hvactoday.comAPRIL 2024 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing! ™ SERVICE Solutions for System Performance ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: • Service Truck Inventory Control • The Power of High-Performance Service Agreements • Key Performance Indicators: Measure, Don’t GuessSERVICE: The Power of High-Performance Service Agreements Contractor Ron Mathias says that performance diagnostics is standard during service. Why? Read this story to find out. DEPARTMENTS APRIL 2024 3HVACTODAY.COM Today’s Word .........................................................................................4 High-Performance Products .............................................................5 NCI Update .........................................................................................23 HVAC Smart Mart ...............................................................................24 Ad Index ................................................................................................25 One More Thing ................................................................................26 10 APRIL 2024 VOLUME 8 NUMBER 4 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM 14 SALES: System Performance Means Selling Solutions, Not Boxes Axel Romero of Crossway Mechanical shares how system performance is changing their business and how it can change yours too. 06 SERVICE: Truck Inventory Control Can Help Increase Billable Hours Bill Kennihan explains how truck inventory helps in- crease productivity and billable hours in his company. MANAGEMENT: KPIs: If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing At Lakeside Service Co., key performance indicators keep John Boylan’s management informed and its personnel motivated. 184 APRIL 2024HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY that is intended to protect the gig economy (Uber and Lift Drivers) from being denied access to benefits and protections received by those who work for companies. The intention is good, but like all government proclamations, it is open to interpretation. The ideas behind it are spreading beyond their intent; thus Rowe’s concern for freelance writers, graph- ics designers, and small, independent businesses. Rowe says, “The idea is to protect the masses from failure. RISK is a four-letter word and fail- ure is not acceptable. Yet, the greater the risk the greater the reward. Is the government trying to change that? Not intentionally.” He adds that this thinking strengthens the idea behind needing college over trade school. “Why can’t all the options be laid out on the ta- ble and let the grown-ups decide what fits best?” Rowe asks. Tradespeople like High-Performance HVAC™ contractors do very well financially. We know that. It requires hard work and continuous edu- cation. More importantly, to attract more young people into this area, it requires young people who are successful in the trades today to tell their success stories. Such storytellers need to be from the right generation. As Rowe says, “This country needs persuasive voices talking in a credible way about the value of all forms of education. It is critical we don’t ignore the part of our workforce that keeps the lights on, the water clean, and our buildings com- fortable and safe.” I couldn’t agree more. Let’s bypass the unin- tended consequences, keep the faith, and find those young people to tell their stories. If you have such people working for you, we’d love to help them share. Please reach out to me at ncil- ink.com/ContactMe. I t is said that there are nine words that form the most terrifying sentence in the English language: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” This political humor is based on the reality of what is known as the fallout from unintended consequences. The consequences of government regulation of- ten negatively impact businesses in the process of trying to help the masses. One of the biggest is the continual push led by federal dollars to ed- ucate our children via four-year colleges versus trade schools. In February 2024, National Comfort Institute CEO Dominick Guarino wrote a column about how it’s time for the HVAC Industry to get serious about rebuilding our workforce. He explains the problems and makes suggestions about what we can do to better support a stronger push for younger people to consider the trades as careers. “The real challenge is increasing awareness of the great opportunities in HVACR. What’s tru- ly unique about our industry is the variety of knowledge that is needed,” he wrote. The problem, as I see it, is that this is an up- hill battle. Today most high-school counselors still emphasize how four-year colleges are the key to future success and rarely talk about the ca- reers and income students can earn working in the trades. They don’t address how the trades can help students avoid the crazy debt they’ll accu- mulate going to college. I saw an interesting podcast recently where Glen Beck interviewed Mike Rowe about the is- sue of unintended consequences. The interview is called, “This “MIND-BOGGLING” Attack on Freelancing Has Mike Rowe Sounding the Alarm.” During that discussion, Beck and Rowe talk about a federal “act” called The Labor Pro Act Keeping the Faith in the Age of Unintended Consequences TODAY’S WORD By Mike Weil Mike Weil is editor- in-chief and director of communications and publications at National Comfort Institute, Inc. Contact him at ncilink. com/ContactMe.APRIL 2024 5HVACTODAY.COM going up to 10,000 PPM. I love this be- cause it adds more confidence when the detector goes off. Additional screen display features in- clude % LEL (Lower explosive limits) and % VOL (the percentage of air volume). Sauermann states that this instrument can detect most combustible gas. I have tested the Si CD3 on refrigerant, pro- pane, natural gas, car exhaust, cigarette smoke, and methane! Don’t ask how I tested that last one! The Si CD3 detect- ed all of them. Oh, one more thing: Sauermann cal- ibrates, adjusts, and maintains their in- struments to guarantee a constant level of measurement quality. They recom- mend an annual checkup to make sure the Si CD3 is totally accurate. If you’re in the market for a new gas leak detector, I highly recommend you try out the Sauermann Si CD3. You won’t regret it. For more information on Sauer- mann’s Si CD3 gas leak detectors , visit ncilink.com/sicd3 . — Casey Contreras, NCI Instructor Sauermann Si CD3 Gas Leak detector I’ve had my fair share of leak detectors, but they haven’t come close to the Sau- ermann Si CD3 . Most leak detectors use audio and visual (a colored scale) indica- tors to pinpoint gas and refrigerant leaks. The Sauermann Si CD3 is a smaller handheld detector with a flexible stain- less probe measuring 13 inches. It re- quires four AAA batteries, which should last for 20 hours. The Si CD3 also has a backlight func- tion and an audible alarm to notify the user of a gas leak. The best part about this instrument is its parts per million display. Unlike many other gas leak detectors, this one shows parts per million starting at one PPM and HIGH-PERFORMANCE PRODUCT REVIEW Written by HVAC Professionals for HVAC Professionals6 APRIL 2024HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY us go through one of our service trucks to inventory it correctly and enter it into ESP. After that, we added all our HVAC trucks to it. Now, when my guys are out on a service call and use a stock item from their truck — like a ca- pacitor — they press a button on the mobile app, which deletes the item from the truck invento- ry, then flags our management team to reorder that part from R.E. Michel, who delivers that part back to us the next day. We have a bin in our dock area for each HVAC truck, and R.E. Michel puts the replacement in- ventory in each bin. There’s no excuse for not having that or any part in that truck. In addition, my techs no longer waste time driving to the distributor to get parts, increasing their time efficiencies and productivity. WHY TRUCK INVENTORY MANAGEMENT IS VITAL Though this setup is specific to R.E. Michel, many systems are out there to help you manage truck inventory. If you are currently eyeballing it or leaving it up to the techs, you open the door to wasted time, which costs you money. I think the worst thing a technician can say to a customer is that they don’t have a part and will have to come back. That opens the door for an unhappy customer who may decide to use a dif- ferent company next time. Nobody wants to lose a customer like that when it can be easily avoided by having a truck invento- ry control system. Here are a few reasons why truck inventory management is so important: z Efficiency: A properly stocked service truck ensures technicians have the necessary parts and tools readily available, reducing downtime and A well-stocked HVAC service truck can make all the difference between a smooth operation and frequent set- backs. For years, we tried to get our arms wrapped around the most efficient and ben- eficial way to keep tabs on the inventory of our service and installation trucks. We struggled with this for a long time. One of our best moves was to partner with our distributor — the R.E. Michel Co. – for inven- tory management. Their proprietary inventory software — ESP — has helped our technicians be more productive. In fact, with R.E. Michel’s help, our efficiencies increased to the point that we get one extra call per day per tech! When we opted into the ESP Inventory Management Solution, R.E. Michel helped Service Truck Inventory Control Increases Your Billable Hours By Bill Kennihan SERVICE Using R.E .Michel’s ESP Inventory Management System, Kennihan Plumbing and Heating has seen real growth in their billable service hours.APRIL 2024 7HVACTODAY.COM here is what we learned regarding the steps necessary to get an inventory management system in place: z Assess Your Needs: This means thoroughly assessing your typical ser- vice calls and maintenance tasks to identify the most frequently used parts and tools. You should write it down. Then, decide how many items must be stocked on the truck based on the season. We did this by going back two or three years and looking at what we used the most in the heating and cooling season. zCreate an Inventory Check- list: Based on what we discovered in our assessment, we developed a com- prehensive inventory checklist, in- cluding essential parts, tools, and con- sumables per truck. Categorize items based on their frequency of use and criticality for day-to-day operations. Another thing: we took an extra step and asked the techs themselves what they wanted in the truck that we may have missed. zEstablish Replenishment Procedures: This is where R.E. Mi- chel’s ESP program shines. If you ar- en’t using ESP, you should set up a system for monitoring inventory lev- els and reordering supplies when stock reaches predetermined levels. You can use inventory management software or manual tracking methods to keep accurate records of usage and replenishment needs. zOrganize Each Service Truck: Optimize the layout of your service truck to maximize space and accessi- bility. We try to store frequently used items in easily accessible compart- ments or shelves while storing less fre- quently used items in secondary stor- age areas. zCreate a Quality Control Pro- cess: This isn’t as difficult as it may sound. It means your tech or service manager regularly checks inventory for damage, expiration dates (if ap- plicable), and overall condition. We learned that it’s important to rotate stock to ensure we use older items first, reducing waste. z Training and Communica- tion: You should train technicians on best inventory management prac- tices and maintaining a well-stocked service truck. Your distributor may be able to help with this. Encourage open communication between technicians and management regarding inventory needs and any challenges encountered in the field. HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS Our field service and installation teams measure static pressure and system performance on every call. We follow the standards taught by Na- tional Comfort Institute (NCI), and increasing efficiency. zCustomer Satisfaction: Time- ly repairs and installations are crucial for customer satisfaction. The right inventory enables technicians to com- plete jobs promptly and effectively. zCost Effectiveness: Avoiding un- necessary trips to suppliers saves both time and money. With proper inven- tory management, you can minimize overhead costs associated with emer- gency orders and rush deliveries. I believe inventory management makes decision-making on many levels a lot easier. It enables us to dispatch the right tech to a job and not worry that they might not have what they need to finish it. Inventory management helps us make purchase decisions. It helps us measure productivity. THINGS DON’T ALWAYS GO AS PLANNED We all know that not every job ev- ery day goes as planned. In those cas- es where a tech doesn’t have the right part or tool on their truck, we do have a plan B. Depending on where the technician is and how soon they need that part, one of our managers will jump in a truck, get it from the distributor, and deliver it to that technician. Before truck inventory manage- ment, we used to have several “parts runners” going back and forth from jobs to the distributor. Since we don’t need as many runners now, we took those people and trained them into maintenance techs or even service techs over time. WHAT WE LEARNED By going through this process — again, with the help of R.E. Michel — 8 APRIL 2024HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY SERVICE truck inventory is essential for opti- mizing efficiency, enhancing customer satisfaction, and controlling costs in the HVAC service industry. I believe that if you follow the guidelines out- lined here and regularly evaluate and adjust your inventory management practices, you can ensure your service team is equipped to handle any job that comes their way. MEASURING SUCCESS One last thought: by controlling our truck inventory, we could change how we stage jobs each morning. With R.E. Michel’s ESP, we can get our HVAC techs in by 7 a.m. and out by 8, then bring in our plumbing techs. Before understanding the inventory of trucks, we tried to stage everything together, and it was complete madness. As I stated at the beginning of this article, one of the most significant benefits of truck inventory manage- ment is that we’ve improved produc- tivity so much that we can get one ex- tra job per tech per day. We measure success by using billable hours as a key performance indicator. And we are seeing that number increase. Maintaining proper HVAC service equip them with the tools necessary to succeed. With that in mind, here is what we want on every truck: zNCI analyzer kit that includes a Testo digital static pressure manom- eter, probes, test port installation kit, and test port plugs z For air conditioning, they need solid electronic charging gaug- es. I’ve found that most of these work well, so I let the techs choose and buy the ones they prefer z Water pressure gauges: We provide this so they can check water heaters and boilers. We love the NCI kit as well as all the training that NCI provides. The training and tools we’ve ac- quired from NCI truly helped me and my team turn the business around. Bill Kennihan owns Kennihan Plumbing and Heating in Valen- cia, PA. The company is considered an energy specialist in their mar- keting area. High-Per- formance testing is a cornerstone of their business. Contact Bill at ncilink.com/ContactMe.Next >