CASE STUDY: Suros Surgical

CHALLENGE

Suros Surgical, a medical device manufacturer, had signed an office lease in 2002 in a facility they quickly outgrew. Suros' business was flourishing and personnel was doubling up in many offices. The production facility was too small to meet demand and additional warehouse space was secured in another building. Although 18 months remained on their current lease, Suros needed to relocate into a facility that better suited their needs. Their primary challenges were the relative infancy of their company and their need for lease term flexibility.

Suros' space requirements necessitated that the office and production space be designed for expansion and with the intent that the warehouse would be able to be moved and operated from an adjacent building. Knowledge of these factors enabled Suros to design and plan the space for expansion at future reduced costs. Suros' primary focus was on operations and the challenges of managing a fast-growing new company and the time and resources were not available by Suros personnel to commit to the relocation and all the ancillary details and multiple vendor contracts.

SOLUTION

Suros hired a Full Service Project Management team led by Lucia Carter, at her former Firm. Lucia assisted in identifying available relocation options and played an instrumental role in the site selection to ensure cost containment during future expansions. Lucia's first task was to create a Project Checklist that included all activities that needed to take place such as phone system evaluation, wiring and voice/data requirements, furniture selection, etc. As Suros had no idea of what type of space they needed, a design concept or types of finishes, Lucia toured top Suros executives through a multitude of projects educating them on space, design, furniture, and finishes. A schedule was created based on the move-in date that enabled Lucia to manage all vendors utilizing required due dates. Through careful value-engineering of design, furniture, audio visual and security equipment, Lucia was able to negotiate nearly $98,000 in savings. Construction drawing savings of $7,000, actual construction savings of $56,000, furniture savings of $26,000, security system savings of $3,500 and audio visual system savings of $4,700. Lucia worked with the operations manager to create the warehouse and production facility relocation schedules. Additional production hours were added to have extra product available for demand. This allowed the production facility time to be relocated without interrupting the sales cycle.