Question of the Month: Are the manufacturing jobs that once defined Long Island showing signs of life? - by Brian Sherlock

Brian Sherlock, TRITEC

It has been widely reported that manufacturing jobs that once defined Long Island aren’t likely to return especially after being trimmed during the most recent recession.

Despite the rumors of manufacturing’s demise, the sector may be showing signs of life. The construction of a 233,000 s/f office building being developed in New Hyde Park may be providing some of the sparks! The TRITEC/Castagna team is jointly developing this project, which is being constructed as the new corporate headquarters for Dealertrack Technologies. Dealertrack makes programs for automobile dealers to improve their efficiency and profitability.

Spector Group, one of Long Island’s most respected architectural firms, is responsible for the design of the core and exterior of the 3400 New Hyde Park Rd. building. The office building’s exterior is primarily made up of glass and custom panels, which are being assembled only 20 miles away in Suffolk County, New York. Above All Store Fronts, Inc., one of Long Island’s Largest Curtain Wall/Store Front contractors, located at 50 Gilpin Ave. in Hauppauge is responsible for the completion of $9.18 million of manufacturing and installation of the exterior panels. Suzanne Portnoy of Above All Store Fronts gave an overview of the machines used at their facility to complete the manufacturing of the panels.

New corporate headquarters for Dealertrack Technologies.

Suzanne explained, “For the window panels, the PG 123 framing is estimated using the Partner Pak & Logikal Software. PG 123 framing is then cut using the Rhino 600 & Rhino 900 automated saws. We fabricate the windows in-house, then pre-glaze on our automated glazing line, which is then shipped to jobsite for field installation. Field measurement assistance is utilized using Leica-P2O 3D scanner and cyclone software creating a point cloud used in AutoCad to overlay shop drawings to verify/create as-built drawings. 4mm composite panels are drawn in the AutoCad, which are then exported to Fleming Software to create CNC Programs that are run on a SabreRout CNC Router. Panels are cut from 5’x16’ sheets, fabricated by hand in-house, with AASF extrusion systems as required. Production supervisor checks each panel for quality before panels are crated & shipped to job site for installation.”

Above All Store Fronts is supplying the aluminum, the glass curtain wall and the aluminum sheet panels for the project. Joe Cenzoprano, senior project manager from TRITEC said, “They are responsible for the complete vertical skin of the building and what puts them in a uniquely strong, competitive position is that they perform all assembly locally, instead of outsourcing that work.” A typical curtain wall is made up of various extruded aluminum-framing members, glass, gasketing and other parts. A company produces the extrusions at standard lengths, another company produces the insulated glass panes and other suppliers produce the gaskets, the toggle systems, fasteners and caulking. Above All then cuts and assembles those parts into units locally, instead of depending on a separate remote assembly operation. TRITEC then has control over the sequencing and fabrication schedule and can make changes when necessary, as well as save the mark-up layering, which in turn will become a great solution for everyone.

Brian Sherlock is a marketing content specialist at TRITEC Real Estate, East Setauket, N.Y.