20 Jan 2015

Investments build the largest network of engineers and testing facilities in North America

Chicago, Ill. – Intertek (LSE: ITRK), a leading provider of quality and safety services to a wide range of industries worldwide, recently expanded investments in new capabilities and capacity in North America to enhance its industry-leading breadth of services in support of the refrigeration industry. With total investments of more than $20 million over the past 3 years, Intertek offers the broadest range of laboratory testing services, providing a single source for manufacturers bringing new products to market.

Intertek understands that refrigeration products are facing a changing regulatory landscape with increased demands for energy efficiency, as well as efforts to transition to low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants to reduce negative environmental impact.

Investments in expertise have built the largest global network of qualified engineers across the largest network of facilities, which is crucial to keeping pace with the regulatory changes impacting commercial refrigeration, residential refrigeration, walk-in, display case, vending, and ice machine products. Expansions in North American capacity allow Intertek to better partner with manufacturers as they face potential redesign, retesting, and compliance challenges.

Recent investments in equipment, personnel, and accreditation for refrigeration certification and performance testing have enhanced Intertek’s services in labs across the U.S. and Canada. New capabilities include refrigerant testing for chemical and material compatibility, testing equipment to -15°F, and walk-in cool and freezer facility expansions to support simultaneous testing. These investments broaden the scope of services available to manufacturers from a single compliance partner and improve how quickly new products can move through development and testing, allowing customers to launch new products to market faster.

Intertek’s network of facilities now maintains Accredited Test Lab status for Department of Energy (DOE), ENERGY STAR®, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), California Energy Commission (CEC), American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers (AHAM), Saudi Standards, Quality and Metrology Organization (SASO), CB Scheme, ASTM, and NSF requirements for refrigeration products.

“Intertek is committed to expanding our services and laboratory capabilities to support manufacturers’ need to quickly launch new products and respond to changing market requirements,” said Nimer Al-Hafi, President of the Products business unit at Intertek. “We are proud to offer customers the fastest and most responsive testing experience when developing these groundbreaking refrigeration products.”

The expanded capabilities offer refrigeration manufacturers not only product safety, sanitation, and ETL certification, but also the CE Mark or equivalent marks for global markets and the broadest range of performance testing capabilities. Intertek’s range of services allows manufacturers to conduct testing for various applications and global markets concurrently with a single compliance expert in safety and certification, performance, and energy efficiency standards. 

Intertek’s global footprint and leading capabilities clear a path for manufacturers to quickly develop and launch innovative new products. For more information about Intertek’s services please visit our appliance or refrigerant testing webpages.

 

About Intertek

Intertek is a leading quality solutions provider to industries worldwide.  From auditing and inspection, to testing, training, advisory, quality assurance and certification, Intertek adds value for its customers by helping improve the quality and safety of their products, assets and processes.  With a network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices and over 36,000 people in more than 100 countries, Intertek supports companies’ success in the global marketplace, by helping customers to meet end users’ expectations for safety, sustainability, performance, integrity and desirability in virtually any market worldwide.  Visit www.intertek.com.

 

For Intertek & Media Inquiries:

Sarah H. Linn
Global Marketing Manager
(312) 906-7796
sarah.linn@intertek.com

Cheryl Prejsnar
Public Relations Manager
(630) 481-3185
cheryl.prejsnar@intertek.com