Watlow facility expansion

Watlow^® has recently added 25 000 ft² to its R&D facility in San Jose, California, USA. The expansion increases the manufacturing footprint while providing space for an improved R&D laboratory, a line heating prototype lab, a Class 1000 clean room, as well as facilities for additional metrology and analytical instrumentation.

Watlow customers in Silicon Valley will benefit from the expansion because the additional space allows for improved development resources, enhanced testing capabilities and the integration of complete thermal systems.

“Our machine shop was previously located offsite from our main facility, and we needed to move it closer to better support our engineering team,” said Rob Gilmore, Watlow’s Vice President and General Manager, Semiconductor Business Unit. “We acquired the additional space, and now the prototype and tooling work will be performed in our main facility, which will be more efficient and will promote collaboration.”

Watlow’s San Jose facility was previously Semiconductor Tooling Services Inc. (STS). Watlow acquired STS in December 2012 to enhance its portfolio of capabilities including bonding, semiconductor-grade cleaning, refurbishment, system integration and metrology.

Phase One of the expansion was completed on 1 July 2014 and includes the machine shop and laboratory space. The clean room addition will be complete in December 2014.

Adapted from press release by Callum O'Reilly

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/17072014/watlow_facility_expansion_1002/