Heating and air conditioning contractors will soon have another option for meeting the comfort needs of their residential customers, as the Tadiran company renews its presence in the North American HVAC marketplace.
Tadiran has been producing air conditioning products in Israel since 1962, and is now expanding its operations to bring its innovative products and advanced systems to the global market. With approximate annual sales volume of $230 million, Tadiran has enjoyed tremendous growth and market ownership throughout Israel and other segments of the Middle East. Now, seeing limited room to expand there further, Tadiran’s executive leadership team has their sights set on Europe, Latin America, and the United States, as new frontiers.
Following its North American debut at the January, 2019 AHR Expo in Atlanta, Ga., Tadiran’s Israel-based executive team — Pedro Stratijevsky, vice president international market activity; Dror Riesenberg, vice president, innovation and international marketing; Jarred Federbush, head of international business development; and Avi Nitzan, technical support specialist — say these products offer the global market a new, revolutionary approach, defining Tadiran’s position and vision for air quality, not limited to the industry standard air comfort.
PHOTO: The Tadiran team greeted interested visitors during the 2019 AHR Exposition.
“By defining our mission as leading the future of air, we are discussing much wider issues that include sustainability, health and lifestyle,” said Moshe Mamrud, Tadiran CEO. “By taking this approach we believe we are talking to a wider audience, which includes the consumer, as well as industry people,” Mamrud said.
The company was formed in 1962 by the merger of the Tadir and Ran companies, which manufactured batteries in Israel. By combining their resources, Tadiran managed to grow into becoming a manufacturer and supplier for many different needs. Eventually, the company split, with Tadiran Consumer and Technology Products focused primarily on the HVAC sector.
PHOTO: The Tadiran Inviz on display during the 2019 AHR Exposition.
Purchased by Carrier in the late ‘90s, Tadiran was spun off in 2009. Since then, Tadiran has enjoyed tremendous success and earned recognition in its home nation, winning the 2014 Blue-Sky Tender, providing air conditioning, water heating and electric systems for government-run hospitals in Israel, greatly reducing their energy costs.
This year Tadiran will release six new products, with its initial focus being on the Inviz, an innovative condensing unit that can be mounted in enclosed places like attics, crawl spaces, and garages. This U.S. patent-pending unique condensing unit represents a breakthrough in the way of preserving both yardspace and building aesthetics, and was specially designed to make the installation easy and effective. Production is targeted to begin in June, followed by an August rollout in the Southeastern U.S.
ABOVE PHOTO illustrates one way to position the exterior Inviz unit.
“With Inviz, we see opportunity in the single and multi-family residential marketplaces. We’re also seeing installations in the European markets and in Israel, especially in mixed-use buildings. It’s a perfect product for homes and in commercial mixed-use buildings where outdoor space is at a premium,” said Steve Hutchcraft, who is responsible for U.S. strategy development and operations. Hutchcraft’s impressive history of HVAC experience extends back to 1989, when he joined Carrier as a production manager. He eventually came to mnage Carrier’s commercial controls, and various strategic initiatives, including Carrier’s initial venture into commercial refrigeration.
Steve Hutchcraft
He later joined International Comfort Products, as a vice president of sales for the western half of the country. Following that, he was named president and CEO of Amana, and served in that role until its operations were consolidated into Goodman Manufacturing. For the past decade, Hutchcraft has operated a strategic consulting business focusing primarily on energy management and HVAC markets. He is now in his third year working with Tadiran as the point person for their U.S. operations.
Hutchcraft told Contracting Business that it will soon announce Tadiran’s initial manufacturer representation and distribution partnerships. The wide-reaching plan will include nationwide distribution, but Hutchcraft said the focus will first be on the Southeastern United States.
“We’re taking a pragmatic approach to the marketplace. We want to make sure we have the product in the market working well, with our partners established. We’ll continue to gain confidence as we roll it out further,” Hutchcraft said.
“We have people very interested in the Carolinas and Georgia, and we just wrapped up very productive meetings with people in Florida. We’re working with folks in California, Arizona and Colorado to bring the product to those markets as well.
“We’re starting with a heat pump product. We will be filling the line out with a straight cooling product as well. Then, in next year or so, we will come out with higher-efficiency products, including capitalizing on Tadiran’s inverter expertise. We’re also talking about bringing Israeli innovation and technology to the U.S., some of it’s in controls, some is in design application
benefits and some in mini-splits.”
Hutchcraft said that as he started to learn about the Tadiran product line, he realized it would be perfect for the single family residential marketplace, “especially as lot lines are shrinking, and yard space is becoming more of a premium,” he said. “If we can place a condensing unit in a crawl space, or underneath a deck, or in a garage or in an attic, you get yard space back.
“We showed it to some Southern California contractors and builders, and they loved it. They were coming up with applications we had not thought of,” Hutchcraft shared.
“For example, we were down in the Newport Beach/Costa Mesa area, and a couple of contractors said they have tough
issues with sound constraints. If we can tuck this underneath the house the sound will be significantly quieter. A builder said, ‘We can put these in the garage, along with the sprinkler system controls and hot water heaters. If you can hang it in a garage that would be fantastic.’
“In Colorado, one of the contractors mentioned he was working on some historic buildings, and can’t do anything with the façade of the house, because of the historical regulations. Tucking the condensing unit in an enclosed space preserves the historical appearance of the building,” Hutchcraft said.
Learn more about Tadiran at tadiran-international.com.
ED. NOTE: Based on information received, a previous version of this story indicated product production would begin in May, with product availability in June.