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By Joanna R. Turpin of The News Staff

     MADISON HEIGHTS, MI -

Tom Blake, a former national sales marketing manager for Detroit Radiant Products, purchased International Radiant Inc. in 1988.

Most commercial buildings rely on
traditional heating systems to keep occupants comfortable. Depending on the size of the application, those traditional systems might include boilers, forced-air furnaces, heat pumps, or rooftop units.
     But what about the unusual applications, or those buildings that are hard to heat? Perhaps they aren't conducive to ductwork or a more traditional system.
     That's when International Radiant gets involved. The company specializes in heating unique applications, including stadiums, warehouses, car dealerships, and ice rinks. The company bills itself as a stocking buy-sell representative, and it specializes in gas-fired infra-red heating products. With an engineering bent, employees at International Radiant also specialize in helping contractors design and install overhead gas-fired infra-red heating systems for commercial applications.

HOW IT BEGAN
     International Radiant Inc. was originally founded in 1955 under the name of International Infra-Red Inc. In 1988, it was purchased by Thomas M. Blake, who was then national sales and marketing manager for Detroit Radiant Products Co. Since then, the entire Blake family has become involved in building the company.
     International Radiant started as a supplier of energy-efficient gas-fired infra-red heating systems for commercial, industrial, and agricultural buildings located throughout the greater Detroit area. In recent years, the company has added energy-efficient industrial heating and ventilating lines. This includes direct- and indirect-fired gas make-up air units and space heaters, air rotation systems, industrial exhaust-supply fans and louvers, and vehicle exhaust fume-removal systems.
     The company now sells to contractors all over the state of Michigan and northwestern Ohio and has become successful by focusing on a specific niche.
     "We've grown into specialty heating by being good at what we do and not handling a lot of products,"' says Blake. Specifically, the company sells the "Re-Verber-Ray" product line, which is manufactured by Detroit Radiant Products, as well as make-up air equipment manufactured by Rupp Air Management.
     The specialty applications the company caters to include skating rinks, car dealerships, warehouses, factories, pole barns, aircraft hangars, and agricultural applications. "There's also a big application for our products in pig and chicken brooding," says Blake. "Car washes are another big area, and we have special stainless steel heaters for a car wash's highly corrosive conditions."
     One of the more interesting applications involved installing infra-red heaters for the salt baths for several automakers in Detroit. The drivers at the test tracks drive the vehicles through a salt, water, and dirt mixture. These baths are covered by a tent with open ends. Infra-red heaters are positioned inside the tent to keep the mixture from freezing.
     The only place where International Radiant's products won't be found is in the residential market. They do sell some radiant heaters for residential garages, but that's about the extent of it.