Gardiner Trane: The past
Gardiner Trane has a history of responsiveness, growing by adding products
and services that fulfill customer needs and wants
When Bill Gardiner started in the commercial HVAC industry, Trane was
beginning a push that would make it the leader in the commercial industry.
Trane had just introduced a line of air conditioning products in 1950, and
by 1957, it was starting its climb, paced by the CenTraVac, the only hermetic
centrifugal water chiller available at that time.
In 1962, taking advantage of the excellence of the Trane product line,
Gardiner founded Gardiner Trane as Trane's franchise holder in Northeastern
Ohio, handling its equipment and parts. The company started by handling
products, but it has added to its capabilities over the years in many ways.
In the early 1970s, Bill began hiring technicians to help with problems
with warranty parts. Later on that decade, finding out that many mechanical
contractors did not want to handle ongoing service of systems they had installed,
he expanded his services and developed a market niche doing field maintenance
on products that had already been sold and installed. Today, Gardiner's
service staff has grown to include more than 45 full-time technicians.
Trane, in the meantime, was responding proactively to the 70s energy
crisis. Energy savings was the industry mantra, and many pieces of equipment
were not operating at peak efficiency. Trane responded by founding ICS,
or Integrated Comfort Systems, entering the controls and automation business
with development of a control module for each piece of equipment. Trane
used marketplace interviews to find that consulting engineers, owners and
most mechanical contractors wanted turnkey installation for controls projects,
and Gardiner Trane responded with a dedicated Automation and Controls group
to provide integrated equipment and controls, specializing in midsize office
buildings.
Gardiner Trane also handles chiller plant systems for bigger projects
such as the Carl Stokes Federal Courthouse, Cleveland Hopkins International
Airport, 200 Public Square (formerly BP Tower), and Progressive Insurance.
In fact, Northern Ohio has a number of companies, like Progressive, who
have companies or offices across the world, so Gardiner Trane also added
a global/national accounts division to coordinate projects around the globe.
It has also taken on a larger role in creative development of solutions
for owners of existing buildings to replace older systems with more efficient
ones. Schools and state buildings that need upgrades or air conditioning
can purchase via the State Terms Schedule, while federal facilities can
use GSA Schedules. BXM
Gardiner Trane: The present
A skilled, entrepreneurial workforce has earned customer trust
with a proactive approach to high performance
Central to Gardiner Trane's mission today are its associates. "We
are unique because of the knowledge and longevity of our people," says
President Bob Case. "Many of our people have been with us for 30+ years.
In fact, the almost-150 associates total more than 2000 years with Gardiner
Trane, and many have seen equipment that they sold being replaced after
an equipment life span of 20 to 50 years."
According to Mike Ball, new systems sales leader for Gardiner Trane,
his division handles new equipment for new and existing buildings for customers
ranging from architects and engineers to owners to contractors and construction
managers. Though the flagship brand is Trane, as its name signifies, his
company handles at least 20 other product lines, so clients are sure of
getting the right product for their needs. "We are the largest provider
of commercial HVAC in North America," he says.
Trane's innovative sales approachit began when the inventor of a
lightweight radiator created his own distribution system and continued with
the creation of chillers built on-site by the maker to reduce installation
costs and improve qualityis mirrored in the other products and other
lines Gardiner Trane sells. The firm keeps up on industry innovations and
issues through constant education, and "a lot of creativity and engineering
go into our work," says Ball.
According to founder Bill Gardiner, many of his associates have been
likened to Mr. Goodwrench, with factory training and regular in-house training,
and all sales engineers start with a training program at the Trane factory
to learn the HVAC business.
The people in Ball's division match those of the parent firm: all are
highly trained and experienced, with an average 20+ years in the industry.
"All our account managers are degreed engineers," says Ball, "with
another half-year "master's degree" from the HVAC school in Wisconsin,
the Trane Tech school, our alma mater."
Hire the best, train them
and use them
Ball goes on to talk about Gardiner Trane's management philosophy: "It
is a family-owned business, but blended with the strengths of a corporation,
with an overall entrepreneurial approach," he says. "So we are
empowered and have freedom, we are not held back by bureaucratic chains.
Each individual runs some piece of the business. The sky is the limit on
what we can achieve."
Plus, says Ball, "we get to know each other. And we can stay where
we are and be successful, we don't have to move on to do so. Every day,
I get up and love going to work, solving problems," says Ball. "It's
a mix of work, in the office and on site, always varied, interesting and
challenging."
And that entrepreneurial spirit is directed toward meeting customer needs.
According to Don Sabetta, manager of Gardiner Trane's Controls and Automation
Division, the firm is unique in that its many sources and its expertise
gives it the wherewithal to pull together all the facets needed to create,
sustain and improve building operations, from product to service to applications.
Sabetta says that Gardiner Trane's diversified portfolio touches on all
facets of the industry, from K-12 and higher education to hospitals and
outpatient surgical centers to industrial applications and government buildings-a
growing sector, with many legislative mandates making them so.
Dan Babic, Gardiner Trane marketing director, says trust with customers
developed at Gardiner Trane as the firm expanded to meet the needs of customers
in a technologically evolving market. "We are full-service, and broadly
based. It's not just about products anymore," he says. "In effect,
we're working toward our mission of building long-term, mutually beneficial
business relationships with our customers and associates."
"Construction is not for the faint of heart," agrees Ball.
The key is trust. "If you trust people, you can communicate with them,"
he says.
Ball also points to industry events for customers, such as the customer
golf outing, trips to educational and recreational sites, and the High Performance
Buildings event, a recent showcase at the 31200 Bainbridge Road facility
that featured more than 50 exhibits and displays. It helps customers know
how the firm's many product and service offerings can help buildings meet
the challenge of upcoming industry changes. BXM
Gardiner Trane: The future
The firm foresees, and responds to, the future of HVAC
by taking a proactive and flexible approach
Gardiner Trane has grown into a professional services company with a
wide range of products and services and a staff of 150, working with mechanical
engineers on specifying equipment and systems, provide a broad range of
equipment (representing more than 20 major product lines in addition to
Trane), automation and parts to mechanical contractors and helping on warranty
and systems situations. It does turnkey installation with engineering and
contracting partners under its Trane umbrella.
Gardiner Trane's is putting its emphasis on High Performance Buildings
for Life, structures designed to evaluate existing conditions and improve
on them, and then sustain that improvement. "It's not about the lowest
first costs. That is not how we approach the market," says Dan Babic,
marketing director. "We try to work with people over the long haul
to help them achieve the lowest cost of ownership. President Bob Case adds
that being part of an owner's construction team allows people to leverage
the knowledge and experience that Gardiner Trane offers. "Getting us
involved in the process as early as possible allows us to help drive costs
out of projects and look for simple opportunities to keep operating costs
low," said Case. "Whether it's a design issue, product application
consideration, or even a system management strategy, we can add a lot of
value to a project."
A sign of Gardiner Trane's proactive approach: it is providing equipment
for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Heart Center's new 8,800 T chiller plant,
a central part of this massive new construction project that will create
a centerpiece for the Clinic on Euclid. At the same time, it can take on
a project like St. Martin de Porres High School, a remodel of St. Vitus
School that will create a new school for co-op students who earn their own
way. Gardiner Trane's flexibility lets it partner with other companies and
contracting firms, a common occurrence, in this case R. Clark Environmental
Conditioning Systems in Mentor, to help the school get funding for the work.
Foresight
Future trends, adds Mike Ball, new systems sales leader, include advances
in computerized controls that led to 90% of new buildings being self-performing,
with HVAC tied together like the body's nervous system. This leads to turnkey
installations for Gardiner Trane, as well as sales to installation contractors.
As manager of Gardiner Trane's Controls and Automation Division, Don
Sabetta says that there are a growing number of smarter buildings that have
automated systems acting as the eyes and ears of the owner. Automated systems,
he says, are still very sophisticated, but they are getting far more user
friendly, with an increasing awareness in the HVAC marketplace about what
automation can do, and new opportunities for retrofitting existing buildings
as smart buildings.
Beyond that, says the firm's management, the upgrade side of Gardiner
Trane's business will grow, as the need for energy-efficient equipment and
systems in existing buildings is demandedor mandated.
Monitoring offices and plants from a central point will become the normGardiner
Trane already monitors 140 buildings.
Air quality has become a catch phrase, as there are so many buildings
where the quality of air supplied is not per codeand could be unhealthy.
These buildings and their systems can be improved with services ranging
from a simple duct cleaning, added controls (maybe just a new thermostat),
new efficient equipment or a major renovation.
And while it is busy taking care of the above, Gardiner Trane expects
the North Coast to have a resurgence in the traditional construction market.
BXM
