A few weeks on from Transtherm’s joint DCS Award win for Cooling Innovation of the Year in the Data Centre market, alongside client 2bm, I’ve been putting some thought into how specifiers can select the right brand. And why the ‘right’ brand isn’t always the ‘big’ brand.
Last week was our first significant industry award. The shortlist was impressive and we didn’t expect to win against such a plethora of reputable names and big budget projects. But we did win (we shouldn’t be so modest) and it set us thinking – if we assumed those other contenders would beat us, what’s stopping potential clients thinking the same? Is there a trend in our industry to assume that a ‘big’ brand will automatically offer the best solution, and what does ‘big’ really mean for our sector anyway?
For some it means longstanding, well-established brands which have stood the test of time. For others it means manufacturing power, the size of their sales force or the breadth of their product portfolio. Personally, I rate engineering skill, and a customer-centric approach to system design over all of these attributes. But which of these variables should be considered essential when selecting a manufacturing partner?
When it comes to marketing our products, services and expertise, we have always preferred to lead the conversation on industry hot topics, rather than blow our own trumpet. Offering intelligent and well-considered debate and solutions to customer pains, but rarely banging the drum to announce that we’ve innovated, excelled or achieved.
We do all those things weekly, not for the accolades and awards, but for the good of our customers and their end users. And because it’s what we’re passionate about. This DCS Award shows that we can not only compete with the best in our industry, but we can far exceed their offering in many cases.
To that end, let me share just three of the ways in which I feel, Transtherm (the award-winning cooling specialist!) competes with the brands you may consider, bigger or more innovative:
Manufacturing capacity
You may be surprised to learn that Transtherm operates from a 30,000 sq ft manufacturing facility, with an additional 14,000 sq ft production site dedicated to R&D and bespoke build projects. This is in addition to our expansive office headquarters, home to our rapidly expanding team of mechanical, electrical and robotics engineers, finance department, aftersales specialists and a range of talented support staff.
Importantly, all our equipment is manufactured in the UK, at our multi-site facility in Coventry, by a skilled team of operatives – all of whom are directly employed and trained to the highest standards. Working with a supply chain of class-leading equipment and component manufacturers, we deliver to site innovative products with ‘plug and play’ installation and can say with confidence that we are best equipped to handle a range of build requirements, logistical deadlines and niche project specifications.
Specifying plant which is built in the UK can reduce lead times by up to 17 weeks, a major logistical plus point, when some major established brands are citing lead times of up to 22 weeks for delivery to site.
Proven engineering skill for non-catalogue products
Industrial cooling is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution, but all too often, standard ‘catalogue’ solutions are specified with no real consideration for weather data, site-specific variables and other key factors.
We combine customer specification requirements such as noise restrictions, CAPEX budget, connectivity and efficiency ratings with accurate regional weather data and site-specific information such as installation restrictions, corrosion potential and ongoing operation processes. This ensures we design and manufacture plant which represents the lowest cost to the environment with minimal maintenance burden.
We believe that’s how things should be done, every time. It’s an ethos which has secured us work on some of the UK’s most complex and prestigious cooling projects, convincing many clients to switch to Transtherm products from competing technologies.
From simple yet effective adaptations like extended legs, or mesh to prevent leaves entering the EC fans, to full bespoke builds, such as our innovative space saving half-V adiabatic cooler or our angled coolers which are specifically designed for containerised shipment without compromising on performance. We continue to push the boundaries of innovation for the good of our customers and their end users.
Validation ‘from the horse’s mouth’
Just like our work with 2bm, in which we successfully delivered a budget-friendly, compressor-less retrofit cooling solution suitable for legacy data centres, we have a wealth of joint case studies showcasing our work across our core sectors. Importantly these case studies don’t just detail the products delivered, they highlight our engineering skill and our complex problem-solving approach. For us, it’s vital to be able to prove to potential customers that organisations just like yours trust our capabilities time and time again, and are willing to validate our sales and marketing claims.
