For Timo Lunceford, the epiphany came while driving on Interstate 90.

After Swiss Productions Inc. relocated from Ventura, California, to Liberty Lake in the fall of 2021, Lunceford, the company’s vice president and general manager, was savoring the ripple effects of the move, including a more manageable pace.

“Every time I got on 90, I said to myself, ‘Wow, I’m starting to slow down and enjoy the quality of life and not be in a rush for everything,'" he says. "I realized we should have done this 20 years ago.”

A global supplier of machined parts, Swiss Productions had grown deep roots in California since starting as W.V. Enterprise Inc. in Van Nuys in 1967. The company changed its name in 1982 and migrated 60 miles west to Ventura, where it operated until packing up for the Inland Northwest.

Lunceford says a move had been considered two decades ago, including research into states like Nevada.

“We tried but we couldn’t settle on a location,” he says.

Around that same time, Swiss Productions Vice President Richard Petrash stayed in Coeur d’Alene for a convention and left with a positive impression of the Inland Northwest.  

“He said he wanted to retire here,” Lunceford says of Petrash, who now lives near the shores of Liberty Lake and still works for Swiss Productions. 

The company employs 33 people at its location at 2322 N. Madson Road in Liberty Lake. The 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility was built to accommodate Swiss Productions and is home to 44 CNC screw machines, four Haas mills, and six CNC Haas lathes.

“It doesn’t really matter where we are,” Lunceford says. “This was about a better quality of life for our employees, a slower pace, and creating opportunities for the next generation.”

Lunceford says 18 of the company's 40 workers moved to Liberty Lake from Ventura. The company picked up five employees when Triumph Composite Systems closed its Airway Heights plant in 2022. Lunceford echoes the sentiments of many local manufacturers on the hiring front, noting the company is still attempting to compile enough workers for a night shift.  

“It’s been a challenge,” he says.

Swiss Productions produces metal and plastic components used in a variety of fields, including life science, medical device, irrigation, electronic, aerospace, and automotive industries. The smallest part SPI manufactures, a Teflon tip for a syringe, checks in at five-tenths of an inch. One of the parts SPI manufactures is used as a component for the devices used in COVID-19 tests.  

“We don’t shy away from difficult assemblies,” Lunceford says.

Heavily immersed in the telecommunications field until the downturn of that industry in the early 2000s, Lunceford says the company has found a niche that “is never going away," adding, “It took a bit of diversifying.”

The customer base reads like an international travelogue, including France, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Czechoslovakia, and Costa Rica. Lunceford says he continues to shop the company's brand energetically.

“You’ve got to love people,” he says. “You’ve got to learn to network.”

As part of that effort, Swiss Productions has connected with groups like the Evergreen Bioscience Innovation Cluster, a Spokane-based organization with a mission to “elevate life science innovation, ecosystem growth, and workforce equality.” Katrina Rogers, board member and interim CEO with the Evergreen Cluster, says the Liberty Lake company “has been a great partner as we work to establish a life-science ecosystem here in the Northwest.”

Rogers also applauds the company's prioritization of employee well-being. The company instituted a four-day, 10-hour work week several years ago that has gone over well with workers.

“They have been very thoughtful about addressing employee benefits and work-life balance and sustainability,” Rogers says.

Lunceford said the 4/10 work week has allowed workers increased flexibility to enjoy the outdoors and spend more time with their families.

“We really take care of our employees,” he said. “Our employees are our business.”

Swiss Productions has connected local dots with help from people like Mark Norton, executive director of the Northwest I-90 Manufacturing Alliance, which let the evergreen cluster know about the company. On April 11, from 5 to 8 p.m., Swiss Productions will host a manufacturing alliance get-together at its Liberty Lake site that will feature Lunceford giving an overview of the company.

“There are businesses in this area that still don’t know about us,” Lunceford says. “That’s why we’re trying to get the word out. We’re interested in engaging with the community.”

Stacia Rasmussen, health & life sciences manufacturing manager for Greater Spokane Incorporated and innovation program and project manager for the Evergreen Cluster, calls Swiss Productions “the ideal cluster member.”

“The life science supply chain experience that SPI brings to the cluster will be invaluable to the other cluster members and to both current and future innovation projects,” Rasmussen says. “The fact SPI’s varied U.S. and international customer base will quickly become aware of the great Inland Northwest is probably the most exciting part of SPI being a valued new member in our community.”

Now at home in its adopted community, Swiss Productions isn't going anywhere, Lunceford says.

“We’re home,” he says. “We’ve found our retirement place.”