Livermore, Calif. – May 11, 2011 – Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) on April 27 officially opened Phase 1 of the renovation of the 12-acre acre training and test site and dedicated the new VIP Welcome Center. The test site was also renamed the Topcon Solutions Site.
Ray O’Connor, TPS president and CEO, and Mick Yamazaki, chief operations officer, cut the ceremonial ribbon to officially open the new venue.
O’Connor noted that the Welcome Center is “designed to provide a professional boardroom-style meeting space at the Solutions Center,” eliminating the need for transportation to and from TPS headquarters several miles away. Now, guests “can come directly to the site for advanced technological presentations in a professional environment.”
Over the past several years, he said, “it has become clear that as technology advances drive the changes in every single aspect of the job site, the need for professional product training becomes more and more important.
“Many of the latest advancements, especially those in machine control technology, are prohibitive for the local dealer to be able to provide local demonstrations. Additionally,” O’Connor said, “the interest level from OEM equipment manufacturers in machine automation has increased significantly, and more and more customers and potential customers are eager to visit Topcon and see the performance and productivity advantages for themselves.
“This is the perfect arena for that experience.”
The new center has a boardroom table, 60” monitor, video conferencing capabilities and advanced audio/visual aids. The center also has a special display of past and present Topcon technology, complete with a museum-quality display of the history of the TPS GNSS board technology.
Pictured from left: Mark Contino, Mick Yamazaki, Ray O’Connor, Mark Bittner.
The Welcome Center was designed to provide “the ultimate visitor experience of viewing the Solutions Site,” O’Connor said. With a wraparound redwood deck, guests have a 360-degree view of all phases of a working job site from surveying to grading to completion.
“This provides a great transitional phase between the boardroom presentation and getting out on the site and seeing first-hand the performance of systems,” he said.
“As the construction industry continues to evolve and adopt the technology to increase productivity and performance, the new Topcon Solutions Site will rise to meet the challenges to provide the highest caliber training and product presentations.”
Mark Contino, vice president of product marketing, including training, said, “The next phase of the Solutions Site development project will be to upgrade the on-site training and engineering facilities. With two new classrooms, break room, and office space, the Solutions Site will continue to be the headquarters of our Topcon University (TU) training team. Complete with the highest quality audio/video presentation system, the new TU training facilities will be a tremendous resource to Topcon dealers, customers, and employees alike.”
Augmented by several new pieces of heavy equipment designated specifically for training and customer demonstrations, Contino said, “the new training facilities provide the perfect combination of classroom and hands-on training experiences.” The site has been redesigned to provide “special training and demonstration areas specific to various construction and surveying applications giving our instructors the ability to provide real-world performance examples,” he said.
“This facility will provide special guests from our OEM partners to VICs (Very Important Customers) to our distributors the prefect way to showcase our products and technology that is unprecedented in our industry.”
About Topcon Positioning Systems
Topcon Positioning Systems, Inc. (TPS) designs and manufactures precise positioning products and solutions for the global surveying, construction, agriculture, civil engineering, mapping and GIS, asset management and mobile control markets. TPS’ parent company, Topcon Corporation (Tokyo Stock Exchange – 7732), was founded in 1932.