Tyco opens technology center

MARINETTE, Wisc.--Tyco expects professional fire equipment salespeople, service and technical staff, end users, inventors and students to make use of a new 16,500-square-foot Fire Technology Center, which Tyco officially unveiled here, the hometown of fire extinguisher systems manufacturer Ansul, on Oct. 5. A division of Tyco Fire and Security since 1990, Ansul is a descendent of Ansul Chemical Company, which was founded here in 1915. The new center represents "a $4 million investment in the Marinette operation for continued growth of the Ansul business," said David Pelton, director of global marketing for Tyco Fire Suppression Group. The facility will house instructional classrooms for technical products and technology education, a conference and product display room, a live burn room, and a 27-acre campus set up for various industrial-type burning/fire suppression demonstrations. It will be a resource for sales, technical, marketing personnel and end users as well. Pelton said the facility will be used for activities, "technical training, customer visits; it will give us the opportunity for technological exchange with inventors, manufacturers, academic and entrepreneurs." The fire extinguisher products on display "range from portable extinguishers through pre-engineered systems used in kitchens and industrial applications," Pelton said, "to those found in an array of commercial and industrial applications including aviation, telecommunications and cultural facilities like museums and libraries, and health care facilities." These systems are typically integrated and networked with security systems. All of the extinguishers use non-water-based products: special hazard clean agent, dry chemical, fire-fighting foam, or a wet chemical agent. Distributors, sales and service personnel can come to the facility to learn new techniques for design and installation as well as sales and marketing features and other benefits of the Ansul technology. In addition, a salesperson or distributor may bring an end user to the facility to look at the technology in action and "address the end user's concerns about how to solve a specific problem." The staff includes five full-time trainers, an administrative assistant and technical service employees to help with demonstrations. Pelton conceded that Marinette may not be the easiest facility to access for some, but it's an ideal location, he said, for all of the center's functions, particularly the live burn demonstrations.