UIC Case Study: Thermoforming Plastic Manufacturer Equipment Installation and Tenant Improvements

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The new owner of this world wide manufacturer of renowned brand named plastic automotive accessories selected UIC as the equipment installation and tenant improvement contractor for a new and unique project. The new owner had an existing business with plant operations in his Southern California facility. He purchased an unrelated business and decided to combine 2 different operations in the same building as they had available space in the existing facility. This project was in an existing leased building.

The new production line being added included a rotary Thermoformer, compressor, air tank, 2 CNC machines, new air piping, electrical, switchgear, transformer, wiring, work stations, and concrete pads.

After discussing the owner’s scheduling needs for the project, the power and air needs of the new plant, equipment needed, respective lead times, and the owner’s limited personnel available that would be involved with their first construction project, UIC helped the owner realize that the ambitious schedule would never be achieved if they were to go it alone.

The company did not have the personnel or the skill set necessary to hit the ground running on this project. The owner's original plan was to manage the project as an owner builder, managing the trades involved, setting up the contracts, specifying the equipment needed, ordering all of the necessary equipment, work with the city for permitting, Edison, the building owner (leased building), and ensuring that all Sub contractors performed their work timely, safely, and provided the quality of work that the owner expected. The owner had a targeted start up from start of construction to completion In less than 60 days. This was not going to happen unless a proven general contractor was brought in immediately.

UIC offered its services as not only an installation contractor, but as a proven general contractor, and the owner agreed that working with UIC was the only way to achieve the company's goals within the specified timeframe.

UIC generated an ambitious schedule, equipment was ordered with expedited deliveries, engineered drawings were completed and submitted to Edison as well as the city for approval, bid packages were completed and sent out, subs were selected, contracts were issued, and construction began within 10 days from bid packages being issued to the start of construction.

As the project moved forward, UIC discovered through its regular audit that some of the equipment the owner was ordering would not meet the expected air or electrical requirements. UIC helped the owner's engineers to select the correct equipment, cancel previous orders, re order the correct equipment with expedited deliveries, and move forward with the project.

UIC could have very easily gone along with the owner's original plans and specifications and completed the project based on that. However, the owner would have had problems in the operation of their production lines if UIC had not provided its expertise and assistance to the company on the project. Thanks to UIC's due diligence, UIC saved the additional construction costs, more equipment, and added downtime the project could have incurred.

UIC did the right thing by helping the company get on track so that it could achieve the necessary start up schedule. UIC met the start up requirements without overtime and completed the project to the owner's satisfaction.

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