By Rod Kackley
MiBiz Network

KALAMAZOO - The future of the building automation industry is open protocol. That is a conviction held firmly by Kalamazoo-based ControlNET LLC. General Manager Chris Bonzheim feels the company’s work at Whirlpool Corp.’s headquarters in Benton Harbor is proof of the wisdom of that assertion.

ControlNET’s Niagara certified engineers and support staff specialize in developing best-of-class, open protocol, Web-based solutions in building automation.

The company that manages Whirlpool’s data center -- Jones Lang LaSalle -- was looking for a systems integrator, a company that could bring diverse subsystems within the organization, particularly the data center, under one window or one front end.

ControlNET has been able to bring more than Whirlpool’s HVAC system into that front end. It is also integrating Whirlpool’s power subsystems, generators, automatic and static transfer switches among other functions.

The underlying technology that made that possible is the Honeywell WEBs platform that was developed by Virginia-based Tridium Inc.

The Whirlpool project is unique in that it demonstrates the benefits of open protocols. "Finally the promise of the intelligent building is really here," Bonzheim told MiBiz. "That has been talked about in our industry for 25 years. We are the first that we know of in this region to be able to pull this off. We are convinced that this is the way the industry will go."

The project that took approximately eight months to complete began with ControlNET Business Development Manager Larry Heslinga making a cold call at Whirlpool.

One of the challenges he had to overcome was the idea that only a national company could be trusted to complete a project of that scale. "Let’s face it. We were talking about their corporate data center. That is very critical to their worldwide operations," Heslinga told MiBiz. "They just could not have a hiccup there."

As with any account of that size, Heslinga had to wind through the bureaucratic labyrinth that makes up the Whirlpool corporate decision making process. "I finally found the right group of folks to talk to, gave them enough information to show them that we were credible, and then listened to find out the problems and concerns they had."

Digital control came through as an area that Jones Lang LaSalle and Whirlpool were concerned with that ControlNET could improve. Those in charge of the corporate headquarters felt that the system they had was aging at a time when the company had installed a high-end, high-speed network. They needed a building automation system that could take advantage of that.

The opportunity was perfect for ControlNET. "Because our system is Web based, we live on a company’s LAN (Local Area Network)," said Bonzheim. "We had a series of meetings after that came out to talk about the idea of Web-based open protocol."

The success of the open protocol project at Whirlpool should dramatically change the building automation industry, according to Bonzheim. Proprietary protocol has always been a problem for the building automation industry. It really meant that a prospective client had to enter into a relationship with the vendor that was a marriage without the option of divorce. If the two sides broke up, there was no question about who would hold the keys to the automation system. Open protocol changes that dynamic.

Changing dynamics is what ControlNET is all about. That goes to the core of the operation and the way it was launched a few years ago. For instance, Bonzheim worked for Honeywell for more than a decade before joining ControlNET and brought much of that national corporation mentality with him.

"We took the best of the learning from there as far as processes, and used it on a small, entrepreneurial scale here at ControlNET," he said. "That is something that our employees have been able to thrive in."

That entrepreneurial attitude is critical to the company’s day-to-day operations. Bonzheim said that most of the decisions at ControlNET don’t come from the top down, but rather are made by team consensus.

That attitude follows ControlNET employees to the job site, where they are empowered to make on the spot, high-level decisions.

"We hire motivated, highly intelligent people who want to be responsive to customers," Bonzheim said. "I have always told our employees that if they make decisions that are right for the customers, they will never have an argument with me."

That culture helped ControlNET land the Whirlpool contract and implement the new system, according to Bonzheim. "We are not a Fortune 500 company. Decisions are made quickly. We have to think on our feet."

Heslinga said that Jones Lang LaSalle learned quickly during meetings to discuss the building automation system’s implementation that ControlNET employees had the authority and the ability to make those decisions. He is convinced that helped land the deal because it showed the solution would be a unique system that was not taken off the shelf.

"I think that really tripped the trigger," he said.

Once that first automation system was in place, the relationship between ControlNET and Whirlpool has deepened. "We have now done 15 more buildings for them," said Bonzheim. "We have not left the site since that first project began."