Custom Components Company announces the award of a new project in San Diego, CA, the Mesa College Math and Science Building. The new structure is a $92 million, 180,000 square foot, four story facility in the Clairemont area of San Diego. The new building houses four floors of classrooms, laboratory space and offices for the departments of biology, chemistry, mathematics and physical sciences. Additionally, several faculty/student interaction areas have been incorporated into the building's design. The new Math and Science Building will be constructed of structural steel with concrete shear walls and exterior curtain wall. The building's design incorporates numerous sustainable features, with the project team targeting LEED Silver certification by the US Green Building Council. All classrooms, teaching laboratories, and the majority of the staff offices will optimize the use of natural daylight. The windows will utilize high performance, low "E" glazing that will allow natural daylight to enter the building, while rejecting unwanted ultraviolet and infrared light waves. This, in turn, will help reduce the amount of energy required to condition the building. The roofing will consist of cool-roof material, which also will reflect unwanted energy and reduce the amount of energy consumed. The project will add much needed academic and teaching space to the Mesa College Campus, supporting the math and physical science curriculums. The teaching spaces extend beyond the classrooms and into the surrounding landscape to include an outdoor teaching courtyard, geology demonstration courtyard and a 100+ species botanical collection. The Architects for the project are Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker and the general contractor is McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., both of San Diego.

Custom Components Company is supplying exterior and interior stainless steel and glass railing, monumental stair railing and roof railing for the project to Enclos Corporation (San Juan Capistrano, CA). They will coordinate the delivery and installation of the product. Custom Components Company's independent sales agency for this region is Architectural Glazing Solutions. Mike Varney from this firm was instrumental in securing this contract on behalf of Custom Components Company.

Custom Components Company recently completed a project in San Diego, CA, the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM). The new $104 million project is a 144,000 sq. ft. facility and laboratory for stem cell research built adjacent to the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) campus in Torrey Pines, California. SCRM combines the intellectual resources of four of the world's leading biomedical research institutions to pursue collaborative research projects that advance the search for breakthrough cures. The facility includes innovative architectural elements and mechanical systems that not only drive collaboration and scientific productivity, but also improve the building's functional and operating economy. The site totals 7.5 acres and is owned by the University of California and is designated for academic use by the University's overall development plan. The SCRM facility will achieve the principal functional purpose by incorporating design features such as horizontally and vertically open laboratories, and strategically placed informal and formal meeting and education spaces, all intended to maximize face-to-face interactions among SCRM resident and non-resident scientists. Movable features on a traditional model add functionality to a building designed to serve more rapid team science in a field with constantly changing technologies. It also includes state-of-the-art cyber-linked education and conference facilities.

SCRM's project team included the San Diego based architectural firm Lankford and Associates. The general contractor was Hensel Phelps Construction Company.

Custom Components Company supplied and installed over $750,000 of custom design 700 Series railing, which incorporates ½" clear tempered glass, stainless steel components and extensive stainless steel cladding systems.

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"Manufacturing has been one of the few bright spots in the economy since the end of the recession, generating more than 300,000 new jobs since December 2009, according to the National Association of Manufacturers," said Wally Gruenes, Manufacturing Practice Leader at Grant Thornton LLP and a member of NAM's Board of Directors. "Strong export growth in 2010 and the first half of 2011 helped increase revenues and create jobs. However, the slowing global economy coupled with a lack of confidence in domestic and global economic policy has caused senior manufacturing executives to turn cautious as these are matters over which they have very little direct control."

The manufacturers that Gruenes speaks to regularly say they are focused on matters that they can control, with their top three priorities being: 1) reducing costs by improving their manufacturing processes, utilizing techniques such as Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma; 2) upgrading their production equipment and IT systems to enhance their efficiency; and 3) re-enforcing quality and customer satisfaction. Read more

Source:  Grant Thornton

Are these customer relationship mistakes damaging your business?

The relationship between a small company and its customers is a tricky one. While not as intense as that with family members, surprisingly enough, long-term business relationships have similar risks for both parties as any other "friendship."

The situation between you and a customer can be damaged by broken promises, business betrayals and lying or giving false impressions.

These "relationship killers" can result in you missing out on opportunities, sales or even becoming involved in a costly legal action.

Of course, not every business relationship goes bad or ends in a lawsuit. Many small businesses have maintained amicable and profitable relationships with their customers for decades.

So how can you avoid making these disastrous mistakes in your relationships with your customers?

Let's run down the list of mistakes and relationship killers:

Mistake No. 1: Not Being Reliable Or Predictable
No matter what you may offer in terms of products or services, your customers rely on you to maintain a certain level of predictability and reliability or product quality. Being inconsistent can lead to lower sales and disappearing clients.

Mistake No. 2: Failing To Communicate If Things Go Bad
Things can go wrong at any time, as we all know. But you must communicate to clients or customers anything that can cause an unavoidable disruption, a noticeable drop in product quality, or make you miss deadlines, etc. You don't want them to become spooked.

Mistake No. 3: Watch What You Say
Make sure that the words in your marketing messages (online or off) match what you actually do or sell. As the old phrase goes, "Say what you mean and mean what you say." Using hype can lead to charges of fraud or false advertising.

Read more

Source:  www.manta.com