Trimech wins design-build award for pharmaceutical retrofit.

Trimech Corp., a leading provider of facilities systems and services in the New Jersey area, has received a 2006 Design/Build Award from Contracting Business magazine, a national publication which annually honors the most creative and innovative work being done by commercial HVAC contractors nationwide.

Trimech was cited for its work at a major manufacturing facility owned by Intergel, a division of Inverness Medical Innovations. The project won first place in the Retrofit/Renovation: More than $1 Million category.

Trimech is a subsidiary of EMCOR Group, Inc., a Fortune 500[R] leader in mechanical and electrical construction, energy infrastructure and facilities services for a diverse range of businesses globally. Trimech is an MSCA Star Qualified Contractor, a designation of the Mechanical Services Contractors of America (MSCA) awarded only to select firms demonstrating a proven track record of excellence.

"We are extremely gratified to have been recognized for our work on behalf of Inverness," noted Scott Smith, vice president and general manager of Trimech. "The renovation of the Intergel facility was a highly complex project, requiring careful planning and execution in order to meet the owner's goals and objectives."

Intergel manufactures soft-gelatin capsule based pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. It needed to substantially increase production capacity, but had little room to expand its Irvington, New Jersey facility. Trimech worked with Intergel to develop a detailed plan to add the necessary capacity within the footprint of the existing building.

Trimech served as the prime design-builder for the project, responsible for all aspects, including architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection.

The company's solutions included reorganizing the manufacturing process to gain more production capacity.

Trimech installed two larger encapsulation machines and converted the drying process so that it substantially boosted throughput, enabling additional production to be accomplished in the limited space available.

"The need to continue production while renovating a portion of the space was the most significant challenge on this project," according to Smith. "A detailed phasing plan was implemented so production would not be interrupted by construction activities and steps were taken to ensure that construction dust and debris would not enter the 'clean' manufacturing space."

The Inverness project was completed on a very aggressive four month schedule, allowing the company to expand capacity quickly while carefully managing its customer commitments.