His company manufactures high-speed electronic devices. "Our chips can be found in a lot of high-tech equipment--from computers and defense weapons to the space shuttle," says Abernathy.

As the Japanese try to corner the market with intensity, Abernathy's firm keeps a tight rein on the management of corporate assets. "Because competition is tough. Ours is a very spartan company. We take a no-nonsense approach to everything. We move briskly and we're tight on numbers. We take every investment seriously."

Abernathy has tightened the belt on spending two ways. "In building our clean rooms I could have chosen the most expensive and renowned architects, but I didn't," says Abernathy. He saved $900,000 by employing the services of smaller lesser-known firms.

Abernathy says there's absolutely no difference in the quality of work, and he ensures this by closely supervising the build out. "Sure, it requires closer supervision than normal, but I am a specialist in clean rooms. The extra mile is negligible. The savings aren't."

Abernathy has also saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by investing in pre-owned furniture. "Our corporate identity reflects concern for fast-paced and leading edge technology. Interior furnishings are designed to reflect our concentration in engineering. They are not elaborate. The colors aren't flashy. Color choices may vary from facility to facility but they always remain within the same family. As a standard, we use all grey trim on open office systems and add varying accent colors to panels, flipper door covers, tack boards and seating."

Abernathy says his upper management considers systems furniture to be a significant capital investment that must convey a certain feeling to employees as well as clients. "It's important that we build our product to stay on the leading edge of technology, and it's important for our offices to reflect that leading edge."

Nevertheless, Abernathy has bought a two-year-old furniture system. He says you can't tell the difference until it comes to price. "About one year ago, I purchased almost 200 workstations which were previously owned. But first, I negotiated a contract with a prominent furniture dealer. We established a price for all of our costs. Jon Driscoll (President of TradeIn.com Inc. in Houston, Texas) got me an almost identical product for less than half the price quoted by the furniture dealer.

"It was a very, very clean product. No rips or tears. And delivery fit our schedule beautifully. If we had purchased the product new, we would have been waiting for it two months after we moved into our new building. In the final analysis, I saved my company more that $300,000!"

Today, Abernathy no longer purchases new furniture. As a matter of fact, he recently purchased 330 more workstations from Driscoll, saving his organization another $600,000.

"We won't purchase something more than five years old and it must be in excellent condition. Nevertheless, Jon delivers what we need, when we need it and at 82 percent off the list price. That's a lot of savings when you're talking about 200 workstations."

For the imperious skeptic who thinks that previously owned furniture just isn't good enough, Abernathy disagrees. "We are in a progressive and tough international market. We have to maintain a fundamental attitude which emphases value and engineering and competitiveness. We can lose an order due to a penny's difference. Despite our business environment, if we purchase a previously owned product that looks like new, we'll do it. It just doesn't make sense to do otherwise."

Abernathy says if there were any problems with the product before he received his shipment, they had been repaired. "The employees absolutely could not tell the difference between pre-owned and new. The previously owned furniture also required little redesign. What little that was required was easily manipulated with our computer-aided facility management system."

It should come as no surprise that he reports to the president of the company. He functions as a consultant within the firm, tackling major facility engineering and design functions.

"My company is building a new 350,000-square foot technical development center," says Abernathy. "I play an integral role in the planning and construction of that facility. Once the center is completely built out, I then hire a facilities staff to maintain it. After that, I move on to a new project."

Abernathy has also refurbished the lobby of his firm's corporate headquarters, remodeled the executive office area and built a full-service cafeteria. With a full-time architect at his side, he completes corporate designs, acquires new buildings, completes space planning, manages construction and figures prominently in site acquisition.

"Fortunately, I work for a healthy company," says Abernathy.

There's one constant in the ever-changing facility management profession--good business practices are a necessity. Definitions of these practices may shift like the wind, but one edict remains so consistent as to become cliche. SAVE MONEY BUT DON'T FORSAKE QUALITY.