I’ve long believed that the amount of wasted material is a strong data center construction metric. In other words, if your scrap pile could fill the data hall you just built, your design and construction processes may have a few flaws that you might want to address. I think we can all agree that reducing waste in our construction efforts is a good way to pay more than just lip service to environmental conservation, shorten delivery schedules, reduce costs, and cut down on the entrepreneurial opportunities for the help.
No one is quite sure as to the origin of the phrase, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” but my mom always said that these old adages are around for a reason, and I think the fine people at XYZ Systems (not their real name) would agree. In 2011, two of their employees, Russell and Thomas Ray, were entrusted with the job of redeeming the metal scrap generated by a data center renovation project that included a large amount of copper wire. Like all good employees, they immediately recognized the revenue generating potential of their assigned task. Unfortunately for XYZ, both men’s ambitions were of the personal, rather than corporate, nature.