Merix Corporation was an American printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer based in Beaverton, Oregon. 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. The company is now part of TTM Technologies.

History

Merix Corporation was started in 1994 as a spin-off from

Tektronix, Inc. Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent ...

in Oregon's

Silicon Forest Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic tab ...

, employing 700 people. Tektronix continued to own 27% of the new company. The City of Portland's Office of Sustainable Development awarded Merix a BEST Award in 1997 for water conservation. 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.Merix Corporation 2006 Annual Report.
Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved on March 25, 2008. In December 2004, the company bought Data Circuit Systems and named the unit Merix San Jose. That fiscal year, Merix returned to profitability with a $20,000 in earnings from $156 million in revenues. On September 29, 2005, Merix purchased the operations of Eastern Pacific Circuits Holding Limited. Merix renamed these operations as Merix Asia. 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. For the 2006 fiscal year they had revenues of $309 million and a profit of $1.4 million. In January 2008, Merix announced the closing of their Wood Village, Oregon, factory they opened in 2004.Trevison, Catherine. Merix to lay off 180, close plant. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', January 10, 2008. The company laid off 180 people company-wide as part of a restructuring plan at that time. Another 230 people were laid off in early 2009, and the company then lost $8.4 million on nearly $60 million in revenues in the quarter that ended in May 2009. Also in 2009, the company expanded its military and

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...

customer base, adding contracts to companies such as

Rockwell Collins Rockwell Collins was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radio Comp ...

. In October 2009, Merix announced they would merge with Viasystems with the combined entity headquartered in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Merix reported a quarterly profit for the second quarter of their 2010 fiscal year, the first such profit since 2007. The merger with Viasystems was completed in February 2010. Viasystems was acquired by California-based TTM Technologies in May 2015 for $368 million.

Operations

The company's main domestic production facility was located in

Forest Grove, Oregon Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, west of Portland. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a commuter town in the Portland metro area. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850, then incorpor ...

, in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...

. The facility employed about 800 people and was the city's largest employer. Merix's other U.S. plant is located in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

. Company headquarters were in Beaverton, Oregon, also in the Portland area, with Mike Burger serving as the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

since 2007. 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.Company profile for MERX.
Reuters. Retrieved on March 25, 2008.

References

External links

- ''Portland Business Journal''

- ''Portland Business Journal'' {{FormerORCompanies Companies based in Beaverton, Oregon Manufacturing companies based in Oregon Electronics companies established in 1994 Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq 1994 establishments in Oregon 2010 mergers and acquisitions Motherboard companies