The new location sits near the Washington-Idaho border and will provide emergency communications services for an area that includes those states and Montana.

“For about nine months, we’ve been looking to expand into Washington and it started when Harris (Corp.) hired us to implement a big system that they’re building for the Washington State Department of Transportation,” said RACOM President and CEO Mike Miller.

The company started looking into it and Miller met with Scott Grimmett and the team at Industrial Communications in March. RACOM leaders have been actively talking to them for about six months.

The 20 employees stationed at the Spokane Valley site will remain under RACOM leadership. Grimmett, the former President and CEO of Industrial Communications, has moved to a senior systems engineer position with the acquisition, while RACOM Northwest Region Vice President Ron Bender will also help oversee operations at the new site, per an official company statement.

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS - Repairs continue at Racom’s headquarters in Marshalltown, one of several sites the company has in the Midwestern U.S. and now in Washington state. The new Pacific Northwest location will serve customers in Washington, Idaho and Montana.

Miller said Industrial Communications had a similar function to RACOM in the region before being picked up. He said the services RACOM will provide at the new site are similar to those provided to central Iowa by the Marshalltown headquarters, 201 W. State St.

“We believe that partnering with an organization like RACOM will help us execute larger opportunities over a wider geography than we could on our own and I’m glad to find a like-minded partner in RACOM,” Grimmett said in the official statement.

The acquisition by RACOM comes as the corporation continues to see post-July 19 tornado repairs at its Marshalltown facility. The building took a direct hit from the tornado’s 144 mph winds, but it was built to withstand 150 mph winds.

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Contact Adam Sodders at

GOOGLE MAPS - The new Racom location in Spokane Valley, Wash., left, sits over 1,000 miles from the company’s headquarters in Marshalltown, pinpointed to the right.

(641) 753-6611

or asodders@timesrepublican.com