NEWS Gordon Stuart Sutton, managing director of JCI-Hitachi. In the
How did you get into the industry? I started as an electrician for the electricity board initially before going to work for an electrical manufacturer. I held positions as commercial director and sales directors for electrical manufacturing companies until about 11 years ago when I moved from electrical into the HVAC business. The roles I’ve taken on are the same and the markets are identical - it’s just a different product. I was at Daikin for five years, moved to Kooltech for five years and now here I am at JCI-Hitachi.
What is your biggest achievement to date? Making the transition from the electrical industry into the HVAC industry. Normally, you’re sitting in one of those channels and you’re there for good. To make that transition and get to know a completely different end customer base as well as the installers, and to do so well, that was quite an achievement, I think.
What do you bring to JCI-Hitachi? I’m bringing commercial experience as well as experience from both corporate and independent businesses in the air conditioning sector, especially with regards to customer and contractor relationships. The company has been doing things how they’ve always done them and that’s fine, but we’ll only ever
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receive the results that we’ve always had – and we want to be achieving growth. We’re starting to look at new customers
and new opportunities, especially from direct channels – we need to gain more specification through m&e and consultants. We need to work more closely with our distribution network, to have a look at the products that we offer to them and to perhaps give them a greater basket of products rather than restricting ourselves to just heating with one and just split air conditioning with another.
What do you think is the biggest challenge for JCI-Hitachi? Right now, Brexit with the associated transport costs and paperwork. Despite having a five year run up to Brexit, nobody really understood what it meant, so everyone is finding it difficult at the moment – but it will ease off. In the longer run it will be brand visibility.
Everyone knows that Hitachi has excellent products, is an excellent Japanese brand with many years of history and innovation behind it – the problem is that it’s not as visible as it could have been and is very much a sleeping giant within the UK. Our goal is to be number three in Europe and the UK, so activity and profiling is big on our agenda.
What do you think is the biggest opportunity ahead for JCI-Hitachi? Without a doubt the heat pump market. I would go as far as to say that we probably have the largest comprehensive range of heat pumps on the market.
What could we do better in terms of climate action? I think we need some clarity as to what the future should look like and over the timescales that they want to achieve the different milestones. We all need to know what we’re working towards rather than people focussing on different bits of information. Incentivising processes such as claiming the Green Deal should also be clear and simple.
How is business out in the world at the moment? The landscape has changed how we work with our customers and I think we have adapted really well – not just as a company, but as an industry. I think this needs some kind of applause because we’ve risen to the challenge. There is so much doom and gloom which can fester and we need to hear some positivity – that we have that Dunkirk spirit.
Sport/Team/Player? I’m a Liverpool fan. Pretty well anyone that plays for Liverpool has my vote.
14 March 2020
www.acr-news.com
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