Tyco Fire & Building Products had choices to make when it considered investing in its 150-year-old Cranston facility.
“The trend is to move things to low-cost countries,” said Carmine Schiavone, vice president of sales and marketing for the more than century-old company. “[A company] could hire engineers in other countries. … But we’ve never had plans to move [research and development] offshore.”
Instead, Tyco invested $5 million in its 66,000-square-foot Cranston facility, partly because of the manufacturer’s historical ties to the state, which date back to the mid-1800s.
The company was called Providence Steam and Gas Pipe Co. when it was purchased in 1869 by Frederick Grinnell, who invented and patented the first automatic fire-suppressing sprinkler head in 1881.
After a series of acquisitions and name changes, the company was purchased by Tyco International in 1976, Schiavone said. “Given the history … we’ve always maintained the R&D portion of the business here,” he said. “It’s where the company is from.”
The $5 million upgrade included the renovation of Tyco’s existing research and development center in Cranston, the addition of 4,300 square feet of laboratory space for the testing of new fire-sprinkler technologies, and the construction of a 10,500-square-foot training facility.
Tyco needed the training facility, Schiavone said, because the fire protection and fire sprinkler industry is expanding rapidly, as awareness grows of the technologies’ ability to save lives – and significant amounts of money.
“We train fire departments and fire marshals, contractors and industry participants in need of being updated on the latest technology and offerings … as well as the codes and standards in accordance with the National Fire Codes,” he said.
Tyco Fire & Building Products trains 800 to 1,000 people per year, Schiavone said. The trainees come from across the United States and about 20 other countries, he said, due to Tyco’s international marketing and sales efforts.
The new training facility and improved R&D labs – unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony two weeks ago – will allow the company to expand the site’s technical staff from 50 workers to 70, creating 20 new jobs, Schiavone said, from engineers to drafting professionals to lab technicians. The employees will be developing and testing products manufactured in Texas and the United Kingdom.
Access to talent was one of the reasons Tyco decided to increase its investment in Rhode Island, Schiavone said. The company depends on graduates from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute to fill positions in Cranston.
“For us to compete, we need very high-quality talent,” he said. “We’ve made the decision [that] we wouldn’t get the same output somewhere else.”
Being close to the FM Global Research Campus, in western Glocester, also helps keep Tyco rooted in Cranston, he said, because the FM Global site is a testing ground for the fire prevention technology industry.
“It is one of the largest independent testing and research agencies that certifies [Tyco] devices,” Schiavone said. “There is a great working relationship between the companies.”
