Lincoln, RI, January 01, 2004 - GEM Plumbing & Heating, the largest plumbing and heating service company operating in RI and Southeastern Massachusetts, recently completed a major facility relocation from Providence to Lincoln, Rhode Island. Gem’s new headquarters, at One Wellington Avenue, is located within the North Central Industrial Park just off Route 146.

The new facility sits on seven acres of land and comprises some 30,000 sq. feet. The two-story building houses Gem’s corporate and administrative offices and residential service and commercial plumbing divisions, and is staffed by about 50 of Gem’s 300-plus employees. Inside the facility is warehouse area for stocking parts and equipment, separate male and female locker and shower areas, as well as fully-equipped maintenance bays to service Gem’s fleet of over 130 vehicles. A separate building on the site houses Gem’s sheet metal and fire sprinkler fabrication units.

The new building also houses a state-of-the-art call and dispatch center complete with a 12-ft. “mission control”-type multi-screen display showing the real-time location of every Gem service truck on the road, a center screen for posting immediate scheduling information, and a digitally projected traffic screen displaying real-time images of major highways across RI so Gem’s dispatchers can reroute service trucks around traffic tie-ups.  Gem has also established a dedicated training area for “Gem University,” the company’s continuing education initiative. Gem holds regular classes focused on its service offerings, including plumbing, heating, cooling, drain cleaning and apprenticeship training. The training area can accommodate up to sixty people at a time and is wired for Internet use. It can also be accessed by mobile equipment displays for hands-on demonstrations and service training.
Prior to the relocation to Lincoln Gem operated out of a cluster of unconnected buildings on Douglas Avenue in Providence, where it had operated since 1987. Before 1987 the company had been located on Isabella Avenue, also in Providence, since its founding in 1949.

The new Lincoln facility has allowed Gem to place virtually all of its operations under one roof, with room to grow in the future.