Lightning Protection System Equipment & Services Business Plan

The growing technological innovation and the extreme level of importance given to secure a life has got this particular business in the market. Lightning protection systems are now widely used by almost all the sectors as a preventive measure against harm caused by lightning. The opportunity in this business is growing rapidly and one can easily start his entrepreneur journey with this profitable business idea.

Business opportunity & planning

There are three different areas where these systems are being used. As a sub-category, the systems are again classified on its complexity. Complexity ultimately means the capacity and performance level of these protection systems. We will discuss about use of lightning protection system in industry level, commercial level and residential level.

Industries make the maximum use of lightning protection systems in order to prevent any sort of undesirable situations. They focus mainly on high quality protection systems on the view of protecting their expensive setup of the industry. Thus, the systems used here will have expensive tools and materials. For a person wishing to start a business in lightning protection system, supplying to industries will be a great option. The frequency of buying or installing will be less, but the profits here will be higher than that of the profits earned in other two segments.

Commercial sectors are further classified into small medium and large sectors. Example, a small company with just 500sq.ft will also require a simple protection system and malls with 10 floors will require a powerful protection system. The concept here is again the level of performance of the protection systems used.

Residential segment is the third category where these protection systems are used. Though there are opportunities for an entrepreneur to sell their systems here, buying frequency is quite less. Not all the owners of residential segment will desire to have a protection system. This exactly means that the need for these systems is not completely understood by the public. But, it is expected that soon the installation of these protection systems will be mandatory and a part of the construction work.

Design your own model

On talking about the opportunities in this specific field, electrical engineers can start their own business in this line. The costs of acquiring whole system can be eliminated if the engineers themselves can design and develop new models of lightning protection systems. Usually, you will think of purchasing the rods, conductors from a seller and then sell it with a minimal margin. But, by devising your own setup, you can earn more profits.  As of now, the number of entrepreneurs operating in this business is quite less and you can use this opportunity to stand in the market as a leader, if your techniques are different from the rest or existing. The count of buyers and sellers of lightning protection systems are almost equal and this situation points that production is basically satisfying the exact demand and is not excess.

Opportunities exist for people who are associated with construction work. You can be a supplier of these protection systems to the civil engineers or architects thereby increasing your chances of selling. Regular contracts can be taken and accordingly systems can be design based on the needs of the user. It is always better to have close contacts with architects and civil engineers while starting a business in this line. This is because, the design of the protection systems greatly depends on the type of construction it is used in.

Role of lightning protection system

A lightning protection system is installed in order to ensure maximum safety. Main idea of this is to prevent the damage that will be caused by the lightning. There is a wrong assumption in the minds of people that these protection systems stop lightning from striking the building. The concept here is that, the systems serve as a support which directs the lightning into the organised conducting paths of the building without any damage. Again, the point here to be noted is that there are chances for the lightning to penetrate into the certain other conducting rods of the building which are merely for a different purpose. These situations can be avoided with the help of lightning protection systems.

How it works?

Making it into simple words, the whole setup tries to redirect or divert the lightning through the setup’s conductors to the ground rather than allowing it to pass through the building. On a scientific context, positive and negative charges play an important role in making this process meaningful.

• There are copper wired structures on the roof of the building and these structures are connected with copper rods under the ground. These ground rods contain positive charges.
• Copper rods are present on the top end of the setup as well. So, the structure goes like this, rods on top of the building connected to ground rods.
• When there is positive charge in the ground, the charges travel through the organised conductors and induce these charges on the top rods.
• The negative charges on the clouds interact with these positive charges and thus the lighting occurred reaches the ground through the conductors as planned.

Equipment used

The equipment used in this system will have variations from each depending on the facilities in the place where it is being installed. Residential places will demand a simpler system with few tools, whereas industries will require large number of operating tools to fix them as desired. The material used decides on the cost too, since aluminium rods are cheaper than copper. But it is advisable to always use copper rods due to their efficiency in conducting capacity. Keeping all that aside, the system comprises of few basic items irrespective of the place and size.

• Copper rods
• Conducting wires
• Ground rods
• Surge protection

Installation procedure

Installation procedure is an added service to your business. If you are a provider of this protection system, the responsibility of installing it is also in your hands. It is always better to have the installation process from your side to avoid complaints from the user due to improper handling by outside workers. In the above section, working of this protection system is clearly given. The installation procedure goes with same, with few technical work.

As a business person, it is more important to choose a right worker for this installation process, since the important stage of the whole process is this. Once you are ready manufacturing the components of the system, allocate people for different stages of work. This is how the procedure of installation works. Make sure that you have labour and tools to meet all the installation needs like drilling, fixing and so on.

If you wish to leave the installation procedure to the user, then your work terminates after manufacturing itself. You will have to enclose a printed note regarding the usage and directions of installation for the person buying it.

Marketing

Every stage of business requires marketing. Marketing is simply not popularising your business, but also a way to strongly register the features of your service in the minds of the user. The past buying frequency of the protection systems stayed less, but in today’s world there is an enormous change in it. Having this, you can start your investment in this targeting the major and most responsive target buyers. These target buyers are the owners of the factories and huge commercial buildings.

Your next option would be residential area where marketing can be done by stimulating the construction contractors to buy from your company. Increase the chances of selling by including offers and additional services at a minimal cost. As already mentioned, the market size is not in a considerable size now, but the opportunities are more.

You as an entrepreneur should plan accordingly to stand out of the crowd showcasing your product as the best. Since this is something which is related to safety, you can give more importance to the reliability of the system. The materials you use to manufacture them should target only one objective, elimination of the destructive character of lightning.

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