Infinia planning layoffs, move to Utah

KENNEWICK -- Infinia Corp. is laying off employees and transferring others out of town as it moves its corporate headquarters from Kennewick to its manufacturing center in Ogden, Utah.

About 56 employees have been extended offers to take jobs in Utah and about 39 are expected to be laid off, with the transition scheduled to begin Friday.

It will maintain a research and development and a government business in Kennewick with about 15 employees headed by Peter Brehm, who manages the company's government business.

Infinia believes it's time to "accelerate from our R & D roots into a world-class solar generator company with geographically consolidated operations," said new chief executive Mike Ward, in a statement sent to the Herald on Saturday.

The company had 125 employees this spring in its Kennewick office, plus 20 additional contract employees. Since then, about 15 employees have been moved to Ogden. That leaves 110 full-time employees in the Tri-Cities now who may transfer, be laid off or remain at Infinia's Kennewick business.

"Infinia has been blessed with a committed and energetic work force in Kennewick, and we are sad that we will not be able to transition the entire team to Utah," Ward said in the statement.

Severance packages will include company equity, he said.

Infinia, which was created in 1967, has been frequently held up by Mid-Columbia leaders as the sort of small, but growing, clean energy business that is key to the Tri-Cities future. It developed the free-piston Stirling engine for use in solar-energy generating and other clean energy or energy conserving devices.

In January, it completed its first commercial installation of the PowerDish, a solar electric generating product that was conceived and engineered in the Tri-Cities. Now its time for Infinia "to begin a manufacturing-centric phase," according to Ward.

Ward was hired as chief executive in April as the company said it was ready to work toward large scale commercialization of the PowerDish. He most recently was president of Autoliv Americas, a provider of automotive airbag and safety restraint systems with 12,000 employees. It has an assembly facility in Ogden.

Ward replaced J.D. Sitton, who continues to work for Infinia and remains on the Infinia board of directors.

Infinia has been the beneficiary of efforts by the Washington congressional delegation and the Mid-Columbia legislators.

Rep. Larry Haler, R-Richland, championed a reduced business and occupation tax specifically for Infinia in the legislative session just ended. The measure provides a tax preference for energy companies that use the Stirling converter to generate power from the sun.

The state already had a tax preference for other solar companies that use photovoltaic or silicon solar cells.

The measure lowered Infinia's business and occupation tax rate to 0.275 percent on its gross receipts, which was planned to help Infinia create a new production line in the Tri-Cities. The business and occupation tax rate elsewhere in Washington is 0.484 percent on manufacturing, but other solar companies already paid the 0.275 percent rate.

Infinia had moved some of its manufacturing jobs out of state before the reduced tax rate was passed, but Haler said in April that he hoped it would then move some of the jobs back to the Tri-Cities.

In addition, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., has worked for investments in Infinia to support U.S. defense uses of Infinia's systems. In 2010, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., announced a $3 million grant for a prototype air conditioner using the Stirling system and a $1.5 million grant for a high-efficiency, maintenance-free cryocooler to support high temperature superconductor power lines.

This story was originally published June 26, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Infinia planning layoffs, move to Utah."