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 Construction
Work on Tennessee Plant has begun!
Finally, site work at the new Star Plant location in
Elizabethton, Tennessee, has begun. Soil borings are complete and an Engineering firm has
been hired to design the foundation and drainage plan. Another Engineering firm has been
selected for the Mechanical/Electrical portion of the building.
Star sales order 98-4555 has been written and released. The
design calculations and column reactions are being released to the Civil Engineering
company. The Star Builder, TITTLE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, as General Contractor, should be
moving dirt in about three weeks. All of the long lead time equipment has been specified
and is now being ordered. The plant building is scheduled to ship in late winter. Our
target date for opening is Fall 1999.
As previously announced, the Robertson-Ceco Board of
Directors had requested that we design a steel building manufacturing plant for the 21st
century. To do this, we consulted with some of the most prestigious consulting
organizations available including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sandia
National Laboratories, Roy Mar Consulting, and many star people were involved . We also
have had many design sessions with our current plant Managers and Manufacturing Engineers.
Jerry Traylor, the Tennessee Plant Manager, acted as chairman and was involved in all
phases of design and layout. He is highly experienced in plant design and has 20 years of
Star knowledge, much of which was as Plant Manager of Oklahoma City in the '80's. The
results of about six months of research and planning follows:
The plant will be about 210,000 square feet. It will be
approximately 400 feet wide at its widest point and 765 feet long. It is not rectangular,
but will have a common roof, and is simply a building building designed around the most
efficient layout of "state of the art" equipment available. The plant is
designed for 1000 tons per week and can be expanded to higher tonnage as volume
dictates. We expect to manufacturer about 20% more efficiently than the Monticello Plant,
currently the most efficient plant in the industry. New technology of cutting and welding,
for both speed and accuracy, will allow this increase in productivity. More accurate plate
cutting means less time fitting up.
Unlike the 50 odd Metal Building plants in the industry
that virtually move all material and parts around via overhead cranes, Star's new plant
will move material via automated material handling conveyors. The Board of Directors have
approved considerable additional dollars for testing robotic welding systems in the
finish welding area. We will test these first in Monticello, but will design for
them in the new plant.
Our architect, Kwon Kim (Master in Architectural
Engineering, University of Kansas, University of Seoul) has designed an upscale exterior
as shown. He is designing a 6500 square foot office with a special slope roof and
architectural treatment to provide an attractive exterior, along with a high tech interior
that we can all be proud of. We will keep you posted as things continue to progress
-Jack Taylor, President
1999 NATIONAL SALES MEETING UPDATE
Star's 1999 National Sales Meeting will be held in San
Diego, CA, Feb. 21-24, 1999, at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina. The theme of
the meeting will be, "Survival of the Fittest...It's a Jungle out There!" Final
agenda and the speaker selections are currently being chosen, to enable us to mail the
Formal Announcement & Reservation From in November.
For those that are wanting to make their travel
arrangement, you should plan an arrival for Sunday afternoon, Feb. 21, and depart on
Thursday, Feb. 25, 1999. President's Advisory Council will arrive on Saturday, Feb. 20,
1999. Make plans now, and we'll see you there! |
