We are making upgrades to our website, please check back soon!
Industrial Case Study
ChampionX / Quartzdyne Pressure Transducers – Salt Lake City
Development & Industrial /Factory & Lab Planning and Construction Case Study
Challenge
Quartzdyne produces extremely accurate pressure transducers popular in oil field exploration. As a startup they had grown from one unit is one multi-building industrial complex, to five units in three buildings outside Salt Lake City. The founder had figured out in college how to measure frequency changes in vibrating quartz as each piece was immersed in various fluids and at different pressures. With this amazing technology, oil exploration companies no longer needed to extract what was deep beneath the surface to see what it was, they could instead drill a hole and test for what was there. Needless to say the potential was immense and Quartzdyne needed a new factory. The pains all around Salt Lake City, coupled with Utah’s relaxed emissions policies, made for the perfect place to expand. Simultaneously Dover Corporation (which became Apery and then merged to become ChampionX) began negotiations to purchase Quartzdyne. Dover needed fiduciary oversight of the project finances given family ties between Quartzdyne and the Landlord/developer. And both Quartzdyne and Dover needed an expert project manager to handle both the industrial programming and planning as well as planning for sophisticated clean room requirements, and to make sure the builder was delivering the ISO 5 base building requirements. Additionally the project manager would have to handle furniture and equipment planning, LEED certification, factory relocation phasing and move support.
Solution
Jack Kozakar was selected over local project managers to look after the best interests of both Dover and Quartzdyne. With the project in Salt Lake City, Dover’s management in Houston, and Jack in Los Angeles, Jack made it all work by managing the project from Salt Lake 2 days a week for the duration of the project. In keeping a close watch on the project, Jack prevented the Landlord/developer from increasing costs. The developer twice tried to extend the project duration, and later add and extra 1.3 acres worth some $400,000 to the project. For Quartzdyne, Jack planned the ISO 5 spaces for equipment lay out, transducer manufacturing and testing process equipment, and coordinated Factory LEED certification. Further, Jack a phased move plan that allowed Quartzdyne to stay in production.
Results
Jack contributed to an increase in confidence leading Dover to complete their deal with Quartzdyne. In keeping the developer in check, Jack eliminated over a million dollars in additional cost. Jack reduced LEED certification and commissioning costs 50% by reallocating dollars already in the development budget. Jack eliminated 7 months of potential developer delays, in one case working directly with the public utility company, and helping the developer think outside the box.