FLSmidth RAHCO Inc., the company formed in April when Danish industrial giant FLSmidth & Co. A/S bought the material-handling business and name of longtime Spokane manufacturer RAHCO International Inc., has moved from the former RAHCO complex to a North Spokane office building.


FLSmidth RAHCO, which currently employs about 75 people here, has leased the entire third floor, about 30,000 square feet of space, in the Northpointe Office Building, located at 605 E. Holland.


The move took place late last week. The new quarters are about 1.5 miles northwest of the sprawling former RAHCO complex, which is located on the north side of Magnesium Road at about Crestline Street.


RAHCO Internationals former owner, Richard Hanson, retained ownership of that companys fabrication business, which now is called The Factory Company International Inc.


It employs about 110 workers and remains based at the Magnesium complex.


FLSmidth RAHCO designs and sells large-scale, specialized equipment, including conveyors, stackers, and similar devices used in mining operations, much as RAHCO International had. FLSmidth RAHCO has said it will contract with other companies to build the equipment it designs, perhaps including The Factory Company.


Dennis Medina, spokesman for FLSmidth RAHCO, says the companys new location has enough space to grow to 100 employees.


We leased the space with the idea in mind to have room to grow, he says.


He says the company currently is looking to hire six employees in its sales, project management, and engineering departments.


The new location is just across Holland Avenue from a Ziegler Lumber Co. outlet and is just east of the Northpointe Plaza shopping center.


The Northpointe Office Building, which was built in 2000, is owned by Northpointe Office Building LLC, a company headed by Spokane developer Dick Vandervert.


Medina says the company has upgraded some of its office technology in the move, including installing a voice-over-IP phone system and outfitting a video-conferencing room.


FLSmidth RAHCO is part of a group of companies under the umbrella of a Bethlehem, Pa.-based unit of FLSmidth called FFE Minerals.


FLSmidth, which is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, is a 125-year-old, publicly traded conglomerate that focuses on manufacturing industrial equipment primarily for the cement and minerals industries.


The big Danish company employs nearly 6,000 people and expects 2007 sales of roughly $3 billion.


FLSmidth RAHCO said this spring that it expects to have more than $20 million in annual sales.


The former RAHCO International was founded in 1946 as R.A. Hanson Co., by Richard Hansons father, Raymond Hanson.


It originally made a name for itself making self-leveling devices that enabled agricultural combines to harvest grain efficiently on steep hillsides, but later did everything from hiding MX missiles underground for the Pentagon to building big aqueducts in California, to developing remote-controlled vehicles to haul radiation-contaminated debris.


Contact Mike McLean at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at [email protected].