The term "Los Angeles Technology Center" originated in the late 20th century as a name for various manufacturing facilities located in the Greater Los Angeles area. Over time, it became used as a generic term to describe any industrial-type of location in and around LA County. Although many technology centers have been shut down or are close to being shut down, those still in operation can be found throughout the Southern California region.
So what are technology centers?
Well, that remains to be seen — because they vary dramatically from one another depending on their product lines and demographic demographics within their designated geographical areas. It is vital to dispel the myth that all technology centers are the same. Some are owned by large corporations, and some are small, independent manufacturers selling products to outside customers.
They can be found in almost every industry as well as in many of the following areas:
•Defense: Lockheed Martin (a defense contractor), Boeing (commercial aircraft manufacturer), and NORAD (Air Force's Space Defense Command) are among the major technology centers producing both domestic and overseas defense military equipment. LA County has a third major "blue-chip" defense contractor at Northrop Grumman and two smaller ones at Sikorsky Aircraft Systems and Textron Marine & Land.
•Education: The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) covers over 700 square miles and has 681 schools. With more than 700,000 students, the nation's second-largest school district (behind New York City) has its largest concentration of schools in the city of Los Angeles.
•Retail: Over 12 million people live within a 30-mile radius of downtown L.A., making it one of the largest retail markets in the U.S., with major malls at Northridge and Thousand Oaks and dozens of others throughout LA County.
•Production: LA County is the nation's second-largest oil-producing region and has significant refining, natural gas, and petrochemical industries. It is also the fifth largest manufacturing region in the U.S., with major chemical plants (such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Solvay, and BASF), steel manufacturers (including US Steel Corp.), petroleum refineries (El Paso Petroleum Corp.), and aerospace industries such as General Electric Capital Corp.
•Government: The biggest in-house government contractor in L.A. is the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (which services over 2.6 million customers in LA County). LADWP provides water and electricity to over 1 million homes and businesses in the county, which includes more than 125 miles of water pipes, more than 200 miles of high-pressure electrical lines, over 120 substations, and more than 3,400 employees.
What is a technology center?
A technology center is any location where manufacturers assemble or test goods.
What are three of the most popular/common products associated with technology centers?
The most common products manufactured by technology centers include consumer electronics (i.e., cell phones and their accessories, computers and their peripherals), home appliances (refrigerators, washing machines, stereos), and medicine (especially painkillers). In addition to those aforementioned goods, there are countless other products being produced in the Los Angeles area — from toys to weapons.
What is a technology park?
A technology park is a large piece of land (upwards of 100 acres) that real estate developers own or lease for the purpose of building and operating manufacturing plants and laboratories. In many cases, technology parks are portions of industrial or commercial parks.
What is a logistics center?
Logistics centers handle the distribution of finished manufactured goods. They often serve as transfer stations for finished goods as well, but also provide warehousing, materials handling and other support services for manufacturers and sellers.
How big are these facilities?
There is no specific industry standard for technology centers. The biggest one in the LA area, at just under one million square feet, is located at 200 North Broadway in Gardena (where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed on 9/11). It includes office space and a manufacturing plant that manufactures high-end touchscreens used to log onto millions of corporate networks worldwide.
Conclusion
There are a plethora of technology centers operating throughout the greater Los Angeles area. A handful of them will continue to operate in the 21st century, but most will disappear. This is because most — if not all — of them were built to serve one purpose: To manufacture consumer electronics and other goods for the DOD (Department of Defense). Most, if not all, technology centers on DOD contracts are considered "overrun facilities" or "plant extensions."
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