Interview with Lars Sandell (CIO and VP Marketing & Product Development for Fläkt Woods Air Climate Europe) 

Fläkt Woods is a global company providing solutions for ventilation and air treatment for buildings as well as fan solutions for industry and infrastructure applications. Fläkt Woods Group has 20 manufacturing and engineering operations worldwide including Sweden, Finland, UK, France, Italy, Poland, Russia, Dubai, India, Korea, Japan, Australia and the Americas.

1- Flakt Woods is number one in Europe for Air Handling Units and number 2 for Air Diffusion products. What were the key factors that lead the company to this success?
Fläkt Woods has such a strong position in the European market thanks to our technical know-how and the application expertise that the company has built up during its more than 80 year of history. Having said that, Fläkt Woods is not only leading in the Air Climate business, we are also number 2 world-wide for Infrastructure fans.
It is also worth noting that we have expanded our Air Climate business in Asia over the last couple of years and end of last year we also entered the US market. 

2- Flakt Woods has representation in 95 countries. What are the company's objectives, in the near future, for the European market and also for Asia and America?
We want to continue to grow our business in Europe by leveraging the technologies we have developed for the Nordic markets and by providing our customers with a broader offering of systems and solutions tying together our high-quality products. Last year we also broadened our product range with chillers to have a complete package for the European market.
In Asia we are already established since decades with factories both in India and Korea. Last year we opened a new factory in Wuxi that provides us with a manufacturing base in China.
We are also present on the US market since many years with our own manufacturing units.

3- What were the latest product innovations introduced by Flakt Woods? The company's R&D centres are working, at the moment, in a particular field of specialization?
We are working hard on reinventing the industry and right now our main R&D thrust goes in the direction of energy-efficient systems especially in the light of the EU EPBD directive -  the Energy Performance of Building Directive that is being introduced across Europe. One product innovation we are particularly proud of is our Econet system which is a patented, highly efficient heat-recovery solution.
In 2006 we also received the Swedish "Indoor Climate Reward" for our CentriFlow Fan - the most efficient plug fan in the world.
Fire protection and Car Park solutions are other areas where we are investing heavily.

4- In 2006 what were Flakt Woods biggest projects and achievements?
The biggest projects in Fläkt Woods are as can be expected the Infrastructure projects and we have in 2006 got substantial projects in Saudi Arabia (Al Jamarat bridge) and in Italy (Turin metro) to mention just a few.
In the Air Climate area we have for example supplied AHUs to Manchester United's Quadrant Development, to the Berlin Railwaystation, and to Hyundai's head-office as well as car park ventilation Bahrain's World Trade Center. We also got a break-through order for Chilled Beams in the US last year with a major order from the Furman University.
To our biggest achievements we can count our great successes with our new range of air handling units for housing. This business was one of our most expansive businesses last year.

5- How do you see the evolution of the indoor air quality market? What are the biggest challenges for companies and homeowners in this area?
As we are spending 90 % of our time indoors, the indoor quality is an environmental factor of great importance. Indoor air quality is something that impacts our health. More and more people are suffering from allergies and by treating the air we can improve our well-being and the productivity of our employees.
For commercial buildings, it is common to build in air treatment with filtering, but homeowners are today not always aware of the need for having good ventilation. Natural ventilation is in many markets still dominating for residential buildings.

6- Flakt Woods solutions have a great variety of applications. Would you like to highlight some of the areas/industries where the company's intervention has increased or in which the company is undertaking the most innovative projects?
In the Air Climate business we have been very successful in applications for Hospitals and with our Car Park solutions. However, we have lately also done substantial progress with our Chilled Beams for commercial buildings. 

7- In what industries do you think will be the biggest business opportunities for Flakt Woods' solutions?
We expect to find business opportunities in all industry sectors that require good air-quality, high energy-efficiency and innovative solutions. These industries include among others hospitals, pharmaceutical plants, marine and housing.    

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