For the past two decades I have been a passionate advocate for industrialized construction practices that enable the construction industry to build faster, better, safer and greener. One of the key things for everyone to understand about industrialized construction is that it is not a static set of methodologies. When done the right way this approach to construction is highly dynamic, continually evolving and advancing through innovation and continuous improvements that deliver increasing benefits over time.
To drive those innovations two things are vital. Companies need to build an innovation-centric culture internally that empowers every employee to be a creative problem solver who drives process improvements. And companies also need to have an innovation-centric approach to how they work with their partners that harnesses the power of collaboration to accelerate innovation even more.
Collaboration with partners is so impactful that I consider it the secret ingredient for driving innovation in our industry. In fact it is a huge secret ingredient for Compass’ success although it won’t be a secret for long because it is the unmistakable theme that comes through in this year’s Outcomes report.
Each year Compass publishes a disclosure report on environmental social and corporate governance (ESG) topics that shares how we are following through on our commitments to the communities we serve to our employees and our promise to make lives better. This year’s Outcomes report is particularly exciting for me because it puts a strong focus on how we are collaborating with our partners to drive major innovations.
Compass has a unique approach to partnerships. Rather than transactional relationships with suppliers we have built deep collaborative relationships that allow us to accomplish amazing things. By bringing together the combined creativity expertise and passion of our team and our partners’ teams we can accomplish things that none of us could achieve separately.
Driving Innovation Through Collaboration
One of the exciting projects highlighted in this Outcomes report is our collaboration with Vertiv to develop the Vertiv™ CoolPhase Flex. Vertiv and Compass engineers worked together on the first-of-its-kind hybrid cooling solution that supports both air cooling and liquid cooling solving a complex issue for our customers deploying traditional and high-performance computing technologies.
“Vertiv and Compass tackled one of AI’s biggest infrastructure challenges delivering traditional cooling for current workloads while enabling a seamless transition to liquid cooling as demands increase. This hybrid solution gives customers the flexibility to adjust cooling strategies as AI and cloud implementations shift over time. Before this innovation more time-consuming and resource intensive retrofit methods were utilized when workloads changed. Together we created a hybrid solution that tackles workload uncertainty.”
— Scott Armul, Executive Vice President of Global Portfolio and Business Units, Vertiv
Another highlight in this year’s Outcomes report is our collaboration with Schneider Electric to launch an integration facility that uses modularization and prefabrication to drive major efficiencies serve customer needs and achieve significant sustainability improvements.
“This integrated facility is a powerful example of how collaboration between Schneider Electric and Compass is driving innovation efficiency and significant sustainability results. Our integration facility located on a Compass campus was jointly developed using innovative industrialized construction methodologies including prefabrication. Engineering teams from both companies collaborated to design and build the facility in ways that used creative solutions to drive efficiency safety and sustainability. One powerful example of that is how we managed transportation during construction to minimize emissions a step that avoided the equivalent of 2,600.26 metric tons of CO₂.”
— Carsten Baumann, Director Strategic Initiatives & Solution Architect, Schneider Electric
Compass also worked with Siemens to jointly develop a modular medium-voltage power solution that can be rapidly installed. This critical component of data center power infrastructure was designed through close collaboration between Siemens and Compass technical teams to improve deployment speed safety and efficiency.
“This collaboration between Siemens and Compass resulted in an innovative design that delivers significant sustainability gains and efficiency advantages. From the beginning the two teams placed a focus on ESG and the result includes benefits such as reducing construction-related emissions minimizing material waste and improving worker health and safety by limiting field exposure to high-voltage equipment. This is a powerful example of what is possible through collaboration between true partners.”
— John DeBoer, Head of Data Center Vertical: North America, Siemens
A Blueprint for the Future
This approach to partnership is a blueprint not only for the data center industry but for the construction industry as a whole. I’m so proud to be part of a company that is proving the power of this kind of collaboration in the context of a truly industrialized approach to construction.
I encourage you to read more examples like this in the Outcomes report which is available now.
Read the 2025 ESG Sustainability Report
Key Takeaways
- Partnership is the catalyst for innovation: Collaborative relationships drive breakthroughs faster than transactional ones.
- Industrialized construction is evolving: Continuous improvement and shared innovation make projects safer greener and more efficient.
- Joint innovation drives sustainability: Collaborations with Vertiv Schneider and Siemens demonstrate how co-created solutions reduce emissions improve safety and speed delivery.
- Compass’ model is scalable: The Outcomes Report showcases a replicable framework for how industrialized construction can advance the entire data center ecosystem.
