The Architect’s Newspaper features Pomona facility
Enclos’ Pomona, California assembly factory.
The Architect’s Newspaper published a spotlight yesterday on stateside manufacturing plants, with their focus on Southern California facilities in particular. The article challenges the notion that all architectural products originate overseas, and makes the claim that local markets can provide a higher-skilled workforce, decrease in shipping costs, and quicker project turnarounds.
Enclos’ Pomona, California assembly factory is shown extensively throughout the article. The Southern California facility has assembled cladding material for numerous west coast projects over the years, most recently the New San Diego United States Courthouse, McCarran International Airport: Terminal 3, and L.A. Live Tower & Residences. These three projects combine to include just under one million square feet of facade, each delivered with accelerated schedules and just-in-time delivery strategies by the Pomona facility.
“It’s not uncommon for people to ship parts to China, where they’re assembled and then shipped all the way back,” says Mic Patterson, director of strategic development for Enclos, in the article. “It’s crazy.”
To combat this “craziness,” Enclos also operates a fabrication plant in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and second manufacturing plant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. With established facilities on both coasts, Enclos is able to provided the optimum quality assurance, decrease in shipping costs, and quicker turnarounds that the article suggests on a nationwide level.
A step-by-step visual walkthrough of Enclos’ manufacturing process can be seen in part one of our online facade series, Modular Prefab: The Manufacture of Unitized Curtainwall Systems.
The Architect’s Newspaper article can be read in its entirety here.