Established: 1991

Location: PO Box 111409, Anchorage, Alaska, 99511-1409

Telephone: 907-868-4725

Focus of service: Headquartered in Tigard, Ore., a Portland suburb, Material Flow & Conveyor Systems Inc., has opened a sales office in Anchorage, and Ron Feece is the company sales and operations manager.

The company is a manufacturer, importer and wholesaler of material handling, conveyor and storage products.

"I'm trying to add strength to the company into Alaska," said Feece.

With 35 employees, the company has sales people throughout the Pacific Northwest. It is not new to the Alaska market, having sold to clients such as Food Services of America, Spenard Builders Supply and Corporate Express. The firm also has designed and installed some large conveyor projects and done some mezzanine jobs.

The company has a 35,000 square-foot warehouse in Portland and another 100,000 square feet of paved outside storage. There are more than 3,500 pages of product on the firm's Web site.

In addition, the company does general contracting, and can assist in warehouse design.

History of company: Feece was born and raised in Anchorage and graduated from Service High School in 1983. He worked seven years in Prudhoe Bay for a supply company and an environmental company.

All told, he has more than 20 years experience in sales and marketing and customer service.

"My only focus is to get into the Alaska market," he said. "I've been everywhere selling. I know the unique blend of people in Alaska - the culture and their demands."

Feece sees many opportunities for commerce in Alaska.

"The material handling industry affects everybody, so you can't exclude anybody as a partner," he said. "The opportunities are endless."

Major accomplishments: Before going to work for Material Flow, Feece owned his own businesses in Anchorage.

"I've done two ground-up companies," he said.

The systems design unit at Material Flow has completed jobs in Tokyo, Honolulu, Guam, Alaska, Florida, Texas and California.

Major players: Feece and Doug Stromberg, the Alaska systems design and project manager. Stromberg also is overseer of projects and sales for Alaska.

- Pat King