BAYONNE, NJ - Eastern Millwork, one of its area's top architectural woodwork firms, will relocate from its 40,000 square foot plant in Jersey City, NJ to a newly renovated and expanded 60,000 square foot factory and headquarters it plans to build in Bayonne, NJ.

Eastern Millwork's construction proposal, just approved by the Bayonne Planning Board, will update and expand the existing Ideal Window Manufacturing plant at the location. The city planning board said 300-employee Ideal Window will consolidate its operations at its other area locations.

According to the Bayonne Planning Board, Eastern Millwork will employ 60 at the site. The existing  40,039 square foot plant will expand in two phases: first Eastern Millwork will renovate the building and make three additions; then a two-story addition will be made. The two phases of expansion will increase the plant's total area to 57,246 square feet.

Eastern Millwork's president Andrew Campbell made a presentation at the 2011 wood industry Executive Briefing Conference about his company's intensively computer-driven approach to theater renovation and build-outs and installations within Lincoln Center, Goldman Sachs, Madison Square Garden and the Hearst Center, as well as airport check in counters, among other large scale projects.

Campbell explained his firm's use of Autocad and information flow to facilitate a concept of "high velocity manufacturing" in which Eastern Millwork perfects the plans before it cuts, rather than adjusting fit on site, where labor costs are prohibitive in the New York market.

Multi-story atriums and soaring interior wood theater spaces are the firm's hallmark. The production approach uses 3-D modeling and Building Information Modeling.

In Eastern Millwork's existing plant, a "chaotic" arrangement of stacks of various sized panels are picked up on demand to load nesting CNC lines, minimizing inventory space and placing materials adjacent to point of use.

"Real estate is at a premium and labor costs are high," said Campbell, explaining the need to automate and maximize productive floor space. "We try to link all our information together," Campbell said. "We use barcoding of all our parts; then we relable the finished product."