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2ndRick
07-10-2011, 04:57 AM
In this profile, I was able to reach out to a company who has not yet participated in the ManufacturerZone at IntegrationPros. Santino Piazza is the HVAC Automation Products Sales Manager for Aprilaire, which is a division of Research Products.

When Gary and I decided to move forward with this idea as the special series topic for the Month of July, I went to work creating a short list of questions for the selected manufacturers for the inaugural series.

So here goes:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-EK9r19CzSkc/Thl3VuiqWnI/AAAAAAAAEx8/QcLa3EyOuCk/s288/aprilaire%252520logo.jpg

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Rick Murphy, IntegrationPros:
First question: How long has the company been in business?

Santino Piazza, Aprilaire:
72 years

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Rick:
2): Where are the locations of your production facilities?

Santino:
Madison, Wisconsin, Poynette,Wisconsin, and Avondale, Arizona.

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Rick:
3) How many people are employed in total?

Santino:
300-350

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Rick:
4) What percentage of the SKUs in your product offering are produced in North America at some level?

Santino:
Approximately 90%.

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Rick:
5) In the spirit of the American Automobile Labeling Act, requiring automakers to report what percent of the parts by value in any given model hail from both the United States and Canada. What is the rough percentage of N. American content of the components and materials of your products?

Santino:
Again, approximately 90%

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Rick:
6) What would you say is the difference in the value proposition that you offer to the dealers and end users compared to your peers who utilize off-shore production? (materials quality, labor force, logistics, JIT capabilities, etc.)

Santino:
Maintaining control over production allows us to deliver very high just-in-time order fulfillment. Over 90% of the products ordered ship the same day, and around 99% the next day.
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Rick: (optional question for vendors who cross into commercial systems)
7): I believe this is primarily impacting the commercial space, but what (if any) effect to your dealers and specifiers see from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act or any other incentives to include US made products into taxpayer-funded Municipal, Education, and Government projects?

Santino:
Most of our product lines are focused on residential applications.

2ndRick
07-10-2011, 05:10 AM
The automation division was a separate company called Enerzone who were acquired by Research Products in 2000.

A lot of members will remember the old StatNet models, which were also rebranded and sold by AMX/Phast in that era.

Aside from these products that are common to our industry, Aprilaire also sells a whole line of standalone thermostats from basic to programmable.

Another large product category for Aprilaire are the whole home humidification and de-humidification products.

In addition, Aprilaire makes media based and electronic based air cleaning systems, dampers and damper controllers, and many other specialty items that are integrated into forced air heating and cooling systems by professional HVAC contractors