Fifth anniversary, 100 new jobs at SEL in Lewiston

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories marked its fifth anniversary in Lewiston by making the kind of announcement that has become commonplace for the company, particularly in the past decade.

The maker of high-tech equipment for electrical transmission and distribution will be hiring 100 assemblers, perhaps split about equally between its Lewiston and Pullman plants, said company founder Edmund O. Schweitzer III.

Schweitzer spoke at SEL's Lewiston site Thursday during an open house attended by 375 people, who applauded the news. The positions have starting wages of $13.50 per hour, not including benefits.

Those jobs will be added to a staff that already includes 380 employees in Lewiston and more than 2,250 in Pullman, making it the largest private employer in the region.

SEL is advertising about 250 openings for a variety of positions throughout the world.

"We're always hiring," said Tony Lee, vice president of global factories.

The expansion comes at a time when Lewiston is playing an increasingly important role in SEL's operations. The Lewiston plant is the second-largest producer of relays in North America, behind Pullman - and Lewiston's output of digital protective relays could surpass Pullman's within two years, Lee said.

"We'll just see," Schweitzer said. "Both plants are highly productive, and it's easy for us to (adjust) to the needs of our customers."

The relays were SEL's first product, and they have been refined many times since the company was founded in 1984. When something goes wrong in the electric power system, the relays trip circuit breakers and isolate the faulty part of the system.

Even if Lewiston's relay production surpasses that of Pullman, the Pullman facility will still be the larger site, Schweitzer said.

The Lewiston plant makes about 50 products, including plastic components used elsewhere within SEL's operations.

The Pullman headquarters are where many of SEL's executives are based. SEL manufactures more than 100 products in Pullman and does a significant amount of research and development, along with providing engineering services from the site.

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Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.