Spokane Valley-based Servatron Inc. has entered the aerospace industry by signing a three-year contract with AvtechTyee, an Everett, Wash.-based manufacturer of electronic systems for the aerospace industry, to test and assemble that company’s electronic circuitry boards.

Tom Vietri, Servatron’s vice president of sales, says the contract will require hiring more employees and the addition of more shifts effective immediately and “most likely continuing through 2016.” 

Vietri says Servatron recently invested $1 million in new Panasonic surface mount equipment that, “will improve speed, increase capacity, and augment our capabilities in part size and placement accuracy.”

He adds that the AvtechTyee contract “and others that are in various stages of the sales development process will necessitate the hiring of additional people and adding more shifts beginning immediately” and most likely continuing through 2016.

Servatron’s website says the company, a spinoff of Liberty Lake-based Itron Inc., began with 78 employees and one customer. It now has more than 150 employees and 30 customers around the world.

For more than 40 years, AvtechTyee has developed and manufactured electronic systems for the aerospace industry. The  company says its products are now aboard 42 different aircraft types involved in the air transport, regional commuter, business jet, helicopter, general aviation, and military sectors. AvtechTyee says it has 450 customers in 49 countries around the world.

“Servatron is extremely pleased to have AvtechTyee as one of its customers,” says Servatron president Tod Byers in a press release announcing the agreement with AvtechTyee.

“We’ve worked hard to achieve our AS9100 aerospace certification, and entering into a long-term agreement with AvtechTyee validates our efforts and positions us for further opportunities within the aerospace business segment,” Byers says.

Located at 12825 E. Mirabeau Parkway in 62,000-square feet of space, Servatron is what’s known as an AS9100-registered manufacturer. AS9100 is a quality management standard for the aerospace industry and has become crucial for companies wanting to supply into the mainstream aerospace market.

Servatron’s niche has traditionally been in fulfilling orders for wireless, or more specifically, radio frequency, or RF products, for other companies. Servatron was created in 2000 as a divestiture of Itron Inc.’s manufacturing division, the company’s website says.

In the press release, AvtechTyee purchasing manager Jeff Hudson says the company did a thorough examination of Servatron’s manufacturing, test, test development, and troubleshooting capabilities to support AvtechTyee’s complex electronic assemblies.

“We’re thrilled with the support and workmanship Servatron has provided in building our partnership,” Hudson says in the press release. “We’re excited to further expand our business with Servatron in the future.”