Recently I got to tour a company called Wavetronix in Springville, Utah. They make radar sensors for traffic lights so signals can respond to real traffic instead of predictions based on data. On paper that sounds kind of boring, and I half expected the tour to match. It did not.
The actual product
Only about 20 minutes of the tour was about what they make, but it's actually pretty cool tech. Their sensors can digitally pinpoint a car within 3cm. Because of that, an intersection can see a car flying into an intersection and hold the yellow a little longer so nobody has to slam on their brakes.
The production floor
Wavetronix is one of the only companies in their industry, at their scale, that still runs an in-house production floor. While we walked through it, everyone was at lunch so we didn't see it running at full speed, but the machines in the line and the giant warehouse full of tech were still worth the walk.
The campus is the real story
The rest of the tour was the facilities, and this is where it gets weird in the best way. The whole company is structured around improving their community instead of optimizing for profit.
The workspace is fully open concept which means no offices. The C-suite sits on the floor with everybody else.
Their community-facing offerings are under construction or already open including a Japanese tea garden, a park and splash pad for kids, a newly built outdoor drive-in movie theater, and multiple locally themed cafes and restaurants open to anyone. There's no roller coaster yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's on their roadmap.
A view of one of the company's eating spaces. I had Spanish albóndigas for lunch here and they were fantastic.
For employees there are multiple on-campus restaurants serving free breakfast and lunch every day, a gym that builds a digital profile of you to auto-set weights and suggest workouts, and an in-house physical therapist. I don't think I'd go home very often.
They also have themed activity rooms with themes like music, magic, painting, a piano room, probably more I'm forgetting. When a team hits some sort of big accomplishment they can take the room and spend time together. One of the libraries doubles as a board game collection, and it looked like they had every board game I've ever heard of.
One of the libraries at Wavetronix. It seemed like they had every boardgame I've ever heard of here
There are clubs too. My favorite was knitting club, whose creations decorate the campus including a knit hat on a giant bird statue. Employees also run something called the "Ripple Effect," which to my understanding is a version of TED Talks where anyone can speak formally about whatever they want.
Banners advertising the Ripple Effect, Wavetronix's version of TED Talks where employees speak about whatever they want
I'm sure I would have enjoyed "The Florida Man."
The decorations
The campus is full of statues and strange, whimsical decoration. It is honestly kind of odd, but I like it a lot.
I have no clue what this is. I'm sure it keeps hallway strolls interesting though.
Someone on my tour called it a working adult's Disneyland, and I can't top that description. Radar that keeps people from getting T-boned, a factory floor you can walk through, free albóndigas, and a bird statue in a knit hat. I'm sure it would be a wonderful place to work.