Philadelphia Gear Corporation Opens Santa Fe Springs Service Facility
Phase One Construction Complete for Company's West Coast Operations Base
SANTA FE SPRINGS, CA December 13, 2010 ---- Machinists and assemblers from Philadelphia Gear Corporation's (PGC's) Western Regional Service Center in Lynwood, CA moved into their new permanent home, a recently renovated 120,000 sq. ft. facility in Santa Fe Springs, CA. Located 10 miles from the former service center, the newly-refurbished facility will serve as the base for PGC's West Coast gear manufacturing and service operations.
The completion of Phase One construction involved retrofitting the new facility for machining, aftermarket, and administrative operations. This consisted of creating a new interior layout to optimize production flow and maximize space, while enhancing and adding production capabilities. The southern 65% of the building was renovated to create more than 14,000 sq. ft. of space for offices, locker rooms, and a secure document storage area. Specialty machining and operations rooms were added to provide optimal temperature and ventilation conditions for critical machining operations, painting and inspection operations. Five new bridge cranes were added and new equipment foundations and utilities were installed. Finally, all of the building's lighting, electrical, compressed air, and natural gas distribution systems were replaced.
Phase Two of the construction work will commence this fall and will involve outfitting the 43,000 square foot marine area for assembly and testing operations for main reduction gear assemblies for the US Navy. Additionally, two new machines - 4 meter and 1.6 meter grinders from Höfler of Germany - will be added. The upgraded machines will provide a higher degree of machining accuracy, while handling larger diameter gears and pinions, further improving the capabilities of the service center.
According to Philadelphia Gear Corporation CEO Carl Rapp, the timing of the facility's acquisition was auspicious following Philadelphia Gear's purchase of the majority of General Electric Corporation's (GE) marine gear product lines in the summer of 2008. "With the agreement, we acquired the intellectual property and key equipment to broaden our existing capabilities to service and manufacture main reduction gear assemblies for the US Navy. The new facility in Santa Fe Springs offers us a tremendous opportunity to grow this segment of our business."
Operations will wind down at Philadelphia Gear's Lynwood center by early 2011, with plans to decommission the facility by the summer of 2011. All toll-free and local phone numbers will remain the same and are being routed to the Santa Fe Springs office. Any correspondence or deliveries should be sent to the new facility located at:
Philadelphia Gear
12935 Imperial Highway
Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670
For more information, call 1-800-766-5120, fax 610-337-5637, or visit online at www.philagear.com.
