Sometimes it takes a shortage to make you appreciate the importance of your suppliers. This is true no matter if you are a consumer trying to replace a non-functioning air conditioner or furnace, or an HVAC contractor trying to get equipment and parts to help your consumer customers.

Shortages impact distributors trying to find sources of products to help their contractors. And manufacturers feel the pinch as they struggle to get the raw materials necessary to build products distributors, contractors, and consumers need.

It’s during such difficult times where working together across the supply chain becomes more important than ever. It’s a time to recognize the power of partnerships.

Why? Because strategic partnerships benefit everyone. There is an old adage that says two heads are better than one. Instead of finger-pointing because consumers are left waiting until equipment orders come in, isn’t it better to work together to help each other solve consumer issues?

For most contractors, especially those dedicated to the high-performance delivery method, their success depends on their ability to find and address consumer comfort issues. They have the consumers’ backs.

For distributors, their mission is to develop a top-flight of contractor customers. Not just contractors who buy a lot of equipment but who install and service it correctly. Doing this helps them to eliminate wasteful callbacks and warranty claims.

In turn, contractors buy more and install more. These distributors have their contractors’ backs.

And manufacturers, who partner to facilitate product delivery, have the distributors’ backs. Manufacturers’ missions are to design the best, most efficient equipment.

They then deliver that equipment in a timely manner into the supply chain. I like to think of this as “Mutually-Assured Success!”

In this Issue

Charting a course toward renewed partnerships and mutually-assured success is the theme of our November 2021 issue.

In our cover story, we talk with two distributor organizations working hard to have their contractors’ back by helping to keep them trained and supplied to the best of their ability. These distributors back up their partnerships by focusing on targeted sales to their regular customers until supply issues clear up.

Read how Behler-Young and Comfort Air are doing these things in Distributors Focus on the Future at ncilink.com/DFoF.

Next, check out our Contractor Spotlight on DiFilippo’s Service at ncilink.com/DWay2. See how loyalty to those who “brung ya to the dance,” pays off for this residential light commercial HVAC company headquartered in Paoli, PA.

And finally, High-Performance HVAC Today Publisher Dominick Guarino shares his thoughts on how the entire HVAC Industry can and should work to get through this crisis together. His One More Thing column can be found at ncilink.com/Together.

Supply chain collaboration and strategic partnerships are fundamental to improving mutually-assured success during both times of crisis and good times.

Working together, the entire HVAC Industry can overcome anything and come out stronger than ever.