Getting an hvacr program started can be a difficult endeavor. Many instructors can find themselves in the unenviable position of developing a program from the ground up. One such instructor is Scott McClure of Vernon College/Skills Training Center, located in Wichita Falls, TX.
Although the Internet may have changed the way people conduct business, perhaps it hasn't lived up to its expectations. The News decided to ask its Contractor Consultants for their opinions on how the Internet has affected their businesses.
After the bottom fell out of the dot-com industry, service contractors had to look around and assess the damage. This article discusses some portals that survived and continue to provide solid marketing services to hvacr contractors.
York International has come up with a new way for its independent contractors and dealers to promote their products and services: Build-A-Brochure™. According to York, the custom brochure program is part of its 2002 Liberties program, which supports the independent contractor and provides dealers with the same style benefits as Fortune 500 companies.
Thinking like a customer isn’t easy. In fact, it’s so difficult that many companies are unable to do it. Coca-Cola is a classic example. In the mid-1980s, it changed its long-standing formula in an effort to attract younger customers. The public outrage was instant and unyielding. It didn’t take long for the company to give back what it had taken away.
In mid-March, the director of the Office of Pesticide Programs for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an open letter to organizations representing the hvacr community. The letter, signed by director Marcia Mulkey, addressed the EPA’s concern for the use of disinfectants, sanitizers, and other types of antimicrobial products to treat the surfaces of hvacr systems.
The Earth Technologies Forum, an international conference on climate change issues held at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, focused on the solutions that industry can, and is, providing regarding ozone protection and global warming. One important way involves new technology. Two of the biggest hvacr equipment manufacturers introduced significant new chiller technologies to boost efficiency and help protect the environment.
When the International Trade Fair for Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, and Ventilation (IKK) first started 22 years ago, it was most decidedly a refrigeration show. After all, that was what was needed to keep everything from foods to medical supplies useable over long periods of time.
Air conditioning was mainly a matter for human comfort, more popular in the U.S. than Europe. But today air conditioning is a major part of the hvacr equation in Europe.
Some union leaders like to compare the particular relationship that exists between labor and management to a marriage: Both parties are stuck with each other. If that’s true, then the SMWIA-SMACNA Labor-Management Partnership Conference, held recently at Walt Disney World, was marriage counseling.
The history and future of refrigerants filled up Dick Shaw’s seminar at the Air Conditioning Contractors of America’s (ACCA’s) 34th annual conference. Shaw, ACCA’s technical education consultant, presented a discussion on the topic, “Contractors, Are You Ready For the Next Refrigerant Transition?”