The Business Review: Another business expanding to serve
GlobalFoundries, SUNY Poly
Published:
Monday, April 13, 2015 - 17:30
I wanted to share with you the following article that was published by The Business Review :
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="304"]
At left, Jack Dority, president, PetroChem Mechanical
Services, Inc. and Jeff Genovesi, division manager, high
purity systems, photographed in the Atomix mobile "fab lab."
| Donna Abbott-Vlahos|Albany Business Review[/caption]
PetroChem Mechanical Services has expanded its pipe welding business to serve the emerging semiconductor and nanotechnology companies in the Albany, New York area.
The new division, called Atomix High Purity Piping, welds, fabricates and installs piping in clean room conditions at its office in Rensselaer.
Jack Dority, CEO, said the company has invested more than $250,000 in the project. It is meant to serve the clean room piping needs of the $10 billion GlobalFoundries computer chip manufacturing plant in Malta, the SUNY Polytechnic Institute and others.
"There's a growing need for this skill as more chip fab plants are being built and GlobalFoundries looks to expand to a second manufacturing plant," Dority said.
PetroChem fits and installs piping in the pharmaceutical, chemical and petroleum industries. The company had $8.6 million in sales volume in 2014, according to the latest list from the Albany Business Review.
When the GlobalFoundries plant and SUNY Poly were first constructed, Dority said there was not as much opportunity for local contractors to install high-purity piping. Without the right skill set, Dority said local contractors were left installing the water and sewage systems at the construction sites.
In the years since, Dority said local unions and companies have invested in training to make and install the high-purity pipes. Of PetroChem's 35 employees, Dority said 20 are now certified to make and install pipes used in clean rooms.
PetroChem has also invested about $150,000 in a "mobile fab lab," a trailer set up with a clean room to easily transport and fix pipes.
The mobile clean room is the brainchild of Dority and Jeff Genovesi, Atomix's division manager. Genovesi came to PetroChem from Total Facility Solutions, the mechanical services division of the M+W Group that engineered and constructed much of the GlobalFoundries and SUNY Poly plants.
Dority said the mobile lab will set Atomix apart from other high purity pipe installers. It will also make it easier to transport the pipes along Interstate 90 from Albany to Buffalo as SUNY Poly expands its "nanotech corridor."
"It's quick and deployable and can get projects underway in a matter of minutes," Dority said. "No one else in the area has this."
Apr 13, 2015 | Chelsea Diana
