With partners like U.K.-based STL, Shannon reusable insulation covers the globe

While the sales team at Shannon certainly do a bang-up job making the case for facility managers to invest in high quality reusable insulation, it can take some assistance to have a truly global presence.

To reach the international audience, Shannon relies on strategic partnerships with suppliers to broaden their base of potential clients.

One of these suppliers, STL Power & Process Controls Ltd, provides a wide variety of components for manufacturers in the United Kingdom, as well as design assistance and more. STL recently partnered with Shannon to complete a unique challenge

“We haven’t delivered it yet, but we’re working on a project for a sugar manufacturer,” said Rod Downs, sales manager for STL. “They’ve got a rotating drum, many meters long and several meters wide. It’s used to heat the sugar and extract the juices, so it can go on to become granulated sugar.”

This drum has been a long-standing project for the sugar manufacturer who has struggled until recently to insulate such an instrument.

“For 18 months, they’ve been trying to find a solution to insulate this vessel, to save money and energy and improve efficiencies,” Downs said. “Shannon is the only company that looks like they can do it.”

Though a large undertaking, the investment on the manufacturer’s part will pay dividends, as the retained heat will allow sugar to be processed more quickly.

“Their process will be more efficient because the heat that’s used to extract the liquid from the sugar will be retained,” said Downs. “That would solve a massive problem for them, and from our perspective, open up a whole new customer.”

Projects like this have led to the continued partnership of Shannon and STL.

“We’re a massive fan of reusable insulation because it almost sells itself. Once they’re installed, the benefits are immediate,” said Downs.

Moreover, once a company has installed a Shannon reusable insulation blanket, they find there are often more areas that could be insulated, leading them to be repeat customers.

“It opens further doors that we wouldn’t necessarily target at the outset, but they come back asking ‘what about this, can you handle this?’” said Downs.