C&N moves to new digs

FORT WORTH, Texas - As a result of strong business growth due to adding new products to its portfolio, C&N Fire Systems experienced a surge in business that led to relocating the company’s headquarters within Fort Worth to a new 12,000-square-foot facility. C&N previously occupied a space that was 7,000 square feet. The company now has 3,000 square feet of office space and the remaining 9,000 square feet is to be used for warehousing. “We just got a whole lot bigger,” said Mike Costello, president at the company, who did not disclose precise sales figures but did say annual revenue increased 15 percent. “We are pretty much set in fire alarm, fire sprinkler and fire suppression,” explained Costello. The range of jobs the company handles spans from suppression systems at data centers, sprinklers in commercial and industrial settings and fire detection installations for schools and municipalities. The company does commercial and industrial work, with retrofit contracts accounting for 70 percent of its revenue. To increase the company’s visibility in the marketplace, earlier this year Costello incorporated products from Viking Electronic Services, a King of Prussia, Pa. provider of fire alarm systems, software and monitoring that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Viking Electronics, into the company’s portfolio. Additionally, he added clock systems, public address and media retrieval systems from Teradon Industries in the third quarter of last year to open up potential job bids and distinguish the company from the competition. The company sells not only Viking fire alarm products, including fire panels and smoke detectors, but also monitoring services. One of the major selling points of the technology, said Costello, is that is enables critical data from the systems to be viewed over the Internet. With the Teradon product line, the company can offer school districts a centralized way to regulate access to media by teachers and students alike. Television programs and movies are stored at a centralized location, such as a library, and only approved programs can be played within a classroom. In addition, the system offers public address applications. C&N’s headcount spiked to 40 from 25 four months earlier. The company could end the year with 55 employees, according to Costello, with new hires filling administrative and field technician positions.