Otter tours Post Falls businesses

POST FALLS - The nation's stalled financial system isn't stopping North Idaho companies from playing a growing role in the global economy.

Gov. Butch Otter and Lt. Gov. Brad Little saw that firsthand Friday when they toured two businesses in Post Falls.

At Ground Force Manufacturing, the governor witnessed some positive results from his trade mission to Mexico two years ago.

"Now we are going to do about 30 percent of our business in South America this year," said Ground Force President Ron Nilson.

In 2008, the governor led a delegation of Idaho business leaders to Mexico, one of the state's top export markets.

Otter made presentations and introductions on behalf of Ground Force, a mining equipment manufacturer, and other small and mid-size Idaho mining related companies during that trip.

Nilson credits the governor's support in helping land the company's recent sale of two specialized truck bodies designed to carry 60-ton payloads of fuel and lubrication to service smaller trucks working in La Herrradura, Mexico's largest gold mine.

Carrying 10,000 gallons of diesel, the giant vehicles can pump 300 gallons per minute into smaller 800-gallon tank mining trucks.

The next stop on the governor's visit to the River City was LCF Enterprises in the Riverbend Commerce Park.

Owned by Lorna Finman and her husband, Paul, LCF designs and manufactures power amplifiers for military and commercial applications.

Otter and Little looked over an LCF product, an intricate collection of circuit boards and wires, designed to work as part of a system that jams signals to defeat remote controlled roadside bombs.

Installed on vehicles regularly used by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Finman said the system creates a kind of electronic security shield.

"There's Idaho kids over there using your stuff," Otter said.

Finman has been told the system has reduced military fatalities significantly since being put to use.

LCF mainly designs and tests prototypes, and relies on all local companies to complete the manufacturing process.

"It's cheaper to work here than overseas," Finman said.

The way to be more productive, she said, is to use more technology.

Finman told the governor that is one of the main reasons Idaho's young people need to learn new technologies in addition to shop skills.

"It is so important. We're losing manufacturing and we're now losing engineering," Finman said.

Children in China and India are groomed to become engineers, she said, and those countries produce them at four times the rate the U.S. does.

"We're going to lose our competitive edge, economically and technologically," she said.

Finman explained that is why she and her husband are involved in bringing science and technology opportunities to children.

Through the nonprofit they founded, the North Idaho Discovery Association, Finman and her husband support nearly 50 school-based teams involved in activities through FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a national nonprofit that hosts LEGO, robotics and tech challenges.

Finman holds a doctoral degree in physics from Stanford University. Husband Paul graduated from Kellogg High School and attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford. He holds a doctorate in electrical engineering.

Through the foundation, the couple is currently planning a private science, technology and resource campus on 500-acres they own in Rathdrum.

Finman said they hope to unveil the facility in 18 months.

"I hope you'll be there to open it for us," she told Otter.