• Service – You can talk to a factory engineer in seconds
• Quality Product – High performance, safe units
• Faster Response – You deal directly with the factory, which saves time
• Stability – APT has been in business since 1984 under the same ownership
• Field tested and proven products with over $250 million sold to the new construction bid market

Surge is all we do. We are privately held and debt-free. We were set up at the get-go to better serve engineers, supply distribution and end-users. Where mega-conglomerates tend to report to shareholders, we report to customers. Examples:

• Larger product selection to ensure that we offer what you need.
• Oddball voltages & less common applications – some companies offer only mainstream products. APT is a specialty manufacturer and offers a full line of products.
• Where Wall Street dictates high inventory cycles that produce out-of-stock situations, we enjoy ‘Just-In-Case’ inventory. This helps when you need something tomorrow instead of 6-8 weeks.

Yes, if you would like a sounding board on various issues, please contact us. APT Sales Engineers are uncommissioned and here solely to support specifying engineers. We will explain the facts as written in standards and let you make your own decisions & conclusions. Caveat emptor. With respect to vapor, if you can’t see or touch the technology, then it’s probably vapor being hidden under the context of ‘proprietary technology’.

By having the entire operation in one building, we control the process more efficiently. We are not paying debt-service, nor paying Division or Corporate margins, overrides & adders. That reduces our burdens and allows us to include more content in products.

Yes, we can offer a boilerplate specification that provides honest & open competition. We can also comment on your specification.

We have a long term approach and believe that we will get our share of business in an open competitive market. Consequently, we do not promote spec gadgets or specmanship issues. We focus on substance: high performing, safe products.

As a generalization, in the USA, we market direct from the factory. That allows us to control our marketing, which is beneficial in at least two ways:

• Reps are difficult to manage and range from weak, to great, to overzealous. Weak reps don’t get the job done and overzealous reps are arguably blamed for most of the misleading marketing in this industry. As long as reps produce sales, surge manufacturers tend to plead ignorance, saying reps are independent and outside manufacturer control. In our opinion, this is short-sighted. As reality sets in, customers are becoming more savvy and the industry continues to mature. The ‘overhype’ business models are failing and various surge manufacturers are being sold, consolidated, collapsed or losing market share.
• It became obvious years ago that gear companies would play a large role in surge. APT strategically moved to align with gear companies and OEM for them, including technical support. Having a field rep interfering with a gear rep did not make any sense. Consequently, APT markets from the factory to avoid undue interference in the field.
• As TVSS/SPD continues becoming mainstream, we believe that the role of TVSS/SPD field reps will fade. These devices are not field adjustable or tunable. Any electrician can install them correctly. Service consists of installation and/or identifying the root problem and replacing affected components. In such cases, factory engineers should be consulted anyway. As surge keeps progressing into the mainstream, more of the ‘mystique’ will fade away. In turn, as reps’ margins are squeezed, their interest will fade too. By our maintaining a strong centralized service presence, we believe that you and your customers benefit.

Yes, APT uses UL as our certification agency. Please check our files at www.UL.com.

Yes. UL 1449 is the TVSS/SPD safety standard. However, there is a separation between groups that write standards and groups that certify to those standards. Other labs can evaluate and certify TVSS/SPDs to the UL 1449 standard. Until recently, most suppressors were listed by UL. As changes to UL 1449 become more strenuous and testing becomes more costly, some surge manufacturers are using non-UL certification labs to meet the UL 1449 standard.

APT believes that UL’s certification is the most meticulous and most difficult. Be aware that UL issues internal certification decisions whereby they are known to investigate various matters beyond the written text of the UL standard. This can make UL certification substantially more rigorous. Consequently, this is one reason why some manufacturers are electing non-UL certification. We believe that UL certification is more rigorous and more desirable.