Thriving facility allows disabled workers to shine

Inland Northwest Lighthouse has achieved in one year what company and community officials had hoped might take three.

Already, 45 blind and sighted workers produce white, cork and other communication boards, paper cutters, hanging file holders and other office goods in a former Tidyman’s grocery store on the North Side. If a new line of boards configured for cubicles gets the go-ahead, another dozen could be in the plant by the end of the year.

Last week, Lighthouse workers, customers and local officials assembled in the parking lot to celebrate the factory’s one-year anniversary and talk about the future. Elvis sang a few numbers with the band, and drummer Kurt Lantz presented a plaque to ACCO Brands Corp. to thank the Chicago-based company for its support.

ACCO, which markets Lighthouse products to the military, federal government and other buyers, donated much of the Spokane plant’s production equipment.

“We can’t thank everybody enough,” said Lantz, one of the first employees hired by Lighthouse. “We’re working.”

Nationally, about 70 percent of those with disabilities are not. Lighthouse has been able to draw on a labor force President Kirk Adams calls “the pool that keeps on replenishing.”

The few who have left the company in the past year did so mostly because of health problems, such as diabetes, that are often associated with poor vision, said Adams, the first blind president of Seattle-based Lighthouse for the Blind Inc. The Spokane plant is a spinoff of the Seattle operation, which counts Boeing Commercial Airplane and Nike among its customers.

Last September, the plant floor was almost empty, the first production lines clustered where Tidyman’s once sold seafood. Now, the 52,000 square feet of space that was supposed to meet Lighthouse requirements for several years bulges with machinery, unassembled components and finished goods ready for shipping. Whining saws and popping nail guns punctuate the plant’s industrial hum.

Workers have become so deft at their tasks, and the machinery is so well-configured, that vision impairments are not all that readily apparent. Most of the inspection and quality control is done by the workers, General Manager Pat O’Hara says.

The best clue this is not your typical manufacturing facility is off the production floor, in the atrium, where guide dogs await their masters. Among the advantages of the Tidyman’s location is its proximity to affordable housing and bus service.

But another virtue – size – is coming to the fore.

The site was chosen in part because its six acres allowed for expansion when the time came. The time is coming much sooner than anyone expected.

Lighthouse officials are discussing an addition or separate building with as much as 80,000 square feet. With the new space, Lighthouse could double its work force. O’Hara notes, too, that the company is creating or preserving other jobs in the Spokane area as it sources more of its components locally.

“I think that’s going to be a big deal,” he says.

Playing on the word “lighthouse” just opens the door to too many clichés. Best say “Congratulations” to all concerned with the Spokane facility, and leave it at that.