Vestis Systems Inc., of Spokane Valley, has purchased the assets of longtime Spokane manufacturer F.O. Berg Co.

As Vestis Systems, the company will make and install awnings and shading systems for commercial customers from a

10,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 17901 E. Euclid, says Ryan Witham, Vestis Systems' general manager.

Vestis Systems' parent company is Inov8 Inc., of Coeur d'Alene, Witham says.

Witham declines to disclose the terms of the acquisition. He says Vestis Systems purchased the F.O. Berg assets from Spokane Valley-based Berg Cos., which makes shelters, containers, and tents for remote camp sites.

Three of Vestis Systems' four owners have direct ties to Berg Cos., which has its roots in the F.O. Berg Co. founded in Spokane in 1883 by Fredrick Oliver Berg. The owners are Don Myers, Berg Cos. president and CEO; Andy Barrett, Berg Cos. director; Mike Wollan, Berg Cos. supply chain manager; and Tom Simpson, president of the Spokane Angel Alliance, a venture capital provider.

Currently, Vestis Systems has six full-time employees. Witham says the company will stop making residential awnings to focus on commercial awning and shading systems. He says residential work made up about one-third of the business's revenues in 2012.

"We saw more of an opportunity with commercial customers," he says.

Witham says Vestis Systems also recently moved into the building on Euclid from a space less than a mile away at 3519 N. Eden. Vestis Systems now is leasing space from Berg Cos., which is next door at 16124 E. Euclid and has a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

"We're also looking at other opportunities and contract work with Berg," Witham says. "We're hoping to diversify into other areas besides awnings. We're still in the process of figuring that out."

He adds, "Right now, we're building awnings and aluminum canopies. We re-cover small business awnings. We do all the sewing and welding for existing awnings that are old or damaged. We also do new construction-type jobs."

He says Vestis Systems is building the aluminum canopies and awnings for Gonzaga University's $16 million, mixed-use Boone Avenue Retail Center currently under construction.

The business also makes some boat slip covers, for individual and commercial customers. The company has customers throughout the Inland Northwest, central Washington, and parts of Oregon and Montana.