First concrete panels go up on new SEL building

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc ,. announced the company’s new 98,000-square-foot building in Pullman, which is expected to be completed by May, has been named after SEL Distinguished Engineer Stanley E. Zocholl, who died in August at age 83. He held 26 U.S. patents, seven with SEL, and 46 international patents. He joined SEL in 1991 and was widely respected in the industry.

Walls for the concrete tilt-up building hit the skyline Monday when a 250-ton crane lifted the first of 34 concrete panels weighing between 160,000 and 230,000 pounds into place. The three-story building is the first to be constructed by SEL’s newly organized design/build team. Subcontractors from Pullman, Moscow, Colfax, Lewiston, Spokane, and Coeur d’Alene are constructing the building.

“We have been able to design this building around engineering activities, basically creating an engineering playground,” said Dave Whitehead, SEL Vice President of Research and Development. “A large testing facility will be more efficient and allow us to test new products in Pullman, instead of going to Portland or California.”

Last year, SEL opened a new manufacturing facility in Lewiston. SEL will break ground on an addition to that facility before the end of the year.

“Growth in the company comes from expanding into new markets and industries and continually inventing new and improved products and services,” said SEL President and founder Dr. Edmund O. Schweitzer, III. “We continue to reinvest in our company, and the Zocholl Engineering Building will soon be home for many of our engineers, engineering technicians, and their labs and equipment.”

SEL is an employee-owned company that serves the power industry worldwide through the design, manufacture, supply, and support of products and services for power system protection, monitoring, control, automation, and metering. SEL offers unmatched local technical support, a worldwide, 10-year product warranty, and a commitment to making electric power safer, more reliable, and more economical.