Name: Cian Reynolds

Role at Lennox: Equipment Sales Specialist

Background/education:

BSc in Medical Device Innovation and a BEng in Engineering Systems from the Technological University Dublin. Prior to working with Lennox, I spent a year in California working as an Instrument Engineer at a reputable Medical Device company in San Diego. Upon my return to Ireland I started working with the Business Support Team at Lennox and progressed into the Equipment Sales Specialist role in October last year.

What are your areas of expertise?

From my background and education in engineering and working in both university and R&D labs over the years, I have gained a great insight into the operation of equipment and how the mechanics and electronics work together to create and build a functioning product. This has helped massively in having the technical knowledge and hands on experience with the equipment we supply.

As part of the equipment team we cover basically anything with a plug in a laboratory setting and beyond. Equipment includes everything from small to large scales autoclaves, climate chambers, vacuum pumps, titrators, BSC’s, fume hoods, incubators, cryogenic freezers and much more.

Another area of interest for the future of the company is Lennox Custom Solutions. Utilising the innovative mindset that I acquired from the medical device innovation course, we successfully coordinated the first custom project the company has seen. This is a new avenue we would like to pursue to bring bespoke solutions to light based on the tailored specifications given to us from our customers. From an idea or concept to a functional product or process, anything is possible.

What sectors do you work with?

I deal with multiple sectors in the field and cover all equipment related matters nationwide. Lennox is a well-known company and laboratory supplier, so we would work with all sectors that have an internal lab setup/ clean room environments and outdoor testing. These areas would be medical devices, pharmaceutical, healthcare, food and beverage, agriculture, county councils, contract and independent labs and much more.

What challenges are currently facing the customers you work with? How are you helping them overcome those challenges?

After speaking to numerous companies, there are a few common challenges between them all, such as hold ups on projects and the shortage of funding due to this global pandemic. We had multiple projects in the pipeline with companies from Q1, but they had to freeze their purchasing systems to account for the loss of production and staff during the initial lockdown.

The lack of site visits with the customer has been a challenge. We usually schedule on site visits to get a better understanding of their processes and see how we can assist them from beginning to end of the project. They have the ideas and we help them improve on these ideas with our expertise in lab fit outs and supply through the relationships we have developed with big brands and manufacturers.

As most people are working from home, we must adapt to the digital life to keep the key projects ongoing in these uncertain times. Business communication platforms are the go-to in bringing us together with customers, the manufacturers and to continue what we started as projects progress. Communication and videoconferencing on these platforms are very important for maintaining customer relations and the synergy between us.

What are some key trends you are seeing in your area of expertise?

From an equipment point of view, the area of biological air treatment is crucial in an industry setting where there are groups of people interacting each day. We have partnered with two companies that provide proven and tested air and surface sterilisation equipment which combats infectious diseases, microorganisms, mould, viruses and much more with a successful 99.99% kill rate on Covid 19.

Other key trends are energy saving products and environmentally friendly initiatives by manufacturers trying to eliminate the need for fuel to operate equipment. An example of this is one of our manufacturers has recently launched a completely oil free chemical resistant vacuum pump which achieves the lowest level of vacuum required in a laboratory setting, without having to purchase, clean and dispose of the oil typically associated with these units.

Other companies develop custom hot plates to avoid having to use oil baths in chemistry applications, waterless condensers to stop the substantial waste of water to carry out experiments and eco-friendly DI water purification systems that purify and recycle 50% of water used rather than most of it going to waste.

These pieces of equipment are the future in moving forward to a safe and Eco-Friendly world.

If you would like more information on how Cian and the rest of the Equipment Sales Specialist team could assist your organisation, email cian.reynolds@lennox.ie