Calmfloor - From the Ground Up BF151

CALMFLOOR

FROM THE GROUND UP

CALMFLOOR

FROM THE GROUND UP CALMFLOOR’S BUSINESS IS KEEPING THE GROUND STEADY BENEATH YOUR FEET.

PROJECT MANAGED BY: DAVID GARNER

Possibly one of the biggest discoveries of the lockdown era was the rise of noise-cancelling headphones. They proved to be an essential tool for a generation learning to work from home, especially when sharing a space with another generation home learning for the first time. Now they are everywhere, from the morning commute to the local gym.

B

ut that technology has other applications, for instance, in architecture and engineering.

FLOOR, LESS VIBES

“It works like noise-cancelling headphones, conceptually,” says Paul Reynolds, CEO of Engineered Vibration Solutions, which trades under the brand Calmfloor.

“Noise-cancelling headphones sense sounds in the surrounding area and emit the opposite sound signal into your ears, cancelling them out.

In the same way, our technology constantly senses floor vibrations and then generates a force that drives the floor in the opposite direction. There is a heavy weight that we drive up and down, driving an equal and opposite force into the structure of the floor. It’s electrically powered, and the moving mass generating the force is driven by very powerful motors that respond very quickly. It is a millisecond from sensing

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a vibration to generating the counter vibration.”

It gives customers a stable floor to walk on, and from that foundation, Calmfloor has built a successful business.

“We effectively resolve client problems with building and floor vibrations using an active control approach to vibration mitigation,” Reynolds explains.

“Typically, our clients have one of three key challenges. Either somebody is complaining about vibrations, and they need it solved immediately, or they are upgrading a building, such as turning an office into a lab, or they are constructing a new building and want to use this technology to reduce embodied carbon and the need for excessive material reinforcements.”

It is a unique solution, the only mass-produced active mass damper system for floor vibrations anywhere in the world.

It’s a complete step change above older, passive technologies like tuned mass dampers.

Paul Reynolds, CEO, Engineered Vibration Solutions (Calmfloor).

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“We can deliver much better performance using technology that is 40 times lighter,” says Reynolds. “We offer better performance in a smaller package at a lighter weight.”

Calmfloor uses a sophisticated controller that allows it to be very effective, and as an active electronic system, it can also provide data about building performance.

“We are constantly sending data to our internet portal,” Reynolds explains. “At any point in time, our client can see the performance of their floor and satisfy themselves that our technology is working well. We can deploy firmware updates that could extract even better performance from existing hardware.”

THE SOLUTION YOU NEED WHEN YOU NEED IT

It is a strong product that meets a clear demand in the market.

But navigating that market can still be a challenge, there are slow sales cycles and long lead times for the kind of projects Calmfloor addresses.

“If you are talking about a newbuild project, it could be years away. A refurbishment could be planned months or years ahead of time. As a company in its growth stages, we need to build revenue more quickly,” says Reynolds.

Calmfloor needs projects with a quick turnaround, and so it is seeking out clients who also need a quick turnaround.

“We are focusing more on providing immediate solutions to urgent customer problems.

If someone has a floor vibration problem right now and they need to resolve it quickly, that is where we as a business can jump in quickly,” Reynolds says.

“A benefit of our system over others is that a standard unit can be deployed on a wide range of structures, whereas the alternatives need to be built to order.”

Achieving that requires sophisticated technology, with components whose supply chains reach around the world, which can have an effect on lead times. Calmfloor needs to source from a diverse selection of suppliers to ensure certification meets the needs of the regulatory environment where they are sold.

“The biggest challenge coming from the current global macroeconomic environment is confidence,” Reynolds.

“The issue is not so much

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the mechanics of tariffs or their financial impact, but the confidence of businesses within our client base. One of the advantages we have is that our client base includes some of the largest financial and technology institutions in the world.”

Calmfloor serves major commercial real estate companies with large portfolios and properties, financial institutions who have large trading floors and offices that can suffer from vibration issues, as well as some of the biggest technology companies. It is a high-quality client base that Calmfloor is already building from, giving it the backing it needs to navigate supply chain challenges.

At the same time, the sophistication of the technology being deployed requires people with the technical skills to develop it.

“Many people within the business are particularly highly skilled on the Research & Development side,” says Reynolds. “For some of our staff, we advertise generally, but we also use recruiters with specific access into networks of available talent. That is an effective way to find the right people.”

As an international company, most of Calmfloor’s business is currently in the USA. When we speak with Reynolds, he is in the process of recruiting a field engineer there, starting with local recruitment.

“One of the challenges with Calmfloor as a product is that there is such a wide range of expertise required to develop it,” Reynolds tells us. “You need to understand structural engineering and have knowledge of the mechanics of structural vibration, just to understand the product. We need mechanical engineers, control engineers, electrical and electronics engineers for the control system, and specialists on the product design side of the process. There is also a lot of software and firmware inside the units to develop, as well as the programming of the portal system. Developing the product itself has required a huge range of expertise, and we are recruiting specifically to acquire those key skills. We also hire contract engineers when we need specific packages of work.”

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GOING WEST

Hiring that talent does not come cheap, but Calmfloor is a company that has generated more in revenue than investment, unusual for a growth stage technology company, giving it the resources it needs to finance talent acquisition.

Looking to the future, Reynolds wants Calmfloor to further grow in global markets, such as the US, while also taking care of its British client base.

“The UK market is important, but the US is potentially ten times bigger,” Reynolds says.

“As a market, the US is attractive also because of its willingness to adopt new technologies and accept reasonable levels of risk.

It’s easier for us to grow and scale by targeting that market.”

Calmfloor is also looking beyond to other markets, with Reynolds predicting an exponential growth profile moving forward.

“We tend not to get new inquiries directly from our clients. The clients we are targeting appoint their own structural and acoustic engineers,” Reynolds explains.

“We are building relationships with those engineers so they can come to us, and we can give them the solution they need. We are getting out there with case studies of our work, so clients can have increased confidence in the technology itself.”

“WE CAN DELIVER A MUCH BETTER PERFORMANCE USING TECHNOLOGY THAT IS 40 TIMES LIGHTER.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

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