ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- The Component Rebuild Facility at Anniston Army Depot is receiving a number of facility upgrades through a fiscal year 2014-funded Sustainment Restoration Modernization project.

A few months ago, the building's various different functions were spread through one large area - with chemical vats, paint booths and blast media areas open to each other.

Today, a new separator wall encloses the blast media portion of the facility, keeping the "dirty" processes separate from the "clean" ones.

"We will have more space on the floor for storage and having the paint areas separate from the blast area will be beneficial," said Donnie Herring, chief for the Component Cleaning and Painting Branch, explaining that separating the various processes will improve the quality of each part and the movement of work through the building.

"We will be combining processes to have more of a one-piece flow," said Wilburn Sparks, division chief for the Cleaning, Finishing and Painting Division.

Sparks said a small machine shop next to the building is also being renovated to convert it from the Radiator Shop into a machining and welding shop to support the Component Cleaning and Painting Branch.

"This will place welders and machinists nearby to repair parts after we have cleaned them and before we paint them," said Sparks. "It will speed up the process."

Renovations in the building include installation of a refurbished paint booth, a new breakroom, updated bathrooms and administrative areas, new lighting, heating and ventilation, fire protection upgrades, a new general waste line and new chemical vats with pit upgrades.

"The old paint lines needed three to five cycles to complete the paint process," said Herring. "The refurbished one will apply the primer and paint in the same cycle."

Work on the paint booth should be complete in October, along with renovations for the new breakroom.

The chemical vats will be replaced in the final phase - beginning in the October time frame.

The refurbished paint booth and new vats share a common environmental goal.

"Steam usage within the upgraded facility will be at minimum," said Tim Arrington, the project's engineer with the depot's Directorate of Public Works.

All the old vats will be removed, then the pits where the vats are currently housed will be improved and new vats and ventilation systems installed.

"The entire chemical vat area will be reworked to include pit upgrades," said Arrington.

From the beginning, according to Arrington, the Corp of Engineers project has been coordinated with the installation's Fire and Emergency Services Division as well as safety, industrial hygiene, and environmental organizations and the Directorate of Production.

Throughout the renovation process, employees continued to work on parts and equipment for the warfighters, utilizing the areas not under construction at that time.

The estimated project completion date is the Spring of 2016, according to Arrington.