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SANTA CLARITA VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL Santa Clarita’s Only Business Publication
$4.50 · Volume 8 · Number 4
www.scvbj.com
september 2016
Raging Inferno: Life Imitating Art Page 5
SPECIAL REPORT: SANTA CLARITA FILM INDUSTRY
Medical Device Manufacturer Making Leap to Larger Space
Advocating to Save California’s Data Centers
By Paul Parcellin
By Jana Adkins
SCVBJ Editor
SCVBJ Managing Editor
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ix years ago, Technical Manufacturing West (TMW) was a startup company using hand-operated machinery to create prototypes of orthopedic medical devices, and was housed in a Santa Clarita garage. Now, with business continuing to expand, TMW Vice President of Operations Johnny The TMW Medical production floor which doubled Valadez and General Manager in size at the new location. Photo by Dan Watson. Brad Topper are preparing to struggling. Somehow we got people to supmove their business tolarger quarters for port us and buy into our vision.” the third time in the company’s short hisSpecializing in non-conventional matory – a 14,000 square-foot facility on Av- chining, TMW’s operation lends itself to enue Tibbitts in Santa Clarita, to accom- the manufacture of micro-surgical orthomodate their expansion. pedic devices. Moveable mechanical assem“We’ve had a phenomenal amount of blies that they build allow access to othergrowth here in just a few short years,” said wise inaccessible areas of the anatomy, or Topper. “We started this when the housing make difficult procedures go a lot faster in See TMW page 12 market was imploding and the banks were
o you think your firm’s critical computer room and data center is hearty enough to survive a catastrophe? Try running it through a real live test, like the ones a Valencia-based firm has survived. More reliable than any comic book superheroes,W orkSafe Technologies’ earthquake-resistant The doors of a model server structure swing back equipment survived one of the and forth as WorkSafe Technologies owner Don world’s largest earthquakes and an- Hubbard pushes the ISO-base platform back and forth to demonstrate its earthquake-safe movement other of the world’s most damaging at a company expo in their Valencia offices. Photo by ones. There’s no stronger quality Katharine Lotze. tests that the company could have and protect critical IT facilities, allowing conducted, nor any seals of approval which would have demonstrated the worthi- them to maintain frontline operations during and after an earthquake. ness of its products. “Data centers have been moving out of Now in its 25th year in business, the firm has already sold over 200,000 of its ball state due to high energy costs and concerns bearing-loaded platforms – the ISO-Base over earthquakes,” said Don Hubbard, isolators – to protect sensitive computer and president of WorkSafe. “It’s a shame because information technology infrastructure in a we’re the technology leaders here in Califordisaster. The bases are installed throughout nia; we’re the antidote to high energy costs and seismic activity.” 31 countries with high seismic activity. But, concerned that data centers have been leaving California, WorkSafe Technologies debuted its newest cooling and earthquake-resistant platforms for racks of computer servers and IT equipment to distributors and customers at its warehouse in Valencia in August. The expo served as the launch of several new products that service
Massive disasters On March 11, 2011, with $25 billion of equipment at stake, WorkSafe Technologies had its platforms installed at 1,700 sites in Japan when a 9.0 magnitude quake struck. It was among the top five largest earthquakes of See DATA page 12
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