CTO, Lorenz Hofmann | Insights on Leading the Next Generation of Critical Infrastructure Cooling

Hello everyone, welcome to JSA TV where we are covering the latest stories, trends and innovations with leaders in the digital infrastructure industry. I am here with one such leader, Lawrence Hoffman, CTO of Gradient Thermal Solutions. Welcome Lawrence. >> Thank you Candace. >> Absolutely. So we are excited to chat with you today. Uh we had John Schneider on CEO of Gradian um not too long ago talking about some exciting news from you all. So this is uh going to serve as a great follow-up interview I think for our audience. So thanks for joining us and we'll just start off with a really easy one. So for anyone who hasn't crossed paths with you yet at one of the industry events um or otherwise just tell us a little bit about who you are and your role as CTO. >> Absolutely. I have a passion for the mission critical cooling space. Both of my education in fluid mechanics and artificial intelligence. Back then we called it neural networks. So quite a while ago. I really enjoy the space. Uh both of my children work in data center cooling today. So it's a it's been it's been a family trait for us and we just enjoy it. I've had an opportunity to work for some wonderful companies including Verdive, Train, Johnson Controls, and SPX with the notable brand Marley. So just absolutely adore the space. My job is really to empower the next generation of our teams. We want to have a lean forward mindset. We want to formalize our processes around new product development and accelerate them and get those out to the customer. So I enjoy the space both in my personal and professional life. >> Excellent. I love that it's a a family endeavor in digital infrastructure. That's exciting. Um we get to have some fun conversations around the the dinner table, I imagine. >> Yes. Yes, it is. >> Awesome. So, as I said earlier, we did have uh John Schneider on um talking about how Grady recently brought four specialized thermal brands together under a single unified platform. So, from your perspective as CTO, how does bringing design, application engineering, and manufacturing all under one roof change the process for clients as opposed to maybe traditional vendors? Mhm. So, uh, starting off, we like we reduce the complexity for the customers. Today, customers need to go out and get this piece, whether it's a chiller, an indoor air handler, uh, cooling distribution unit. We'll integrate all those. We have the solution. If you go off the menu and there's a unique one-off that we don't have, we close that gap for you. So, again, a broad range of solutions that covers nearly the entire portfolio of cooling solutions. Secondly, it's around technology best practices. each independent business was functioning very well. So for example, Eco Chillers in Guadalajara has a very lean design process where they're able to go from a concept to a design in a few days and then they use a parallel path software to recheck and and doublech checkck the design parameters. So it's again that's just an example of the strength of the multiple businesses and then lastly it's around cross solutions or inner solutions. So for example controls algorithms control optimization to have uh the solutions work better like a failance or a team to have these products working together. So again we kind of look at it as a benefit and we're always continually learning from each other. >> Love it. Well said. Well said. And so we know that engineering teams are constantly battling these sort of um you know at odds with one another challenges. So that would be tight spatial constraints and aggressive deadlines. Um, so how does Gradian's integrated engineering process allow your team to solve for that to provide solutions in a in a quick way but without sacrificing that technical precision? >> Absolutely, Candace. Well, we look at it this way. If we didn't have any problems, we wouldn't have a job. So, our jobs to identify and solve those problems. It actually makes it fun. So, for us, it starts with the people. Mass was one of the was the first business. So, Mass HBAC up in Minneapolis has a wonderful DNA, a type of people that lean forward mindset, get things done, how can I help? It's always that that way that they work. It's it's it's really not the what, it's the how, how they think and how they do. So, we'd say it starts with that and we've been just leveraging that across all the other platforms. Uh, secondly, it's around leaning out the requirements. We have like a must, could should. So, we must do some things, we can't do all things. So, we lean that out upfront with the customer and then that that allows the teams to have less to focus on because anyone that thinks you can do more with less, that's uh that's not a strategy that we like. We like to stay focused on what we're doing and ensure we deliver it and fulfill to those orders. And then lastly, we drisk. We have an NPD process or a new new product development process, but we tailor that product. We t excuse me, we tailor that process. So we'll have our process that might have 60 to 70 um line items to do each stage gate. But if this is a product we've already done, it's maybe just a little bit larger. We can then say, hey, we don't we can deviate from these steps because we've already done them in a surrogate product. So we say we always follow the full process. We just tailor out those unique items that are not specific. For example, if we have an order, we don't need to do the business case early in the new product development process. So, we're very excited about how we do things, but it really it's around the people and we're so excited to have such strong talent joining the business across all of our units. >> Absolutely. Yeah, you all are uh doing a really great job um setting up the team for success there. Um and and we also know with AI workloads accelerating so rapidly, it's basically turning everything on its head, right? Including thermal loads, they're shifting faster than traditional equipment life cycles. So how is Gradian's engineering and manufacturing process built to scale capacity and support these next generation thermal demands? >> So we talk about the scaling, right? Uh obviously u it's probably well known that the business has multiple sites around uh the in the Americas and additionally they're they're out looking for larger facilities that more than double almost triple our footprint that we have today which will put us in the around the top seven of all um all partners or major OEMs uh in in the industry. But the really it's around scope. So we still follow the same processes. We design, we verify and then validate. So we verify our solutions with modeling, you know, CFD, finite element analysis, subsystems component testing, and our labs. We have a strong investment behind us. So our first ofind products, we're going to certified in a labs ahri certified. So hri 1550, for example, uh certified both for air handlers and chillers. Our labs aren't fully complete, but they will be by Q2 of 2027. We do have labs in place today, but they'll be full certified. So when individuals receive a product, they can feel comfortable and confident. It has only been verified upstream and validated at the first of kind. And it's probably already been spoken like John Schneider, our CEO, probably talked about our scalability and the proven technologies in the air products, the liquid products, and our chiller products. >> Amazing. Awesome. And last but not least, we started with the easy question. We'll end with one. um for your industry peers who are watching this, any prospective partners who might want to connect with you in person, where can folks find you next? >> Absolutely. So, we're going to be uh well, we're several conferences, but the two top ones that will be at coming up is Yatada in September in Las Vegas and Supercompute in Chicago in November. So, SC26. Uh also, individuals can visit us at gradientsolutions.com. So, we're excited and we look forward to uh working with together. >> All right. Excellent. gradientsolutions.com. Everyone, thanks for joining us. Uh all to all of our viewers, thanks for hanging out with us for another uh JSATV interview. And thank you, Lorren, for hanging out with us here on JSA TV. >> Absolutely. Thank you, Candace. >> Thank you. Happy networking, everyone. We'll see you soon.