Investing in training for both wholesalers and installers, life-safety equipment manufacturer C-TEC is proud of its humble beginnings, but is very much looking forward to the future whilst making sure its distributors are ready for its latest innovations.
Established in 1981 from a small room above a high street store in Wigan, C-TEC has grown into an internationally recognised brand, known for its stringent testing methods and efficient manufacturing processes.
Investing in service
Crucially, the company is also revered for its service to customers, including the wholesalers it relies on to sell its products and its on-going support to the contractor. Keen to reiterate its ‘service over sales’ approach, C-TEC has invested heavily to offer a continually improving service to its customers. This includes moving to a state of the art manufacturing plant and office building on the outskirts of Wigan in 2011. This flagship facility is the base for the company to manufacture its products in Britain and distribute them worldwide to over 70 countries.
Boasting an R&D facility dedicated to providing innovative safety solutions, 95% of C-TEC’s products are available for next day delivery, countrywide, with a devoted team at the other end of a phone call whose job it is to provide, wholesalers, electricians and end-users alike with technical support. There is also 24/7 support available via the support hub on the company’s website which includes a library of documentation and help videos.
Its current portfolio of products includes conventional and addressable fire alarm systems, automatic extinguisher panels, power supplies, disabled refuge systems, call systems and audio-frequency hearing loop systems.
Investment in people
As every wholesaler will know, investing in people is key, and C-TEC has invested heavily in ensuring that its products are being installed safely and efficiently by the professionals carrying out the work. As part of its move to the new facility, it expanded its capability to offer product training on its latest offerings, including its new hush fire alarm solutions for flats, apartments and other residential dwellings. These free of charge training courses also include CPD certified seminars. All sessions include lunch and refreshments are served throughout the day. Off-site courses can also be arranged for CPD members and/or qualifying customers, with a minimum of six delegates, on request. All delegates are presented with an attendance certificate on the successful completion of a course.
Along with free training opportunities the company also offers point of sale material to assist with marketing its products.
Product Focus
As well as its investment in people and services, C-TEC also prides itself on its products that offer a safe solution, whether it is fire alarms, hearing loops or call systems. One of its newest innovations that has just been released is the Hush ActiV domestic fire alarm kit. C-TEC says this product has been designed to be easy and simple to install for the electrician – made for the market to benefit those working in it.
Hush ActiV is a Grade C domestic fire detection and alarm system designed to BS 5839-6 for use in individual flats, houses and apartments. It includes all of the devices needed to create a typical LD2 dwelling system with additional ActiV detection and alarm devices available to accommodate larger systems or systems requiring LD1 coverage.
In addition to providing Silence and Test buttons that can be operated by building occupants whilst standing at floor level, Hush-ActiV’s main advantage is all of its field devices are wired to a central controller which monitors the system’s wiring, battery and power supply for faults. Andy Green, Marketing Manager at C-TEC, points to recent events that have in part influenced the need for this product: “In this day and age where we see the devastating effects of fire in residential dwellings, the monitoring provided by Hush-ActiV helps ensure resident safety is not compromised. Such monitoring is simply not available on many of the systems currently installed in residential dwellings. Hush-ActiV can be used in any situation where Grade D Mains/Battery Alarms are specified.”
The kit is offered as an all-in-one solution to aid the wholesaler in selling the product. The box itself is used as a point of sale tool that includes information about the system, making it easy to handle any questions your customers might have. Shirley Derbyshire, Distribution Account Manager at C-TEC, explains the reasons behind this: “We need to make it simple for our customers to understand it, to get hold of the product and install it and that’s what we are good at.”
Third party certification
To offer peace of mind to both wholesaler and contractor, many of C-TEC’s products are third-party certified and the company is the only UK fire alarm manufacturer with product certifications and factory process approvals from five different certification bodies – the LPCB, VdS, BSI, UL and Intertek.
The company’s vision is to become the world’s leading independent manufacturer of fire alarm and legislation driven products. With over 70 countries delivered to worldwide and new products designed with the customer in mind, C-TEC is working hard to achieve that goal.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
To learn more about C-TEC, visit: https://www.c-tec.com/
