Eric Weaver, a longtime Kni-Co Manufacturing employee, demonstrates how a new, high-tech press brake bends sheet metal Wednesday, May 25, 2022, during the company’s grand reopening at its Wallowa facility.
From left, Kni-Co Manufacturing co-owners Molly and Theodore Jones cut a ribbon to mark the sheet metal plant’s grand reopening Wednesday, May 25, 2022, while plant manager Robert Burns, Michael Reese and Kelly Guentert watch.
Kni-Co Manufacturing owners Theodore, left, and Molly Jones talk to employees during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday, May 25, 2022, to mark a grand reopening of the Wallowa sheet metal manufacturing plant.
Eric Weaver, a longtime Kni-Co Manufacturing employee, demonstrates how a new, high-tech press brake bends sheet metal Wednesday, May 25, 2022, during the company’s grand reopening at its Wallowa facility.
From left, Kni-Co Manufacturing co-owners Molly and Theodore Jones cut a ribbon to mark the sheet metal plant’s grand reopening Wednesday, May 25, 2022, while plant manager Robert Burns, Michael Reese and Kelly Guentert watch.
Kni-Co Manufacturing owners Theodore, left, and Molly Jones talk to employees during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday, May 25, 2022, to mark a grand reopening of the Wallowa sheet metal manufacturing plant.
WALLOWA — An expanded sheet metal manufacturing business held its grand reopening Wednesday, May 25, in Wallowa, with promises of more high-paying jobs and the transition to an employee-owned company.
“The jobs we’re creating here, it’s not about money, it’s not about equipment. It’s about you guys,” co-owner Theodore Jones told his workers after a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “That’s reflected in our pay, it’s reflected in our efforts to train you.”
A relaunch of Kni-Co Manufacturing and Magnum Metals comes with the expansion of what had been a 1,000-square-foot facility along the town’s truck route to a 4,000-square-foot building with many new machines.
Jones and his wife and partner Molly, who live in Draper, Utah, purchased Kni-Co from Robert Burns in early 2020. Since then, they’ve been expanding the facility that largely constructs gas cabinets for the semiconductor industry and a camp stove sold through Cabella’s outdoor shops, Bass Pro Shop and similar outlets.
To accomplish this work, they’ve added new, high-tech machines such as a press brake that bends sheet-metal parts, a powder-coating (paint) system, an oven to bake on and dry the paint at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, a wash system and several welding stations.
Although the Joneses plan to remain living in Utah, Burns will continue as the manager of the Wallowa facility. He purchased Kni-Co from its original owner in 2000 and plans “to be here until he retires,” Theodore Jones said.
It’s the people of Wallowa County who Jones is most interested in.
“We really want to promote the culture here because it’s about the people,” he said. “We can buy more equipment and make more money, but we can’t replace great people. We want to build high-performance jobs that people are high-paid and high-skilled.”
At present, the hourly wage at Kni-Co starts at $15 an hour. Jones said that will increase to $16 an hour soon. The top-end jobs go up into the $20s and into the $30s for management positions.
But it’s the employee stock-ownership program (ESOP) that Jones is really touting. He said he learned about how well an ESOP program can work while working in California’s Silicon Valley in the 1980s. One co-worker there told him he was to retire as a millionaire soon from the ESOP benefits.
“I would expect that everyone in this company — if everything goes as expected — everybody here, I’m going to do my best to help everybody here become a millionaire,” he said. “It’s a big goal, but we have a big opportunity. What I want to talk to you guys about culturally is that you’re the owners now.”
As such, he urged his employees to “change the way you’re thinking,” he said, focusing on efficiency and how to do their jobs faster and better.
Jones expects to be able to continue to grow his company without the threat of overseas competition.
“Sheet metal doesn’t ship well,” he said, adding that its weight and size makes shipping it difficult and expensive. So sheet metal products are a natural for home production.
As a result, he also expects to be able to add more employees. Since Jones took over from Burns, the staff increased from six to 18. He envisions a staff of 40-50 eventually.
And he’s eager to hire locally. At present, all but one of Kni-Co’s workers live in Wallowa and the other in Joseph. Jones hopes to add more locals to the growing staff.
New workers don’t necessarily have to be trained in sheet-metal work, Jones said.
“They’ll become skilled once we train them,” he said. “We’re looking for people with a high energy level and a work ethic who want to learn and want to develop some skills and we can train them. We definitely want to hire local.”
During his talk, Jones definitely was the company cheerleader.
“We’re going to do fine and we’re going to keep expanding,” he said. “We want you guys to win. Our goal is to have you guys win.”
Bill Bradshaw is a reporter for the Wallowa County Chieftain. Have a business tip? Contact him at 541-398-5503 or bbradshaw@wallowa.com.
Who: Theodore and Molly Jones
Where: 103 E. 5th St., Wallowa
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