J S Wright is tackling global warming and the skills crisis through a unique contractor and supplier collaboration.

The company, which provides mechanical and electrical engineering services from offices in Birmingham, Bristol and London, has teamed up with SAV Systems and its Danish manufacturing partner Danfoss to work on new product development.

The move follows ten years of J S Wright working successfully with SAV Systems, which has offices in Bath, Edinburgh, Manchester and Woking, in the design, installation and commissioning of energy efficient low-cost district hot water systems and centralised energy centres for large residential developments.

The partnership has been strengthened by J S Wright opening face-to-face discussions with technical directors from Danfoss, one of Denmark’s largest industrial companies and bespoke manufacturers of Danfoss FlatStations – innovative energy efficient heat interface units that regulate the temperature and flow of instantaneous hot water from a central energy resource into bathrooms. 

The first customer dialogue with J S Wright directors and design engineers held at the company’s Aston headquarters has enabled Danfoss to gain a customer perspective on UK market development and industry trends as well as learn of specific technical challenges that the company has been facing in project delivery.

The Danfoss directors have agreed to feed their added understanding into the product development process, while SAV Systems will use the feedback to boost its continuous local support to J S Wright in the design, installation and commissioning of heating systems and in operational troubleshooting.

Jan Hansen, SAV Systems sales director, said: “The meeting proved to be an extremely useful exercise in terms of building on our strong relationship with J S Wright and furthering our understanding of how we can support the company in continuing to deliver successful projects.”

Silas Flytkjaer, SAV Systems product manager, added: “J S Wright contributed specific applications knowledge related to UK projects that we can now feed into the product R&D work being carried out by Danfoss at their factories across Europe.”

The meeting was held just weeks after all 16 craft and technical members of the J S Wright Apprentice Academy returned inspired from a SAV Systems-sponsored three-day industrial visit to Denmark.

The trainees increased their understanding of the global importance of renewable energy in a country that is committed to 100 per cent renewable energy in electricity and heating by 2035. They toured the headquarters and factories of both Danfoss and EC Power, a separate manufacturer of combined heat and power systems, and even took part in servicing and maintenance sessions.

J S Wright managing director, Marcus Aniol, said: “We choose suppliers for their product quality and innovation and their ability to work with us as partners but our collaboration with SAV Systems has developed beyond our expectations.

“The inspirational support that SAV Systems has been giving our young people and its willingness to involve us in product development has resulted from a mutual trust and understanding that we have built up over the years. The strengthening of our collaboration should lead to even greater innovation in the design of energy efficient systems and boost the attractiveness of engineering as a career.” 

Pictured right: Participants in the customer dialogue meeting on new product development are pictured with a Danfoss FlatStation at the Birmingham headquarters of J S Wright. L to R: David Cook, J S Wright associate director; Andrew Smith, J S Wright national design and estimating director; Martin Ahlmann, Danfoss research and development manager; Silas Flytkjaer, SAV Systems product manager; Jan Hansen, SAV Systems sales director; Karina Friis Skov, Danfoss engineering director; and Phil Leech, J S Wright national mechanical contracts director.