SEL: Moscow facility on pace for 2023

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and Rosauers on Wednesday gave updates on construction projects happening on opposite ends of Moscow.

To the south, contractors are installing mechanical and electrical systems at SEL’s new 162,000-square-foot printed circuit board facility on U.S. Highway 95.

According to a news release, the company also received the first shipment of manufacturing equipment to be used in the automated, high-tech facility. The equipment will temporarily reside on the company’s Pullman campus, where the SEL Moscow team will use it for training until the new facility’s interior is completed early this summer.

The facility is scheduled to begin producing printed circuit boards in January 2023. SEL first broke ground on the site in June 2021.

“It’s an interesting time to be sourcing equipment abroad, given current global supply chain challenges,” said senior engineering manager John Hendrickson in the news release. “But we’re working closely with our suppliers and have been able to stick to the timeline.”

So far, 4,000 cubic yards of concrete and 500 tons of steel have been used to build the site.

On the north side of town, residents have likely noticed construction work beginning in the corner of the Rosauers parking lot.

Mike Shirts, Rosauers COO, told the Daily News that it will be the site of a Rosauers-owned fuel station.

He said the company hopes to open the fuel center in May. Other Rosauers locations have fuel stations and Shirts said the company felt it was a “good fit” for the Moscow location.

“We’re looking forward to bringing fuel to Moscow,” he said.

He said it will be an unattended fuel site open 24 hours and people do not need to be Rosauers members to use it. It will not have a convenience store since the grocery store is nearby, Shirts said.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.