Industry News

Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America has selected SSOE Inc. of Toledo, Ohio, and Marmon Mok LLP of San Antonio to provide architectural and engineering services for its new $800 million manufacturing plant in San Antonio.

Austin Community College (ACC) dedicated its new $19 million Health Science Building on October 4, 2003. Sited on the college's Eastview campus, the 82,000-sf facility houses a dental hygiene clinic, teaching space for the dental technology program, a nursing laboratory, and classrooms. The $11 million second expansion phase will comprise 60,000 sf and is slated for completion by year-end 2004, enabling the consolidation of the entire ACC Health Science program at the Eastview campus.

Bedding manufacturer Simmons Co. will open three manufacturing plants ranging in size from 150,000-sf to 215,000-sf. The Sumner, Wa. plant will employ 140 workers when it opens in November 2003. Plants in Hazelton, Pa. and South Georgia will employ 225 workers each and are expected to open in May 2004. The facilities will reflect the company's upgraded operations, including a "zero waste" initiative.  

San Jose State University has opened its newly updated Microelectronics Process Engineering Fabrication Facility at the College of Engineering. The 3,400-sf fab and academic program were made possible by donations from corporate sponsors including Intel Corp. and Applied Materials Inc., as well as funding from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the National Science Foundation.

MMC Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Milpitas-based Maxtor Corp., will expand its disk-drive media manufacturing operations with the lease of 183,000-sf in Fremont, Calif. Housing 65,000 sf of cleanrooms, the facility will be occupied in addition to MMC's 140,000-sf location in San Jose.