A year ago, Janicki Industries ran round-the-clock, employed more than 500 people and planned to hire 300 more after opening an ambitious new tooling facility in Hamilton in 2008.

Plans have changed.

The Hamilton expansion is on track, but the company’s operating hours were pulled back and the number of employees was cut to 465, Chief Financial Officer Lisa Janicki said.

“We are in a business model of buckle down, hold on and outlast the ride,” she said. “… I would love for someone to be able to tell me when we have hit the bottom of this roller coaster or when this thing is going to stop.”

Across the county, manufacturers making everything from yachts to concrete are reeling from a rough 2008 and wondering the same thing about the economic roller coaster.

Yet companies are finding at least two bright spots — the possible infusion of billions more in government contracts and a push towards green energy — as they look forward to 2009.

Congress and President-elect Barack Obama are discussing a possible stimulus package that could pump $400 billion or more into infrastructure projects, such as roads and sewers. Under at least one proposal under consideration, that money would go first to states, and then to local governments that would funnel it to contractors, suppliers and manufacturers around the country and likely Skagit County.

Manufacturers here also hope Obama’s pledge to create 5 million jobs by investing $150 billion in clean energy over the next 10 years will translate into added business.

Janicki’s Hamilton facility is outfitted with two 100-foot, five-axis milling machines, which are the world’s largest and will put the company in a competitive position to develop more tooling, or molds, for wind turbines, said Lisa Janicki.

A 160-foot wind blade is already under construction for the General Electric Co. at the Hamilton facility and government officials are pushing for a lot more where that came from in the next few years, she said.

“On a windmill there are 10 blades, so it is a huge market and with the American (push) for green energy — energy other than oil — wind energy is really popular for research and development dollars and it is really supported (by) Congress,” Janicki said.

Janicki is not the only company banking on that trend. Mount Vernon-based Bayview Edison Industries does similar wind work and the Anacortes company T. Bailey focuses on heavy industrial contracting, but also builds 75 wind towers a year with capacity to make 100.

T. Bailey employs 90 people in Anacortes and is affiliated with a wind energy company that has about 150 employees in Ephrata, Wash., and 200 employees in Nebraska, President Gene Tanaka said.

So far work has been steady for the Anacortes company, he said. Like other manufacturers though, he would not rule out layoffs if things get worse next year.

“We are very hopeful and our workload is still strong, but it is not still bursting at the seams like it was even a couple months ago,” he said by phone last month.

The consistent workload comes thanks to government contracts for water and fuel tanks, water pump stations and utilities work that that is more dependent on need than the economy, Tanaka said.

He calls that work the company’s “bread and butter,” but he expects wind projects to be what carries T. Bailey’s $25 million to $35 million annual business to even greater levels.

“What we in the energy sector are hoping for is once the economy improves again, that we are going to be in a position of rebounding faster than the rest,” he said.

The upstart Greenpod also hopes heightened interest in energy will build its business, which develops home designs in Port Townsend and plans to manufacture them at Transform LLC in Burlington. Greenpod launched eight months ago and unveiled its first custom modular home at Transform in early December.

Designer Ann Raab said she hopes Greenpod’s use of energy efficient building materials and low environmental impact approach will buck the trends seen in the rest of the housing industry.

“We are going to be cutting the energy at least by half if not more,” Raab said of a roughly 600-square-foot prototype. “We have done that through a super insulated shell and the LED lights, the energy star appliances and ... we have cut switches for phantom loads. So right there we are going to be saving a lot of utilities.”

That home, named “Franny’s Pod” after the buyer, is solar ready, emits only as much chemical vapor as an apple and will be sold for $125,000, Raab said.

“It is cheaper to build, your utilities are down and it is maintenance-free for quite a bit of time so it is triple savings,” she said. “So that is why I think this is going to be something to at least consider in the future.”

Like Raab, local yacht builders are faced with the challenge of developing a product that will appeal to a shrinking customer base.

Nordic Tugs, which is based at the Port of Skagit County, is bringing back its discontinued 26-foot yacht to entice buyers with smaller budgets. The first new 26-footer, the company’s smallest yacht, will be displayed at the Seattle Boat Show next year.

But for now things at the company are not bright enough that President David Goehring wanted to share details. Like other boat builders, Nordic Tugs’ employment and production numbers are down, he said.

According to the state Department of Licensing and Washington Sea Grant Program, boat sales dropped 18 percent in units sold and more than 35 percent in dollars taken in between the third quarter of this year and last year. That amounts to a more than $87 million drop.

A report from the Port of Skagit County comparing employment numbers during the third quarter this year and last shows just how hard hit local builders have been by falling sales.

The Westport and Pacific Mariner shipyard at the La Conner marina employed 191 full-time workers last year but only 124 this year; full-time employment at Tomco Marine Group Inc. dropped from 62 to 45 during the same period; and overall employment dropped from 369 full-time workers to 273 for the port’s marina tenants, according to the report.

“During the good times it was 28 boats a year,” Tomco Vice President Mike Schoppert said of the company, which makes the American Tugs yacht line. “We are down 30 percent. During the good times we had nine boats under production and now we have six boats at a time”

“It would safe to say that the entire industry is down 30 percent,” Schoppert said.

Paccar, an international truck manufacturer headquartered in Bellevue, is also feeling an industry-wide slowdown. The company announced in November 430 employees will be laid off at its Renton truck plant because of falling orders for its Kenworth brand.

Paccar Treasurer Robin Easton said full-time employment at Paccar’s Technical Center outside Mount Vernon was unaffected by those layoffs, though, and is still at an historic high. That’s because trucks and parts are designed, rather than made there, he said.

In 2010, Paccar will begin building engines for its trucks instead of subcontracting for them, Easton said, and the company’s hybrid program has also created work for engineers at the Skagit County facility.

Vehicle sales will also factor into Sedro-Woolley-based TruckVault’s business next year. The company manufacturers secure storage systems most often used by hunters or law enforcement officials to hold guns in their vehicles, Accounting Manager Patricia Pienta said.

Pienta said the company is reducing costs by cutting a TV advertising campaign aimed at hunters, who might not have the cash for a $855 to $7,000 TruckVault these days. But she said business should still be steady next year because the company sells mostly to law enforcement agencies.

“I wouldn’t say we are totally insulated (from the broader economy),” she said. “We just have a really good product, and it is made right here in Sedro-Woolley.”

• Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at .