A company led by Spokane businessmen Bill Hockett and Chris Wood has bought the assets of The Factory Co., a heavy-equipment manufacturer on Spokane's North Side with roots in RAHCO International Inc. and the venerable R.A. Hanson Co.

The company, TFC International LLC, completed its purchase of The Factory Co.'s assets on March 2. Hockett declines to disclose the terms of the transaction, but says he and Wood began managing the company under contract prior to the acquisition. Both will continue to be involved in the company's day-to-day operations.

Yosufi Tyebkhan, who lives in the Los Angeles area, is an equal partner in TFC International with Hockett and Wood.

The company currently has nearly 50 employees and continues to be located in the sprawling manufacturing complex at 2425 E. Magnesium, the original site for the R.A. Hanson Co. The transaction didn't include real estate, and TFC International is leasing a portion of the facility.

TFC International focuses on contract manufacturing of heavy-duty equipment used in a variety of industries, including mining, gas and oil, construction, and agriculture. Its abilities include fabrication, hydraulics, electrical power systems, control systems, and surface paint.

Hockett says many of the industries the company serves are seeing growth, including the oil and drilling industries.

"It's interesting to be at the gas pump and to be happy to see the price go up," Hockett says.

TFC International plans to expand to offer some of the services R.A. Hanson traditionally had offered, such as equipment design and engineering. Consequently, Hockett says, the company plans to hire more people in the coming months, though he is unsure how many people the company will add.

"We're starting to see growth, but we're conservative," he says. "None of us know the depth of the growth potential that's out there."

TFC International is the latest venture to carry on the business that late Spokane entrepreneur Raymond Hanson started in 1946, when he invented a self-leveling device that enabled agricultural combines to operate on steep hillsides. The company went on to develop a wide spectrum of large pieces of equipment, ranging from the U.S. Air Force's MX missile deployment system and canal leveling machinery used in creating California's aqueduct system to 2,000-foot-long ore conveyors.

The company became known as RAHCO International in later years, and in 1995, Raymond Hanson's son, Richard Hanson, bought the company from his father. Richard Hanson operated RAHCO well into the 2000s and sold that company's name and its materials-handling business to Danish conglomerate, FLSmidth & Co. A/S, in 2007. That conglomerate's U.S. subsidiary, FLSmidth RAHCO Inc., continues to operate in Spokane.

After that transaction, Richard Hanson operated the remaining contract-manufacturing operations as The Factory Co. for just over a year, then sold that company to Mark Folsom, of Spokane. Folsom also owns a wind-turbine manufacturing company here called MC Energy LLC, and Hockett says Folsom sold The Factory Co. to focus on that venture.

Hockett is a longtime Spokane businessman who owns Critical Data Inc., a 24-year-old market-research company located in the Undercliff Mansion, at 703 W. Seventh on Spokane's lower South Hill. He says he will continue his active involvement in Critical Data while operating TFC International.

Wood and Tyebkhan own TenX Ventures, a private equity firm based in Spokane.

The Factory Co. acquisition is the fifth in which they have been involved. TenX's other investments have involved machinery design and manufacturing companies in Ohio, California, Idaho, and Indiana.