Lars Brodersen reporting for duty Lars Brodersen carrying out a few minor

adjustments

In Afghanistan wearing a helmet From heating to cooling

and a fragmentation vest

“The air handling systems we supply
to the military were originally used for
heating purposes in cold climates. But
As head of Dantherm Air Handling’s defence segment, with the new post-Cold War global situ-
ation that has developed with NATO sol-
Lars Brodersen has visited Danish soldiers in Afghanistan, diers being sent to hotspots elsewhere
Iraq and other locations where the company’s air handling in the world, we now chiefly supply
air-conditioning systems, for instance
systems are making a huge difference for cooling military tents,” explains Lars
Interview with Lars Brodersen, head of Dantherm Air Handling’s defence segment Brodersen.

Which would you prefer: Being left
out in the burning sun in Chad in the
West African desert, running across the
local air landing strip lugging 42 kg of
luggage in an attempt to catch the last
flight out? Or a nightly two-hour drive
accompanied by a couple of heavily
armed soldiers in a Hummer on the
road from the Kuwaiti border to the city
of Shaiba in the Iraqi province of Basra
– a road where roadside bombs and
terrorist attacks are a regular part of the
night’s unrest?
Most would say no thank you to both.
But that was not an option for Lars
Brodersen when he found himself in
the uncomfortable and risky situa-
tions described above – both of which
had positive outcomes, luckily. These
scenarios were part of his visits to the
soldiers that use air handling systems
from Dantherm Air Handling’s defence
segment on a daily basis.
Lars Brodersen is head of the defence
segment and in recent years, he has
travelled to several hotspots to see for
himself how the equipment works in
the field and to show the soldiers the
best way to use the equipment. One
of his most recent trips took him to
Afghanistan where he spent a couple of
weeks visiting the Danish Camp Bastion
in the Helmand province.
His is undeniably a very different job
than the ones most of us quietly and
comfortably perform at our desks or on
the production line. It is also a striking
example of the diversity of functions
that are found in the Dantherm Group.
“These systems have to be extremely
robust as well as easy to install and
operate, even under the most extreme
weather conditions. And our equip-
ment meets those requirements. We
still sometimes receive fault reports, but
when we look into the matter further,
the system in question almost always
turns out not to be faulty after all.
Instead, the problem is often with the
installation or operation of the system.
All things considered, it isn’t all that sur-
prising since soldiers have very different
professional backgrounds and are not
experts in air handling systems.
“But that doesn’t change the fact that
we prefer to avoid operating errors to
keep the systems functioning optimally.
In Afghanistan, temperatures can easily
reach 55-60 degrees Celsius. So it’s
crucial that the systems can give the sol-
diers the comfort they need in order to
function properly on a daily basis. That
is why when I visit a site like Camp Bas-
tion in Afghanistan, I not only check the
systems, but also instruct the soldiers in
how to use them properly,” explains Lars
Brodersen, who lives with the soldiers
and wears both a helmet and a frag-
mentation vest when he is sent out.

Visits boost credibility

“I always receive a warm welcome when
I visit Danish and other NATO soldiers
stationed around the world. Both pri-
vates and officers appreciate the interest
in their welfare that my visits reflect. Lars Brodersen explaining the optimum use of air conditioners
At the same time, I also acquire useful
knowledge and gain inspiration on how
we can make our systems even better
and more user-friendly.

“Several places I was told by the soldiers

that Dantherm Air Handling is the first
supplier to ever pay visits to them. This is
something which really boosts our cred-
ibility which is particularly important
in the defence sector where personal
relationships between the customer and
the supplier play a much greater role
than in other areas,” says Lars Brodersen,
who admits having been nervous and
tense, but never actually scared on his
visits to the world’s hotspots.
View of the entrance to the camp
“I only go if I think the security situa-
tion is acceptable. Of course, situations
can arise that I would have preferred
to avoid. Such as the nightly drives up
through Iraq. But everything turned out
ok,” concludes Lars Brodersen.
connection 25 2008

The airport runway