Solar Atmospheres of Western PA recently took occupancy of a brand new 15,000 square foot “connector” building. This building joins the existing 80,000 square foot workspace, which houses some of the largest vacuum furnaces in the world, to its current 10,000 square foot Nadcap laboratory, testing building and vacuum oil quenching building. The primary purpose of this new building is to create a clear and defined flow of work using a pull/push system, rather than having incoming and outgoing jobs co-mingled in front of heat treating equipment. All incoming jobs will now be “pulled” from this building and completed jobs will be “pushed” back to a designated outbound area. This new space will serve as a conduit for transfer of materials from production to final testing. Finally, the four new loading bays will allow for the loading and unloading of multiple trucks at one time. A drive through feature will allow all flatbed trucks to load/unload indoors, thus keeping shipping personnel and equipment out of the harsh winter elements.

Wes Hoffman, shipping manager states, ”Material handling is now thoughtful and organized throughout our 100,000 plus square foot facility. The new building has already proven to eliminate wasteful movement of material. This addition has also enhanced our overall safety. Instead of large trucks navigating our entire campus internally, we can now isolate trucks and drivers to the outer perimeter of the property. This improvement prominently positions Solar for continued growth well into the future.”