NIU’s Physical Plant might have to purge as much as one-third of its $1.5 million inventory because of office expansions and remodeling.

Physical Plant Director John Harrod said the planned $756,000 remodeling has resulted in a 30 percent reduction in storage space, a loss of nearly 6,000 square feet.

In order to relieve the space crunch, workers are looking for obsolete supplies in the 14,000-item inventory, Materials Management Director Donald Widick said. The supplies include electrical, heating, and plumbing parts.

Although the reductions are limited to obsolete parts, some useable parts might be included, Harrod said.

“We have to look at the demand for the item. Rather than keep 20 of something on hand, we might only need three or four,” he said.

After being separated and identified, the surplus parts will be taken to Springfield and distributed to other state agencies.

Widick said state law prevents NIU from holding a sale or auction of the items.

He said no possible surplus items have been identified yet and released the master inventory list after a request was filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

Because many parts were bought in the early 1980s, before Widick supervised materials distribution, he declined to speculate on why so many of certain items were stockpiled.

“That was a different time. Ten years ago, it could take two weeks to get something. Now, you can get anything shipped from anywhere in the world in two days,” Widick said.

arrod said the physical plant remodeling is needed to provide craft shop foremen with offices and allow other workers to function more efficiently.

“There will be no opulence in the program,” he said, adding the building, built in the early 1960s, lacks firewalls and proper ventilation in the shops, allowing dust and fumes to fill nearby offices.

Harrod said the physical plant was cited by the Occupational Saftey and Health Administration several years ago for safety violations caused by the poor ventilation.

The citation forced the plant to close its spray painting operation and has been closed since.