Prefabricated wall builder Pacific Wall Systems has relocated to a bigger site in Phoenix and added workers, with hopes to expand production further.

The firm is now leasing an 8.5-acre manufacturing site at 100 Houston Road, up from 3.5 acres it had in Central Point. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday morning.

Since moving to Phoenix in July, the firm has increased its workforce by about 15%, according to Alex Knecht, company vice president. It employs 65 workers in the city and 20 in Tumwater, Washington. 

Most of the plant’s production is wall systems, but the company also produces floor and stair systems. The systems are pre-built inside the plant as opposed to the more traditional method of having walls, floors and stairs built on site.

Prefabricated wall systems are more common on the East Coast and in the Midwest, but are catching on with West Coast builders, according to Nancy Mansfield, the company’s marketing director. The process produces less waste than building on site. The firm recycles materials and offers the community leftover wood scraps in a free bin.

The new site has three buildings that are nearly filled to capacity since the move, with about 75% of the site in use.

“With the new space, we hope to build another building where we can do a lot more floors,” Knecht said.

Another building would add another 25 to 30 employees.

“We may add in a second shift,” Mansfield said. “We are definitely envisioning that, and that’s why we moved into this huge factory. We are riding that wave. [Prefabrication] is now often the preferred way to frame.”

The company, which was at capacity at its previous location on Table Rock Road, saw demand for its products remain strong during the pandemic, with the plant shutting down for only six weeks, according to Mansfield.

“When you move a major facility like this it’s all hands on deck,” she said. “We have been nonstop busy with jobs, too. It’s been a balancing act.”

To create the walls, plans for a building are input into a computer-aided design system by designers who develop programs for cutting the lumber. A sawyer then oversees the cutting of the wood on a computer-directed saw. The wood is then moved to framing tables and the assembly line.

“Most of the assembly is done on conveyors or rollers or framing tables,” Knecht said. “It’s manually assembled with nail guns.”

Walls can be up to 10 feet tall and up to 16 feet long, although the typical unit is 12 feet long. Combined Trucking of Central Point handles much of the shipping.

The new site has lots of room to accommodate trucks bringing in material and leaving with product. At the old location, trucks sometimes had to wait on Vilas Road for a spot to open up.

Railroad tracks run by the new plant, but a spur that served it had been removed. Having the spur to receive material would be nice, Knecht said, but likely won’t happen for quite a while, if at all. Boise Cascade used the site as a distribution center for engineered wood products

Pacific Wall started in 2007 after Knecht developed a model for manufacturing wood construction products indoors. The family-owned company opened in Medford, but quickly outgrew that location and moved to Central Point.

Pacific Wall is looking into creating accessory dwelling units that would be manufactured in the plant and then erected on site. It might build studio, one- and two-bedroom buildings, but doesn’t have the capacity at this point to produce them.

Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc. assisted the firm with the move, a process that started in fall 2021. The company also looked at facilities in White City and Talent.

“This expansion project is what every economic devolvement agency hopes for, to see an existing traded sector company find the perfect facility in short order to minimize disruption of productivity, make new capital investments and add quality jobs,” said Colleen Padilla, SOREDI executive director.

The company’s relocation to Phoenix comes at a time when the city continues to rebuild after the 2020 Almeda Fire, which destroyed at least 173 business structures and damaged others.

“Companies like Pacific Wall Systems that choose to establish themselves in Phoenix reaffirm our collective efforts of progress, one wall and one business at a time,” said Will Volpert, president of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. “Businesses see that Phoenix is primed and ready to offer fantastic opportunities for growth.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the leasing of property on Houston Road in Phoenix.