companies with academic and nonprofit research teams. The RTD grant program provides state funds for research projects with near-term potential for commercialization.

Grant applicants can receive up to $240,000 through the RTD program. Notice-of-intent deadline is March 10, and proposals are due on April 21.

WTC accepts proposals for research projects in any technical area or industry. Preference is given to small companies (250 or fewer employees). Proposals are evaluated by a team of industry and academic professionals on the basis of technical merit, economic impact and commercial viability. Awards are announced in June.

For more information, visit the RTD Grants page on WTC’s Web site, www.watechcenter.org/re/rtd or contact Russell Paez by calling 206-616-3102 or sending e-mail to rpaez@watechcenter.org.

787 supplier moving into county
A French aerospace company that will supply wheels and brakes for Boeing’s 787 has decided to set up shop in Everett.

Messier-Bugatti has signed a lease on 25,000-square-foot facility on Hardeson Road in south Everett, state and local economic development officials said.

The move is “the first of many such decisions we hope will occur,” Snohomish County Economic Development Council President Deborah Knutson said.

The council has been trying to entice 787 suppliers to set up facilities close to the Boeing Co.’s Everett factory, where they could assemble the components they are responsible for and deliver them to the Boeing assembly line. Messier-Bugatti is the first to commit to such a plan.

Knutson said the company has suggested it will hire about 50 people for the Everett facility.

Local officials said the company’s new operation includes manufacturing space, as well as offices and a shipping and receiving area.

The company, which is part of the French Snecma group, was named a 787 supplier in November. The company will design and manufacture the wheels, brakes and control units for Boeing’s new plane.

United Way capital campaign
raises more than $10 million
Donations to the annual fund drive of United Way of Snohomish County totaled about $10.27 million, money that will fund 114 programs at 49 area social service agencies.

This year’s total was up about $220,000 over 2003, when $10.04 million was raised. With the addition of grants and federal money, United Way will give out a total of $10.32 million to local groups.

A single donor, the Boeing Co., brings in about 42 percent of the money raised in the local United Way’s annual campaign. This year, overall Boeing donations hit $4.4 million. More than $3.6 million came from the Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound, and $783,000 from the Boeing Co.

Donations from federal employees, which totaled about $606,000, were up 22 percent over last year.

Grants and federal dollars that United Way helped bring in total $453,000. The largest is an additional $311,000 from the Boeing employee’s fund to help launch the 2-1-1 information and referral line for social services.

Other grants were given to expand the United Way’s Success by 6 initiative in early childhood development to serve up to 2,000 children in the county. They included $10,000 from the Tulalip Tribes and a $6,000 state grant through the Comprehensive Health and Education Foundation.

In addition to the regular United Way campaign, Snohomish County employees contributed an additional $8,000 to tsunami relief efforts.

Frontier Bank and Providence Health System Everett were recognized with President’s Awards for running the two most outstanding workplace campaigns.

Back to the top/April 2005 Main Menu