International Fire Buyer speaks to Eric Tassé of Tyco Fire and Safety
about the company’s new range of fire detection products
Launched at IFSEC in Birmingham in 2012, FireClass from Tyco is a revolutionary new class of fire detection products. FireClass is designed to appeal to both the end user and installer, and is an easy-to install, digital open-protocol solution. Tyco have built on their fifty years of experience in designing systems for a wide range of high-end scenarios to develop a system for small to medium-sized applications
FireClass provides a broad range of detection solutions. FireClass conventional fire detection products range from the low cost Duo-CEL 2 zone panel to the powerful and expandable 32 zone Precept EN Panel. These are complemented by an enviable range of conventional fire detectors and accessories focussed on providing comprehensive protection and minimum false alarms.
FireClass addressable fire detection product range from the easily installed out-of-the box FC501 to the 4 Loop FireClass 64 and FireClass 240 networked open protocol fire panels with optional FireClass Graphics. FireClass addressable uses a powerful digital open protocol for high reliability and flexibility in installation.
In order to ensure peace of mind for both the installer and end user, FireClass products are third party approved and certified to relevant European standards. FireClass approvals go beyond the minimum requirements including EN54 approval of the FireClass network, EN54 detector approval in all detection modes and the Prescient III Extinguishing Panel having EN54-2, EN54-4 and EN12094-1 approval.
FireClass products are designed to provide solutions in a number of scenarios, from schools and hotels to factories and warehouses. FireClass offers many benefits that traditional detection systems cannot, in terms of the integration of technologies and the cutting-edge design.
To find out more about the challenges faced by Tyco and the FireClass team, International Fire Buyer spoke to Eric Tassé, Global Product Management Director at Tyco, and asked him how the product portfolio was developed.
Could you give us an overview of the FireClass system and how it integrates with other Tyco products?
FireClass is a new product brand that Tyco’s Fire Protection product group introduced at IFSEC in 2012. We looked at our product portfolio and where we had positioned ourselves over the past fifty years, both in terms of the EMEA region and globally. Tyco is extremely strong at the Tier 1 level – large, high-end companies and industrial applications. As a result, our portfolio has never really gone down to the middle market: The mass market if you like. We’ve always historically had a differentiation between, firstly, where our product and R & D investment lies and, secondly, the technologies we develop and how we market those technologies to our different internal or external customers. A couple of years ago we looked at our global growth strategy and asked ourselves whether now would be a good time to enter the mass market segment with our product technologies. We have perfectly capable systems and products that we could offer if we were to position them in the right way to a new customer base. In the UK, it would probably be referred to as the ‘trade market’. As a company, we had some smaller businesses, such as control panel manufacturers and so on, within our global portfolio. We looked at these and wondered how we could leverage what they had been doing already and overlay Tyco technology on top in order to come out with a new approach to fire detection within the trade market. Our ultimate goal was to bring the technologies that had been designed for higher-end applications down to the middle market, and from there to create a system that’s easy to use. We spent a lot of time talking about an ‘out of the box’ system that needed next to no training – you should be able to take a system and just put it on the wall and make it work as a basic fire detection system without the need for any specific reprogramming.
With these guiding principles, we developed the FireClass range. After a couple of years of R & D and investment, we feel we have made excellent progress with the product portfolio. The fundamental thing is that it is still a Tyco technology platform and uses the same research, design and manufacturing facilities as other Tyco products. The platform itself is very much an integrated part of the overall Tyco range, and as such we are leveraging technology not just from the fire protection point of view, but also from our sister companies outside of the fire division. For example, we have taken communication technology from our security products in terms of IP connectivity for the control panels. We’ve taken technology from, say, a simple burglar alarm that was designed for residential use. We looked at it not only from a technological point of view, but also from the point of view of an end user in terms of the simple things – aesthetics and design and ease of use. From an application perspective, in terms of connectivity, we use the same technologies as other Tyco companies, such as Sur-Gard. This means we are now able to offer standard monitoring systems as well as leveraging our wireless GSM mobile communication technology. Last but not least, there are building management applications, which utilise our communications software, access control technology and intruder detection products.
Where do you see FireClass being used?
Our target applications, although the system itself is quite capable of being used in many different situations, will be places such as schools, small hotels, small to medium factories and warehouses. Another interesting application will be in the retail market. If you look at a retail environment, such as a clothing store or a shopping centre with multiple retail units, FireClass would work perfectly.
Does the FireClass range meet current regulations, and is it future-proofed against any further legislation changes?
Absolutely. The FireClass range is completely compliant to the CPR (Construction Products Regulation) directive. You will find all the DoP documentation on our website. As a general approach, Tyco is very aware of regulatory issues. We hold multiple regulatory listings throughout Europe and globally, and FireClass is part of that portfolio. Depending on the specific product and the application it’s being used in, you can find the relevant approval listings to EN54, including the new CPR documentation on the website. We also go above and beyond the functional regulatory environment of the functionality of a fire detection system; we’re also quite conscious of environmental regulations such as the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) or the REACH Initiatives, whereby European legislation is mandating manufacturers like us to look at the materials that are being used in manufacturing the products to ensure they are as green as possible, and checking that there are no hazardous materials such as lead or cadmium being used.
Regulation is very important for FireClass, and is completely compliant to all legislation. It is a living and ongoing platform that we will continue to develop and support in the long-term. Part of having a product that is marketable today, as legislation such as CPR and EN54 are becoming more relevant, is making sure that it is able to adapt to any future regulation changes.
In which countries has uptake of FireClass been the strongest so far?
Keeping in mind that the portfolio is quite new and it takes a while to get things going – we only introduced it 18 months ago or so in the UK – we’ve subsequently launched the product into other European markets, including Italy and Northern Europe. We also introduced it to the Middle East earlier this calendar year, in places such as the UAE and Turkey, for example. The first phase of the launch was taking FireClass and using our existing contacts and customer base to help introduce it to the EMEA region. What we hope to do in the coming years is to enlarge FireClass into different continents, such as South America and some markets in Asia.
Are there any other developments you can see for FireClass within the next five to ten years?
We started off thinking about our long-term goals and strategies as Tyco, which eventually became the development and subsequent launch of FireClass. This is a new entry for Tyco, into the middle tier markets we spoke about earlier. We see it as a very long-term play – FireClass isn’t something we plan to introduce now with the aim of just selling a few units. This is a long-term strategic investment for us over the next five years and beyond, and our aspiration is to build the FireClass brand and this route to market globally to gain significant market share within the middle tier segment. Historically, Tyco has never been particularly interested in that area of the market, so we’re quite excited about it. Over time we hope that FireClass will become synonymous with a high quality fire detection brand that is easy to use for the small to mid-size applications I mentioned earlier.
