More Than $450,000 in Quality Tenant Improvements Completed in Comet’s Silicon Valley Facilities over the Past Several Years
The Comet Group — a leading global provider of high-quality systems, components and services in x-ray, ebeam and RF technologies — has turned to SiliconX Construction for tenant improvement projects at its Silicon Valley facilities totaling approximately 4,500 sq. ft. and worth $450,000 over the past several years.
Headquartered near Bern in western Switzerland, the Comet Group builds high-quality, high-technology components and modules, such as a variety of x-ray sources and systems, vacuum capacitors, RF generators, impedance-matching networks, and compact ebeam sets. These products are in high demand by manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace, electronics, energy, semiconductor, and solar industries.
The Comet Group came to Silicon Valley for research and development and manufacturing because of the unique technical know-how available locally. The components and modules made here are often shipped to Switzerland to be incorporated into complete systems at the company’s advanced fabrication facility in Flamatt.
Warehouse Expansion
One of SiliconX Construction’s first projects for the Comet Group was the expansion of warehouse space at its North San Jose manufacturing and distribution facility. Comet’s high-tech components and modules can’t be stored in typical distribution space. They require a much cleaner environment to ensure suitability for their ultimate use in an array of finished products and systems.
To meet these requirements, SiliconX installed a high-quality, high-volume air filtration system throughout the distribution center — in addition to a vinyl composition tile (VCT) floor that is commonly found in clean rooms.
“An additional challenge was that all our work had to take place without any disruption to the facility’s operations,” said Tony Gonzalez, Director of Construction Operations for SiliconX. “The Comet Group was very supportive and we were able to complete the warehouse expansion on schedule and under budget while the center remained in full operation.”
Larger Data Center and Cooling Tower for Testing
With the Comet Group’s operations expanding, the company also required a larger data center to meet its growing IT requirements. To ensure that the server room would always be maintained at the correct temperature, SiliconX installed a high-performance heating and cooling system, as well as special lighting and upgraded fire protection capabilities.
The most recent project that SiliconX Construction completed for the Comet Group was a cooling tower used in product testing. SiliconX built the exterior cooling tower and handled all the plumbing associated with the circulation of chilled water through the closed-loop system. This allows Comet Group scientists and engineers to plug products on the workbench into the cooling system as various tests are conducted.
“The start of the project was delayed for several quarters due to company priorities, so it needed to be completed on an extremely tight schedule to meet product ship dates,” Gonzalez explained. “Once again, with Comet Group’s close cooperation we were able to complete the work on time and within their budget. We look forward to continuing to meet Comet Group’s space requirements in Silicon Valley going forward.”
To find out more about the high-quality construction work that SiliconX has completed for the Comet Group — or for any other client — contact Tony Gonzalez, Director of Construction Operations, at tony@siliconxconstruction.com, or call (408) 418-0099 (w) or (408) 318-1869 (c).