It's almost lunchtime, so there's someone on the treadmill in the company gym, others in the canteen, tucking into lunch, but the group of suited and booted people at the entrance to the Vishay factory aren't about to have some downtime, exactly the opposite.
They're there as the welcome party for Rachel Reeves, the UK chancellor who is visiting Wales for the first time since her party won its thumping majority in the General Election last July. Her trip across the border had enjoyed an inauspicious start.
Having had an early start in Wales, as is always the case with media opportunities, a press release proceeds her visit explaining what she wants to talk about (and it certainly isn't welfare cuts). It's housebuilding, except that is devolved to the Welsh Government, as is planning. You can see live updates from her visit today.
When, on a live BBC Radio Wales interview - taking place some 30 minutes after scheduled - she is asked why she is in Wales. To that she said because part of the housebuilding plan is for homes to be built on Ministry of Defence land. Except the place she's in, the Cardiff suburb of Radyr, isn't that either. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
BBC Wales' political editor, Gareth Lewis, puts it to her (live on air) that the optics are a little odd. It is, he says, the equivalent of a Welsh health secretary going to England to talk about waiting times. However, her visit to Newport is back on script - to learn about a £250m investment by Vishay that will secure 480 jobs and create around 100 more.
As the gathered company officials make small talk with the local MP, Ruth Jones, and deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies, suddenly there are a flurry of messages, glances at phones and a blue Range Rover pulls past the sign for "VIP entrance" and a remarkably fresh-faced Rachel Reeves jumps out.
Greeted with a line of Vishay dignitaries, it takes a minute - and a reminder - from Huw Irranca-Davies before she twigs he is stood in front of her - "oh gosh, hello" before the former MP gets a hug. She then makes her way along the line, handshakes and "nice to meet you" uttered on repeat. Reaching the Newport West and Islwyn MP, Ruth Jones, there is another hug.
Once inside the foyer there's an explanation of what is manufactured there, a brief company history, and a mini tour of the site - via a wall-mounted photograph. Vishay took over the site a year ago, the largest semiconductor site in the UK, and is clearly keen to promote its progress. Well briefed, she asks what the investment - the reason she is there - will actually do.
Next, she's escorted into the "clean room" - a part of the factory where they can avoid her needing to be in a full safety suit, the rest of us loiter in the foyer, before making our way up in the 1980s faux wood lined lift.
There, seven female members of staff, all of whom work in engineering and have been recognised for their achievements, speak to Reeves, herself no stranger to breaking that glass ceiling. She dedicates a few minutes to speaking to them, how they got there, whether they always wanted to work there, the usual sort of chitchat, before being presented with her own wafer, with an image of the Vishay plant etched into it - which is duly handed to an aide after the obligatory photo opportunities.
"Thanks," she says to the women she's met, "for making it sound simple". She's then directed to a buffet, before a private meeting with Vishay leadership. When she returns, there's a seven minute slot with WalesOnline, the results of which you can read here, before she is guided down the stairs.
Given the time her day had started, the length of the broadcast round she'd had, and the fact she'd had a meeting in the middle with Wales' First Minister Eluned Morgan, you can forgive her for telling Huw Irranca-Davies "it's been a great day" despite the fact it isn't even 1.30pm.
From there she is whisked back into that blue Range Rover, her hour's jaunt to Newport complete, and driven back past the VIP sign and back to Whitehall where the questions - and answers - will likely be anything but simple.
