It seems like strip curtains or strip doors–the clear vinyl strips that you see hanging in the doorways of beer coolers and walk-in freezers–have been around forever.  They are often used as a “low-end” solution where a practical, reliable, economical thermal barrier is required.  So how are these low-tech workhorses providing relief to such a high-tech problem as data center energy consumption?

The answer lies in the redesign of data centers for improved “hot aisle/cold aisle” airflow management. In these redesigned configurations, cold air is brought up through a raised floor in the cold aisle (i.e., the front side of the server racks).  This cold air is then pulled through the servers from the front (cold aisle) side to the exhaust (hot aisle) side of the server.  This hot air is then pulled up to the return air ducts in the ceiling. Without a physical separation between the two aisles, the hot air can spill over the tops of the servers and intermingle with the cold air on the cold side of the racks — a big problem where energy efficient cooling is concerned.  (”High Performance Data Centers; A Design Guidelines Sourcebook.” High-Performance Buildings for High-Tech Industries. January 2006. Pacific Gas & Electric Company. 26 May 2009.)  This is where the strip curtain comes to the rescue.

The strip curtain is hung from the ceiling over the tops of the servers to serve as a physical separation between the cold aisle and the hot aisle, resulting in dramatic energy savings.  In fact, according to a presentation by James Hamilton of Amazon Web Services at the Google Google Efficient Data Centers Summit in April 2009, just controlling the airflow in the data center can result in a 12% improvement in power usage effectiveness (PUE).  (Hamilton, James. “Google Efficient Data Centers Summit; Data Canter Efficiency Best Practices .” Going Green at Google: Clean Energy Initiatives. 01 Apr 2009. Google, Inc.. 26 May 2009)

Not a bad contribution for a low tech solution like a vinyl strip curtain!

Note:  Chase Doors, the host of this blog, manufactures and sells door products including the vinyl strip curtains and strip doors mentioned in this article.  Additionally, it hosts a related e-commerce site www.stripdoorsonline.com.

Under the program, customers must first install new strip curtains or plastic swinging doors on doorways of walk-in cooler or freezer boxes or refrigerated warehouses.  They can then submit a rebate form to one of the participating utilities, which include Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE).  The utility then reimburses the customer $3.00 per square foot calculated on the size of the doorway.   Depending on the supplier and the type of door purchased, this rebate can cover the full cost of the door.  For example, searching a couple of online sources, I found an average price of $63 for a 3′x7′ strip door with 8 strips with 50% overlap.  The calculated rebate on the door–$63 (3 x 7 x $3).  (In this example, the customer would incur shipping costs, so technically, the door would not be completely free, but it’s pretty close.) 

The popularity of the rebate program, which was created by California’s energy regulators in 2005 in an effort to eliminate the need to build three new power plants, has created a problem.  The $2 billion funding for the program, which came from increased rates charged to the utilities’ customers, was intended to last through 2008, but the unexpected popularity of the program caused the funding to run out during 2008.  This left about 12,000 customers waiting weeks or even months for their rebates.  Fortunately additional funding for the program has been appropriated, and the 2008 and 2009 rebate checks are once again flowing. {Baker, David R. . “PG&E rebate program gets cash advance.” SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle) 14 Mar 2009 C - 1. 19 Mar 2009.}

If you are interested, the links to the PG&E and SCE rebate programs are as follows: (PGE ; SCE).  

Note:  Chase Doors, the host of this blog, manufactures and sells door products, including the strip doors and swinging plastic doors mentioned in this article.  Additionally, it hosts a related e-commerce site www.stripdoorsonline.com one of the sources from which pricing referred to herin was obtained.

Asking a few questions will provide a great deal of direction.  For example, if the door is going to be installed in a temperature controlled environment an insulated panel with gasketing is highly recommended.  Other factors including the size of the opening, the traffic passing through and the customer’s expectation are all helpful bits of information.

Environment

As I mentioned above, environment plays a big part in selecting a traffic door.  Environmental control can mean many things.  In a food processing facility, environmental control usually means maintaining temperature difference, but could also mean acting as a barrier to insects, dust and dirt and germs.  Poultry plants have barriers between “cooked” and “un-cooked” products to prevent the spread of salmonella.  Doors for environmental control are normally gasketed, and usually insulated.

Visual

The next time you visit your local grocery store, make a point to look for the doors that act as a barrier between the store and the back of the store.  While these are sometimes environmental barriers, their primary purpose is to act as a visual barrier.  Retailers spend a lot of money to keep the customer looking at “products” as they walk the store.  Back areas are used as storage areas, and are dark (and sometimes a bit messy) compared to the store area.  The doors that are used in stores act as a visual barrier, and may or may not be gasketed.  They tend to look less “industrial” and should blend into the area.  The best door for this application is one that the customer never notices.  Again, the goal of the retailer is to keep the customer’s eye on the product.

Door Use

Another very critical factor when selecting a door is the type and frequency of the load that is passing through.  For example, an opening that gets fork lift traffic all day will be very different from one that sees personnel and an occasional light cart.  The size of the load in relation to the opening is also an important factor.  If the load is very large in relation to the opening, you may want to consider a flexible traffic door.  This product has no lower hinge, reducing potential damage from traffic.

Options

Regardless of the type of door, options are a very important factor.  Some options are for aesthetic reasons, and others for function.  An optional high pressure laminate makes a door match the décor of a store.  A teardrop bumper allows a door to accept impact without damage.  Special hinge options allow the door to swing beyond 90 degrees or remain in the open position.  

Price

Last but not least, the price that the customer is willing to pay is a major consideration.  The customer always wants to pay “less” for a door.  This makes sense.  That being said, “less” should be thought in terms of the life cycle of a door vs. the purchase price.  I can sell a customer a sheet door for much less than a Durulite door.  If the traffic passing through the opening includes fork lifts, the sheet door will not only cost less, it will be in the opening for less……….much less than the Durulite.  The life cycle cost of a Durulite door in an abusive opening is much less than the life cycle cost of a sheet door in the same opening.

Becoming educated on the application, and educating the customer on the product that best suits their needs is the winning combination.

Conventional wisdom says it costs six times more for a business to acquire a new customer than it does to sell to an existing customer. My personal experience certainly supports this statistic! Why then do we pursue new accounts with vigor while often neglecting or failing to recognize significant opportunities with existing customers? Maybe it is the thrill of the chase, (no pun intended) maybe we feel like there is more accomplishment in this endeavor. Regardless the reason, it happens everyday, in every business!

In my recent visits with our customers there has been one obvious, dominant and overwhelming theme. Our customers’ core businesses are down. Overhead Door distributorships are suffering from the decline in construction. They are no longer “covered up” with work installing rolling steel or sectional overhead doors. One visit to a large Material Handling dealer revealed that forklift sales are down by 50%. The decline in construction has forced a shift to service and repair. With this shift it is important that we expand our and our customer’s horizons. As a manufacturer it is important that we make our distributor base aware of the opportunity for them to sell more Chase products that compliment what they already do. For many it is simply a matter of taking the focus off of the exterior or perimeter of the building, to a shift inside to look for repair and replacement opportunities. I have also noticed people have more, or are willing to give you more time, time that they did not have during better economic times! They are looking for opportunities to replace lost sales!

Do you know who your profitable customers are? Do you know why they buy from you? Do you understand their business well enough to know what challenges they are facing in our current economic situation? Are these customers fully aware of Chase Doors product portfolio? If you have satisfied these customers on an ongoing basis you have established yourself, your product and your company as a credible resource. Why wouldn’t these customers listen to you? We must “mine” our most profitable and repeat customer’s sales data and use this data to create a customized sales approach that results in increased sales without forcing these customers to re-invent themselves.

While we cannot control the economy, good or bad, we can certainly control our response to difficult economic times. By increasing our focus on our existing, profitable customers we broaden our opportunities for increased sales. Chase Doors is in a unique position to accomplish this. We are a “one stop specialty door shop”. Regardless the industry our customers serve, we have a complimentary product for them to market and sell to their existing and profitable customers. Do your best customers know everything you have to offer them?

OK, I imagine that by now you are now thinking something along the lines of:

• That is a blog topic only a mother could love.
• What are traffic and specialty doors?
• I think I hear crickets chirping.

 Before you click back to wherever you came from, let me explain why we think it makes sense for the Door Post blog to exist.

 First, some background.  Chase Doors is a manufacturer of a variety of specialty doors including double acting impact doors, swinging restaurant doors, sliding pharmaceutical doors, fire doors, cold storage doors, PVC strip doors, and bug, bird, and wire mesh doors.  (Did I just hear the crickets again?)  Generally speaking, ours are the types of products that most people outside of our pretty narrow market have never heard of.

 All changed (a little bit anyway) in December of 2007 when President Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (”EISA”).  As you would expect, in its 1801 pages, EISA imposes many important regulations related to energy exploration, generation and conservation.  None of these regulations are more important to this blog than those contained in section 312, which addresses walk-in coolers and walk-in freezers.  This section mandates that these walk-in coolers and walk-in freezers “have strip doors, spring hinged doors, or other method of minimizing infiltration when doors are open”.  These “strip doors, spring hinged doors” are just the types of products we make.  Additionally, section 312 mandates certain requirements relating to the cold storage doors-also products we make-that are used in these coolers and freezers.

 Unfortunately, as is often the case with new legislation there are many, many details that need to be worked out, and questions that need to be answered relating to the actual interpretation and execution of the law.  All of the sudden, the obscure knowledge of doors, gasketing, R-values, etc. developed here at Chase Doors became a little more relevant.

 As we began talking more about the new legislation, we realized that EISA was far from the only topic where our knowledge of specialty doors could be helpful.  Building codes, LEED, energy rebates, markets trends, and the energy related provisions of $900 billion federal stimulus package are just a few of the areas in which our obscure knowledge might be useful. 

 And with that, the Door Post blog was born.   We hope you find it interesting, but if not we hope you at least find it helpful.