Wintech Inc., a Spokane Valley importer of metal parts for the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, chemical, and irrigation industries, plans to move its warehouse in the Spokane Business & Industrial Park to a different facility there and also this year will relocate its manufacturing plant in China.


Wintech imports and distributes specialty parts both from manufacturers in Taiwan and its own plant in Ningbo, China. It employs 12 people here and another 100 at its plant in Ningbo.


Mike Dong, the companys general manager here, says Wintech expects by the end of the year to open a plant near Shanghai, China, and to move its operation to Shanghai from Ningbo, where it has operated a fabrication plant for about nine years. It will employ about 100 people at its new plant, and Dong says the move will give the company access to better-educated, more skilled help.


Businesses from foreign countries arent allowed to purchase land in China, but Wintech will take a 50- to 60-year land lease and own the building it constructs near Shanghai, Dong says.


I wish we could manufacture in the (U.S.), even create manufacturing jobs in the Spokane area, he says, but many companies, such as Wal-Mart, want the cheapest price they can get.


Some of the products Wintech imports ultimately are sold or used by companies such as Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Starbucks, Dong says.


At the business park, Wintech plans to move its quarters from a leased, 18,000-square-foot space in Building 11A to a building it has purchased in the park at 16019 E. Lacrosse Lane.


That building currently has about 4,000 square feet of office space, and Wintech is seeking construction bids now to add another 7,000 square feet of warehouse space, which will give the building a total of 11,000 square feet of space.


While that is smaller than Wintechs current space in the park, the office portion of the building will be larger that what the company has now, and Wintech will own the facility, Dong says.


Wintech hopes to move into the new facility by April 1, but doesnt have an estimate to release on the cost of the expansion, says Dong.


Among the parts the company makes and imports are stamped metal sprinkler parts designed for golf courses that are sold exclusively by Rain Bird, a big Phoenix-based irrigation parts company.


Other parts are stainless steel and are used in sanitary environments, such as in the food and beverage industry, he says. Among them are pipe fittings such as Ts and elbows.


Founded in 1996, the company is owned by Stan and Ling Winters. Both the owners and Dong have extensive experience in China and all have lived there, Dong says. The Winters founded Wintechs predecessor company, Winters International Inc. in 1975.