SAN ANTONIO - Providing training throughout the industry and stepping up alliances with industry associations are high priorities of the Refrigeration Service Engineers Society, according to comments from officials at the association’s 70th Annual Conference and HVACR Technology Expo.

Outgoing International President Harry “Butch” McGuire, incoming President Allan Smith, and Executive Vice President Mark Lowry commented on these and other issues during the five-day event that took place at a hotel just a few blocks from the historic San Antonio Riverwalk.

“RSES will continue to lead the industry in developing and marketing HVACR training and training assets,” McGuire said during the society’s annual business meeting. He said training will focus on “determining marketing demand and feasibility of modularizing manuals, prioritizing the updating of existing training materials, and looking for new training opportunities for 2007-2008 and beyond.”

In material supplied to delegates at the business meeting, it was noted that RSES’ existing courses “will remain as is, but new programs on identified ‘hot topics’ will be developed beginning in 2007-2008 as resources allow.”

Attention was also drawn to RSES’ relationship with North American Technician Excellence (NATE) in which RSES has been providing training designed to help prepare persons taking NATE exams.

It was reported that the existing NATE Certification Guide is being revised. “The revisions will result in separate booklets for release in 2008” covering core training, heat pumps-air conditioning, hydronics such as gas and oil, air distribution, gas and oil heating, and refrigeration.

Regarding new training opportunities, RSES noted:

• Current training materials will be available for sale on PDF, CD, and direct download from the Internet.

• The society will “work directly with manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors to put RSES (offerings) in more customers’ hands.”

• Online training and testing will start in 2008.

• The society will “develop NATE-recognized short sessions for RSES chapters (of which there are 434) for continuing education credit.”

• The relaunching of international-sponsored training seminars, which have been renamed RSES Training Authority Seminars. Fall sessions are focusing on direct digital controls, system optimization, and hot-water boilers.

All of the new initiatives are being made available to the entire HVACR industry beyond RSES members, although some training will probably include a two-tier cost structure with lower costs for members.

Lowry called much of the efforts “strategic shifting” to allow RSES to better serve the industry while still providing specific benefits for its members. In the latter category, Lowry listed banking, credit card, and other financially related matters.

ALLIANCES

In addition to NATE representatives, the San Antonio conference had attendees from Plumbing, Heating, Cooling Contractors (PHCC), Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA), Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI), Affordable Comfort Institute (ACI), and Refrigeration Engineers & Technicians Association (RETA). It was part of RSES efforts to continue, “to form alliances to advance common industry objectives,” according to a statement from the society.

In all, RSES listed working relationships with about a dozen sister associations and said it will be developing additional opportunities.

In a statement, the society said that in late 2006, the National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) “extended member pricing to RSES members on its programs and services.”

In expanded comments regarding NATE, it was reported “cross marketing between the two organizations will expand in 2008 as RSES seeks to train each of the 150,000 technicians targeted to be NATE-certified by 2010.”

IN OFFICE

New President Smith is a retired contractor. In his comments following his being sworn in, he said, “We have set out to establish the finest HVACR online learning system in the world. We have recognized the target and are now aiming for it.”

He noted the Iowa state legislators have signed a bill requiring training, certification, and recertification of HVACR workers and that RSES is trying to get one of its members on the state advisory board and also use the RSES chapter and Iowa State Association meetings as places for the training and certification programs.

He also noted the society’s Educational and Examining Board has completed and published a new safety manual. “It is a super addition to our library,” he said.

In recognition during an awards ceremony, RSES Member of the Year honors went to Robb Isaacs, a retired contractor from Springfield, Ill. Isaacs has been in the industry for 47 years. He worked his way through the elected chairs, assuming the office of president in 2000, after which he was asked to serve as the chief paid executive, the EVP, which he did for six years. It was the first time that transition had happened in the society.

RSES’ Manufacturers Service Advisory Council (MSAC) presented its Member of the Year Award to Danny Moore of Hoshizaki America Inc. The award is presented to a “MSAC member who has accumulated a lifetime of outstanding achievements in advancing the HVACR profession,” according to a statement made at the awards ceremony.

The Most Educational Exhibit Award went for the second year in a row to Hussmann Corp., which this year featured the Hussmann Protocol™ distributed technology refrigeration equipment for supermarkets.

In presenting the award, Mike Eckstein, RSES’ Exhibitors Committee chair, told booth officials, “You have a great piece of equipment there to attract attention. But it was your team’s level of engagement with the attendees that clinched this year’s award.”

RSES also announced that its 71st Annual Conference will be Sept. 16-20, 2008, in Indianapolis.

Publication Date: 10/15/2007