Fluid Design Products Inc., of Spokane, says it has landed a contract to supply parts for a giant drilling machine that will be used on a tunnel project near the Niagara Falls, and that it expects to line up a contract soon for other big projects.


Fluid Design Products, due in part to the contracts it has won in recent years, has grown to 40 employees from 12 since 2003, says Steven Scharff, who owns the company with his wife, Kim. Its looking to hire more employees to keep up with its growth, and is considering expanding its current facility if demand for its products continues to rise, Scharff says. It currently is located in the 30,000-square-foot former General Machinery Co. building, at 3511 E. Riverside.


Were definitely in a growth mode, Scharff says. Weve seen substantial growth in fluid power markets, and demand seems to be pretty strong. Fluid power is the transmission and control of energy by means of a pressurized fluid, either a liquid, as in hydraulics, or a gas, as in pneumatics.


Fluid Design Products focuses primarily on manufacturing and distributing equipment for the hydraulic industry, including hydraulic reservoirs and forged steel fittings, he says. It also distributes valves and clamps. He declines to disclose its annual revenues.


The Spokane company has done subcontract work for DRT Fluid Power LLC, of Tukwila, Wash., for several projects, including providing parts for the tunnel-boring machine that will be used in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Scharff says. DRT Fluid Power contracts with Solon, Ohio-based The Robbins Co., which has an office in Kent, Wash., to provide engineering, project management, and support services for the assembly of The Robbins Co.s tunnel-boring machines.


For the Niagara Falls project, a giant drilling machine, nicknamed Big Becky, will bore a roughly 7-mile long tunnel between the city of Niagara Falls and the Sir Adam Beck Generating Station to divert millions of gallons of water from the Niagara River to the station and generate additional electricity. The tunnel will run about 330 feet below part of the city.


Big Becky is being touted as the worlds largest hard rock tunnel-boring machine. It will be five stories tall and will weigh 2,866 tons, according to published reports. Big Becky currently is being assembled at the city of Niagara Falls, and drilling is expected to start by this August. The estimated $877 million (U.S.) project is slated to be completed by 2009.


Fluid Design is making equipment that will be used in the lubrication, hydraulic, and water systems of the tunnel-boring machine, Scharff says. It planned to ship those parts this week. Scharff declines to disclose the value of the companys subcontract with DRT Fluid Power, but Ken Dillon, a co-owner at that company, says DRT Fluid Powers contracts with The Robbins Co. usually amount to about $1 million.


Other Robbins Co. tunnel-boring projects that Fluid Design and DRT Fluid Power have been involved in over the last three years include an irrigation system in South America, two high-speed rail links in Spain, and a hydroelectric system in Iceland, Dillon says. DRT Fluid Power hopes to secure a contract with The Robbins Co. for two giant tunnel-boring machines to be used on projects in India, and likely would award a subcontract to Fluid Design for those projects, he says.


That will be a monster project for us, Scharff says.


Separately, Fluid Design is manufacturing equipment for companies in the lumber industry that are working on projects in Hurricane Katrina-ravaged areas of the South, Scharff says. In addition, it supplies custom-fabricated parts for machines used by Spokane-based companies, he says, but he declines to disclose the names of those companies. Fluid Design Products also recently supplied parts for U.S. Navy submarines, he says.


Spokane Community Colleges fluid power technology program has contributed to the growth of that industry here, Dillon says. He and Scharff both completed SCCs program, and he says Spokane now is considered to offer a work-force pool of fluid power experts.


SCC has been instrumental in getting good people in the Spokane marketplace for this industry, Dillon says.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at [email protected].