Berg buys Post Falls site for new plant
The Berg Companies – makers of tents, trailers and other equipment for remote sites – have purchased 30 acres in Post Falls for a new facility.
Berg is competing for several large military contracts, which could steer millions of dollars worth of work to the three affiliated companies over the next several years, said Andy Barrett, managing partner in The Berg Companies. The new plant is needed to accommodate an expanding workload, he said.
“Once we get the orders, we’ll put them into the Post Falls facility,” Barrett said.
The new 100,000-square-foot plant is scheduled to open in early 2008.
Over time, the site could house 100 to 150 workers, earning in the $10- to $14-per-hour range. Berg will use about 8 acres for its plant and market the remaining land, which is located west of Kimball Office, a Post Falls furniture plant.
The new facility will primarily be a satellite operation of Berg Integrated Systems in Plummer, Idaho. Last year, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe bought a majority stake in Berg Integrated Systems, one of the three Berg companies. The firm makes mobile units that can be used for living quarters, field offices, kitchens or medical clinics. Since the tribe’s purchase, Berg Integrated Systems has gone through a period of rapid growth, expanding from six to 40 workers, said Robert Matt, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s administrative director.
The units have been sold to relief groups for AIDS clinics in Africa and to the Oregon National Guard. They’re about the size of 20-foot shipping containers, but the sides fold down to expand the floor space.
“Virtually no one else domestically makes it,” Barrett said. “Not only are we … a Native American company, which gives us some advantages, but we’re made in America.”
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe recently qualified for a federal designation designed to help firms in economically disadvantaged areas win government contracts. The designation, which is good for 10 years, will be an asset as Berg Integrated Systems pursues government work, Matt said.
The units start at about $100,000. If they’re equipped for kitchen or medical use, the price tag can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Barrett.
Berg Integrated Systems will keep its 50,000-square-foot facility in Plummer, which is a steel fabrication operation. The Post Falls plant will house workers from all three Berg companies, including Berg Flexible Containment and Berg Manufacturing, which are located in Spokane Valley.
Company officials are mulling whether to move those two operations completely to Post Falls, but that decision hasn’t been made yet, Barrett said. At the moment, The Berg Companies employ about 130 people.