Fermilab commends Meyer for work on Large Hadron Collider

Inspection team from the Department of Energy, Fermilab and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory views cold boxes built by Meyer destined for installation at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.

Cold Facts, (Fall 2005, Vol. 21, No. 4)

Officials of the US Department of Energy and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory were on hand on October 28 to send off the last two of eight cryogenic distribution boxes, components of the cooling system for the new Large Hadron Collider, to their new home at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

"The boxes are a major component of the LHC, and we are extremely fortunate that Meyer got involved.  The skills Meyer brought to the project were important in getting the job done.  It is fortunate for Fermilab that a shop like Meyer is located nearby, making it easy for us to work together," said Jim Kerby, Fermilab engineer.

It was with a sense of accomplishing a difficult task that Meyer's staff and the visitors celebrated the completion of this project.  "I don't know how we would have pulled this off without Meyer," Kerby added.

This success bodes well for future work on the International Linear Collider.  "This is a great example and important proof to national laboratories that companies of this high caliber are available to work with them," said Pepin Carolan, of the Department of Energy Fermi Area Office.  Kerby added that "the ILC would be lucky to have contractors of this quality" involved in the project.  Carolan praised the cooperative trust, the give and take and the willingness to go above and beyond the strict terms of the contract that Meyer demonstrated on this project.  Meyer Vice President Ed Bonnema noted that this type of cooperation is a model for the ILC work, where lots of industry collaboration will be needed to solve challenging issues.  Bonnema said that his staff "loved working on this project," and were very proud of their achievement.  "That Meyer is a partially employee-owned company is reflected in how we did the job," he added.

The higher the quality, the lower the "total cost of ownership".