Temperzone launches Hitachi Product Nationally.
Hitachi are a world famous electronic products company with an enormous product range from trains and transportation, electronic components including semi conductors and microchips, automotive components, consumer electronics which includes the air conditioning products, lifts, excavators, right through to the power generation systems to run all of these products. Of course don’t forget power tools.
Hitachi is one of Japan’s largest corporate groups.
Hitachi use sophisticated manufacturing equipment and techniques to ensure their products surpass the highest expectations.
The three cornerstones of the Hitachi business are design, development and manufacturing. Hitachi invests very heavily in R & D and as is highlighted here with some pictures from their engineering and design office.
I would like to introduce you to the scope of the Hitachi Air Conditioning Group and their global strength. They have an amazing product range. This extends from high wall splits, inverter ducted through VRF products right through to their air cooled and water cooled chillers and on to to centrifugal and absorption chillers.
Last year, Hitachi produced around four billion dollars worth of air conditioning products for the global market, with over 10,000 employees in air conditioning and in Japan they actually have about a 20 percent market share. So they’re very strong in that local market.
On a recent trip to Japan I learnt a new air conditioning term, ‘District Air Conditioning’. I think it’s a fantastic term and I saw details of a project where these absorption and centrifugal chillers were used with over 140,000 kilowatts worth of these chillers in the one central plant running a whole large site with multiple buildings. The Japanese take their energy very seriously as their energy costs are quite a bit higher than ours. In some of commercial markets the energy price is close to double typical costs in Australia and hence the cogeneration and the absorption chillers are very popular. For Hitachi in Japan, absorption chillers actually outsell centrifugals by 3 to 1. Its a totally different picture to the Australian market.
Hitachi’s total Australian business turns over about one and a half billion dollars. The three main divisions of Hitachi in Australia are Power and Industrial Equipment, Digital and Technology Solutions with Air Conditioning being a very small part of this business. The Power and Industrial Equipment Division recently won an order to build the new high speed train running between Sydney and Melbourne, which will be operational in about four or five years time. Hitachi will be supplying 78 new trains for that project.
The industrial divisions absolutely dwarf the air conditioning division and this is where Temperzone fits in and where Temperzone is able to offer a mature, well structured national business to distribute the Hitachi products. Our established structure will enable us to provide a better level of service than has previously been able to be provided. You will see improvements in technical support, warranty and service and improvements in sales team activity. As an example, Temperzone has over 40 sales people around the country. Hitachi currently have only 5, just not enough legs on the ground to get out there into the market.
Improvements in stock and logistics and spare parts.
Initially we know it won’t be perfect. However you have our commitment to bring the same Temperzone level of service to this Hitachi product range. The combined range of Hitachi and Temperzone product is, I believe, the most comprehensive range of products in the Australian market. From a high wall split to the chillers, and just about everything in between.
Some of the product highlights I am most impressed with are Hitachi’s new bullet proof screw compressors in their chillers. The 18 kilowatt single phase inverter ducted unit is the largest in the market.
By adding the Hitachi range we actually triple the product range that Temperzone is able to offer to the market. As with Temperzone, there’s no retail market activity at the high wall and ducted end of the market.
Most of Hitachi Australia’s staff are also being integrated into the Temperzone team. Temperzone and Hitachi have very similar philosophies regarding quality. I recently visited several factories in Japan and experienced this quality system. Comprehensive development testing ensures product safety and reliability in all situations, including electrical safety testing where there’s even a simple little thermal fuse at work in the indoor. Where Hitachi’s testing really gets interesting is the commercial testing of units. Every unit is run tested and that’s from a high wall split right through to a chiller. Even the compressors are run tested before they’re assembled into a unit and the commercial test of a high wall split system actually includes hooking a condensor and a fan coil up in a test rig so that the system is full run tested. More than just run tested, it’s actually a heating and a cooling capacity test and while they’re doing that, sniffing for leaks on both cycles right through to sniffing for leaks once their unit has made its way to its packaging. It is a very thorough testing procedures and this philosophy flows right through the whole range. I saw a VRF system going through this same test procedure where a VRF system is connected up to multiple fan coils, doing a capacity test on all those fan coils, testing all the refrigeration and electronics, not just a cursory glance from a quality perspective and this flows right through to the chillers of course.
Technical support, warranty and spares.
This is an area where we understand Hitachi have struggled in the past. Temperzone is currently training our own technical staff to enable us to offer that same level of support that we can offer on a Temperzone product through to the Hitachi product range. We’ve got a lot to learn. I have a pile of manuals. I think it’s about probably a half a metre of technical data to get through so we’re working our way through that. As well as integrating the Hitachi team, we’re also working very hard at building our technical knowledge.
We have also had a close looking at spare parts and inventory just to ensure that those parts are always available for after sales service.
We’re not setting up separate Hitachi and Temperzone sales divisions. We’re keeping everything together so all of our technical support will be handled by our National Service Manager Mark Howcroft.
There has been a lot happening at Temperzone. We’ve been expanding our product range, right through to the digital products that now go from ten through to forty three kilowatts in both splits and packages. We are now able to offer a roof top package with variable capacity control, including a very simple control, 0 to 10 volts, so quite an easy integration into BMS Systems. Temperzone in New Zealand are actually in the middle of building a 160 kilowatt digital roof top package unit, so it won’t be too long before it’s expanded through our whole range.
Temperzone is in the middle of a national expansion and recently purchased an additional 17,500 sqr metre factory in Sydney and will be moving into this building over the next 18 months. This process will be staged, starting with our warehouse and then progressive development of the new factory which will give us time for planning and implementing new technologies into the factory. We’re not only working on the resources side of things, we’re also continuing on product development. Both Temperzone and Hitachi are already working on new products to keep up with changes in MEPS that are coming over the next 12 to 18 months.
Hopefully this short presentation will just give you a better understanding of the strength of the Hitachi Air Conditioning Group. From October 1st we will be selling Hitachi product through Temperzone’s national sales structure.
If you need any additional information please do not hesitate to contact your local Temperzone office.
