Two or more organizations can adopt the same technology solutions, yet their efficiency could differ. Why so?
The answer lies within the quality of the IT infrastructure installed within these companies. And whichever company has the best infrastructure established stands to gain the most benefits from the tech solutions they have invested in.
As known globally, investing in technology has become a critical need of the hour for every business. Even more critical than this is—creating an IT infrastructure within the company that is best suited to utilize technology, information, and data effectively, efficiently, and proactively.
Today, businesses have to ensure their technology investment is protected and benefited from; by establishing a high-performing IT infrastructure. One company that is on a mission to provide the best IT infrastructure to today’s corporations is Chatsworth Products (CPI).
The company was established with the goal of addressing the vital IT infrastructure requirements of modern businesses while safeguarding their expanding investment in information and communication technology.
We got an exclusive opportunity to interview CPI’s dynamic and experienced Chief Executive Officer and President, Michael Custer, who discussed how Chatworth’s solutions are fulfilling clients’ business models efficiently.
The following are the excerpts from the interview:
Please brief our audience about your company, its USPs, and how it is currently positioned as a trusted IT infrastructure management company.
Chatsworth Products (CPI) designs and manufactures the products and solutions that power, protect, and support our customers’ ever-growing investment in information and communications technology (ICT), industrial automation, and wireless applications.
As a trusted IT infrastructure business partner, we are uniquely prepared to respond to our customers’ requirements with global availability and rapid product customization, which both yield a sustainable competitive advantage.
CPI has more than 30 years of experience engineering thermal, power, and cable management solutions for the data center, enterprise networking, and industrial enclosure markets. We are well-positioned to provide our customers with unequaled application expertise, customer service, and technical support, along with a global network of industry-leading distributors.
We’re also a 100% employee-owned, U.S.-based organization that’s building a better digital future—one rack, cabinet, and power distribution unit (PDU) at a time.
Shed some light on your offerings and how they impact the IT industry and your clients.
We have several key focus areas: thermal management for IT equipment secured in racks; site optimization through remote monitoring of power, environmental conditions, and access control; and customization of enclosures, equipment storage, and cable management solutions to meet customer and site-specific requirements.
CPI’s broad offering includes Cabinets and Containment, Racks and Cable Management, Power Monitoring and Security, Bonding and Grounding, Cable Pathway, Industrial Enclosures, and Wireless Solutions. Additionally, CPI provides an entire suite of free apps and online design tools, including BIM and CAD models, the CPI Product Designer, technical training, free webinars, and a host of other resources that enhance and elevate the customer experience.
What are the core values upon which your company is built?
I strongly believe that CPI’s core values are not simply words written in an employee handbook or on a website page. They are something that we must all live by each and every day while striving to make them a cornerstone of our culture.
By ensuring that we make every effort to incorporate these values into our culture, we also ensure that CPI lives up to the high ethical standards that make each of its employee-owners proud to be associated with our organization and recognized as a beacon of ethical behavior throughout our industry.
We’re proud of the fact that CPI’s unified core values were established on day one and remain integral to the company’s long-term success and vision. In equal order of importance, these core values include:
- Forthright, ethical, and socially responsible
- Employee ownership: shared risks, responsibility, accountability, and rewards
- Quality in all aspects of the company
- Adding value through people
- Teamwork, caring, and commitment
- We’re all in this together – mutual trust and respect
Please brief us about your journey in the industry and how you have contributed to the firm’s success.
I spent the early part of my career in the consumer electronics industry, which was a fun place to be in many respects, but also very frustrating. Often, you’re caught in a mode where you have to wait for next year’s model to give customers what they want.
You’re really focused on selling what you’ve already made. In fact, the value of what you sell diminishes literally every day after you’ve made it. So, you spend your time trying to relieve yourself of all the inventory that’s sitting in stock and try to convince customers that’s what they want now and in the future.
But for the past 20+ years, I’ve been able to work for a company [CPI] that understands the tremendous value of “Build to Order.” I work at a company [CPI] that delivers standard parts – on demand – to distributor stock and designs and builds new custom part numbers – developed to each customer’s specifications. There are literally scores of new custom part numbers every day.
It’s a totally dynamic, fulfilling business model that serves our customers well.
Being an experienced leader, share your opinion on how the adoption of modern technologies has impacted the IT industry and how is your company riding the technology wave.
With the tremendous pace of digital transformation that we’ve seen in the past few years, there’s an equally tremendous opportunity to take a customized approach in the age of mass manufacturing. CPI calls it the “power of one,” which essentially boils down to using customization to get exactly what you want as a customer.
It’s something that we’ve long had built into the fabric of who we are, how we operate, and the unique set of products and solutions we design and build, which our customers know they can depend on for a level of quality, craftsmanship, durability, and customer service that’s simply not found elsewhere.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the IT sector?
Start with a project that you know would benefit from custom-based products; a project that you know that there are a lot of gaps between what you’d like to achieve and what’s available.
Do your homework and get started. And that starts by letting others know the plan, getting your stakeholders involved early and in agreement that you’re following the right path and you have their support to continue the journey ahead.
From there, pick the right partners. Define what success looks like and what it means for you and your organization, which will help you avoid getting off track or making compromises that will steer you away from getting your best results.
Then, simply, go for it! Put the plan into place and let the “power of one” guide you and your team to an advantage over the competition because now your solution is something that you’ve designed… something that not everyone or anyone else can just go buy off the shelf.
How do you envision scaling your organization’s operations and offerings in 2022 and beyond?
CPI is proud to have built a 30-year history with a strong, enduring presence in industries that enable a more connected life.
Today, after steady global expansion into six continents, CPI has honed its agile manufacturing capabilities to efficiently provide engineered, customer-specified solutions to help organizations of all sizes quickly and confidently adapt to digital transformation across platforms such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and 5G wireless networks.
Looking ahead, CPI will open a new global headquarters and state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Simi Valley, Calif. in 2022, more than doubling our physical footprint not far from the original Chatsworth, Calif. facility that gave CPI its start and name.
We’ll also continue to scale and grow the business to support IT segments that are poised for continued adoption and projects, particularly in infrastructure, networking, and hyperscale data centers, where we continue to see a budding interest in Open Compute Project opportunities.
Please tell us how you ensure a hassle-free experience for your customers.
We’re proud of the fact that CPI products have become sought-after mainstays of modern data centers and edge locations around the world, including the Regents Emirates Pearl Hotel in Abu Dhabi; Anthem Inc. and AmerisourceBergen® in the United States; iLink in Hong Kong, Telefônica Vivo in South America, and Telecity Group in Europe. In these facilities, and countless others, CPI has provided complete solutions that not only power and protect technology equipment but also help companies meet green IT requirements.
Likewise, we’ve taken innovation to new levels with the development of several patented and award-winning solutions that allow for on-site customization and easier user experience, many of which have received multiple awards from prominent national organizations and renowned publications, including CPI’s flagship cabinet enclosure solution, the ZetaFrame™ Cabinet System, CPI’s eConnect® Power Distribution Units (PDUs), Motive® Cable Manager, and even CPI’s Clik-Nut® Hardware Kit, all of which help make up the totality of CPI’s complete technology infrastructure ecosystem.
