Goose Bay, Canada (53°19’09”N 060°25’33”W)

The Canadian Army awarded us (our partner DEW Engineering ULC and us, Polartherm) a contract for Field Heating Equipment, a program in which the Canadian Army wanted to equip their forces with new generation, robust and reliable equipment to heat both air and water in extreme field conditions.

Altogether some 2300 space heaters and 600 water heaters were eventually delivered… but not exactly as planned.

The customer is always right, and in this case also supportive and flexible

At the first contract review it was noticed that the water heater was not exactly as the end user had hoped, and they felt our design and solution lacked a key feature – an automated purging system – to protect the water heater from breaking should it e.g. run out of fuel and freeze during a cold night. Not only did our team need to redesign the water heater, but also create new test conditions, new test procedures, and still keep the already designed features. Not an easy task.

Together with our partner, DEW Engineering, and especially a very supportive customer, we managed to design and manufacture a system that met the final requirements. However, the new features were new to the Canadian CSA as well, and quite a few discussions were held until all parties agreed on a test program, as no similar product had ever been designed nor tested before. Once all tests were passed the production started, but…

…with the first container all packed up, and ready to be delivered to the Canadian forces an inconsistency in a key performance  was, by mistake and fortunately, noticed in quality tests at Polartherm and DEW Engineering, i.e. Finland and Canada. The water heater acted differently with Finnish and Canadian water. An extensive search and test phase was carried out, and a quite simple solution was found, and the water heater works now with both Finnish and Canadian water, (as well as with other nation’s water).

This is, in our mind, a success story in which the cooperation between customer and supplier enabled an excellent result, and where set goals were met by being flexible, patient, and supportive with each other. All parties deserve to be pleased with the final product.