It’s become something of an Oregon manufacturing cliché to note that the sector’s reach extends from potato chips to computer chips. Pacific Stainless Products is the rare manufacturer that can claim to serve the entire range, from food production to semiconductors.
“We’re a large, high-mix, high-volume job shop,” says Tom Kemp, vice president of operations. Thanks to its ability to produce just about anything for anybody, he says, Pacific Stainless Products has become one of the largest metal manufacturers on the West Coast.
Consider some of its recent projects:
- Stainless steel service counters for the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium in Seattle.
- Stainless steel service counters for SoFi Stadium, which is where the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers play.
- Framing for flight information display screens in Portland International Airport’s new main terminal. Each display is 11 feet tall and 11 feet wide.
- Metal wall panels for Orlando International Airport.
- The Portland Loo. Pacific Stainless Products manufactures the famous public toilet, which uses quarter-inch stainless steel.
It’s a testament to the company’s versatility that it can, at once, manufacture the Portland Loo and complex assemblies for devices used to produce semiconductors. In fact, about half of the work Pacific Stainless Products will do this year – and more than half next year – is for Lam Research, whose tools help produce computer chips.
In addition to manufacturing frames, enclosures, brackets and other metal parts for complex semiconductor projects, Pacific Stainless Products does additional assembly work in a 40,000-square-foot integration building. The facility allows the company to add electronics, plastic parts and other components before shipping a substantially completed structure to the buyer.
Pacific Stainless Products was co-founded in 1984 by Jeff Kemp, Tom’s brother, and Dennis Sugihara. Jeff Kemp, the president and CEO, previously worked for a metal manufacturer in Sherwood. Sugihara, the director of engineering, was a well-known expert in metal manufacturing.
The company operated in Tualatin for its first 10 years before moving to Beaverton and, in 2007, to its current location in St. Helens. The Port of St. Helens offered reasonably priced land as well as tax incentives, says Kemp.
The company employs about 175 people and occupies over 100,000 square feet in St. Helens. It also employs 15 people at a facility in South Dakota that provides contingency capacity for semiconductor projects.
Pacific Stainless Products has invested millions of dollars in recent years in sophisticated manufacturing machinery, including a recently acquired laser cutter, tube laser and panel bender. The addition of such machinery has allowed the company to do in one hour work that used to take five hours, says Kemp. The increased efficiency increases productivity and supports higher wages.
In 2022, the per-capita value of Oregon’s exports – at just over $8,000 – was the nation’s third highest. Pacific Stainless Products is one reason why. Well over 80% of the products the company manufactures are shipped out of Oregon, says Kemp, and more than 65% are shipped out of the country.
Semiconductor-related work accounts for most of the company’s international exports, of course, but not all. Pacific Stainless Products also ships Portland Loos to Canada, where they became popular after a unit in Victoria was voted “Canada’s best restroom.”