If you’re a manufacturer, especially a small to medium-sized one, making the right relocation or expansion decision can make all the difference when it comes to how successful your operations will be in the future.

Why?

Because a bad site decision could result in major unexpected setbacks, from zoning issues to capacity problems, and that could quickly translate into lost time and money for your company’s operations.

For this reason, a thorough review of a site’s total infrastructure is critical.

The good news is, like any big decision in life, self-education, due diligence and careful scrutiny can go a long way in helping you avoid the pitfalls that stem from uninformed choices.

Every site location decision is an individual one, and there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all.

When it comes to a new site for your company’s expansion or relocation, you must look at the big picture first.

Your initial research should ultimately uncover the community that is the right fit for your company’s needs. This will be driven largely by your workforce needs, as well as many other factors unique to your company’s operations.

Once these key pillars have been established, it’s time to focus on an actual site.

Finding the Right Site

While it’s tough to find the right city or county, it might be just as tough to find the right building or piece of land.

All sites are not created equal, and whether it’s a greenfield site or an existing facility, there are myriad basic infrastructure details that must be considered and analyzed.

In the old days, incoming tenants deemed a greenfield site, which was formerly farmland, ready to go. Not so in today’s environmentally conscious society.

Today, if a site sits on land that once yielded seemingly innocent crops, concerns arise over the impact of pesticides and fertilizers previously used on the land.

In years gone by, it was not uncommon for companies to set up shop on a site that did not have basic utilities — such as sewer and water — in place.

While “extending the lines” to a site may have been a common occurrence a decade ago, the current business climate dictates that companies must have everything in place once a site is selected.

Existing facilities must exhibit a clean bill of health, too. Plenty of quiet health hazards, like asbestos, can quickly alter how fitting a facility really is.

Because of the rapid pace at which growing companies now implement operations, it’s easy to understand why shovel-ready or certified sites are the growing favored choice.

Certified and Shovel-Ready

“If communities want to compete in today’s economic climate, they need to have something ready to go immediately,” said Saul Grohs, a partner with Location Advisory Services.

“The more a community has done ahead of time, the better off they are,” Grohs said. “And it’s better for the site-seeker because they won’t have to wait for things to be done.”

While many expansion and relocation projects have been put on hold because of recent economic conditions, once the time comes to go ahead with the plan, companies will want to move quickly.

“Once they finally decide to do it, they want it up overnight,” Grohs said.

Several states, such as New York, for example, have implemented systems to certify sites. In other words, the states do the legwork to get sites ready for a tenant and to eliminate a company’s chances of getting caught up in permitting snares or other show-stopping red tape.

But no matter how “ready” a site is, companies still must go over all of a site’s details with a fine-tooth comb.

It’s especially important to ask all the right questions when it comes to electric utilities.

What types of lines are present? What size lines are they? What is the outage history of the lines? What is the outage history of the substations? Are there voltage fluctuations? Is there dual-feed service?

Grohs said that when it comes to power companies, it can be a little more difficult to get information compared with pre-9/11 days.

“Some power companies are not as happy passing out a lot of information due to security reasons,” Grohs said.

Nevertheless, energy information is a critical component to a site’s total infrastructure.

Digging Deeper

While it’s imperative to check out such obvious groundwork issues as space constraints and availability, transportation access, utilities accessibility, zoning, energy options and telecommunications infrastructure, there are plenty of other not-so-obvious issues to consider.

What are the soil conditions? Can the soil support a major manufacturing operation?

Grohs said there are other environmental issues inherent on the site itself like wetlands, hazardous waste and underground tanks that need to be evaluated.

He added that it’s important to take a look at your potential neighbors.

“Who they are and what they are doing environmentally could affect your products,” Grohs said.

He cited an example of a chocolate factory that could absorb odors from another nearby plant, which could subsequently taint the chocolate.

“If it could have an impact on your product, it’s wise to check out what the prevailing wind patterns are at a site.”

How a site looks on paper is entirely different than how it looks when you are driving down the street, Grohs noted.

“A good community will let you know who the neighbors are, but it’s the responsibility of the locating company to get in a car and drive around and talk to people,” he said.

Finding out how strong a concrete floor is and what equipment it will support, as well as asking what an existing building was previously used for, are also important questions to ask.

If you do happen to find the perfect site, but it doesn’t have basic infrastructure in place and the community says it will extend the lines, get everything in writing.

“Intentions to move lines and actually moving them are very different things,” Grohs said. “Get assurances in writing saying what will be done, right of ways, permitting, land-use plans and who will pay for it. Just because a community has fiber optics available, doesn’t mean it’s at your site.

“If I were a smaller company, I would not take a chance on getting a site unless all those things are in place,” Grohs said. “It’s not like you’re asking for something that can’t be found.”

Rachael Hedgcoth is a freelance writer based in Overland Park, Kan.