| Bradner plant supplies World Trade Center site |
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| Written by JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN Sentinel County Editor | ||||
| Friday, 22 June 2012 09:51 | ||||
Tunnel fire dampers made at the local American Warming and Ventilation plant will soon be shipped to New York City to be installed in the subway system to the site. The project has special meeting to company employees. "Absolutely, with the events surrounding 9/11," said Jennifer Ekleberry, spokesperson for American Warming and Ventilation. "It was a particularly meaningful project." This is not the first high profile job for the Bradner plant, according to plant manager John Paletar. "We're a low profile company," he said. But the company's work can be found all around the world. The Bradner plant has supplied tunnel fire dampers for large subway projects in Toronto, Caracas, Rome, Hong Kong and elsewhere throughout the world. The company, is one of just a few certified to supply such equipment for nuclear power plants and nuclear Navy vessels, according to Paletar. The company is working on supplying dampers for nuclear power plants in China. Paletar said competition for projects such as the World Trade Center subway can be quite tough. "There's worldwide competition, but we tend to have the edge on that," he said, explaining that American Warming and Ventilation has equipment in operation all over the world. Fire dampers are designed to automatically shut-off the airflow to the subway in the event of a fire and allow smoke to be exhausted in another part of the system. The dampers have to be able to shut in just two seconds. "That doesn't sound like a lot until you see the size of them," Paletar said, noting that some of the dampers measure nearly 14 by 11 feet.
According to Paletar, the New York City project is very meaningful to the 110 employees at the Bradner plant, and the 35 employees at the company office in Holland. Because of the significance of the site, each employee at the plant placed a mark on the dampers. The plant is also currently working on a $5 million damper project for the Toronto subway, and a $9 million project for the Seattle subway. American Warming and Ventilation, founded in 1904, designs and manufactures dampers and louvers for the architectural, sunshade, commercial, specialized industrial, nuclear, marine, naval vessel and tunnel markets. The company recently expanded its products to an economically friendly "green" category that includes solar shading architectural products. Locally, AWV dampers were used in the construction of the Davis Besse Nuclear Power Plant in Oak Harbor and the new sports arena in downtown Toledo. AWV sunshades were installed Lakota High School and the TARTA bus station in Toledo. AWV louvers and sunshades were custom designed for Indiana University, University of Michigan Mott Hospital, and Ohio State University. |
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