RIALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Plant Prefab, the first Certified B Corporation™ building technology company dedicated to sustainable design, materials and operations, today announced the hire of Agustin Rayon as Chief Operating Officer. The veteran prefabricated construction operations executive will play a pivotal role in leading the execution of multifamily and single-family development projects from the company’s forthcoming automated factory in Arvin, California.
“Plant Prefab is at a significant inflection point as we prepare to grow our multi-unit offering and scale our project management, product management, engineering and supply chain capabilities to achieve the benefits afforded by our high-volume automated factory in Arvin,” said Deep Bhattacharya, President of Plant Prefab. “Our ability to standardize and digitize project designs early in the project lifecycle and rapidly scale, industrialize and build designs will allow our customers to complete their projects faster, more reliably, more efficiently and more sustainably. Agustin’s experience commissioning and scaling high-volume manufacturing operations in offsite construction make him uniquely suited to advance these initiatives at Plant Prefab, and we look forward to leveraging his leadership.”
Rayon brings to Plant Prefab significant operations expertise in the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, having led strategic growth and tactical initiatives, project management, and product development and innovation in the construction sector. He has served in senior roles at offsite construction startups, including as Chief Operating Officer for Simple Homes, LLC, and as Vice President, Engineering & Product Innovation at Prescient Co. Inc. In both roles, he supported sustained year-over-year revenue growth of 2x. He also led the successful engineering and commercial launches for three construction product systems that enabled broad market adoption in the U.S. for high-density multi-unit housing projects, as well as the design and commissioning of offsite construction manufacturing plants in geographies across the United States. This experience will be critical as Plant Prefab continues to expand its production capabilities to serve higher-volume and more diverse projects in new geographies.
“I was drawn to prefabrication for its ability to produce a higher quality product in less time,” said Rayon. “Applying industrialization techniques to improve the safety, quality, sustainability, and delivery of housing is uniquely compelling to me, and Plant Prefab is successfully addressing a market segment that few others have managed to figure out. I look forward to strengthening the company’s operational infrastructure to help achieve planned growth, while advancing adoption of higher levels of standardization and automation across the housing industry.”
Rayon earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechatronics, Robotics and Automation Engineering from Fundación Universidad de las Américas Puebla and a Certified Six Sigma Green Belt from Villanova University.
The integration of Plant Prefab’s project management, product management, engineering, and supply chain capabilities under Rayon’s leadership will ensure optimal operating efficiencies at the company’s forthcoming automated manufacturing facility in Arvin, California. Opening in 2023, the 270,000-square-foot factory will be the nation’s first automated factory devoted to efficiently and sustainably building multifamily developments and custom single-family homes. The solar-powered facility will be capable of producing 900,000 square feet of living space per year—the equivalent of 800 dwelling units—with a projected production velocity 15 times greater than the company’s existing factories. The increased production capacity will enable Plant Prefab to produce high-volume housing projects for delivery across the Western United States.
About Plant Prefab
Plant Prefab is the first Certified B Corporation™ building technology company dedicated to sustainable design, materials, and operations. The company’s patented Plant Building System™ utilizes advanced digital modeling and fully customizable Plant Panels™ and Plant Modules™ to help architects, developers, general contractors, and individuals design and build multifamily and custom single-family homes 20 to 50 percent faster than site-based methods. The system provides better quality control, design flexibility, and time, cost, and material efficiency than traditional methods of offsite or on-site construction. Plant Prefab has two factories in California (Rialto, Ontario) and a design studio and show home in Santa Monica. With a mission to build a better world by design, Plant Prefab was the first housing prefabricator to announce a net zero goal and has achieved carbon neutrality in their operations since 2020. Plant Prefab is backed by leading investors including Amazon, Asahi Kasei, Gerdau Paris Ventures, Obvious Ventures, and others. For more information, visit plantprefab.com.