Factories Take Center Stage for Today’s Companies

Weidler: “If we can get away from two distinct silos of office and manufacturing folk, it brings up collaboration between staff.”

NEWPORT BEACH, CA—The factories of yesterday used to be unsightly things in the back of the house, but nowadays companies are using them as showrooms to market their products, which means design needs are shifting, Carolina Weidler, leader of the new science and technology studio at H. Hendy & Associates, tells GlobeSt.com. The studio will accommodate Southern California’s rapid growth in science and technology and provide high-tech corporations with the expertise needed to create high performance work environments. It will focus on design and creative solutions for process-driven industries, including manufacturing facilities, labs, secure facilities and technically challenging environments.

Weidler, a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and LEED AP, has international experience creating process-driven environments for high-tech corporations. She has been hired to lead the new division to meet California’s growing need for efficient and effective work environments in science, technology, engineering and math-based industries. We spoke exclusively with her about why and how STEM-based industries’ real estate needs have changed in recent times and how these needs will continue to evolve as these industries get more recognition as a specialized area of the commercial real estate industry.