I’ve never seen so many fridgies in one room
Temperzone training program is a hit.
Training courses run by air conditioning manufacturers can often be looked upon as nothing more than all fluff and no substance; a promotion designed to sell the company’s product range. So when Temperzone organised courses in Cairns and Townsville in October, local distributor Paul Stevenson of Northern Air Conditioning, was seriously concerned, that given the time of year, many contractors may not be able to attend.
“Paul thought we may struggle to get a good turnout,” says Temperzone national service manager and head of the training program, Mark Howcroft. “It can sometimes be difficult getting people interested because often they believe its all promotion and are suspicious of what they’ll actually get out of it.”
But the North Queensland fridgy community turned up in droves, with the Townsville seminar especially popular. Eighty people sent RSVPs but the evening drew an impressive 95 people, prompting Stevenson to quip: “I’ve never seen so many fridgies in one room”.
The response left Stevenson and Howcroft beaming with delight, while the amount of positive feedback provided by participants confirmed that the seminars were making their mark on the right people.
“It’s always good to receive positive comments from people, especially people I’ve got a lot of time for and who I know are very good operators,” Howcroft says. “When people like that tell you they got a great deal out of the course, it confirms that the course is working and we’re doing something right.”
Howcroft has been running Temperzone’s training program since mid-2007 and he says the overall response to the program has been “overwhelming”.
“Probably the best figure I can give you is that since January 2008, approximately 1700 service technicians from both Australia and New Zealand have attended the courses. But the attendance at Townsville was something else.”
So why have the courses been so successful?
“The format we use is to everyone’s advantage,” Howcroft says. “We start early in the morning, provide a hot breakfast and then we get into the course. This way people can plan their day. They come along, have their two hour session with us and then go off and do their normal thing for the rest of the day.”
The courses are targeted at installers, contractors and consultants and provide important industry information about topical issues, including R410A, Temperzone electronics, water cooled equipment, digital scrolls, inverters, controls, application, installation, commissioning, fault finding and MEPS (Minimum Energy Performance Standard).
“The change from R22 to R410A has meant that we’ve had to manufacture a whole new series of products to comply with the new MEPS regulations; but many contractors and even consultants aren’t necesarily aware that this is actually the law, not just a guideline,” Howcroft says. “They don’t realise there are actually hefty fines for non-compliance. Our courses reinforce that there are changes; this is the new refrigerant; these are the new products and this is how to use the new equipment while at the same time complying with the regulations.”
Temperzone’s training courses also provide the opportunity to refresh the fundamentals in areas such as commissioning. “From our point of view as a manufacturer most of the problems that have to be attended to down the track can be avoided if the units are actually commissioned properly,” Howcroft says. “Thats what we try to advocate to people, backing it up with published data to document it, to get the thing commissioned properly so they have less troubles in the future.”
Another reason why the Temperzone training program is successful is because of Howcroft’s experience in the field. “I spent 15 years on the road before I accepted this job and when I make them aware of my technical background they immediately acknowledge that I’m on their level,” he says. “They see that I’m not an office worker in collar and tie trying to teach them something they understand more than I do.”
Howcroft’s teaching methods are also designed to maximise peoples’ interest in the allotted two hour time frame. He doesn’t believe in getting too technical nor does he see the need to cram too much information into one session. “I actually find that simplifying everything is the best way to go,” he says. “The biggest mistake you can make when running seminars like this is to get too technical and to give too much information because people switch off and lose interest.”
Howcroft says that he’s found from feedback on the company’s technical support line that there has been a definite reduction of what he describes as ‘silly questions’. “I believe this is because more people are coming to our training sessions and they’re absorbing the information,” he says. “Tech support now mainly offers support for older equipment or specific data.”
Another useful training tool that has made a positive impact on customers is a 12-minute DVD that provides information on the company’s outdoor unit controller. “In 12 minutes the DVD provides an A to Z of the controller and allows mechanics who are unfamiliar with the device to go home and watch a real-life situation,” Howcroft says. “This helps them understand the controller and is a very popular tool. Since the introduction of the DVD, questions about this controller have all but disappeared.”
Howcroft says that at future seminars he intends to hone in on aspects like digital technology to support Temperzone’s new range of digital units, inverters and controls but admits that the company’s equipment is still reasonably simple. “I promote the fact that our equipment is still reasonably simplistic,” he says. “We’ve got our outdoor unit controller but the electromechanical control circuitry is still basic. Its not hard to grasp. Its not like we’re talking about some equipment, particularly inverters, where you’ve got three PC boards, all these electronics and blokes standing next to machines scratching their heads, because we are very good at providing published data as well as running training courses that most people understand and find easy to comprehend.”
Courses that have so far provided invaluable support to hundreds of installers, contractors and consultants throughout Australia and New Zealand.
