Dazzling diamonds growing in Gresham
You might not know that growing diamonds requires a critically complex and monitored environment.
Element Six, which operates the Lab in Gresham on behalf of the De Beers owned laboratory-grown diamond brand, Lightbox Jewelry, took an aggressive approach to their facility needs at their Gresham plant: they were looking for a fully accountable service support solution. MacDonald-Miller now offers full-facilities management with a service technician residing at the site 7 days a week. In addition to our full HVAC offerings, this innovative manufacturing site also takes advantage of our Smart Building Services and utilizes our special projects team.
Dewayne Miller, our primary technician who works onsite Monday-Friday 7-5 (some days, even longer), gets to see the magic happen firsthand. He spends most of his time working on the highly complex mechanical systems that keep the diamonds in optimal growing conditions.
“The people are great to work with and the site is state-of-the-art,” says Dewayne. “We are doing a lot more than just HVAC at the site, we are taking care of the facility and the vendors – even the specialty gas complex, and facilitating the projects getting done. We are members of the team and that is the best part.”
The site has multiple different critical systems, including a Marley cooling-tower system that feeds the process water that goes to the reactors, where the diamonds are ultimately grown. Other priority systems include a state-of-the-art EPO system including gas detection, process water chillers, and gas exhaust. Currently we are installing two additional chillers to add more redundancy to keep up with the facility’s growing production. The large air handler system serves the manufacturing floor including a small clean room, while office space is served by a VRF Mitsubishi. MacMiller is also looking forward to future opportunities for partnership growth with Element Six.
Element Six was founded in 1946 and is the global leader in synthetic diamond and super materials manufacturing. Part of the De Beers Group, they employ over 1900 people and their primary manufacturing sites are in the UK, Ireland, Germany, South Africa, and the US.
The Lightbox Lab officially opened in 2020 with the mission to make the sparkle of a diamond available for more people, more often. The Lab is designed to produce more than 200,000 polished carats a year – grown in the USA! The product grown in Gresham can be seen by visiting lightboxjewelry.com.