Generator manufacturer picks region as location for new plant

Cool desert nights helped northern Nevada land a manufacturing and engineering facility that may employ as many as 100 people.

Professional Power Products, a manufacturer of large diesel-powered generators, bought 12 acres at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center and expects to begin construction of a 50,000-square-foot factory in 2010.

The company expects that it ultimately will build 120,000 to 150,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Employment initially is expected to be about 30, and that number is expected to grow to 50 to 100 workers when the plant is built out.

Ken Trent, chief operating officer of the privately held company, said Professional Power Products scouted West Coast locations to ease shipment of the backup power systems it builds for customers ranging from data centers to offshore drilling rigs.

"The things get so large that freight can become quite costly," Trent said.

The company looked at sites in the Phoenix area. But temperatures in the Phoenix area during half the year would have been too hot for welders working in enclosed spaces, and effective air conditioning would have been difficult.

That brought Professional Power Products to Reno.

"We wanted to be near California, but not in California," said Trent. Reno's proximity to other major markets in the West also played a role in the company's decision.

The fast-growing company will finance the new facility primarily from retained earnings.

Professional Power Products initially will look to hire manufacturing workers sheet metal fabricators, welders and electricians, for instance to staff the new plant. Later, Trent said, it may hire engineers to support growth of the facility.

The company's products are custom built to customers' specifications.

Trent said Professional Power Products doesn't yet have a timetable for construction.

The company's purchase of the land was brokered by L Lance Gilman Commercial Real Estate Services, the exclusive broker for Tahoe Reno Industrial Center along Interstate 80 east of Sparks.