Cincinnati Sub-Zero Products, Inc. (CSZ) is a family affair.
Since opening its doors in 1940 the Berke family business has evolved from a frozen foods and deep freezer distributor to a leading supplier of temperature management products for the
medical and industrial sectors, as well as environmental simulation test chambers.
With so many specialties CSZ's business is booming, even in these choppy economic waters.
"It helps having three different divisions," says CSZ President and CEO Steven Berke. "We work with over 21 different industries and we expect that some of the down industries to turn around faster than others," Berke says.
Alongside this diversity of products, CSZ recently received a healthy dose of PR after their medical cooling therapy saved the daughter of prominent Boston sportscaster Glenn Ordway.
When it comes to providing cooling products that help prevent permanent brain damage for those who have suffered cardiac arrest, stroke and a slew of other injuries, CSZ has distinguished itself as market leader bar none.
"We have the largest offering of any other competitor in this industry," Berke says. "We even have a product that can keep surgeons cool during intense or physically exerting surgical procedures."
By inducing Therapeutic Hypothermia, a lowered body temperature often times prevents permanent brain damage.
"The economic impact of long term care for these potentially neurologically impaired patients in significantly reduced," Berke says. "A $250 disposable solution may save millions in long term care not to mention family hardship."
Ultimately, Berke attributes CSZ's success to its employee base, which he intends to expand.
"We owe much of this growth to the commitment and dedication of our employees and our sales reps," Berke says. "We do plan on hiring more employees as the year goes on and the economy begins to turn around."
This growth is nothing new to CSZ. Since 2004, CSZ has experienced a cumulative sales growth of 17%.
"The opportunities for continued growth are plentiful even in an economy that has come plummeted in the past 12 months," Berke says. "While many companies in similar industries were downsizing in the past four years, CSZ has increased the workforce by 33% during this same period of time."
Alongside their well established medical cooling products, CSZ's environmental chambers have been used to test and develop an array of alternative energy technologies like batter, wind and fuel cells.
In fact, Berke notes, "our equipment has been installed at one of the largest battery development labs in the world."
Extending temperature control to a frigid extreme, CSZ also offers Biostore rooms which are ultracold rooms suitable for storing materials like DNA, donor tissues and other genetic materials between -75°C and -40°C.
These emerging technologies, mixed with CSZ's stable base of medical and industrial cooling products ensure its economic strength in any economic climate.