Lexington, KY (Oct. 15, 2024) — Big Ass Fans and Lexmark have partnered to deliver the next generation of full-facility comfort for frontline industrial and manufacturing workers with the introduction of Big Ass Fans’ CommandSense, the first-ever fully automated, Internet of Things (IoT)-powered comfort ecosystem designed to reduce heat stress while improving worker safety and lowering energy costs for industrial facilities.
For 25 years, Big Ass Fans has led the industrial comfort industry with premium, innovative products that provide best-in-class comfort in complex environments. Following the hottest summer ever recorded, CommandSense presents a never-before-seen solution for industrial facilities to manage rising temperatures and help meet evolving state requirements for worker safety — all while addressing concerns around cost, infrastructure, and sustainability.
“At Big Ass Fans, our goal is to provide comfort without compromise,” said Ken Walma, president and CEO of Big Ass Fans. “CommandSense represents a new era for this mission. We’re proud to bring this automatic comfort and cooling solution to frontline associates and take worker safety to the next level.”
Powered by Lexmark and Microsoft technology, CommandSense merges Lexmark brains with Big Ass brawn. CommandSense continuously monitors occupancy, humidity, temperature, and other facility conditions to automatically adjust fans, heaters, and ventilation fans for unparalleled comfort control.
“Innovation is so exciting to watch,” said Demetrios Karathanasis, IoT portfolio director for Lexmark. “The Lexmark team is thrilled to provide the foundational technology that has allowed Big Ass Fans to make the leap from manufacturing exceptional products to offering comfort without compromise through CommandSense.”
Each CommandSense system is uniquely designed for its facility, providing customized comfort control for small- to medium-sized manufacturing operations and untapped potential for even larger facilities. Using a proprietary solution composed of edge computing, an IoT platform, environmental sensors, device protocol translation, and other advanced technology, CommandSense delivers fully integrated comfort like never before. In addition to providing unmatched cooling and efficiency, CommandSense also:
- Improves employee morale and productivity by mitigating heat stress by up to 60% and boosting employee productivity by up to 50% when paired with Big Ass fans and heaters.
- Provides robust monitoring and automatic alerts when system components encounter functional errors.
- Uses four times less energy than HVAC and at a fraction of the cost, producing savings up to $1 million over five years.
CommandSense will be available in April 2025. Click here to learn more and to preview the product.
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Big Ass Fans
Bringing industry-leading airflow and energy savings to customers worldwide, Big Ass Fans exists to provide the best, most durable fans to fit any customer’s needs. Big Ass Fans is guided by the high-volume, low-speed (HVLS) airflow concept to make spaces more comfortable and efficient. From factories to homes and everywhere in between, Big Ass fans deliver comfort, style and energy savings that make life and work more enjoyable.
Lexmark
Lexmark creates cloud-enabled imaging and IoT technologies that help customers worldwide quickly realize business outcomes. Through a powerful combination of proven technologies and deep industry expertise, Lexmark accelerates business transformation, turning information into insights, data into decisions, and analytics into action.
