Security on Screen caught up with Kidde Commercial‘s General Manager of Commercial Fire EUA, Arman Saeidnia, to find out more about the new rebrand and how the company can grow over the coming years

What does the Commercial Fire Business Unit of Carrier do? At what level of system complexity does the company have solutions?

Founded by Walter Kidde, a pioneer in early smoke detection and fire suppression, Kidde Commercial is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of fire safety products. Each day, we work to expand upon our legacy of innovation, providing advanced solutions to protect people and property from fire and related hazards.

Kidde is a part of Carrier Global Corporation, the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions.

Kidde Commercial provides systems that protect properties from small commercial offices to large, complex environments such as airports.

In addition, our range covers both wired and wireless solutions, meaning that we can cover most fire detection applications, whatever the size.

We have a great track record with a wide range of installations from the Los Angeles Airport to The Duomo in Florence and many others in between.

You recently launched a new brand, Kidde Commercial. Why did you do that? What will customers see that is different?

Through the introduction of the new Kidde Commercial brand, we will be placing four brands – Aritech, Kidde Engineering Systems, Kilsen and Ziton – under one umbrella.

Customers will start seeing a higher profile of the Kidde brand – a name that is already well known in Europe and Africa – as well as faster product development and more focused customer support as we operate under the Kidde Commercial approach.

You have been in post now for almost 18 months. What are your impressions of the company? What has been your biggest change or achievement so far?

18 months ago, I joined a great team of people who are highly motivated, highly skilled and highly experienced. Since then, we have complemented the team and the business with a new vision and processes focusing even more on our customers.  

For me, the major part of these past 18 months has been spent on ensuring that our team is aligned and working toward the same goals.

That focus accelerates many new product launches for us, providing upcoming innovative features and customer benefits. Our customers have responded positively to these changes, reflected in major growth in different areas, for which I am very grateful.

Where do you see the main areas of growth over the next three-five years?

Connectivity in fire detection systems is expected to be a growth area in the near future, allowing for easier integration of systems in intelligent buildings. Some of these integrations include systems such as HVAC and access control.  

The use of IoT and cloud-based technologies is also becoming increasingly popular in the fire detection market. These technologies allow for real-time monitoring and remote management of fire detection systems, as well as the ability to analyse data and detect trends and anomalies.

The use of AI, combined with IOT, will mean that systems will be ever more able to detect and locate fires early whilst, at the same time, reducing false alarms.

What are the main market trends currently? What is the company doing to meet these head-on?

Installers, specifiers and end-users are looking for both value and operational efficiency.

As part of this drive, wireless technology is becoming increasingly popular as it is easy to install, operationally efficient and can be fitted without affecting the fabric of the building – vital in applications such as historic buildings.

Our customer focus means that we are constantly learning from our customers, in terms of their needs and feeding this back into our product development to make sure that we have the products and services that our customers need.