Viper Imaging Announces Facility Expansion to Accommodate Growth
A successful pivot at the pandemic onset translates into new opportunities for local company
Birmingham, AL – Viper Imaging today announced the official opening of their new 10,000 square foot office and production facility on Valleydale Road. This business expansion will allow the locally-owned and operated company to continue to meet the growing demand for their thermal imaging systems. A ribbon-cutting ceremony with The Shelby County Chamber of Commerce is scheduled for October 15.
Like many others, Viper is among those businesses that were faced with a choice at the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic. A successful pivot accounts for much of the growth of the company.
Aligning with the company mission of helping promote safety and saving lives, Viper Imaging is producing systems that detect elevated body temperature (EBT). The non-contact screening device uses a FLIR thermal imaging camera to identify elevated body temperature which could be indicative of fever, a symptom of viral infection. The company has proven excellence in the design and implementation of monitoring systems for temperature abnormalities in industrial processes, such as ladles of molten steel or electrical transformer monitoring. That same technology and software is now being utilized as a frontline means of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
“While we are excited about our success throughout 2020, we are even happier with our growing team. Their combined experience, focus and dedication have made us a much stronger company that provides solutions during and after this pandemic, “ shares Viper co-founder Andy Beck. “This translates into dynamic solutions for our customers and a means of helping them in their industrial processes and responses to the increased screening demands.”
At the beginning of March 2020, the Viper team consisted of 11 employees. As of today, they are a diverse and talented team of 28. Over the summer months some temporary help brought that number up to 34, and co-owners Beck and Shannon have no intention of slowing down. They disclosed plans of hiring additional talent for technical support and management. As for sales, Viper has seen growth of more than 300% this year. While body temperature screening systems are certainly a significant portion, Viper is seeing growth in sales for industrial process monitoring – which was the core of their business prior to the pandemic.
After a competitive review process, the Viper EBT system was selected as the Lenovo ThinkIoT Certified System for this application. Viper EBT systems are easy-to-use automated, non-contact solutions. The person to be screened steps in front of the thermal imaging camera, and the pre-configured region of interest measures the temperature of the tear ducts within 2-3 seconds. Thermal data is analyzed by integrated ViperVision software, and screening results are clearly indicated on-screen with green and red pass/fail display and customizable messaging. System design and operation is in accordance with FDA-recommended guidelines.*
Viper’s Elevated Body Temperature detection system has already shown to be an invaluable entry point pre-screening tool in hundreds of settings. As businesses and organizations implement risk mitigation efforts, Viper has received inquiries from a host of different industries. For more information, call (205) 677-3700, click here, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.
Founded in 2014 by Andy Beck and Rich Shannon, Viper Imaging is a FLIR Premium Partner and leading supplier of thermal imaging systems and process monitoring equipment. Viper’s proven systems and software have been installed in a variety of applications for metals, oil and gas, energy production and distribution, industrial automation, and elevated body temperature (EBT) detection.