16 minute read
What role can dehumidifiers play at flood-hit facilities?
News What role can dehumidifiers play at flood-hit facilities?
As the UK experiences torrential rain and storm-level events, facilities managers need to consider the longterm damage ‘invisible water’ can have on their flood-hit premises. Though occupants and site managers may think assessing damage and replacing equipment is the final recovery step after pumping out floodwater, water soaked into materials could prove catastrophic in the long term, according to Aggreko.
By soaking into substances such as wood, plaster and paint, this ‘invisible water’ may cause expensive longterm damage to affected materials as facilities managers heat flooded buildings to aid the drying out process. Furthermore, mould growth can occur during this process, placing occupants and workers’ health at risk. Delivering optimum climate control in industrial environments is therefore crucial to preserving the integrity of affected buildings and ensuring production can restart safely, says Aggreko. Through the use of dehumidifiers to create a controlled environment and manage moisture levels, facilities managers can ensure surrounding air is dried appropriately and without risk following floods. “In the event of a flood, it is extremely important that the recovery process happens quickly,” says Ryan Stanley, Sector Development Manager for Temperature and Moisture Control at Aggreko. “Yet quickly does not always mean safely – in the rush to continue production, crucial steps can be missed when drying out buildings. “It is vital that a controlled environment is maintained when drying and dehumidifying affected
rooms and equipment. With that in mind, industrial dehumidifiers, such as those from Aggreko, should be a top priority for site managers struck by flooding.
“If the worst does occur, these temporary solutions can be hired to manage moisture levels until the site is back and running as normal, with the threat posed by ‘invisible water’ eliminated.”
For more information on Aggreko’s range of industrial humidifier solutions, please visit www.aggreko.com.
Skin and surface hygiene specialist, GOJO Industries-Europe will be exhibiting at Manchester Cleaning Show, Stand J04
GOJO, the leading global producer of skin health and hygiene solutions for away-from-home settings, will be exhibiting at The Manchester Cleaning Show 2020 (25th – 26th March at Event City). At its stand (J04), GOJO will be presenting the new PURELL SOLUTION™ as well as the rest of its wide product range. Carrying internationally recognised brands including PURELL®, one of the most trusted brands for skin and surface sanitising, and GOJO®, its brand for specialised soaps and tough soils cleaning solutions, GOJO has a wealth of experience in the hygiene industry. Visitors will be able to learn more about the newly launched PURELL SOLUTION™, a hardworking hand hygiene system, which offers a complete solution to help fight the spread of germs in facilities across a variety of industries. The range includes innovative new dispensers, with breakthrough ‘Energy-onthe-Refill’ technology and a brand-new type of ‘healthy soap’ that works harder to remove dirt and bacteria from the skin.
As well as exhibiting the PURELL SOLUTION™, GOJO will be showcasing its wider product range. This includes HAND MEDIC®, the professional skin conditioner, and PURELL Surface Sanitising Spray and Wipes, a range of no-rinse surface sanitising products that are fast acting, highly effective and specifically designed to meet surface sanitising needs within food contact areas. GOJO will also be sharing information about its LPK toilet seat
foam, and the PREVENS PARIS range of dispensers and refills.
Chris Wakefield, Vice President, European Marketing & Product Development, GOJO IndustriesEurope Ltd comments: ‘We are thrilled to be exhibiting at The Manchester Cleaning Show, and are looking forward to welcoming visitors to our stand. It offers a great opportunity to showcase our innovation, demonstrate our products and expertise, and of course, network and share ideas on best practice.’ For more information, call +44 (0)1908 588444, email infouk@GOJO. com or visit www.GOJO.com
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News Brexit’s Benefits - a Catalyst to Change? You can try, but you simply can’t escape the news on Brexit. There’s a lot of negativity and anxiety surrounding it, but what about the positives?
With the UK having officially left the European Union on the 31st of January 2020, many businesses headquartered in the UK (like Anders) have had to take proactive steps to protect their business interests. It’s not been a time for procrastinating or for the faint of heart. Instead, it’s been a time to step up, be practical, and build contingency steps regardless of the outcome.
Many UK electronic manufacturing companies have reported on the common Brexit challenges, for example; non-movement in trade, or stockpiling as a security net until whatever solid-state post Brexit is in place. The impact of these actions on many has been detrimental to procurement of parts, forecast planning, and production. However, within this cloud of uncertainty, Anders actually identified a business opportunity to improve their operational performance. In a bid to control their own destiny, Anders have put in place several changes to strategically manoeuvre their way through the Brexit chaos, with these learnings resulting in several benefits to Anders, their supply chain, and customers.
Adapt or Face the Pain Brexit compelled Anders management to take a long hard look at their business, to assess where their supply chain could be fragile, at risk, or weakened.
“When nearly 50% of your business originates from Europe, you need to do what you can to protect current customers, whilst growing future opportunities”, Margaret Kato, Head of Operations at Anders, comments.
For today’s business, the European market accounts for over 50% of Anders business and is growing year-on-year. This isn’t to say that they don’t still have the dominant foothold in the UK for display and embedded solutions, but their UK market can be distinct from the rest of Europe and can be nurtured, developed and grown via Anders headquarters in London, UK.
Brexit Can’t Become the Elephant in the Room
“You can’t just bury your head in the sand”, Margaret continues. To cater to Anders’ growing European market, the company has
established Anders Electronics BV. This entity is strategically located in the Netherlands, well-known globally for its logistical excellence and utilised by many of the world leading electronic manufacturing brand names like Anders.
By expanding and developing into new geographies, Anders can now offer their customers choices; • London, UK – home of product innovation, prototyping and development, with production in various locations in the Far East • The Netherlands – home of European logistic hub excellence and robust connected supply chain solutions • Hong Kong – home of Asian logistic hub and worldclass supply chain network
Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail
Feedback from Anders customers has been incredibly positive, with shipment times across Europe
being reduced. In an industry where speed-to-market and time-in-profit matters, this is a major benefit.
Margaret concluded, “In setting up these operations, our own efficiency has improved. We have new processes in place which have streamlined our productivity and future-proofed our ability to scale our business in the next few years. We were not prepared to sit and wait with the potential to lose business, so we prepared ourselves, and if nothing changes in the market
dynamics, then that is fine too, we’ve not lost anything. We’ve simply built a contingency plan, which will set us on a winning course from now until the next decade, when Brexit becomes a thing of the past.”
To find out about the services Anders offers in The Netherlands and the solutions that their customers benefit from, read their blog here: https://www.andersdx.com/ anders-netherlands-logistcs-hub/ - Extending our global footprint - An Anders home away from home.
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Helping clients to understand and deal with lift and escalator queries.
How can we support you? • Conduct site condition surveys, maintenance audits and feasibility studies • Provide lift system design duties • Advise and lead refurbishment programs • Take on the duties of principal designer under CDM 2015 • Act as authorising engineer (HTM 08-02) • Review and administer maintenance contracts • Lift and escalator management • Carry out emergency LOLER inspections
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News Spry Fox Networks provides multi-operator 4G coverage at Europe’s largest entertainment and conference centre Smart mobile signal booster technology ensures highspeed data connectivity for live video streaming and social media activities at BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year event
Spry Fox Networks Ltd, leading suppliers of advanced mobile coverage technology to enhance commercial cellular and public safety communications in large public buildings, has been selected by Aberdeen City Council to facilitate high-speed voice and data services at the recently opened P&J Arena in Aberdeen. Dubbed as the largest entertainment and conference complex in Europe, covering a total area of 48,000 sqm and costing over £330 million, the worldclass venue comprises a 15,000 capacity arena, three conference and exhibition halls, nine meeting rooms, multipurpose subterranean facilities, a renewable energy centre, as well as onsite hotels, associated car parking and a diverse range of restaurants and other public service amenities. Although P&J Arena is sustainable in its energy consumption and is in harmony with the natural landscape, its predominately subterranean design architecture meant there was zero 4G coverage for the UK’s four main mobile operators in large parts of the venue. Even the main arena, which is used for televised events such as the BBC’s Sport Personality of the Year (SPOTY), had no mobile signal. Not only was this a major inconvenience for attendees and staff, it posed serious safety and security risks.
With high expectations from the general public and the different project stakeholders, providing a communications infrastructure that meets the stringent requirements of such a high footfall facility was no mean feat. The Council researched the feasibility of deploying supplementary technology
8 News to overcome mobile dead zone challenges and began a procurement process to identify potential suppliers. Spry Fox Networks was finally selected to fulfil the requirement because of their proven market reputation, their expertise in this field, and their Ofcom-compliant mobile signal booster product range, which is network-agnostic.
The mobile coverage system is based on the Cel-Fi QUATRA, an intelligent signal booster solution (developed by smart signal booster technology specialists, Nextivity Inc) that overcomes dropped call, poor voice quality and low data throughput challenges, caused by weak indoor mobile signals. Not only does the CelFi QUATRA deliver seamless 4G connectivity for bandwidthhungry data applications, it also ensures ubiquitous mobile coverage for safety critical communications in the event of an emergency situation.
Combined with the Cel-FI QUATRA is Spry Fox Network’s innovative QuantumPath assurance solution. This allows Spry Fox Networks to continually monitor mobile signal strength and quality, along with voice and data performance, for the different mobile network operators (MNOs), thus delivering further confidence and service assurance to all stakeholders.
“The state-of-the-art P&J Live Arena represents Aberdeen City Council’s largest single investment to date and the city is now able to attract events of a scale and calibre that had not been previously possible. The BBC’s SPOTY is a high-profile event for which flawless communications are essential”, said Steven Robertson,
Digital Transformation Manager, Aberdeen City Council. “Spry Fox Networks has delivered a great solution in a very short period of time. The P&J Live Arena is now able to offer the best experience for both attendees and staff alike.” “To be selected to provide a mobile coverage system at one of the largest concert facilities in Europe cements our proven reputation and expertise in this field”, comments Steven Ballantyne, Director, Spry Fox Networks. “By combining our QuantumPath advanced service assurance system with next-generation signal booster technology, not only are we able to deliver high levels of coverage, we’re also able to proactively monitor the availability and quality of voice and data services we’re providing, regardless of operator, allowing us to fine tune the system to satisfy requirements.” Although initially intended as a one-off install to support the BBC’s SPOTY event, the system’s overall performance was so outstanding that Aberdeen City Council has decided to retain the system. It will be used to provide seamless voice and data coverage for a diverse range of concerts and events including Lewis Capaldi, the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour and the Elton John Yellow Brick Road Tour. www.spryfoxnetworks.com
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Carel will be at DCW20 on stand D1152, showcasing some of their data centre solutions for global energy savings
Carel has over 45 years’ experience as a supplier of high efficiency technologies, and particular focus at the exhibition will be on the application of Carel products in micro data centres, which we believe is a trend that we will be seeing much more of. Our solutions on show will demonstrate connected efficiency to the complete data centre chain, plus reinforce our capability in integrated humidification solutions. Our product showcase includes… • boss & boss mini… a complete range of simple monitoring solutions for medium and small data centres • cPCO mini….a compact solution with high connectivity for compact units for energy saving • PGDx… HMI designed to offer an improved user experience, with simplified access to system information • PSD2… drive for BLDC compressors for high efficiency, supply temperature control and energy saving • humiSonic… a complete solution for high precision and short absorption distance, with low energy consumption • Recuperator… a wide range of energy saving technologies
WIN! Come visit us at our stand for your chance to WIN an echo DOT (3rd Gen).
For more information call Carel on 020 8391 3540, email sales.uk@carel.com or visit https://www.careluk.com
Join the PSSA today!
The Public Sector Sustainability Association (PSSA) provides a professional association and network for all those working in the Public Sector who have a common interest in sustainability. The aim of the association is to bring together a wide group of people working across all areas of the Public Sector – to help educate, train, support and connect as we work towards a more sustainable future.
Benefits of membership • Access to up to date info on all issues of sustainability affecting the public sector including the latest news, case studies, legislation, policy and reports • Reminders and invitation to trade events, exhibitions, conferences and seminars involving sustainability • Networking opportunities • Discounted training and education courses • Access to a PSSA Members-Only online forum to discuss issues, problem solve and connect (Launch date TBC)
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News How to ensure business continuity in the event of bad weather?
Power outages can happen at any time of the year, however, they can seem more frequent during this time of year. Whether it’s cold weather or storms bringing gale force winds and heavy rain leading to power lines going down, you’ll want to know that you can rely on your generator to kick in when you most need it. For example, cold weather can cause the following issues: • Reduced capacity of batteries • Oil to thicken • Parts to deteriorate According to the Office of National Statistics, just an hour of downtime is said to cost a small business an average of £800 and large organisations around £8,500. In 2013, when Google was hit by a power outage, they experienced losses of £100,000 per minute.
If this has got you thinking about the impact of a power outage on your business, we have put together some tips for you to undertake between your planned service and maintenance visits.
Testing
You should regularly run your generator during periods of inactivity to prevent fuel from become stagnant. If your generator has not been run for 6 months or more, we would
12 News advise that you carry out fuel tests. Generators should be frequently tested on load to ensure that in your time of need, your generator will peform.
Battery Inspection
Battery failure is one the most common reasons for generators failing to start. This could be for many reasons: • The generator has been inactive for an extended period of time • Chargers, connections and cables may have deteriorate • Or simply, the charger breaker is open or tripped Be sure to check the condition of your batteries on a regular basis to avoid generator failure in your time of need.
Control Panel Checks
Check the control panel of your generator regularly as this will display any faults that could cause your generator not to start. One of the most common reasons for the ‘Not in Auto’ alarm is human error because the main control switch was left in the ‘Off/Reset’ position after servicing or testing.
Fluid Checks
Generators require coolant, oil and fuel to operate so regularly checking their levels and topping up (if required) is very important.
Visual Inspections Lastly, make sure you regularly undertake visual inspections, this includes: • Ensuring the area around your generator is clear of debris • Checking the exhaust and ventilation for blockages • Looking for any leaks, staining or puddles
For more information and guidance on maintaining your critical power equipment, contact our specialist team on 023 9278 3450 or info@pandigroup.co.uk.
CRITICAL POWER SPECIALISTS
Ensuring business continuity by supplying the right power solution for you.
• Generators • UPS Systems • Control Systems • Bespoke Design • Installation & Commissioning • Project Management • Hire & Rental • Service & Maintenance • Fuel Management • Batteries • Load Banks • 24 Hour Call Out
Get in touch with us today to see how we can support your business...
