Summit Automation – Q4 2020 Newsletter
The Case for Automation
Given the pandemic crisis, my trips to Window and Door Dealers’ showrooms have been basically virtual, except for the last few weeks. For those that I have visited, I want to thank you for allowing me to come in and support you. For those I haven’t visited, I’m coming eventually!
One of the resounding, fairly common questions I have heard from the dealers is, “How do I convince a Customer to automate their doors?” As we all know, by the time a Customer hits a showroom, it may already be too late in the decision making process because the Architect has probably steered them towards a certain door package based on the look and feel of their project. Subsequently, their budget might already be set as well.
So, how do you ask the Customer to open up their wallet yet a little more to spend their hard-earned money on door automation? The answer is “It starts by educating them.” This is why we have spent so much time developing our newly released website and will continue to do so (it’s always a work in progress as automation technology changes). It is a tool to be used by the “Trusted Advisors” (you) to help educate the Customers. You will find that I capitalize ‘Customer’ always, because our culture here at Summit Automation is centered on our Customers. It is our duty to provide them the best solutions for their needs. In the weeks to come, we will be launching more pages on our website tailored around our mutual ultimate Customers (homeowners and commercial tenants), Window & Door Dealers, Door Manufacturers, Architects & Builders, Certified Installers, and our Home Automation Integrators. Each category of Customer will have their own space which will support their needs.
By providing tools to help educate our mutual Customers, it becomes easier for them to make properly informed buying decisions. Let’s face it – they are about to make one of their largest purchases and it would be a travesty if these big, beautiful doors become expensive windows. Doors are meant to be opened, and Summit’s slogan of ‘Bringing Doors to Life‘ means much more to us than just words. It’s about providing a solution that supports our Customers today, but also as they age too.
We are constantly innovating and anticipating the next evolution, and by providing the proper tools and partnering with our Door Manufacturing, Window & Door Dealers, Architects & Builders, Certified Installers, and Home Automation Integrators, our mutual Customers will be delighted!
Supporting Our Dealers
Our Window & Door Dealer Partners are just that – Partners. Together, our job is to inform Customers of their options. Did you know that a door that has an I-beam as a header and curtain walls on both sides of the doors can still be automated? Summit has developed a multitude of motor systems that can accommodate an automation solution 99.99% of the time. We have spent hundreds of hours per design to develop a solution that not only fits but can operate flawlessly for decades to come. We have painstakingly addressed functionality, reliability, performance, quality, quietness, and cost. We gather inputs from our trusted network of what can be improved upon. We call them OFIs, or Opportunities For Improvement. OFIs can cover all aspects from packaging to instructions to support, in addition to product and software. We live to hear Customer feedback to make sure we are implementing their suggestions. Keep it coming!
As a service to our Window & Door Dealers, we review your door cut sheets, architectural drawings, and installation configurations to provide you a sound, professional solution. We have numerous engineers on staff from Design, Electrical, Mechanical, and Manufacturing to support your business. Simply call our main number at 480-500-5468 for immediate support, or contact us at info@summitautomation.com, and one of our team members will respond or connect you with the right resource to support you. We even do live FaceTime, Zoom, or Duo meetings to make sure you and your Customer are being cared for. Give us the opportunity, and you will see our commitment to Service Excellence.
If you would like to book your next Product Knowledge (PK) Demonstration, simply call our main number or your territory representative to schedule it. Many of our Window & Door Dealers also include automation in their own installations. Contact us to schedule your certification training at our new facility and showroom in sunny Arizona. We hold these sessions dozens of times per year, so I am confident we can accommodate your schedule.
Our automation solutions (including motors and controls) are highly customizable around your Customer’s needs. Over the years, we have integrated your feedback to develop an out of the box solution that is easily installed and calibrated around your doors. Even when there is a new application never been seen before, we have a solution. We actually had a Customer want a motor located 42 feet away from the doors, up in the rafters, and we designed a solution for them. As another example, I was just at a job in NYC where the automation system was located over 20 feet away from the door system in another room, and we designed a winning solution – which I might add is another awesome one!
We like challenges, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We believe the challenges of today can be standards for the future!
Get to Know Summit’s New Online Home
As we mentioned above, we recently released our newly updated website! This is an exciting event for us because it means we can serve all of our Customers better. The information found on our well-organized and comprehensive website will help educate every category of those we serve with information on the only kind of door and window automation systems we provide – the best in the world! Join the tour of our new online home below – you can even follow along in the web browser of a different device!
Solutions
In this section, we invite you to learn more about the benefits of our innovative, customized solutions for homeowners and commercial tenants. Dealers, installers, architects, and home builders can learn about configurations, as well as specific automation components – such as motors, control method possibilities, and sensors – along with their specifications in this section of our new website.
Working with Summit
For ease in finding information, we have created a separate webpage for each of our different Customer categories. Homeowners and businesses can see which door and window arrangements they prefer or would work in their space and see how our solutions meet their needs.
On our website, we have shared what sets us apart from other home automation companies. Here’s just a single spoiler alert: We’ve been in the industry for over 20 years, and we take what we’ve learned to every new job, bringing the expertise needed for success. There are many more benefits to working with us, and architects, builders, window and door manufacturers, home automation companies, and installers can learn what it would be like to work together. They can begin their process by referring to the various detailed PDFs we have created and uploaded. Information on all the current options for lift and slide automation, control, and motion sensors is right at their fingertips. We even have a step-by-step home automation connection instructions PDF, making the process easy to follow. Of course, if any questions or issues come up, Summit Automation is just a phone call, text, or email away!
Company / Contact Us
Our website has the same type of company information as just about every other business website does – sections about the company and how to make contact, information on the management team, and testimonials or success stories from clients. But no others have Summit Automation’s history, work experience, incredible team members, and our amazing Customers. We encourage you to get to know us and why we are the preferred automation provider of door and window manufacturers and dealers, and those who design spaces, having already chosen our systems to automate their products or installations.
Are you familiar with 900 Pennsylvania Street (or 900 Penn, as locals call it) in Denver? These luxury condos are known as the city’s “most coveted address”, and Summit was called in to fix a building-wide issue with the automation. Even though we were not the installers, we were able to identify the problem, and employ a solution to correct it. You can read more about 900 Penn’s experience with us, as well as that of several other Customers, on our website.
Resources & Support
Our FAQ and troubleshooting webpages have answers to the 15 most frequently asked questions about automation or window and door operation issues we get. If you have an urgent question and the answer is not there, you can always contact us by email, text, or phone call for a response. We publish a quarterly newsletter and articles of interest as we find them, and you’ll find both in this section of our website. You can register your product here, and we’ve also published warranty information for handy, quick, anytime access (without needing to rifle through drawers or search through tons of emails).
The ‘Videos’ page has all of our YouTube videos embedded (so you can watch them without leaving our website) and sorted by each specific window or door product, for your convenience. You can see Summit Automation systems in action in many different applications.
We have made our new online home very comprehensive, and while we hope it proves useful to you, we always welcome a chance to connect with our Customers, so feel free to reach out to us. We are very proud of our redesigned website, and excited for you to get to know it better!
Why Are Automated Doors Important During a Pandemic?
Probably most of us didn’t even realized how and how often we open doors during the course of a day until COVID-19 started spreading across the world. Clearly, there’s nothing like a pandemic featuring a highly-contagious, fast-spreading, don’t-know-how-it-may-affect-you virus to make us über-aware of things that under normal circumstances we don’t even think about really at all. Now, in these COVID times, especially because of the long incubation period and asymptomatic spread, we are painfully cognizant that we don’t know who touched what how long ago, what they touched before that, whether they are sick or not, when they last washed or disinfected their hands, and if they are even following any of the recommended precautions and guidelines
The way door automation is helping limit the transmission of viruses, germs, bacteria, and COVID-19 is really quite simple: automated doors lessen touchpoints, and some systems can eliminate them altogether.
Whether or not a door is a hotspot for germs has to do with what material it is made of, the temperature, where the door is located, and how it is opened (handle or knob). Nowadays, most manual openers are made of metal. This makes them safer than the older wooden variety knobs, for example, which can hold moisture for longer, and potentially be a more hospitable environment for germs, if the temperature is right. Doors inside the home are most likely touched by fewer people (and we know those people) than doors to or inside a public restroom or building entry, so the chances of picking up a virus at home is much lower – and it’s highly unlikely, as long as proper hand hygiene and disinfection is happening.
Before the beginning of 2020, the most common germs of concern to pick up from touching a door were the common cold and the gastrointestinal-assaulting stomach flu or norovirus. We didn’t know at the beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic all the ways the virus could spread, but many of us remembered the 2009 pandemic of swine flu and that it was thought you could catch it by touching the same surface someone infected did within the last 8 hours.
Reddit user buckyhermit recalled seeing someone stamp out a cigarette then using that same foot to press the square, handicapped access button to open the door to a building – the same button he/she needed to touch shortly thereafter. Seeing this prompted the following plea (paraphrased):
Please be courteous when using the handicapped push buttons – do not use your shoes to press or kick them.
Since everyone is trying to avoid getting the novel coronavirus, the panels have become high-touch areas, and those who have mobility issues must use them to open doors. For a person seated in a wheelchair, the buttons are often too high to employ an elbow to activate it, and they do require some force to depress, making using a tool of some sort unsuccessful. The only choice is to use a hand.
It’s enough trying to avoid COVID-19 on surfaces, so let’s not add needing to avoid dirty, potentially contaminated, bottom-of-shoe funk or broken access controls to the list.
The market for automated doors in commercial spaces has grown considerably since the start of COVID-19, and that trend is expected to continue for years to come. To learn more about door automation options for your home or business, visit our website or contact us. If all the doors in public spaces could be operated without physically touching them, imagine how many sicknesses and future pandemics could be avoided, or at least lessened in severity and duration.
Training
We just held another training class recently, and we have added these new MMR candidates to the field. Thanks for coming out to learn from Summit Automation! Feel free to register with your Territory Sales Manager for either a group training session or your personal team’s training session. We like to have 3+ trainees in each class but we can accommodate around your needs. The training classes are four hours of education, followed by four hours of hands on training/installation.
No other company can compare to the quality, reliability, and Customer care of Summit Automation.
For more information, call 480-500-5468 today or use the button below!
