1. Find out what industries the supplier of your temperature controls specializes in.
2. Consider whether your needs include custom design and determine if the supplier can meet those needs.
3. Make sure the sales staff is knowledgeable, available and ready to meet the needs of your application.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Narrow your temperature control supplier search by specification

With the many applications and industries temperature controls are utilized in, you need to limit the possibilities. Find what you need by using online engineering catalog search tools where you can select suppliers by specification.

I recommend: ThomasNet and GlobalSpec are two powerful catalog search tools that make it easy to find what your application requires. ThomasNet lets you narrow your search by geographical area and GlobalSpec narrows your temperature control search by specification, such as input and output number, control technique and signal output. You'll need to register for GlobalSpec, but the process is quick and free.

Determine if your temperature control application requires customization

If you need to find a custom solution for design application, you'll need to be more particular in the supplier or manufacturer you choose. Many suppliers do not have custom capabilities and those that do usually specialize in producing only custom temperature control applications.

I recommend: Chromalox specializes in special and extreme temperature control situations. They have sales specialists world wide ready to meet your custom temperature control needs. Thermalogic creates custom solutions for single and multi zone applications while keeping your bottom line in mind.

Look for superior customer service in a temperature control supplier

When the companies you do business with are easy to work with, keep your goal in mind and provide easy contact with the sales and service departments, you know you've got a great partner. When developing production processes it's nice to build relationships with your suppliers, and with great customer service, you know you've got a winning team.

I recommend: Dwyer Instruments and ISE have easy online ordering systems and quick contact pages for specialized departments. You'll find their online catalogs easy to browse so you can quickly select the temperature control that matches your specifications.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When looking for a temperature control system supplier, pay special attention to where the units are manufactured. Although the quality of many manufacturers overseas has improved in recent years, when you buy domestically manufactured supplies, you keep freight costs low and keep highly qualified workers employed.