Merix Corporation

Merix Corporation was an American printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer based in Beaverton, Oregon.[2] Prior to a merger in 2010 with Viasystems, the company had been the 31st largest public company in Oregon based on market capitalization as of 2006.[3][4] The company is now part of TTM Technologies.

History

Merix Corporation was started in 1994 as a spin-off from Tektronix, Inc. in Oregon's Silicon Forest, employing 700 people.[5] Tektronix continued to own 27% of the new company.[6] The City of Portland's Office of Sustainable Development awarded Merix a BEST Award in 1997 for water conservation.[7] Merix lost $9.6 million on revenues of $87 million in 2002, and followed that with losses of $30 million in 2003 on revenues of $95 million.[8]

In December 2004, the company bought Data Circuit Systems and named the unit Merix San Jose.[8] That fiscal year, Merix returned to profitability with a $20,000 in earnings from $156 million in revenues.[8] On September 29, 2005, Merix purchased the operations of Eastern Pacific Circuits Holding Limited. Merix renamed these operations as Merix Asia.[9] In February 2007, the company was warned by NASDAQ for failing to have a full three member independent audit committee as required by NASDAQ listing rules.[10]

For the 2006 fiscal year they had revenues of $309 million and a profit of $1.4 million.[8] In January 2008, Merix announced the closing of their Wood Village, Oregon, factory they opened in 2004.[11] The company laid off 180 people company-wide as part of a restructuring plan at that time.[11] Another 230 people were laid off in early 2009,[12] and the company then lost $8.4 million on nearly $60 million in revenues in the quarter that ended in May 2009.[13]

Also in 2009, the company expanded its military and aerospace customer base, adding contracts to companies such as Rockwell Collins.[14] In October 2009, Merix announced they would merge with Viasystems with the combined entity headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.[15] Merix reported a quarterly profit for the second quarter of their 2010 fiscal year, the first such profit since 2007.[16] The merger with Viasystems was completed in February 2010.[17] Viasystems was acquired by California-based TTM Technologies in May 2015 for $368 million.[18][19]

Operations

The company's main domestic production facility was located in Forest Grove, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area.[20] The 250000 ft2 facility employed about 800 people and was the city's largest employer.[20] Merix's other U.S. plant is located in San Jose, California.[20] Company headquarters were in Beaverton, Oregon, also in the Portland area,[20] with Mike Burger as the chief executive officer since 2007.[14]

Merix produced printed circuit boards used in various electronic equipment worldwide. This was primarily multi-layered rigid PCBs used in the automotive industry, communications equipment, testing equipment, and the computer industry. The manufacturing facilities were located primarily in China.[21]

External links

• New Merix CEO gets his orders - Portland Business Journal
• Spiraling Merix records another bleak quarter - Portland Business Journal