Plumbing NewsPlumbing & Mechanical Contractor

Watts opens new Watts Works Learning Center

Watts Water Technologies executives, including CEO and President Bob Pagano (with scissors), participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the company’s new Watts Works Learning Center in North Andover, Mass. Photo courtesy of Watts Water Technologies.

Watts Water Technologies held a grand-opening celebration in late April for its new Watts Works Learning Center, housed in the company’s corporate headquarters in North Andover, Mass.

The grand opening was attended by Watts’ manufacturers representatives from across the country, local industry representatives, members of the industry trade media and Watts’ employees.

“Eighteen months ago we heard the voice of the customer loud and clear,” Watts Water Technologies Vice President of Marketing Chris Jamieson said. “This is an opportunity for us to engage contractors, distributors and engineers in training and learning about our company in a state-of-the-art facility.”

The training center covers 12,000 sq. ft., and features a plethora of educational components, including a training classroom that either can function as three separate classrooms with 18 students each or one large classroom/assembly area.

Outside the classroom are various displays of working Watts products and systems. A wet lab allows customers to handle and troubleshoot backflow and valve products, while just a few feet away are six areas dedicated to different HVAC applications Watts products can be used in. Those six areas include a residential mechanical room; a residential hydronic zone; a commercial mechanical zone; a hydronic zone installation; a snow-melting mechanical room; and an electric radiant installation area.

The training center will offer two levels of instruction to customers — a two-to-three-day intensive course on a specific product, such as backflow preventers, and another aimed at the customer getting to know the Watts company better, which would also involve visiting the Watts lead-free foundry in nearby Franklin, N.H.

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Mike Miazga (former group editorial director for BNP Media’s Plumbing Group) is now the vice president of sales/membership at the American Supply Association (ASA). Supply House Times is proud to be the official publication and brand of the ASA — a relationship that spans more than a decade.

Mike’s relationship with BNP Media and the Plumbing Group continues today. He now writes a monthly ASA-focused column for Supply House Times and acts as an editorial consultant to BNP Media’s Plumbing Group.

In his 10-plus years at BNP Media, Miazga was senior editor of Plumbing & Mechanical and PM Engineer before taking over chief editor duties at Supply House Times in 2011. In addition to his role as editorial director, Miazga continued as Supply House Times chief editor and the editor of the American Supply Association’s PVF Outlook eNewsletter. He also enjoyed three stints as PM Engineer’s chief editor, holding dual roles as Supply House Times and PM Engineer chief editor on two occasions.

Miazga started his career in newspapers at the age of 19 and has more than 25 years of newsroom, management, editorial and public/media relations experience, and is a former high-school baseball and golf head varsity coach. Mike and his family are still based out of the Chicago area (with ASA Headquarters in Itasca, Illinois). You can reach Mike at PlumbingGroup89@gmail.com.