HEATING LARGE SPACES
SENSIBLY AND SUSTAINABLY
Reznor is one of the UK’s leading providers of industrial and commercial HVAC solutions. As part of Nortek Global HVAC, Reznor is known for manufacturing high-quality equipment. Now, the company is navigating the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition. Hannah Barnett learnt more from General Manager – Europe Richard Leese and Segment General Manager for Export and Vapac Dean Italiano.
Fusing technical capability with industry experience, Reznor is about to play a significant role in the energy transition.
“When we combine our attributes, we are an extremely agile organisation, fluctuating to demand and capable of embracing alternative technologies,” said Richard Leese, General Manager – Europe. “We are proud of our legacy in gas fire products, but it won’t sustain us. The fusion of existing and new technologies which require different skill sets and new ways of working are critically important going forward.”
Acquisition and innovation
Founded in Pennsylvania in 1888, Reznor expanded to Europe in the early ‘60s, where it found a niche in the heating of large spaces, rather than homes or offices.
The company has 125 employees across Europe, 103 of them in the UK, which is where Reznor has its manufacturing base. The organisation has a turnover of $25 million across warm air, radiant, air curtains and humidification product lines and is a successful part of the Nortek Global HVAC Group.
“Nortek is an amalgamation of several brilliant businesses that have been brought together under one company over the last 25 years,” Richard said. “That’s allowed us to become experts in heat and humidification.”
Nortek, and Reznor with it, was acquired by Madison Industries in 2021.
“We’ve found our home,” said Dean Italiano, Segment General Manger for Export and Vapac. “It sounds corny, but it’s true in the sense that Madison Industries has a mission to make the world safer, healthier and more productive, and every one of its businesses has a remit to push that.
“Reznor’s products are built to improve the built environment and then, in turn, people’s health. Energy sustainability is at the forefront of our minds, and not a short-term strategy, so a stable ownership allows us to build the future.”
Sustainable solutions
In adherence with long-term solutions, this year Reznor passed an important milestone on its sustainability journey with the launch of an electric unit heater in Q3. The e+ is the company’s first truly non-gas product on the market.
“This is our first step in recognising that we are experts in heat, and that’s now wider than just being experts in gas heating products,” said Richard.
Additionally, all new product lines now come with 100% recyclable packaging. The company is also working on achieving the same for its legacy products by removing polyethene bags and plastics clips and using more recyclable or reusable materials.
Reznor also launched a new Energy Management System, Nova, in 2023. The company partnered with energy technology expert Pilot Group to enable owners and operators of Reznor heating products to optimise the use of HVAC equipment, delivering energy cost savings and carbon footprint reduction.
Working together Reznor is known for working closely with its customers to find the appropriate application for each environment and to
ensure energy is being used as efficiently as possible.
“We excel at heating spaces sensibly and practically,” said Dean. “We choose the right products for the right application. For example, a large warehouse may have a very low human population, so we don’t need to heat the full volume of air within that space – but we also must make sure the air doesn’t go below a certain temperature.”
One significant project saw Reznor working with a well-known global retailer that was struggling to retain heat inside its warehouse due to multiple loading bay doors opening and closing. Reznor utilised an air curtain to create an invisible barrier which minimised the energy escaping the building, as well as any air coming in.
“Normally, we would put an air curtain above the door,” Dean explained, “but we were unable to do that in this facility, so we ended up putting it to the side. We only protected up to two metres high and limited the door opening to a maximum two
metres, as we found the customer was needlessly opening the door up to three and a half metres. These are the innovative capabilities we bring to each site. For me, it’s not just about the efficiency of the product, it’s how it is used.”
The company has made an active decision to move much of its supply chain close to its HQ in the West Midlands. This makes Reznor a far more resilient outfit, as well as a more sustainable one, as Richard explained.
“If we’ve got suppliers within a shorter radius, it is beneficial to the carbon footprint of both parties,” he said. “It also gives us durability of supply chain, which has been more pressurised since the pandemic.”
One particularly fruitful collaboration has been with AMCO, a strategic logistics supplier located in nearby Redditch. Three years ago, the partners initiated a project combining companies’ two European distribution centres into an AMCO facility in Northern France. This allowed them to
streamline the supply chain and massively reduce the carbon footprint of both companies.
“We saw the shared value of running one operation,” Richard explained. “AMCO provided the transport routings and the packing we needed, and it allowed us to combine two individually operating sites in one modern building.”
Forward-thinking
A company as adaptable and innovative as Reznor clearly relies on a strong and experienced team to keep operations running smoothly.
“Our people make us stand out,” Richard agreed. “We have great products and very efficient processes, but, as a General
Manager, my view has always been that that key differentiation is our staff.
“We are extremely lucky to have people like Dean bringing years of technical expertise in HVAC solutions. That is coupled with our manufacturing expertise. We recently did a presentation for one of our guys who’s been with the company since 1984. The knowledge in his head is phenomenal. We fuse that with bringing new people in to enhance our skill sets.”
Reznor is set to play an influential role in supporting the industry shift to newer technologies. One of the most important changes must be continuing investment into upgrading the UK’s infrastructure, according to Richard.
“The challenge is that our political system doesn’t support that long-term way of thinking,” he explained. “Five-year cycles in parliament are not long enough. There needs to be a national framework and solid commitments by governments which can be continued by any successive government. It’s too destabilising to keep changing policy.”
“We are taking the plunge from a technology that those installing it have been familiar with for their entire careers, to a very different product,” Dean concluded. “It’s not an easy feat. When we look at the move from petrol car to electric what helped was the plug-in hybrid because people got comfortable with the charging
e lement. So, we must ensure that we’re conscious, both as a manufacturer and an influence on the industry, to bring everyone that’s part of the industry, along on the transition.” n
