3M to close Spokane Valley operation – 44 jobs will be gone by the end of the year

The 3M corporation will close its Spokane Valley electronic sign-making operation, eliminating 44 jobs by the end of the year, the company said Monday.

Tom Sowa
Staff writer Spokesman Review

3M officials told workers at the Dynamic Message Systems plant in the Spokane Industrial Park that their final day will be Dec. 31.

The layoffs are based on the determination that the company no longer has a future in producing electronic highway signs, said spokesperson Donna Fleming.

The one exception will be "interactive" driver signs that flash messages to motorists. That product line, which was based in Spokane, will be transferred to an unidentified contract manufacturer, Fleming said.

3M, based in St. Paul, Minn., acquired the Spokane sign division in 2000 from privately held American Electronic Sign. At the time, American Electronic Sign had about 60 Spokane employees.

Formed by Spokane businessman Luke Williams, American Electronic Sign produced several types of programmable electronic highway signs.

Williams, now 79, was a co-founder of American Sign and Indicator, an early Spokane corporate success. The sale in 2000 was meant to link one of Spokane’s promising firms with a global giant with operations in more than 60 countries.

Williams is now retired.

3M will offer severance packages and job placement services to affected workers, said Fleming.

The 44 jobs include several management positions plus office support workers, said Fleming.

The Spokane site, based in the Spokane Industrial Park, is 3M’s only manufacturing operation for electronic highway signs.

The closure will take several months.

Signs made in Spokane were placed on portable structures and used by highway crews and construction firms. Some were also placed on highway overhead structures.

"In a nutshell, that (product line) just wasn’t profitable," said Fleming.

Business reporter Tom Sowa can be reached at (509) 459-5492 or at [email protected].

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=080503&ID=s1391077&cat=section.business