Winsted, the custom control room consoles furniture company, announced it has acquired a control room consulting and design firm, Design Matters. Together, Winsted and Design Matters will offer consulting services to clients and partners while continuing to manufacture control room consoles and accessories.

“The critical nature of today’s control rooms requires a comprehensive approach to first analyzing and then designing mission critical control rooms,” said Tracy Crocker, CEO of Winsted. “Together Winsted and Design Matters will bring the highest level of support and services to the industry.”

“For 19 years, Design Matters has supported hundreds of clients and projects,” said Steve Whitley, President of Design Matters. “We are thrilled for this next chapter and to work alongside Winsted to bring the best in control room outcomes to all our clients.”

During an audit, control room experts monitor ergonomics, operator fatigue, traffic, lighting, noise, acoustics, screen real estate, operator distraction and technology interaction. After this information is collected, the Design Matters team of consultants provide in-depth analysis and reporting complete with recommendations to help build and design the next generation control room.

“Winsted is dedicated to the development of highly optimized and efficient control rooms. This starts by first understanding the day-to-day challenges in the life of the operator and then developing solutions that ensure the Control Room is operating at peak productivity and efficiency” concluded Crocker. “We are thrilled to welcome Design Matters into the Winsted family.”

Going forward, Design Matters will operate as a separate business unit of Winsted. Steve Whitley will continue as President of Design Matters, which will include the current team of Consultants and Architects.