New Additions for Printing Expansion
SITUATED between approaches to the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges is the main printery of the worldwide organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses. You can see this six-building complex in the photographs above and to the right. A 161-foot-long [49 m] bridge connects the two new additions, located at 175 Pearl Street and 160 Jay Street (Number 1), with the earlier four-city-block facility across the streets (Number 2).
This 14-foot-wide [4.3 m] by 16-foot-high [4.9 m] connecting bridge, 51 feet [16 m] above the streets, was completed in the summer of 1986. It provides access from the pressroom floors of the printery to the sixth floor of 175 Pearl Street.
The Pearl Street building, originally constructed in 1917 and added to in 1947, was purchased by Jehovah’s Witnesses on January 7, 1983. By July 1985 the last of the previous tenants had moved out. But even before all of them had left, a construction crew of Witnesses began renovating the building.
First, a new roof was put on, and a 30,000-gallon [114,000 L] water tank was installed. To handle the materials movement within the building, a new 12,000-pound-capacity [5,400 kg] freight elevator was added, and a passenger elevator was replaced. Most of the floors were resurfaced with a tough coat of epoxy. Old exterior walls that no longer met the city’s Building Code requirements were replaced with insulated brick walls. Aluminum window frames and thermopane insulated glass units were installed. And the entire building was given a fresh paint job inside and out.
Meanwhile, on December 11, 1986, the building at 160 Jay Street, adjoining 175 Pearl Street, was also purchased. About one third of the building, which was constructed in 1928, is still occupied by tenants. As these move out, cleaning and renovation of this building will also proceed. Eventually, where possible, passageways between the two buildings will be made, thus, in effect, integrating 160 Jay Street with the other five factory buildings.
The two recent factory additions (Number 1), which are about equal in size, provide an additional 360,000 square feet [33,000 sq m] or so of floor space. The other four buildings have a combined floor space of 662,000 square feet [61,500 sq m]. So the new additions add about 55 percent more space—a total of some 1,022,000 square feet [94,900 sq m]! That is over 23 acres [9 ha]!
But what if even these newly added facilities prove inadequate to care for the ever-growing demands for more Bible literature? Well, you will notice in the photograph on page 16 the area with the number 3. That land area of over 60,000 square feet [5,600 sq m] has been purchased by Jehovah’s Witnesses. If need be, this provision can be utilized for further printing expansion.
Located in the New York harbor area, the printing facilities are ideally situated for shipping Bible literature throughout the world. As you can see, they are also very convenient to the headquarters offices of Jehovah’s Witnesses, seen in the accompanying photograph. (Number 4) In addition, the buildings that house the more than 2,500 volunteer workers of the headquarters staff are all within easy walking distance of the office, factory, and shipping complexes.—See Awake! of August 22, 1987, for pictures and description of the shipping facilities.
During the past few months, a number of factory operations have been moved into the 175 Pearl Street building. This has made space available in the printery for storing paper near the printing presses, where it is needed. Let’s look at some of the factory operations that have been moved to 175 Pearl Street.
[Box/Pictures on page 18]
Activities in the Pearl Street Building
These cards, made of dense cardboard, are used to make book covers. They are cut to size on a special machine. An average of 7.2 tons of cards, cut into five standard sizes, is supplied to the bindery each day.
In the Machine Shop, there are 19 lathes, 17 milling machines, 6 drill presses, and 11 grinders. Machining is needed to keep the printing presses and bindery equipment running. Besides a tremendous cost savings as compared with having the work done by a commercial shop, our shop provides quick service for the printery, office, and housing complexes.
The 161-foot-long, [49 m] 175-ton bridge provides for unobstructed two-way traffic to the recently acquired buildings. The bridge also carries steam lines for heating the 175 Pearl Street building, as well as data and communications lines for both the 175 Pearl Street and 160 Jay Street buildings.
Since the Carton-making Department was started in June 1982, over one million cartons have been made each year in over a hundred different sizes. Making our own cartons ensures a better-quality product, saves money, and fills the need for cartons more efficiently.
The slitter/rewinder operation began in 1980. Since that time, tens of thousands of dollars have been saved annually by doing our own slitting of book-cover material for bindery operations.
[Diagram/Picture on page 16]
[Diagram/Picture on page 17]