SDI Specialized Fire Products expands

WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J.—SDI Specialized Fire Products, a provider of specialized fire and security test equipment based here, has expanded on the West Coast and in South America.

The company added Ivy Kiyomura Moon to its team as its western regional accounts manager based in Los Angeles, according to Rick Heffernan, the company's general manager and one of its owners. Heffernan said Moon will be SDI's first employee permanently based on the West Coast. The company also announced the opening of a new office in South America. Laura Carvajal, who has been with SDI since 2005, will head that office in Manizales, Colombia.

“With these new personnel, we're planning for future growth,” Heffernan told Security Systems News. “We're excited, and they're excited.”

In existence since 1997, SDI has a wide variety of solutions for testing detectors and fire panels, Heffernan told Security Systems News. For example, he said, solutions offered include synthetic test smoke so smoke detectors can be tested with simulated smoke, heat detector testers and sound level testers. “Pretty much for every component of the fire alarm system, we can provide you with a solution to test it,” Heffernan said.

SDI works with leading fire manufacturers to develop tests for their products, he said. When they develop a new product, he said, “we'll partner with them and say, 'This is how you would test it safely, efficiently and economically.'”

Heffernan said his customers include fire dealers and installers and that SDI's products are used for testing in commercial and industrial applications. Those range “from nuclear power plants to university dormitories to hospitals to retail establishments,” he said.

The expansion on the West Coast, “is going to give us greater coverage and it also increases our hours of operation,” Heffernan said. “You're going to be able to reach somebody by phone pretty much from 8 a.m. Eastern time to pretty much 8 p.m. Eastern time, twelve hours, five days a week. … And we're also reaching up into Canada with that, of course. We do a lot of business in Canada.”

Heffernan said hiring Moon is only the start of the company's goals for its West Coast territory, which includes not only California but other Western states such as Nevada. “There are plans to add additional staff,” he said.

The company currently has 12 employees, he said.

California has strict fire regulations, but Heffernan said that is not an impediment to SDI.

“SDI is deeply involved in the code development process and keeps abreast of changes in fire-related legislation in the state of California,” he told SSN. “As standards continually evolve we continuously evaluate and improve existing products—and develop new technology—in order to maintain strict code compliance.”