12/04/2023
In October of 2023, eight hundred sales professionals from forty-one countries attended the EVAPCO Global Sales Conference in Baltimore, MD. Under the theme “Full Spectrum Evolution,” EVAPCO celebrated the talent of its global sales network, and the evolution of its full spectrum of heat transfer solutions. This article will recount the event functions and share new developments unveiled at the EVAPCO Global Sales Conference, the first since 2017.
View of the Baltimore Inner Harbor from the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, host of the EVAPCO 2023 Global Sales Conference.
During the Welcome Reception, attendees anticipated the days ahead filled with entertainment and training on new product lines, competitive analyses, thermal performance certification efforts and more.
“We will never miss this Conference. The production is unbelievable, and it’s very motivational for our team. We brought fifteen of our team members here to experience this,” said Rick Hollendieck, President, Sys-Kool.
“In terms of new product innovation and customer service, EVAPCO is premier. This is the technology to be aligned with for the future,” said Jim Browe, Principal, R.F. Peck Company.
David Fernandez (Integrated Cooling Solutions), Jim Browe (R.F. Peck Company) and Troy Reineck (EVAPCO) catching up at the Welcome Reception (left to right).
Jasmin Zelaya, Tower Enterprises and J.S. Ratté, Johnson Barrow (left to right).
The “Full Spectrum Evolution” theme refers to its evolving range of factory-assembled and field-erected evaporative, hybrid, dry and adiabatic heat transfer solutions for HVAC, industrial process, and industrial refrigeration markets. SPECTRUM is also the name of EVAPCO’s selection software.
“We filled the spectrum. Now it’s evolving,” said Mihir Kalyani, Global Product Manager, Dry & Adiabatic Coolers.
At the General Session, Pat Strine, Sr. Vice President, Industrial Refrigeration Sales & Marketing, welcomed all 800 attendees, including 44 new representative companies and a large contingent of international sales representatives. Strine also announced a new Versa-Split System product and EJET Ammonia DX product. Next, Bobby Becker, Global Product Manager – Cooling Towers, presented on the evolution of EVAPCO’s crossflow solutions, led by an intensive fill development program. This R&D helped launch the new XPak™ Fill product.
Rich Merrill – Director of Advanced Engineering (retired 2004), Wilson Bradley – EVAPCO Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder, Greg Kahlert – EVAPCO Board of Directors, and Jay Calkins – Executive Vice President (left to right).
The new PHW (parallel hybrid) Closed Circuit Cooler with enhanced rotated Sensi-Coil™ and CrossCool™ technologies were also introduced to complement the existing ESW4 evaporative fluid cooler line.
Jamie Facius, Vice President, North America Sales, advised sales representatives to “think outside of the evaporative box, to engage customers with a consultative selling approach, and become the customer’s un-biased subject matter expert.”
Since 2017, EVAPCO has made over 147 major investments worth a 9-digit total USD figure to continue its growth, according to Chad D. Nagle, Sr. Vice President – HVAC/IP Sales & Marketing. For example, a factory expansion in Madera, CA will be contributing to dry cooler manufacturing capabilities by Q2 2024. In addition, hundreds of new positions were added to EVAPCO’s workforce since 2017.
“Out of all the lines we represent, EVAPCO is the best. They go above and beyond to take care of the customer and give us all the tools we need. They understand what customer service is about – something a lot of people have forgotten,” said Vince Pilato, President, RWH Mechanical Sales.
Bobby Becker, Chad D. Nagle, Jamie Facius and Troy Reineck during the World Headquarters and R&D Facility Tour/Unit Showcase in Taneytown, MD.
Nagle also introduced the Advanced Energy & Water Analysis Tool available to EVAPCO sales representatives. Design engineers are requiring more and more information – according to Matt Sniezek, Sr. Product Application & Marketing Engineer. The enhanced tool enables the salesperson to provide design engineers with power and water usage efficiencies, annual/monthly power and water consumption, chiller operation, and much more.
“Whether it’s a 100 ton or 100 MW system, this tool enables you to help design engineers calculate these values to design efficient and reliable systems productively,” said Sniezek during a dedicated business session.
“What I love about EVAPCO is the ease of doing business with them. They understand what it’s like going to market as a representative, and they enable us to be successful in helping customers,” said David Fernandez, CEO, Integrated Cooling Solutions.
EVAPCO reported significant growth in the industrial and data center markets. The eco-Air series of dry and adiabatic fluid coolers is meeting demands of these markets, sold with a 100% thermal performance guarantee by EVAPCO. According to Sarah Twigg, Marketing & Application Engineer – EVAPCO is still the only manufacturer with CTI-certified dry fluid coolers per CTI Standard 201. Adiabatic coolers aren’t far behind from being included in CTI STD-201 since the adiabatic acceptance test code was recently completed.
An eco-Air Double Stack Dry Cooler with 14,816 MBH heat rejection capacity.
“Design engineers should only specify CTI certified equipment. Owners should only purchase CTI certified equipment. Underperforming units will consume more energy and water, and will miss temperature set points. For dry coolers, we are seeing competitors overstate cooling capacity by 20% or more. CTI Certification gives engineers and owners peace of mind that they are getting what they specified and paid for! It will perform as rated,” said Troy Reineck, EVAPCO Professor.
“I’m eager to hear about enhancements to the dry and adiabatic fluid coolers,” said Seth Bartkowski, Klima New Jersey. Bartkowski learned the adiabatic products now use a pressurized water distribution system (instead of gravity fed), introduced in 2023, to further reduce water consumption. Sarah Twigg also shared concerns and negative impacts of manufacturers overstating adiabatic pad saturation efficiency during a dedicated business session.
Bill McQuaide, Greg Stoughton and Clay Boggs from Energy Transfer Solutions in Philadelphia, PA (left to right).
To further celebrate the talent of the EVAPCO sales force, the General Session was produced to the theme of a well-known televised talent show competition. Between each presentation, attendees enjoyed a balancing act, a PowerPoint comedian, and a magician/mind reader. Max Duarte, from SOLIREF, also an EVAPCO Eagle (a member of its representative advisory board), was the crowd volunteer for the mind reader act.
Members of EVAPCO’s leadership team and marketing engineering team contributed to the entertainment with a professionally filmed comedic skit, plus a cooling tower remix and lip-sync music video to a popular ‘90s boy band song. However, EVAPCO’s very own Devon Nickoles stole the show when she performed a new original company theme song.
At the Sales Awards Banquet, Stephen and Fanny Lee of Newark Engineering (Singapore and Malaysia) were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Newark Engineering is the third recipient of this award in EVAPCO’s history.
“Newark Engineering is one of our best representatives in the entire world,” said Bill Bartley, President & CEO, EVAPCO.
Bill Bartley, EVAPCO President & CEO.
Representatives from Heat Transfer Systems of Georgia, R.F. Peck Company Albany and Mechanical Products Nevada at the Sales Awards Banquet.
The event concluded with a grand prize giveaway, and tour of the World Headquarters and Research Facility in Taneytown, MD, where a fortuitous sales representative won a 2023 Tesla Model S 75. Guests were also treated to a dinner cruise around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
“Thank you all for coming to this very special event. It has been wonderful to see old acquaintances and meet many new people. I hope this event has stirred your passions and enthusiasm for selling EVAPCO. Additionally, I’d like to give Joe Mandato (Executive Vice President, retired 2019) and the whole EVAPCO team a special thank you for their efforts in organizing this event,” said Wilson Bradley, Chairman of the Board & Co-Founder of EVAPCO.
About EVAPCO
Founded in 1976, EVAPCO, Inc. is an industry leading manufacturing company with global resources and solutions for worldwide heat transfer applications. EVAPCO is dedicated to designing and manufacturing the highest quality products for the evaporative cooling and industrial refrigeration markets around the globe. Headquartered in Taneytown, MD, EVAPCO products are engineered and manufactured in 33 locations across 14 countries and supplied through a sales network of more than 250 offices. For more information, visit www.evapco.com.
For similar articles on Cooling Technology, visit https://coolingbestpractices.com/technology.
Visit our Webinar Archives to listen to expert presentations on Cooling Technology at coolingbestpractices.com/magazine/webinars.
