The Career Development Committee chose the Pittsburg State University chapter as its Student Chapter of the Year. The chapter was selected based on how well it promotes an understanding of the mechanical industry and the career opportunities we offer. In addition to a trophy, Student Chapter representatives accepted a $3,000 check.
This year’s Educator of the Year award went to Blake Wentz of the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The award, which included a check for $5,000, honored his mentoring ability, industry knowledge and involvement, as well as his active participation in MCAA’s Student Chapter program activities.
Lindsey Stasi, a sophomore at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Madelyn Conway, a junior at Purdue University, received $5,000 Ferguson – Women in the Mechanical Industry Scholarships. For the first time, Ferguson is underwriting these scholarships, which recognize high-achieving female students working towards a degree relative to the mechanical industry. To mark this new partnership, the scholarships were presented by Todd Young, Vice President, Commercial Business at Ferguson and Kori Gormley Huppert, Chair of Women in the Mechanical Industry.
MCERF announced the recipients of four MCERF Scholarships created to honor the industry leaders they are named after. The students receiving these scholarships were selected by our Career Development Committee for their academic performance, leadership skills, interest in developing a career in the mechanical industry, work ethic and technical abilities.
Madison Beauchain from the Wentworth Institute of Technology, took home the Foster J. McCarl, Jr. Memorial Scholarship. Shawn McCarl of S.P. McCarl & Company, the scholarship sponsor, presented the check for $2,500.
Caleb Kowalski from the University of Nebraska took home The William A. Bianco, Jr. Memorial Scholarship sponsored by Kinetics. Kinetics Executive Vice President Global Operations Michael Cables, an MCAA past president, was on hand to present the $5,000 check.
Thomas Walsh from the University of Missouri-Columbia, received The Reilly Family Memorial Scholarship. Robert Beck and John Stamar of John W. Danforth Company, the scholarship’s sponsor, presented the check for $5,000.
Brooke Scott from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and Jarrod Blaser from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln took home The Alan O’Shea Memorial Scholarship. Kevin Armistead and Marty Drobny, representing MCA of New Jersey, the scholarship’s sponsor, were on hand to present the $2,500 checks.
MCAA president Mike Brandt and CNA construction segment director Mark Wilke presented five MCAA/CNA Safety Excellence Awards at MCAA19 in Phoenix. The participating firms were judged on the quality of their safety programs, innovative safety initiatives, and overall safety performance in 2018. The awards were presented at the March 6, 2019 Awards of Excellence Breakfast in front of twelve hundred attendees. The award winners are:
MCAA congratulates all the winners for their remarkable achievements.
During the Student Chapter Exhibit at MCAA19, students from top schools showcased their chapters’ successes and discussed internship and job opportunities with member companies. The connections don’t end there. Members can visit www.MCAAGreatFutures.org for year-round access to student resumes and chapter profiles. Be sure to take advantage of the website’s new job board feature to post job openings, with exclusive access to student chapter members!
Contractors continued to build relationships with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council while they explored products and services that can help them significantly increase productivity and bottom-line results. In addition to exhibiting at the Annual Manufacturer/Supplier Council Exhibit, our supplier partner members will participate throughout MCAA19, and at many of our other events throughout the year.
Justin Azbill of J.C. Cannistraro is the first recipient of the new MILWAUKEE TOOL Safety Professional of the Year Award. In presenting the award, Bill Hughes of MILWAUKEE TOOL said, “The incredible present-day emphasis on safety in the mechanical construction industry helped us realize the need to recognize the safety and health professionals that actually make the safe workplaces happen.” The award will be presented annually to the most deserving safety professional in the industry.
The first day of MCAA19 offered a wealth of education, from leadership and confidence-building to business growth and exit strategies. Members discovered new business opportunities and learned how to protect themselves from ever-present online threats. The Student Chapter Competition rounded out the day by providing a glimpse of the talent waiting to join our industry.
MCAA President Michael A. Brandt opened MCAA19, saying, “MCAA is what it is today because we have made it that way TOGETHER. And we have gathered here in Phoenix…at the largest MCAA convention EVER…to celebrate our accomplishments this past year and to renew our commitment to each other and to our industry.” The convention’s Opening General Session on March 4, 2019, highlighted MCAA’s initiatives. NBA Legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s interactive presentation embraced the IMAGINE theme and encouraged students to find mentors. Another unforgettable president’s video rounded out the session.
MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
Participating companies highlight and link to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest. Here are just a few of the recent additions:
SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc.
A closed-loop Fluid Cooler that boosts thermal performance and expands dry operation capabilities at higher ambient temperatures – that’s the new Marley® DT Fluid Cooler with finned coils.
Wade Drainage Products
Find many more smart solutions in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show!
Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website to learn how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with cost-saving and productivity-enhancing applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!
MCAA’s long-time partner in safety CNA has extensive expertise in fleet and driver safety. The firm is sharing distracted driving prevention solutions with MCAA, including a guide on limiting driver distractions from cell phone use, and a bulletin introducing small business (bSafeMobile) and large business (FleetSafer) technology solutions for distracted driving prevention. Both solutions help reduce the number of vehicle accidents by eliminating a leading cause of crashes; driver distractions from the use of smart phones while driving.
MSCA headed to Vegas March 3-5, 2019 for the National HVACR Educators and Trainers Conference. The annual conference hosted hundreds of individuals involved in educating and training the HVACR workforce. This year’s conference schedule offered nearly seventy lecture-based, and hands-on sessions to introduce, teach and reinforce, at all levels, the concepts, theories and methodologies on which the building sciences rely. It was a great opportunity for MSCA to get in front of the instructors that are laying the foundation for our industry’s future workers.
MSCA exhibited Sunday and Monday as well as hosted the “Creating Career Opportunities for HVACR Graduates” session on Sunday evening. We had a great attendance and shared why it is so valuable for students to be employed by an MSCA company after graduation. It is beneficial to students as well as our members for instructors to truly understand the limitless career opportunities and benefits, from free continuing education, higher than average wages and benefits and the opportunity to work at some amazing customer facilities, for those students that are placed with MSCA member companies post graduation.
Fair or foul weather, driving always presents hazards. But winter months curse drivers with conditions that are far different than those they face during the summer. CNA offers these tips for safe winter driving and being prepared for emergencies on the road.
Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website! You’ll see how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with productivity-enhancing and cost-saving applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
Plus, you’ll find tips and ideas on other ways you and your company can save money and enhance your productivity.
It’s all about relationship building at MCAA. Our Manufacturer/Supplier Council members are members of our association and participate in many events. Their
executives build deep and lasting relationships with many of our contractor members. So, look for them throughout MCAA19, not just at the exhibit, and at many of our other events throughout the year. Take the time to get to know them and learn how they can help you significantly increase productivity and bottom-line results.
What’s new? What’s different? What works best for my business? Discover the answers to these questions at the Annual Manufacturer/Supplier Council Exhibit while you explore the latest products and services offered by MCAA’s supplier partners. MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council members will be available to discuss your experiences with their products and services at this sold-out exhibit. See who will be there…
If you’d like to learn more about all of our Manufacturer/Supplier Council members, our Buyer’s Guide has you covered.
Connect with participating companies for highlights and links to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest.
Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website to learn how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with cost-saving and productivity-enhancing applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!
MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show connects our contractor members with the members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
Participating companies highlight and link to new products, product lines, services, solutions or web pages of particular interest. Here are just a few of the recent additions:
Jay R. Smith Mfg. Co.® a Member of Morris Group International
The snow’s not over and rainy season is on the way. Help your clients avoid costly roof damage or collapse by sharing our roof drain maintenance tips.
Anaco-Husky
Follow the Leader, choose Husky SD 4000 Heavy Duty Couplings. Visit our website and check out the new members of the Husky family.
Find many more smart solutions in MCAA’s Virtual Trade Show!
Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website to learn how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with cost-saving and productivity-enhancing applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
This section of our website also includes tips and ideas to help your company save money and enhance your productivity. Don’t miss it!
To meet new, stricter Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) standards for how much silica dust workers could inhale, McGilvray Mechanical partnered with MILWAUKEE TOOL to implement productivity-focused dust collection solutions. “At a time when many manufacturers were still trying to figure out how to address this standard, the MILWAUKEE team was very knowledgeable with regard to the new requirements and were able to apply their knowledge of our business to their offered solution,” said Kurt Lewis, director of operations at McGilvray.
Visit the Smart Solutions Case Studies area of our website! You’ll see how other mechanical contractors found their win-win with productivity-enhancing and cost-saving applications from members of MCAA’s Manufacturer/Supplier Council.
Plus, you’ll find tips and ideas on other ways you and your company can save money and enhance your productivity.
To meet new, stricter Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) standards for how much silica dust workers could inhale, McGilvray Mechanical partnered with MILWAUKEE TOOL to implement productivity-focused dust collection solutions. “At a time when many manufacturers were still trying to figure out how to address this standard, the MILWAUKEE team was very knowledgeable with regard to the new requirements and were able to apply their knowledge of our business to their offered solution,” said Kurt Lewis, director of operations at McGilvray.
For McGilvray, the OSHA standard on silica dust is not just a legal priority—it is a moral one. “We’re not doing this simply because its expected of us now,” said Lewis. “We’re doing this because it’s right.”
McGilvray Mechanical, based in Pompano Beach, FL, has been a leading provider of commercial mechanical HVAC services in southern Florida for more than 60 years. McGilvray—along with 676,000 other employers nationwide—faced stricter standards for dust management beginning September 23, 2017.
OSHA sought to bring worker protections to the forefront with its construction standard on respirable crystalline silica, 29 CFR § 1926.1153. Silica is found in materials like concrete, tile, rock, stone, and brick. Exposure to silica dust can be a major cause of lung cancer, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and kidney disease.
OSHA has spent the past year ensuring that the final rule is followed, even making room for “good faith” efforts by employers if they show that they are on track toward compliance. However, many construction companies have faced steep fines. In the first six months after the standard went into effect, OSHA found 117 violations, 80 percent of which were considered “serious.”
While the cost associated with arming workers with the tools they need to be compliant has often been steep, companies like McGilvray understand that the long-term protection is priceless. As soon as OSHA announced the standard in 2016, McGilvray began making sure they met the best interests of their workers.
“Because we have a workforce of more than 65 doing a wide range of commercial mechanical work, along with the implementation our new retrofit service division, we knew the recently implemented standard would impact our workforce in their daily activities, so we spent a significant amount of time making sure we did it right,” said Lewis.
The company performed numerous trainings and assessments to ensure employees were informed of the hazards associated with respirable silica, and leadership educated themselves on the specific tasks in the workplace that could result in exposure and how to implement compliance methods that protect employees.
“It was a comprehensive undertaking which did not take away from the most important goal of keeping our greatest resource—our employees—safe,” said Lewis.
Key to all of this was making compliance as simple as possible by partnering with MILWAUKEE TOOL, the global leader in heavy-duty jobsite solutions for the construction trades. Its productivity-focused dust collection solutions help make compliance simple for companies and their workers, so they can stay focused on their work.
“I simply told them what we needed, and they met this need by outfitting our team with solutions that made compliance easy,” said Lewis. “Throughout the entire process they offered the consultation, training, and support to successfully achieve our operational staff safety goals.”
McGilvray made their compliance seamless by using MILWAUKEE’s HAMMERVAC™ Dedicated Dust Extractors in conjunction with their current M18 FUEL™ 1-1/8″ SDS Plus Rotary Hammers. These extractors are compliant with OSHA Table 1 and use the same replaceable certified HEPA filter as other HAMMERVACS, which filter 99.97 percent of all particles greater than 0.3 micrometers. Making the transition even easier, these tools feature an inline, dedicated design engineered to directly connect to and be powered by the tool, and they are fully compatible with the wide range of M18™ tools the McGilvray team already uses in their work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7IvkOzuPDw
McGilvray was also introduced to MILWAUKEE’s new DUST TRAP™ Drilling Shroud—the first OSHA compliance solution that meets objective data requirements without the use of a vacuum. This universal accessory gave the McGilvray team the flexibility to remain compliant even when not using the HAMMERVACS.
“With the availability of these tools, which eased our implementation transition, we gained peace of mind that our employees weren’t being exposed to dust during our critical drilling applications, while allowing us to provide a safer work environment and leading compliance in south Florida,” stated Lewis.
For more information, visit www.milwaukeetool.com. MCAA thanks MILWAUKEE TOOL for being a benefactor of MCAA19, sponsoring the Tuesday night reception, and co-sponsoring the dessert party.
Indoor Environmental Services (IES) of California adopted XOi Vision technology, paired with Key2Act’s MobileTech, to provide technicians with an easy platform for capturing video and photos on the jobsite and sharing that content with customers. That investment has yielded many unexpected returns, including reducing the lead time for sales follow-up on field-originated opportunities from two weeks to one or two days.
IES is a full-service facilities solution provider that serves business clients throughout California. The company specializes in mechanical contracting, including HVAC, energy projects, and both retrofit and new construction plumbing. About 170 employees work in the field, 60 of which are dedicated to the service business, doing repair, maintenance, and warranty work.
In the busy world of California commercial real estate, many building owners and property managers do not work onsite. IES wanted to distinguish itself from other reputable mechanical contracting competitors by offering clients a higher level of value and transparency through video and photo documentation from the jobsite.
IES had used Key2Act MobileTech field service management for roughly five years when they decided to add an integrated video communication platform. IES leaders met with fellow Key2Act customer MacDonald Miller and learned about their real-world results with XOi Vision.
Jason Saunders, service operations manager for IES, said XOi was a good fit for IES and very easy to implement. The integration of XOi with MobileTech made it easy for IES’ technicians to use the video component that XOi offered—even for those challenged by mobile technology.
IES immediately saw the value of streaming data quickly to their end-customers. Customers appreciate seeing what is happening on the roof. Many have not been trained in the mechanical trades and have trouble understanding components on a quote. “If we can show them rather than tell them, it gives them a nice verification,” explained Service Manager Eric Yocum. “We’ve had some customers tell us right away that they want video on every future work order.”
As a result of using XOi Vision, IES’ clients’ perceptions of the value of mechanical services has increased. IES has also seen improved workflows throughout the organization, resulting in greater efficiency. “It’s a great platform to standardize certain processes, to share information, to show value to clients. It’s a very powerful tool,” said Yocum.
With the technology, IES has helped property managers provide better documentation to offsite supervisors and building owners. Saunders said, “We’re capturing XOi content—physical video, pictures—onto quotes, which has expedited how fast those quotes are approved. We seem to get less contested quotes, less questions.”
Although they initially purchased XOi to help technicians, IES decided to roll out XOi to the entire service side of the business—about 60 technicians, plus supervisors, sales, and safety coordinators. “I think there’s potential to use it throughout the organization, including the construction, estimating, and engineering teams,” said Saunders. Increased customer transparency, more efficient workflows and processes, standardized lead-handling workflow, expedited customer quote acceptance, and new training material are just some of the benefits already realized by IES.
XOi also helps IES manage jobs far from the office. The company can send a single employee to a jobsite hundreds of miles away but still enable the project manager and foreman to participate live in the site walkthrough as well as record it for further review.
Both Saunders and Yocum agree that one of the most useful features of XOi is the ability to streamline processes by building role-based workflows. “The ability to create your own workflows and processes has turned out to be one of the things we like the most about XOi. I can write a workflow for anybody in our organization in 15 minutes,” said Yocum.
IES has used XOi to standardize its lead process, cutting out two layers of managerial review from the technician-originated lead workflow and routing video content directly to the sales manager. This has reduced lead follow-up time from one to two weeks down to just one or two days.
“There are a lot of lead opportunities and unit replacement opportunities as a result of being able to show customers the condition of their assets,” Yocum pointed out.
XOi has also helped IES eliminate most of the work involved with data collection from field service calls. “From the minute we open the door until close, my team doesn’t have to collect data, attach data to a service call. It’s done for them,” said Saunders.
“XOi Vision has been a very versatile product…. It has got many uses other than Mr. Technician and helping him with a service call,” noted Saunders.
For more information, visit www.xoi.io.
Thanks to careful planning, prefabrication, and easy-to-install Marley NC cooling towers from SPX Cooling Technologies Inc., Integrated Facility Services (IFS) replaced two large wooden cooling towers with two new steel cooling towers at a St. Louis, MO, government building while keeping the chiller system operational throughout to avoid disrupting essential county government services. The $1-million cooling tower replacement project received the Outstanding Mechanical Installation Award from the Mechanical Contractors Association of Eastern Missouri.
The Louis K. Roos County Government Building houses St. Louis County’s government administration offices. Located in the busy Clayton, MO, business district, it includes the offices of the St. Louis County Executive. To minimize disruption, the cooling tower hoisting and setting onto the roof was accomplished on two Saturdays.
IFS’ work included demolition of old tower structures, structural steel fabrication, mechanical and electrical work, insulation, hoisting, and painting. IFS precisely measured and custom-prefabricated structural steel framing with seismic-rated spring vibration isolators, 10–16″ large-bore piping, fittings, valves, and tower pieces, all of which were lifted to the nine-story rooftop by crane. Central Avenue in downtown Clayton was temporarily closed on both crane days to accommodate the installation.
Commenting on the logistics needed to successfully execute such a large project without major disruption, Gary Tidwell, IFS project manager, said, “This project required an extensive amount of precise planning. Everything was measured, detailed, fabricated, and painted in advance, and each piece had to fit exactly on installation day. Our highly skilled project team completed the project as planned.”
IFS replaced 40-year-old wooden towers with a two-cell Marley NC 8414 steel crossflow cooling tower, factory-assembled by SPX Cooling Technologies. The Marley NC, certified by the Cooling Technology Institute, offers the highest tonnage per cell and the highest ASHRAE 90.1 performance available, which makes it easier to cool larger applications with fewer cells more efficiently and cost-effectively.
The Marley NC cooling tower’s ease of installation and maintenance also factored into the equipment selection process. With IFS’ pre-planning, the challenging HVAC installation was completed from start to finish in about two months.
IFS is no stranger to tough projects. Established in 1966, IFS delivers integrated mechanical engineering and construction, installation, service and planned maintenance, and energy conservation solutions, with a focus on ensuring occupant comfort, improving efficiency, and reducing operational costs. IFS is ranked among the top 100 HVAC contractors in the country by Contractor Magazine, was named a 2016 Midwest Top 50 Specialty Contractor by Engineering News-Record, and is the sixth largest mechanical contractor in the St. Louis region. The firm serves clients in Missouri and Illinois, with offices in St. Louis and Columbia, MO.
For more information, visit spxcooling.com.
