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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHARMONY TECHNOLOGY PARK, 1ST, CELESTICA - FDP - 12-97B - MEDIA - CORRESPONDENCErooms to develop the heads that read information in Quantum's disk drives, Timura said. The plant, he added, has compli- cated mechanical and electrical needs, as well as special air and gas requirements to maintain the controlled research environment. Completing a research plant fast, on time and on budget is es- sential for a high-tech company like Quantum, Timura said. Fierce competition "Things move fast and competi- tion is extremely fierce," he said. "If we were late on that, the re- search couldn't get done and poten- tially other companies would be able to catch up faster." Fast construction of the Colora- do Springs plant is important for a different reason. Over the past couple of years, demand for Quan- tum's tape drives has skyrocketed, Timura said, and the division has doubled its business each year. To build them fast and get them to market is necessary for the compa- ny to continue growing and bring- ing in the revenue it needs and be profitable, Timura said. Because it's an assembly plant, the Colorado Springs project is less technically complicated, Grondin said. Its great challenge is its size. Keeping in mind the volatile na- ture of the industry, Quantum must consider its exit strategy, in cased must one day sell the Colorado Springs plant. So the design teat'fj developed a plan for the plant that would maximize its real estate val- ue. Rather than create a 450,000�,- square -foot manufacturing box that might be unattractive to ii - ture buyets, the architects ;'- signed four buildings, linked through walkways that could be'Fe- moved to split the facility into dit- ferent segments, said Bob West, a principal at Oi Architecture in Boulder, the firm that design' lo Quantum's Louisville and Colorado Springs plants. In that way, he said, the plant could house a ndittl her of different tenants requiring smaller amounts of space. 3 The design of each building'sint terior is also flexible, with utilitio that will satisfy Quantum's mane facturing needs, Oz said. Tliey could, however, also be changed7JJ necessary. ,, Due to the simultaneous design and construction of the facility, the architects won't even be able to de- sign the specifics of the buildin4.'� interior until much later. And,do the designs change? "Constantly," West said. ' ja�i the end, and beyond. They ne.' 4 stop changing in these buildings.-,, An architect's rendering shows what Quantum Corp.'s new Colorado bly plant's interior is being designed while its exterior is under consttuc-- Springs facility will look like when it's completed. The tape -drive assem- tion. y. THE DENVER POST High-tech firms take fast -track approach DESIGN from Page U bevelopment." For the firms planning the proj- 40t, the pressure mounts. 100It turns out to be an accelerat- ed, high -intensity team effort to Blake those things happen," Dun- l;iar said. 1: When choreographed correctly, that complicated construction dhhce can shave months or even a year off a project — which can make all the difference for a com- paey trying to get its technology to market, said Bob Grondin, vice president of operations at The Neenan Co. Based in Fort Collins, Neenan specializes in designing, developing and constructing com- mdreial and industrial products, and is carving a niche in the tech- nology field. Condensing a project's timeline i5 the plan for Quantum's new disk - drive manufacturing plant in Colo- zado Springs, for which Grondin is overseeing development. What would typically have been a 2 Yx year job — a year of design and 18 months of construction — is sched- uled to be done in only 15 months. Noenan alsooversawthe building of,Quantum's Louisville research and development plant, which opened in 1996. That took about 15 months overall. too. At the Colora- do Springs plant, this method of "Archistruction," as Neenan calls it, means that the entire team of contractors, subcontractors and ar- chitects gets together at the begin- ning to plan the project. The design phase begins, and instead of wait- ing for that to be completed, con- struction begins midway through the design phase. So, while workers lay the foun- dation for a building, architects de- sign the steel superstructure. While the steel goes up, the team works on designing the interior of the building. If all goes well, the process flows smoothly, and all the parts come together in much less time, Gron- din said. The design and construc- tion of the four buildings that make up the Colorado Springs plant will be staggered, with the first two scheduled for completion May 31 and the other two Sept. 1. Like a relay race It's like a relay race, Grondin said_ Even before the first runner passes the baton, the second runner starts to move. "The idea is for them to be flying already," Gron- din said. The keys to success are flexibili- ty and communication — and mak- ing sure everyone is working off the most recent set of plans. Espe- The Denver Post ! Glen Martin Rob Spicer of Front Range Steel measures beams at the site of Quantum Corp.'s new plant in Colorado Springs. The facility's exte- rior is under construction while its interior is. still being designed.' cially in high-tech fields, where the technology can change during the time the plant is being constructed. "Parts of the process could change while we're in construction, and we'd have to adapt to accom- modate that," Grondin said. When the facility itself is very technologically advanced, the fast pace of construction becomes yet more complicated. Take Quantum's Louisville oper- ation. At 190,000 square feet, it's less than half the size of the Colo- rado Springs plant, which will be 450,000 square feet. But the Louis- ville plant is a research and devel- opment facility, requiring clean to plant M Plants for tech firms Companies need facilities in a hurry By Leyla Kokmen l a"a9- q i Denver Post Business Writer The cycle is simple. Research, de- velopment, production, market — and, hopefully, profit. For high-technology companies, the key to reaching that profit is speed speed speed. And in that world of fast changes and technological advances, the con- struction of a new production plant or research facility can make or break profits. So when high-tech companies build their plants, they have to be done fast. In addition, the sapid fire changes in technology can alsd,make the plants vulnerable as: the technology changes, the facilities themselves might become obsolete. "Big companies that are moving so M fast are dealing with technologies that tare changing every 18 months," saidr idrr + Y: Todd Phillips, director of the Ameri- can Institute of Architects' center for advanced -technology facilities design in Washington, D.C. "They want some- thing as fast as possible, knowing that it may only be good for a short period of time." Quantum Corp.'s $70 million tape -drive assembly for a high-tech company in which design and con- lant in Colorado Springs is an example of a oroiect struction are being done simultaneously. p .ways to make sure these often compli- cated buildings are finished quickly and designed to be flexible in the face of change. "Gone,are the days — at least in our industry — where you take the traditional approach to a project," said Wayne Timura, Quantum Corp.'s senior manager for corporate real es - This is still an emerging area for tate and development. The Milpitas, architecture and construction firms,:'.. Calif. -based maker of disk drives and Phillips said, and there are many dif- " information storage products built a ferent opinions on how to meet the $50 million research and development needs of high-tech companies. plant in Louisville that opened in 1996 But one thing is certain: Architects_ and is currently building a $70 million and contractors are looking into new tape -drive assembly plant in Colorado Springs. Traditionally, construction projects the contractors, the archtects, the en - gineers all work together from the . are done in sequential fashion: First" the site is conceptualized, then the start. 1"` -"The high-tech industry, especia?ly building designed. After that, contrac- tors usually bid on the project, and the as it's related to computers, seems to have needs that exceed just aboutev-' construction begins. Now, to meet the needs of high-tech eryone else," said Neil Dunbar, vice president of Martin/Martin, the companies, the design and construe- Wheat Ridge civil and structural engi that worked on,Quan. tion pieces may be done simulta- neously, according to architects and : neering.firm " tum's Louisville plant.. „ If someone contractors. Rather than each group finishing its part and then handing it .vaults over them with a better prod - uct, they don't get to market, and then off to the next group, this construction ' lose the investment in research and, technique means that manydifferent., pease see DESIGN on 1,0J` parties — the technology company,' ,.