ATAG Verwarming: Efficiency-Driven Boiler Excellence
Material strength
Innovation and unrivalled quality are the key drivers to ATAG Verwarming being able to consistently deliver award-winning efficiency to the market.
Founded in 1948, ATAG Verwarming’s focus has always been on developing the most efficient and high quality boilers available. Through a network of over 500 ATAG Select Dealers, and construction partners, the company serves both domestic and commercial customers. “Whilst we are also looking at at renewables like solar products, our major focus always has been and will continue to be on high quality, gas condensing boilers,” explains Jan Henk van der Wijk, Marketing Manager for ATAG. “Our strengths lay firmly in the use of materials in our boilers. By this, I refer to the highest quality of stainless steel used in our components and this is why we have unrivalled quality compared to our competitors. Whilst this may be more expensive in the short term, the lifetime longevity afforded by these materials makes the boilers a far more cost efficient product in the long-term.”
Efficiency is the most important driver at ATAG and the company’s R&D operations are targeted to deliver this on a continual basis. “Our R&D department is made up of 10 people in our office whose job is to solely focus on innovation,” continues Jan Henk. “Their most important aim every day is to increase the efficiency of our boilers without sacrificing comfort. This is the pillar of our company.” The boiler industry is competitive with high quality and safety standards ensuring that there are no bad boilers available in the market. However, through its consistent and relentless approach to innovation and efficiency ATAG has established itself as a consistent leader in becoming the recipient of Holland’s best boiler manufacturer award for six years running. This is reinforced by a number of corporate awards, based on the company’s financial performance, such as Best Managed Company.
“The Consumentenbond is a leading independent organisation that tests products and is driven by efficiency when assessing boilers,” highlights Jan Henk. “This achievement is realised by our patented heat exchanger – the heart of the boiler – which is made from the highest quality stainless steel. The heat exchanger is based on a proprietary single platform technology and again efficiency is the key word for its development.”
With superior efficiency offered by its products, the company currently has three ranges available on the market: the A-, E- and Q-Series. The A-series sits as a basic, starter boiler and offers unrivalled efficiency without some of the more advanced features in the range, and the Q-Series is skewed more towards comfort by ensuring that there is extra heated water available on demand. However, the most important boiler in the range is the award winning E-Series. “The E-Series’ major USP is its focus on increasing efficiency without the sacrifice of comfort. Comfort, as in warmth, is vital for our customers so maintaining this is absolutely key to us,” outlines Jan Henk. “A major innovation within the E-Series is the use of an Economiser, which is exclusive only to ATAG boilers. This is a second heat exchanger that sits within the boiler and profits from the warmth of flue gases. Instead of being released through a chimney, as would normally happen, the heat from these gases is captured by the second heat exc anger to help warm up water and allows the boiler to achieve even higher efficiency.”
With innovation being driven throughout the company’s boiler products at an unrivalled pace, it is no surprise that this development extends out into associated products and this is evident in the company’s ATAG One product. “The ATAG One is a Wi-Fi thermostat so that the consumer can adjust the temperature remotely. This is developed from the basis of making life easier for the customer,” says Jan Henk. “However, an added benefit for both the end user and installer is that the installer can remotely monitor the boiler through the connection of the ATAG One panel and an online database. This enables them to see any potential faults in real-time and recommend maintenance accordingly. Again, this is exclusive to ATAG products and gives the consumer the added peace of mind as to their boiler’s performance.”
The future for ATAG looks set to be positive, but Jan Henk notes that a changing energy landscape will lead to interesting developments within the industry over the next few years. “The main challenge for us is the change in thinking about energy and how it is used,” he says. “The focus is shifting more into the reuse of energy, durable solutions and thinking about gas-to-power solutions.” Despite this he remains confident and committed to the security of the company’s strategy in a country that has such a strong and robust gas infrastructure presently defined by longevity. “We are first and foremost a boiler manufacturer,” Jan Henk adds, “and whilst solar products are becoming more important to us, our Nederlandkey role will remain for the next 20 years at least with providing gas solutions.”
With this in mind the next year for ATAG will see the launch of a new more compact and more sophisticated range of boilers aimed at becoming the next generation in boiler efficiency. “Again the focus for this will be efficiency through material use,” Jan Henk concludes. “In the longer term we want to continue setting an example with sustainable development. This has been very important to us for the last 30 years in offering both green products and long-lasting ones.”
ATAG Verwarming Nederland BV
Products: Manufactures boilers
Sites: One, Nederland