Oct. 11--A little more than four months since announcing plans to open a large manufacturing plant in Columbus, NCR Corp. is getting close to delivering its first ATM to a customer.

"This was a very aggressive schedule," said Don Naciuk, manager of the 340,000-square-foot plant in Corporate Ridge Business Park, on Thursday. "A lot of people probably would have looked at that schedule and said, 'Very aggressive, I doubt you can do it.' But we've hit every date."

The "90 Day Journey," as the company calls it, to physically convert the former Panasonic battery plant into a state-of-the-art light assembly facility has been a whirlwind of activity.

The Panasonic factory, about two decades old, had been shuttered for two years. NCR knocked out walls, installed brighter lighting and dug 30 inches through the floor into the red Georgia clay to put a floor-level power conveyor in place for the first assembly line.

At the same time, hiring of administrative and production employees quickly began. To date, the company has about 125 people on its payroll in Columbus. Plans are to reach 150 by the time it rolls the first automated teller machine bound for a paying customer off of its production line in less than three weeks.

NCR, which is moving its corporate headquarters from Dayton, Ohio, to Duluth, Ga., in the Atlanta area, has committed to employing about 870 in Columbus at full capacity.

"The commitment we made to the state was to have that kind of hiring in place within three years," said Peter Dorsman, NCR senior vice president and chief of operations. "I don't see anything that will change that."

State of the art and energy friendly The executive said he is "thrilled" with the progress of the Columbus plant, which sits across the street from supplemental insurer Aflac's Corporate Ridge campus.

The Columbus facility is expected to be the most advanced ATM assembly operation in the world, Dorsman said. Testing of the assembly line and its ability to make ATMs began in August. Everything has gone smoothly.

"I'll challenge anybody to tell me they did it better or faster," Dorsman said. "The transformation is just remarkable."

The plant also aims to be certified by 2010 as having a "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design." Materials from the initial demolition, such as cinder blocks and carpet, have been recycled.

The LEED criteria also include installing energy-friendly lighting and air conditioning, motion detectors to turn off lights when not in use, and low-flush toilets and motion-activated sinks. The plant also uses water from a pond to water grass and will install bicycle racks for those staffers wishing to use that transportation.

"We wanted to be a good citizen and the environment was the number one reason we did it," Naciuk said. "But if you do it correctly, you also do save money in terms of the power requirements. But it's not a huge payback."

The startup process also has included putting in place a supply chain of about 350 vendors. They will supply NCR with ATM safes, computer cords, metal brackets, keyboards, monitors and various plastic parts -- everything that goes into assembling a sophisticated ATM. A typical ATM has more than 1,000 parts in it. Top models can cost up to $50,000.

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