Cutting Edge Countertops Expansion

Cutting Edge Countertops provides customers in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana with a wide selection of high-quality countertops in an array of surfaces, colors and patterns from their headquarters in Perrysburg, Ohio. Demand for products and services exceeded the limits of their 24,000 square foot facility and JDRM Engineering came on board to help Cutting Edge quadruple their space through a 70,000 square foot, $4 million addition. The expansion provides a two-story office addition plus greatly expanded showroom, manufacturing, warehousing, shipping and receiving areas.

 Mechanical Systems

The HVAC systems include heating and ventilation for production processing and shipping areas utilizing radiant tube heaters, ventilation fans and intake louvers.  The compressor room’s ventilation system is designed to either exhaust air to the outdoors or into the plant, based on the outside air temperature and the indoor facility air temperature.  The office area is heated and cooled by constant volume single zone packaged rooftop units, with a ductless split system to heat and cool the entry and stairwell.  The office system is engineered to maintain positive pressure in relation to the plant area.

Electrical Systems

The electrical service of the building increased by a factor of four times, from 400 amps to 1600 amps.  The building’s service increase was phased to maintain the full functionality of the existing electrical supply while the new service was constructed.  The existing service was then back fed from the new service, never interrupting building power and or causing production delays.  The expanded service is sized to support not only current production but also that of three planned future lines.  A 500KW diesel generator provides full building backup and life safety power in the event of utility power failure.  Diesel storage tanks are sized to accommodate up to a three-day outage of electrical service.

The lighting design continues the existing lighting layout with a bump in average foot-candle levels utilizing high-output LED luminaires in lieu of the previous six-lamp T5 fluorescent fixtures.  All of the lighting design complies with the energy requirements of ASHRAE 90.1 2010, which was not yet adopted at the time of construction.

Plumbing Design

Water is a key element in much of the production work undertaken by Cutting Edge Countertops and JDRM Engineering’s extensive plumbing design efforts resulted in an efficient, continuous grey-water recycling system to protect the environment and reduce overall operating costs.  Cutting Edge Countertops specific manufacturing process requirements, as well as their goals in the administration-area expansion, involved the engineering of sanitary drainage, natural gas supply lines, compressed air systems, and an extensive water supply system of carefully monitored domestic, grey and non-potable water supplies.

Technology

Technology design is critical throughout the facility and is highlighted in the creation of a new telecommunications closet to provide data connectivity throughout the new office areas as well as to the CNC machines on the plant floor. Ample wireless network coverage extends cellular service throughout the facility to keep signals flowing among the many hand-held wireless devices used extensively in plant operations. New interior and exterior surveillance cameras provide surveillance coverage of the entire location. Audiovisual elements feature a projector screen and sound system in the training room as well as large-format monitors on the plant floor which display production status.