Gas Technology Institute Opens Pittsburgh Office
Gas Technology Institute (GTI) has opened a new office in Pittsburgh, PA. Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, IL, GTI has field offices across the country. Sources say the Pittsburgh branch represents GTI’s local commitment to the region’s natural gas industry.
Sources say GTI's growth will be achieved by generating effective technology development and services based on customer needs, and through partnering to develop technology, find collaborative opportunities, and achieve strategic business results. Personnel based in the Pittsburgh office will advance the development of innovative solutions to the region’s most pressing challenges.
"We're excited about establishing a stronger presence in this important region," says David Carroll, President and CEO of GTI. "We're committed to the future of natural gas, and see tremendous opportunity for growth in the shale market where GTI has performed analysis since the 1980s. Our new office location will help us provide the continued high-level customer service and technology developments that will help meet today’s complex energy and environmental challenges," Carroll says.
Patrick Findle, director of the Pittsburgh office worked for GTI earlier in his career, and has returned to help establish a growth strategy. He brings many years of technology business development in the natural gas industry that will help GTI build industry relationships and facilitate new business.
GTI's Pennsylvania office address is 800 Old Pond Road, Suite 706 B, Bridgeville, PA, 15017; 412/319-7249.
gastechnology.org
Dexter + Chaney Marks 30-Year Anniversary With Plans for More
Dexter + Chaney, developer of Spectrum® Construction Software, recently marked the 30th anniversary of the company’s founding, with a staff party at the Dexter + Chaney campus in Seattle. Spectrum software is designed to fill the accounting, operational, management, and reporting needs of more than 1,000 construction companies throughout the U.S.
Partners Mark Dexter and John Chaney started the business in 1981, after applying emerging electronic spreadsheet technology to the construction market. Today, more than 80 Dexter + Chaney employees work in two buildings on the company-owned, 2.3-acre campus in north Seattle.
"Our founding principles — making Spectrum the last software our clients need to buy, and our commitment to making each client a customer for life — apply today as they did in 1981," says Chaney, who serves as the company's president. The company is focusing on the upcoming release of Spectrum version 14.
"We've taken clients from green screen, to DOS, to Windows over the last 30 years," Chaney says. "Version 14 is as big a leap in technology, access, and usability as any we made in the past. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Dexter + Chaney is poised to revolutionize the way construction software serves the industry." dexterchaney.com
CF Foundation Names Rinnai Corporate Volunteer of the Year
Rinnai America Corporation has received the 2010 Corporate Volunteer of the Year Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for its support of the Foundation's mission to find a cure for cystic fibrosis (CF). Rinnai received the CF Foundation’s award after serving as a corporate sponsor of the organization’s 2010 Great Strides fundraising walk in Peachtree City, GA and hosting a variety of fundraising activities for the CF Foundation at its corporate headquarters in 2010. This past May, the company demonstrated its ongoing dedication to the cause by sponsoring the Great Strides walk for a second consecutive year.
Rinnai's involvement with the CF Foundation began with the efforts of Rinnai Buyer Linda Doenges, whose 7-year-old grandson and 5-year-old granddaughter are battling the disease. Her grandchildren must take 20-28 pills daily and spend up to two hours each day in special electric vests that help break up the mucus that clogs their lungs and limits their breathing. Doenges' pursuit to raise awareness of the disease led to Rinnai’s initial sponsorship of the CF Foundation's local Great Strides walk, and the enthusiasm Rinnai employees showed for the event encouraged Doenges to host additional CF Foundation fundraisers at Rinnai including a barbeque luncheon, paper rose sale and silent auction of employee-donated items, restaurant gift cards and Rinnai-donated laptops.
"Rinnai is proud to support the CF Foundation, and we're thrilled that our employees have really rallied around the cause of cystic fibrosis," says Brad Sweet, Rinnai’s vice president of marketing. "Because CF is something that personally affects a member of the Rinnai family, the cause is very important to us, and we’re happy to know that our involvement is helping to advance CF cure and treatment research."
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization in the U.S. devoted to cystic fibrosis care, control, and cure development.
http://bit.ly/rinnaivolunteeraward
rinnai.us; cff.org
In other news, Rinnai has improved consumer access to water heating and energy information with a new launch of online tools. http://bit.ly/rinnaionlinetools
AERCO Int’l Relocates HQ to Super-size Facility
Commercial boiler/water heater manufacturer AERCO International, Inc., has relocated its corporate headquarters to one central location, after previously operated out of three separate facilities in Northvale, NJ.
The 156,000 sq. ft. headquarters is more than twice the size of AERCO's former location. It consolidates all existing operations into one building, for improved communication and efficiency, and space for continued growth.
AERCO sources say the expanded R&D laboratory and improved product testing capabilities enable AERCO’s engineers to develop innovative product designs that will efficiently address the needs of the market. The larger manufacturing area will boost production to meet growing product demand and help AERCO respond to customer needs.
The new state-of-the-art training center offers a hands-on service and application training of sales personnel, engineers, and plumbing and heating contractors. Aerco’s new address is, 100 Oritani Drive, Blauvelt, NY 10913. aerco.com
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Bryant, GE Capital Announce Renewal on Lending Program
GE Capital Retail Finance, a consumer lending unit of General Electric Company and Bryant Heating & Cooling Systems, have announced a multi-year renewal on their consumer lending program, which originated in 1998. The Bryant® Comfort Credit Card is available to qualified customers through more than 1,400 authorized Bryant dealers nationwide.
"Heating and cooling equipment costs can be unexpected expenses, so it's important for our customers to have the option of paying for service or installation with manageable payments over time," says Tom Archer, brand manager for Bryant Heating & Cooling Systems. "GE Capital has the technology and support services that make the sales process easier for our dealers. Additionally, they’re a well-known name to our customers, which is an additional advantage for us."
"Bryant is a highly respected brand with a long history of success in the HVAC industry, so naturally we're delighted to continue our consumer financing relationship," says Bruce Christensen, vice president and general manager, Home Improvement for GE Capital's Retail Finance business.
"Both companies are known for great reliability and customer service, so we think it’s going to be a strong association for years to come,"Christensen says.
bryant.com
Calmac HQ Receives LEED® Gold Certification
Calmac's headquarters in Fair Lawn, NJ, has received LEED® Gold Certification for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (EB/O&M). According to company sources, Calmac is the first HVAC manufacturing facility in the state to obtain the LEED Gold designation.
Contributing to the building's green profile was Calmac's IceBank® thermal energy storage system, installed in 2009, which had lowered on-peak demand and cooling costs by 33%.
To obtain the LEED EB/O&M certification, Calmac enlisted YRG Sustainability Consultants to help manage the process and keep things running smoothly. Calmac implemented new green policies and procedures as well as installed many energy-saving technologies, new lighting controls and zoning, reflective roof paint, consolidated transformers and low-volume flush toilets.
"Going through the LEED process enabled us to analyze our energy usage at our office and manufacturing plant, and using quantitative data, allowed us to ensure we were as efficient as possible," says Mark MacCracken, CEO of Calmac. "Our biggest discovery was finding out that a machine in the plant was using 2/3 of the entire facility's energy use. As a result of the LEED process, we were able to make plans to install larger heat reclaim units to significantly reduce energy use."
Grundfos 'Day of Values' Focuses on Revitalizing Key Principles that Have Helped Company Thrive
Since it’s founding in 1945, Grundfos Pumps has never finished a year in the red, according to company sources. And, during ongoing financial crisis, the company has become stronger, with considerable investments in research and development, without incurring debt.
The values that have kept Grundfos thriving were examined, and renewed at a worldwide, "What Unites Us" event, held this summer at the company's Olathe, KS headquarters.
Six rephrased values have been established:
- Sustainable
- Open and Trustworthy
- Focused on People
- Independent
- Partnership
- Relentlessly Ambitious.
Sources for Grundfos say the company is changing to stay in step with a changing world. In light of constant worldwide developments, Jes Munk Hansen, CEO of Grundfos North America, told employees of the importance of being sure the company's values are relevant to its business and today’s HVACR marketplace.
"A large part of why we’ve decided to revitalize our values now is that we have great ambitions for the future," Hansen says. "We want to expand our company geographically and into new areas of business. In this process, there's the risk of forgetting who we are. And we don’t want that to happen."
The company's previous value statements were written more than 10 years ago when Grundfos was a smaller, less globalized company, notes Hansen.
"A new generation of people have entered the company, and are seeing the company with new eyes, so we have to update the value statements to make sure that they are still relevant. We're not talking about new values, but we need to tune the values to match Grundfos of today.
"We need to be united in our values to have a strong profile in the market," says Hansen. "We need to be recognized as Grundfos everywhere we do business, so that customers and other business partners know what to expect from us."
During the "What Unites Us" event, all 17,000 employees at Grundfos operations worldwide attended 1,200 workshops to discuss what the values mean and how they’re used. During the workshops, all employees had the opportunity to tell their versions of the values via text messages, photos, and video uploads on a global values website.
In other news, Grundfos Pumps Corporation announced that it will voluntarily cut in half the amount of potable water used to irrigate its 27-acre Fresno, CA campus during 2011, with plans to eliminate the practice entirely by the end of 2012, which will save about 3 million gallons of potable water during 2011.
The plan is for all campus irrigation to be supplied by reclaimed water by 2013. grundfos.com