“Innovation is the outcome of a habit, not a random act.”
Sukan Ratnakar
In the 5th episode of our Engineering Tomorrow podcast, we hosted a very special guest who is an expert in cooling towers. His name is Ryan Miller, Regional Sales Manager at SPX Cooling Technologies.
Ryan clarifies what a cooling tower is, the history of Marley cooling towers and the relationship between Marley and SPX brands, then dives into one of our favorite topics to discuss: innovation.
He explains how SPX Cooling Cooling Technologies actively listens to their customers to gain insight on improvements and innovations, and how industry publications also play an important role in presenting trends. As Ryan mentions, ideas can come from anywhere, but what you do with them is what can really create a positive impact.
Since 1957, SPX has been exploring industry-leading technologies and original ideas through their Research and Development Center, where fun, creativity and real science are combined to decide whether an idea or suggestions deserves a chance to become a tangible solution.
Source: SPXcooling.com
In the podcast, Ryan details the Research & Development process that was established at SPX R&D Center and points out its three stages:
- Exploration, and the laws of Physics
- Feasibility, and the design of experiment
- Development, and surprises encountered along the way
He also brings two examples of very successful projects/products that resulted from this practice: the Marley LW fluid cooler, which solved some common complaints about fluid coolers in general 1) installation by contractor and 2) maintenance by end-users, and the Marley NC Everest cooling tower, a factory-assembled packaged tower that reduced the time, the money, and the risks involved in field labor.
Just click play and enjoy!
