Siemens Building Technologies (SBT) certainly has all the right moves going when it comes to embracing the integrator and end-user communities as a thought leader.
The Buffalo Grove, Ill., based technology and systems integration company recently hosted a gathering of select media properties (SD&I was the only strictly dealer publication represented) at its LEED Commercial Interiors (CI) Certified (pending) Executive Briefing Center.
The Center is magnificent and includes an impressive Demonstration Room with Command and Control Center with SBT’s vendor partners featured. SBT uses the Demonstration Room and Command and Control Center to educate end-users and their integrator-partners on integrated systems solutions. Neil Pickrem, Executive Briefing Program Manager, Customer Solutions Center, took attendees through a overview of the building, which includes recycled materials and manufacturing and design processes which were carefully planned in order to meet the sustainability and cradle to grave requirements of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program. Plans are for SBT to extend LEED credentials to other parts of the facility in the near future.
SBT is a security integration company, but they integrate more than their own security products, according to Perry Levine, Senior Director, Business Development, Security Products. Some of the products on display in the Demonstration Room included: SiVeillance (SiteIQ and ELS Web); SiPass; Software House C-Cure 8000, DVTel; Sygnal; FireFinder; and Apogee. “We have a complete suite of solutions for the customer that we integrate,” Levine continued. “We’re putting together solutions for our customers,” he said.
An impromptu part of the tour was the plant area (SBT assembles product but does not manufacture in the U.S.) where electronics and software are tested and assembled by hand. The factory plant is modeled after work processes at Toyota. It was one of the cleanest and most efficient looking plants I’ve ever toured.
Equally impressive was the Educational Services Center, where some 22 on-staff trainers provide hands-on training and troubleshooting on new and existing equipment. Some 6,000 students/technicians go through training each year.
“We are a service company, helping our customers create value,” said Carey P. Boethel, CPP and Vice President and Business Unit Head for Security Solutions. “When we bring customers into the center, they start to visualize how it works from the converged factor. They begin to see what it means to have a fully integrated solution. What we do here is all about what these systems can do if integrated properly,” Boethel said.
Plain to see they've got it going on and they seem to know what's coming next. -- Deborah L. O'Mara, editor, Security Dealer & Integrator magazine
