Spokane Valley-based electronics manufacturer Servatron Inc. will shut down its Spokane Valley operations at the end of the year, according to a statement from the company's U.K.-based parent company, Volex PLC.

The 26-year-old company's equipment and customers will be consolidated to a separate Volex subsidiary, Irvine Electronics Inc., in Irvine, California.

The decision to close the Spokane Valley plant was made at the beginning of the year due to excess capacity, says Richard Brown, acting general manager of Servatron and general manager at Irvine Electronics.

Additionally, Servatron’s lease of 70,000 square feet of space at 12825 E. Mirabeau Parkway will be ending next year, he adds. 

The move enables the company to optimize its manufacturing footprint in the U.S. while maintaining continuity of service for customers, according to a statement from Volex.

Early notice has been given to customers and employees to support a smooth transition. Machinery and equipment will be moved from Servatron to the Irvine Electronics plant on or shortly after Dec. 31, when Servatron officially closes, Brown says.

The Spokane Valley manufacturer employs around 100 people. Whether all employees will be laid off or if some will transfer to the Irvine plant is yet to be determined and will be based on need, he says.

“Nobody likes to close down a plant because of the effect on the employees and the local community, but from a customer standpoint, they understand, and many of the customers will be transferring to the new plant,” Brown says. “The good news, or the way the company did it, was that (Volex) provided a very long off-ramp to the closure date. That was intended to lessen the impact on the customers and the employees and allow people enough time to make the transition a little more effectively.”

Servatron manufactures printed circuit board assemblies, box builds, and complete sub-assembly solutions, according to Volex’s website. Founded in 2000, Servatron is a spinoff of Liberty Lake-based utility-technology company Itron Inc.

U.K.-based electronics manufacturer Volex acquired Servatron in 2019 for $28.5 million, the Journal previously reported. Irvine Electronics was acquired by Volex for $16.4 million in 2021, according to a company press release.

In Spokane County, around 245 jobs exist in the specialized semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing sector, which Servatron is a part of, says Mike McBride, regional labor economist for the Washington state Employment Security Department’s northeast and north central regions.

“Losing 100 jobs in that sector is quite substantial in that niche category,” McBride explains. “When it comes to transferable skills and finding jobs in the same type of manufacturing, it becomes a lot more difficult when losing a substantial portion of that local market.”

More than 7,400 people in Washington state fill semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing jobs, McBride says, adding that general manufacturing jobs statewide have decreased by 6,400 year over year. Spokane’s manufacturing industry workforce has grown by 100 jobs in the same time frame.

Claims on continued unemployment benefits statewide are up 5% from March 2025, McBride adds. With about 1,000 more people unemployed in Spokane County who are actively looking for a job this March compared to last year, it’s becoming harder to find a job in the region, McBride adds.

“When it comes to manufacturing, it's the No. 5 (largest) employment sector in Spokane County, but simultaneously the economy in terms of job churn has really slowed down, so it's really difficult to be unemployed,” McBride explains. “That does become a concern when you see a significant amount of people lose their job at once.”

McBride says an aging workforce demographic — with fewer people turning 18 every year than there are people turning 65 every year — along with trade disputes, retirements, and slower immigration processing, are among the leading causes of a labor shortfall. Despite this, Spokane County’s manufacturing sector remains healthy and is more insulated than the industry compared with western Washington, which has seen greater layoffs, he notes.

Mark Norton, executive director of Northwest I-90 Manufacturing Alliance, says Servatron's decision to shutter its Spokane Valley facility to consolidate operations in California is part of a larger trend in the manufacturing industry nationally.

“There used to be 100 mom-and-pop companies here in the greater Northwest at one point, and there's probably less than 20 now; they've just been bought up,” Norton says. “And you just see the bigger folks getting bigger and bigger, and we've seen those small, independent, local businesses being absorbed by bigger companies.”

While consolidating small operations can help manufacturing companies operate more efficiently and save costs, Norton says he's worried that the national consolidation trend will lead to higher prices.

“If you talk to anybody who's been in industry for a very long period of time, they'll tell you that the increasing lack of diversity of options for people in the supply chain — and as we see this attrition of small- and mid-sized companies — that's not a good thing,” Norton contends. “It's not a good thing for the country, and it's not a good thing for the supply chain.”