Company Profile

Computair was formed in 1980 by Ray Nottage and Nigel Taffs, and since then has been producing bespoke technical software for the HVACR industry. The company is based in the village of Toddington.

The Company was set up and the first contract secured for an Air Handling Unit selection package, which was among the first produced in the world on a micro-computer. The main problem encountered at this time was convincing potential clients that it was possible to achieve the claims of automated selection. Through the years the hardware utilised has developed from PET's through Sirius, Apricot to IBM compatibles.

Computair produces software specifically for manufacturers in the HVACR industry which automates the selection, design and estimation of air movement and heat transfer equipment and associated equipment such as refrigeration, compressors and heat reclaim systems through to CAD, shop floor and production. The software links to existing computer systems such as stock control, or sheet metal nesting.

Because the programme supervisors were engineers who had learned computer programming, the approach has always been to put in first place the needs of the engineer specifying and designing the equipment.

Over the years, Computair has developed (and continues to develop) software modules such as heaters, coolers, humidifiers, heat reclaim, fan selection etc. for the various technical and financial calculations involved and for the handling and presentation of information. (This includes software for the storage and recall of performance information - such as fan curves - often in greater detail than is possible on most selection charts).

The modular approach coupled with experience allows Computair to design a bespoke software package to meet a customers particular needs in a comparatively short time, at a fixed price, following an agreed brief.

For the HVACR customer with a smaller budget who, nevertheless, seeks the benefits of software written by industry specialists, Computair also offers a small range of standard packages covering basic fan selection, heat gains/loss calculations. While unable to include highly specific elements that can be written into a bespoke package, these require the minimum of adaptation to match up with many of the customer's business requirements.

While re-using or adapting existing software modules, Computair may save time and money in developing a particular package, it also gives the company the chance to make firm quotations. Nevertheless, the company is continually undertaking non-invoicable programming, developing new modules and ensuring that existing ones are up to date.

With the development of the WinTADS system, full integration, from the initial estimate, through design, production and manufacture has been achieved.