Weekly Update...

Lou Mangino and his Operations Team were nice enough to let the Creative Department accompany them for their weekly meeting at the new CenterPoint Facility. Sparks are literally flying as welders are working tirelessly to finish laying the steel indoors. As of right now, the steel is about 60% done and when its completed, we will start to see some VERY noticeable changes with the building's interior. What's going on with the steel right now is the laying of the initial frame with trusses being placed for installation of the ceiling and second level floor. So far, the trusses have been laid above the cafeteria and marketing departments. Once this is all set, the ducts and fire protection systems you see at the top of the building will be lowered into place.

This week's photos really give a look at all the steel work that's being done. It's a bit time consuming, but once it's out of the way, the fun stuff will begin. Take a look for yourself (click on the images for full size versions)....

This shot is from what will be the back of the 24-operatory showroom, which wraps around the front corner of the building. This is also right about where the entrance to the warehouse will be. You're looking at a wide shot of all the office space in the front of the building.

Here you see Bob Hunt of our Operations team working with Mericle's Joe DiMaggio (no relation to the one you're thinking of), who is in charge of all the electrical engineering in our new building.

If nothing else this is a great picture of a welder at work. But what's really going on here is the beam is being prepared to be laid horizontally across the top of the beams already in place vertically. Once that's up, it will be ready for trusses. This is taking place over the future showroom.

Here's a picture of Mike Mangan of Benco's Operations Team talking with Robert Jackson (middle) and Scott Frask (left), the project leads from Mericle. These three are the hands-on leaders up at CenterPoint and they are standing in what will be a quite large cafeteria/lunchroom.

Once again, thanks to Sharon Fiorini for the awesome photos!

Construction Coordination Meeting #12

As mentioned, a lot of activity at the job site this week with the office mezz steel delivery as you can see by the included pictures. Here's one where Mike Mangan and Bob Hunt are standing by a rather large beam that will be used to clear span the Summit training room - it gives you a good perspective of how large some of these beams are. (Mike was smiling because he just told Bob to try and move the beam)

Steel began to arrive Monday of this week and by Wednesday 6.17.09, we saw it all staged. About 10% of the steel was already erected and crews were busy bolting them together. The area below is in the Purchasing/Marketing area. (No Paul, you can't move in yet!) There are steel beams everywhere you look. Keith Budurka commented that "it is amazing they know which ones go where" because when you look closely, beams have several unique designs depending on where they are going. But each beam has a number and bar code on it and it is as simple as matching them up to the print and dropping them where they are shown. You can see one of these labels at the end of the front beam.

The coordination team also discussed some open items we have in the showroom and with the warehouse mezz system (a whole separate 3-story system) and cafeteria kitchen. Mark Hasaka is working on some changes to the showroom including the area where we will show off our line of digital x-rays and the audio/visual for the training area and boardroom. Keith and Mike continue to review the final electrical drawings and office lighting zones right down to the location of the switches. Sue Evans has been working with a company called ILS to get the cut sheets for our reception area desk and kitchenette located near the training room and along with Deb Hammaker, checking out some regs for the x-ray area. Scott Smith has been reviewing the data requirements for the showroom area and just finished up on his prints. We are really getting into the finer details now.

Mike also met with the Warehouse and TIS team this week as we continue to test and refine the logic behind our "pick-to-tote" system and coordinating how totes will be routed through about 2 miles of conveyor. Again, there is a lot going on simultaneously including Don Stephens wrapping up the capital approval.

Here are some additional progress pictures:

11 Weeks into the Project.....

Wow, we're already 11 weeks into the construction process and now you will really start to see some major changes starting this week with the delivery of the steel for the office mezz. Steel is scheduled to come in beginning Monday, 06.15.09 and continue through the week. Footers for the intermediary columns are poured and existing columns have been drilled to accept the new beams.

So why did it take so long for this phase to start? With an existing building, you need to go through sort of a "destruction" phase before you actually go into the construction phase. Flooring had to be cut out for plumbing, electrical and data piping and conduit and the outside "skin" of the building had to come off for the additional office area windows. Now the construction phase is in full swing withe HVAC units now on the roof and much of the second floor duct work is hung.

In one area of the showroom alone, there are over 240 floor penetrations for utilities and data as you can see in the picture. You can also see the masonry work going on with the windows.

The Benco and Mericle construction coordination teams meet every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. at the site to discuss action plans and open items. In addition, change orders are also reviewed.

We should receive capital approval this week so we can formally award the rest of the capital contracts.

So stay tuned to this blog to get the most recent updates on the construction and feel free to add comments. We will try and focus in on highlighting every area as it progresses. It is really getting exciting now!!!

Truckin' Along

Everyone is hard at work at the new CenterPoint Location as the shell continues to be stripped for windows surrounding the office area. If you look closely at this week's pictures, you'll also notice that the elevator shaft has been put into place. Also, COMING SOON, we'll be seeing periodic updates from Lou Mangino, VP of Operations, for an inside look at the progress of CenterPoint. Enjoy.....

This is the northwest corner of the building. Much of the sheet metal needed to be removed to make way for the masonry and several new windows. This area will house the showroom on the first floor and Design, Customer Service and Service Dispatch on the second floor.

The future front lobby entrance. This area will receive a canopy and improvements to match the existing front corner. If you look closely you can see the elevator shaft and some of the duct work inside.

Here's the northeast corner and again masonry and windows are being added. The first floor front office area will house the Marketing and Purchasing groups. The remainder of the floor level will feature a 60' x 74' lunchroom, directly outside a 72' x 24' outside eating area, and directly across the parking lot the smoking area. Additional parking will be added the entire length of the building. The second level will be home for the TIS groups.


The west side where eight dock doors are being removed, masonry and windows are being added for the conversion into office space.

*Thanks to Sharon Fiorini for the pictures and Mike Mangan for letting us know what we're looking at!

Firing On All Cylinders!

Things are moving along and everything is on schedule! As of last week, the building exterior of our future home has been stripped where windows will be installed. Indoors, the office space and warehouse areas are starting to take shape. Take a look for yourself. Click the photos to see a full size image.