Committed to its role as a family-owned and -operated business, K&N Electric Motors Inc. is what company CEO Janet Schmidlkofer calls a happy setup. “We’re approached all the time about selling the company. So far we have no intentions of doing so,” says Schmidlkofer.  

“We like to call ourselves a family of businesses here,” she says, referring to the fact that K&N also works closely with sister businesses Industrial Support Services LLC and Intermountain Electric. 

ISS handles mechanical field installations and is run by Janet’s brother, John Schmidlkofer. IME takes care of electrical installations, with daily operations being overseen by Ray Kemink.

Originally begun as an electric motor repair shop in 1945, Schmidlkofer’s father, Gerald Schmidlkofer, bought the business from Al Kooter and Carl Nidel in 1975. 

“The K and N stand for Kooter and Nidel,” he says. Gerald still works for K&N as chairman of the board. He is one of the company’s four owners, the other three being Janet and her brothers Steve and Bob.

K&N provides service and replacement parts and components to repair and upgrade electric motors, pumps, and electrical control equipment. It also designs and builds motor controls, along with manufacturing hoists, fish mitigation and hydro equipment, including upgrades to ferries.

Schmidlkofer estimates that half the company’s business is crane and crane cab construction, while the other half is motors, with a focus on larger products. 

“This company was built around motor work,” he says.  “We’re probably the largest facility for motor repair in the Northwest because of the equipment we are able to use in our motor work. Many others just don’t have the capacity to work on these larger products.”

K&N occupies a 58,000-square-foot facility at 415 N. Fancher Road in Spokane Valley and also has branch facilities in Moses Lake and Missoula, Mont. Altogether, it employs 90 people, including 76 at its facility here.  

Janet Schmidlkofer says the company anticipates total revenue of about $17 million this year, which would be on par with last year. Those revenues fluctuate year to year and seasonally, depending on the demand from customers in the various industries it serves.  She says the company’s revenues are mostly affected by the demand for manufactured goods.

“When demand goes down, we’ll sometimes see our amount of business wane a little bit,” says Schmidlkofer. 

K&N works on projects throughout the Pacific Northwest, and sends crews to job sites as needed, in addition to the work it performs in its big shop here and in smaller shops in Moses Lake and Missoula. Schmidlkofer says the company works with government agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers and Washington State Public Utility Districts, as well as private-sector clients.  

She officially joined the company as its CEO in 2007, and she says it’s been amazing how smoothly her transition into the business has gone. 

“Normally, not having a background in this kind of work is kind of a roadblock,” she says. “There’s always a learning curve.” 

Schmidlkofer has an associate’s degree in cardiovascular technology, and worked for a time as cardiac services director for Deaconess Hospital. She also earned a bachelor’s in health care administration in 2008 through an online program offered by American InterContinental University. 

“After my time at Deaconess, I was looking for a job, and my dad was looking for someone to help take over the family business,” she says. “So I began on kind of a trial basis and I ended up just loving it. It’s been a good fit both for our family and for the employees on staff.”

She has also received training in efficient business management and lean production methods. As the company’s CEO, Schmidlkofer says that on a daily basis she oversees processes and procedures, quality control and assurance, as well as contracts and legal matters.

Schmidlkofer’s work with the company led to her nomination for a YWCA Women of Achievement in Business and Industry award, which was presented to her at a luncheon on Oct. 1.  

She  feels strongly that the work K&N does is invaluable, using its experience in rebuilding and manufacturing motors to operate within a diverse range of industries , including nuclear, power generation, agriculture, pulp and paper, metal, marine, commercial and industrial, petrochemical, mining, water and wastewater.

 “Electric motors provide the basis for manufacturing,” says Schmidlkofer. “Things like food processing, lighting, car parts, and even toilet paper are made using electric motors.” Despite this, she says the company’s largest focus is work on hydroelectric dams and dam crane modernizations. 

“Working on cranes requires some of the same skills we’ve developed over the years in working with electrical motors. The control portion especially is all a system of motors, brakes, and drives that work together,” says Schmidlkofer. K&N creates custom cabs and control systems for cranes, modernizing large bridge and gantry cranes located on hydroelectric dams.

“There is a constant demand for work on the dams, because the federal government mandates that dams be upgraded on a strict schedule,” says Schmidlkofer. 

The company is often a subcontractor for companies working on larger projects. For example, it just recently learned it will be working as a subcontractor for Garco Construction Inc. on an upcoming spillway gate maintenance project at Chief Joseph Dam, located at Bridgeport, Wash., on the Columbia River. Its role in that project will be the repair and replacement of motors on the dam’s mechanical gate hoist system.

  In 2013, K&N was awarded an $8 million contract by the Army Corps of Engineers to rehabilitate bridge cranes on the Lower Granite and Little Goose dams. Lower Granite is located on the Snake River 22 miles south of Colfax in southeast Washington, and Little Goose is located on the Snake River 25 miles north of the town of Dayton, Wash. Schmidlkofer says that project will wind up next month. 

In November K&N will begin work as a subcontractor for sister company Industrial Support Services on a $4 million project at The Dalles Dam, on the Columbia River near The Dalles, Ore., that Schmidlkofer says will mostly involve crane rehabilitation.