Spokanes long-humming cadre of engine rebuilders apparently have weathered a national upheaval in their industry, and together still employ about 250 people here and remanufacture more than 2,700 vehicle engines a month.


Such companies, which pull apart engines, clean them, remachine some parts, replace other parts, and put everything back together again, collectively employ about as many people here as they did in the 1980s, and some believe that Spokane still rebuilds more motor-vehicle engines per capita than anywhere else in the U.S.


There are about six or seven major guys in town, and were still all plugging along, says Barbara Jones, who owns Jones Auto Engines Inc. here with her husband, Robert.


Elsewhere, upheaval has rumbled through the estimated $2.5 billion U.S. engine-remanufacturing industry. Fueled by a somewhat shrinking market, big engine remanufacturers have gobbled up smaller ones, heightening competition for the remaining small companies, but such consolidations havent hit Spokane, Jones says.


The Spokane market still is pretty much intact, she says.


Though the largest such companies here now remanufacture more than a combined 2,700 engines a month, the industry here has had to weather changes.


We went from remanufacturing 25 engines a day, down to a low of eight engines a day, but now were working our way back up to 25 engines a day again, says Jeffery Johnson, owner of Spokane-based S&S Engine Remanufacturing Co.


Also, distributors of remanufactured engines have been closing around the country, which has hurt S&S, he says. The company, which has operated here for 28 years and currently rebuilds between 600 and 750 engines a month, sends its rebuilt engines to distributors in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Alaska. Yet, distributors that had served S&S in Montana and Alaska closed their doors within the last two years, hampering demand for S&S engines.


Offering speedy deliveries


As S&S rebounded, it opened a warehouse in Seattle about five years ago to speed up service to auto-parts stores and garages there, Johnson says.


We have counter and warehouse personnel in Seattle that will immediately hand deliver an engine and pick up the old one, which the shop here then remanufactures and adds to its inventory, Johnson says. S&S employs six people in Seattle, in addition to the 28 it employs here.


Jones Auto Engines, which has operated in Spokane for 25 years, operates distribution warehouses in both Seattle and Portland, Barbara Jones says. The company, which employs 48 people, including 42 here, three in Seattle, and three in Portland, remanufactures more than 600 engines a month, and sells them to Napa Auto Parts stores and various automotive shops and car dealerships in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana.


We do things a little bit differently, though, Jones says. She says Jones Auto bores engine blocks ahead of time and works on different types of motors every day so it can guarantee an engine to a customer within three days.


When peoples cars are down, they get really grumpy, Jones says. We want to make sure they can get their engine as soon as possible.


Fits and starts


Other engine reman-ufacturers here are adding services to keep ahead of the competition.


For instance, Ram Remanufacturing & Distribution Inc., of Spokane, plans to begin opening a handful of engine-installation and service shops throughout the Pacific Northwest to augment its wholesale engine business, says President Jack Bunton.


Meanwhile, Mike Ulrick, president and CEO of Motor Works Inc., says his 20-year-old engine-remanufacturing business here has pursued a value-added niche market.


As it rebuilds engines, Motor Works adds new oil pans and rocker armssomething its competitors typically dont doso it can pull in a slightly higher price than its competitors for rebuilt engines. Ulrick says mechanics are willing to pay more for Motor Works engines because the engine rebuilders addition of oil pans and rocker arms saves them time when they install a remanufactured engine for a customer.


Also, all of the engine remanufacturers here say theyve had to invest thousands of dollars in new shop equipmentmost of which now is highly computerized, Ulrick says.


Motor Works tries to replace its equipment every five years, but equipment prices have shot up, making that goal more expensive to achieve. A hone, used to enlarge holes to precise dimensions, had cost between $25 and $50 when it was a hand tool, but now runs as much as $60,000 because its fully automated.


Nonetheless, says Ulrick, To build precision engines, you have to stay within the requirements of the industry.


Industry ups and downs


Though the industry still is firing on most of its cylinders here, the road to the present wasnt easy.


In the late 1980s, remanufactured engines seemed much more in demand and the local industry was gaining attention, Bunton says. Spokane business leaders, seeing the industrys potential, tried to capitalize on the concentration of engine rebuilders here as a way to spur economic development.


In 1987, the Spokane-area Economic Development Council chose the engine-remanufacturing industry as one of five here that it believed was poised for growth. In October of that year, the Journal of Business listed 14 companies here that had machinery to bore and hone engine blocks. Only six of those 14 companies still exist, but a handful of smaller engine rebuilders have entered the market.


In the early 1990s, automotive engines began to change. Bunton claims that the newer engines, which are more high-tech, last longer.


The automobile has got more computers in it now than the 1957 Sputnik, Bunton says, referring to the first satellite launched into orbit around the Earth, by the Soviets. Im not kidding. This is not a grease-monkey job anymore.


Also in the 1990s, importers began bringing used engines from Japan into the U.S. and selling them at discounted pricesslicing into the demand for engines remanufactured in the U.S., Bunton contends.


Motor Works Ulrick attributes the shrinking market partly to an increase in the number of people who choose to buy new cars rather than repair used ones. He says people arent repairing their older vehicles now, partly because parts prices have skyrocketed.


Meanwhile, big automakers, such as General Motors and Ford, have begun remanufacturing their own engines and are offering them to their customers, Ulrick says.


Those big guys looked around and finally said, Hey, we want our part of the pie, Ulrick says, though he adds that Motor Works, which remanufactures more than 800 engines a month, hasnt been impacted by the shrinking market as much as some smaller companies have.


Theres work out there, Ulrick says. It just depends on how aggressively you go after your piece of the pie.


The company, which employs more than 100 people and usually adds between four to six people each year, sells its remanufactured engines mostly to distributors and to big auto-parts retailers, such as Napa Auto Parts, Schucks Auto Parts, and Als Auto Supply.


Bunton, of Ram Remanufacturing, says his 26-year-old Spokane company has begun tapping into the other end of the engine-remanufacturing business by adding installation services.


Adding installation


To remain competitive, Ram opened a 10,000-square-foot engine-installation shop here, at 4101 E. Broadway, which operates under a separate company, RPM Service Center.


That way, Ram keeps both sides of the shop open, Bunton says. We remanufacture the engine and then well even put them in. Plus, while we have them in there, we can check brakes and struts at the same time.


Rams long-range plan is to expand the RPM service and installation shops into other Northwest cities, such as Seattle, Portland, and Billings and Missoula, Mont., Bunton says. The Spokane company already has agreements with what Bunton calls mom-and-pop service centers that distribute Rams engines in those cities. RPM plans to buy out the shops owners eventually and open and operate its own RPM service centers in those cities.


Ram also has developed a Web site and has begun promoting its services worldwide, Bunton says. The companys Web site generates calls from across the U.S., as well as from Europe, Asia, and Latin America. E-commerce accounts for about 10 percent of the companys remanufacturing volume, and business is growing, Bunton says.


Ram currently employs 23 people, while RPM employs another six people. Bunton says that Ram, which likely will hire three or four people by next spring, remanufactures about 120 engines a monthcompared with about 800 engines a month in the late 1980s.


The problem was we were doing a lot of business back then, but not making much money, Bunton says. Now, though, we do have a plan that were working towards to ensure that our company will be around for many, many more years.


Pat Charles, president and owner of Evergreen Engine Exchange Ltd., which was founded here in 1979, says that Evergreen currently employs 45 people and remanufactures about 550 engines a month. It sends its rebuilt engines to a distributor that serves Schucks Auto Parts stores and other stores related to Schucks.


Theyre growing the market fantastically, Charles says of Schucks parent, CSK Auto Inc.


Unlike Ram and Motor Works, which are looking to add services, Evergreen has cut back on its other services to focus on engine rebuilding, Charles says.


The demand is out there, Charles says. If we could hire the proper help, wed be rebuilding a lot more than 550 engines a month.


Charles believes that the industry is growing and says thats partly because new-vehicle prices continue to climb, making it more economical for operators of corporate fleets to repair their vehicles rather than to buy new cars and trucks.


According to the Production Engine Rebuilders Association, nearly 10,000 machine shops in the U.S. remanufacture engines. Those companies together remanufacture slightly more than 3 million engines annually.