High-tech manufacturer Kyocera Industrial Ceramics Corp. plans to expand its Vancouver factory and hire another 30 workers.
Demand is up for the mechanical and structural ceramics Kyocera makes in Vancouver, corporate communications director Jay Scovie said Tuesday in a written statement. Kyocera, whose parent company is based in Japan, sells those products to chipmakers and medical-equipment companies, along with aerospace companies and the energy industry.
Plans filed with the city of Vancouver call for Kyocera to expand its 40,000-square-foot factory by more than 18,000 square feet with a two-story addition. The company hopes to win city approval for its plans sometime this winter and begin construction immediately afterward.
The expansion could add 30 jobs to the 120 Kyocera employs at the site on Northeast Fourth Plain Boulevard, Scovie said.
Clark County's technology industry is picking up after several years of decline, driven by nLight Corp.'s new laser factory, resumed expansion at Hewlett-Packard's site in east Vancouver and the prospect of a second Linear Technology chip factory in Camas.
Update: Total employment at Kyocera's Vancovuer site has been updated with additional information from the company.
-- Mike Rogoway
mrogoway@oregonian.com
503-294-7699
@rogoway