West Side Hammer Electric, an independently owned Pennsylvania Electrical Contractor Solutions affiliate, successfully completed $1.6 million of work at the new Versum Materials Research and Development Center, finishing their portion of the project on time and on budget.
The project constructed a two-story, 27,000-square-foot research and development center, plus an office building in Hometown.
West Side Hammer was tasked with wiring and installing electrical systems throughout the structure, as well as running fiber and installing tele-data wiring.
The project employed between eight and 10 highly trained electricians and electrical workers performed roughly 7,500 man-hours of work.
Versum’s decision to expand was based on a need for larger space to conduct search.
Now, thanks to the additional space, the company can perform innovative research regarding the purification of new molecules and access the applications of these new molecules in the semiconductor industry.
The state-of-the-art R&D laboratory is dedicated to new materials used in the manufacture of semiconductors. Scientists in the facility will synthesize and purify new molecules down to parts per billion impurity levels and below, using the latest technologies available in the industry. The researchers can assess the applications for these new molecules and scale up the molecules to larger quantities for customer evaluation. These new organometallic compounds will be deposited on semiconductor wafers through cutting-edge technologies to test their performance for semiconductor applications.
Additionally, the new facility is capable of small-volume manufacturing and advanced analytical and quality assessment.
Versum Materials, a top supplier for the semiconductor industry, built their new R&D center next to their existing chemical plant, where they produce a variety of high purity specialty gases and chemicals for semiconductor manufacturers around the world, including Tungsten Hexafluoride, WF6.
Thanks in part to the work performed by West Side Hammer, the expansion allowed Versum to hire 30 new full-time employees, which brings their number of workers to 250. They are now the third largest employer in the region, which increases their contribution to the local economy.
Pennsylvania Electrical Contractor Solutions is a consortium of the region’s top electrical contractors who work in Schuylkill, Berks and Lancaster counties. Our affiliated PECS contractors employ highly skilled and highly trained electrical workers who work safely and have proven that they can complete a job on budget and on time.
West Side Hammer Electric is a PECS contractor located in Bethlehem, who has expertise in manufacturing, distribution, food and beverage, pulp and paper, metals and minerals, chemical and processing, pharmaceutical and biotech, new industrial construction and heavy industry, food service, hospitality, retail, office, medical, educational, new commercial construction, HVAC controls, Teledata, service and testing and instrumentation.
