Conversation from The EDGE with Service Logic

COVID-19 exposed how important indoor air sanitization is to human health. People are hyperaware of the fact that indoor air quality can negatively impact their physical and mental health. As a result, the market is flooded with all sorts of products that claim to protect people from a multitude of airborne assailants: pollen, dust, bacteria, and—of course—viruses. But how do consumers know what works?More importantly, who can businesses partner with to find solutions that work?Guest Aedan Fida, CEO and Co-Founder of Blade Air attempts to answer this question on today's episode of Conversations from The EDGE with Service Logic. He responds to pointed questions from hosts Michelle Dawn Mooney and Greg Crumpton, Vice President of Service Logic, about the ebb and flow of interest in indoor air quality and how businesses should meet customer needs. Fida believes what makes Blade Air different is that they're concerned with the entire HVAC system, not just the products they sell. He wants to address what people are looking for to avoid “trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.” Put another way, Fida said Blade Air aims to “find the right solution for the right problem.” In doing so, they've celebrated major wins like partnering with the Peele School District in Canada to install HVAC solutions in every school building.Aedan Fida is the CEO and Co-Founder of Blade Air. Blade Air's founders came together to find a way to create replaceable cartridges that can both save money and time. They've found success in Canada, having serviced over a billion cubic feet of air. Blade Air hopes to expand into the U.S. market to meet the challenges of horticulturists, businesses, and schools. Listen to today's episode on Apple Podcast, TuneIn, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

COVID-19 exposed how important indoor air sanitization is to human health. People are hyperaware of the fact that indoor air quality can negatively impact their physical and mental health. As a result, the market is flooded with all sorts of products that claim to protect people from a multitude of airborne assailants: pollen, dust, bacteria, and—of course—viruses. But how do consumers know what works?More importantly, who can businesses partner with to find solutions that work?Guest Aedan Fida, CEO and Co-Founder of Blade Air attempts to answer this question on today's episode of Conversations from The EDGE with Service Logic. He responds to pointed questions from hosts Michelle Dawn Mooney and Greg Crumpton, Vice President of Service Logic, about the ebb and flow of interest in indoor air quality and how businesses should meet customer needs. Fida believes what makes Blade Air different is that they're concerned with the entire HVAC system, not just the products they sell. He wants to address what people are looking for to avoid “trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.” Put another way, Fida said Blade Air aims to “find the right solution for the right problem.” In doing so, they've celebrated major wins like partnering with the Peele School District in Canada to install HVAC solutions in every school building.Aedan Fida is the CEO and Co-Founder of Blade Air. Blade Air's founders came together to find a way to create replaceable cartridges that can both save money and time. They've found success in Canada, having serviced over a billion cubic feet of air. Blade Air hopes to expand into the U.S. market to meet the challenges of horticulturists, businesses, and schools. Listen to today's episode on Apple Podcast, TuneIn, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

There is so much technology out there that can help improve the efficiencies of your business - but much of it is hard to use, hard to understand, and even harder to integrate. People are afraid to adopt - but they shouldn't be. For one consumer in the HVAC and mechanical service industry, integrating a system that could continuously monitor, observe, and alert if there were any anomalies before catastrophe could occur was a no brainer. What system did they use?In this episode of Conversations from the Edge with Service Logic, host Michelle Dawn Mooney speaks on everything you need to know about Volta Insite, with guests Denis Kouroussis, CEO of Volta Energy, and Greg Crumpton, VP of Service Logic.“It's well-researched and developed methodologies that we've come to put together and effectively be able to also see the results of what we gather because we help our customers…We have an engineering back-end team that looks at the data, interprets the data, works with the facility or the operator to understand what the data means…,” said Kouroussis.Crumpton reflected on the value of the tool, “So if we can have a tool that proactively tells us ‘Hey, you know, you've got some issues going on', we can shut that system down for an inspection way before we have a failure. So, that to me, was really appealing of how this can be beneficial.” Denis Kouroussis has been the Founder and CEO of Volta Energy for over 14 years and is also the Founder and CSO of Atom Power. Prior to this, Kouroussis worked in various roles throughout the technology and mechanical industries, including as a Field Applications Engineer for Apache Design Solutions and as the Senior Methodology Engineer for AMD. He holds his BASc in Electrical Engineering, a Master's of Science in Electrical Engineering, and his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto.Greg Crumpton is VP of the largest privately held HVAC-Mechanical Services company in the United States. He carries over 40 years of experience as a full-service mechanical and mission-critical environments contractor. Alongside his work with Service Logic, Crumpton also serves as an adviser for several start-ups, including Global Venture Consulting and Atom Power, amongst others.

There is so much technology out there that can help improve the efficiencies of your business - but much of it is hard to use, hard to understand, and even harder to integrate. People are afraid to adopt - but they shouldn't be. For one consumer in the HVAC and mechanical service industry, integrating a system that could continuously monitor, observe, and alert if there were any anomalies before catastrophe could occur was a no brainer. What system did they use?In this episode of Conversations from the Edge with Service Logic, host Michelle Dawn Mooney speaks on everything you need to know about Volta Insite, with guests Denis Kouroussis, CEO of Volta Energy, and Greg Crumpton, VP of Service Logic.“It's well-researched and developed methodologies that we've come to put together and effectively be able to also see the results of what we gather because we help our customers…We have an engineering back-end team that looks at the data, interprets the data, works with the facility or the operator to understand what the data means…,” said Kouroussis.Crumpton reflected on the value of the tool, “So if we can have a tool that proactively tells us ‘Hey, you know, you've got some issues going on', we can shut that system down for an inspection way before we have a failure. So, that to me, was really appealing of how this can be beneficial.” Denis Kouroussis has been the Founder and CEO of Volta Energy for over 14 years and is also the Founder and CSO of Atom Power. Prior to this, Kouroussis worked in various roles throughout the technology and mechanical industries, including as a Field Applications Engineer for Apache Design Solutions and as the Senior Methodology Engineer for AMD. He holds his BASc in Electrical Engineering, a Master's of Science in Electrical Engineering, and his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto.Greg Crumpton is VP of the largest privately held HVAC-Mechanical Services company in the United States. He carries over 40 years of experience as a full-service mechanical and mission-critical environments contractor. Alongside his work with Service Logic, Crumpton also serves as an adviser for several start-ups, including Global Venture Consulting and Atom Power, amongst others.

According to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), falls are the leading cause of death in the construction industry. In 2020, approximately 351 out of 1,008 construction fatalities were due to fatal falls to a lower level, which accounts for about a third of all on-the-job deaths in the construction industry. These deaths cause significant problems for workers, their families, and the construction companies they work for. However, these deaths are preventable; therefore, what equipment can be adopted to safeguard workers from falls? On today's episode of the Conversations from the Edge podcast, host Michelle Dawn Mooney speaks with Greg Crumpton, the Vice President of Service Logic, Nathan Sollenberger and Ryan Kerfien, Co-Creators of the SafTDek product, about the role of SafTDek in optimizing safety for construction workers. “The SafTDek Condenser Railing system was designed to prevent falls at heights. This product becomes useful when workers need to climb to reach a certain height to do their jobs. The financial implications of falls are quite significant, with each fall costing the company about $100,000. If there is a fatality, it quickly exceeds a million. This safety system is an excellent opportunity for people on-site to conduct pre-safety audits to ensure maximum protection against falls,” explained Sollenberger. “Service Logic is interested in the SafTDek Condenser Railing system because it is essential to provide better safety platforms for our thousands of employees. Many clients always want an assurance that contractors working on their job are being safe. This is to avoid litigation issues. Therefore, SafTDek is a great tool to build a great relationship between contractors and their clients,” noted Crumpton. “Workers do not have to worry about risks when they have the right safety tool such as the SafTDek Condenser Railing system. Coming up with something that makes other people safer is something that makes me proud. About 320,000 replacement fan motors are sold every year in the U.S., and this is just on-demand service replacement jobs. We should be up on these units quarterly doing fan inspection- this is lots of trips to the top of an air-cooled condenser. When you think about that across various companies, the need for SafTDek as a safety tool becomes paramount,” added Kerfien. Nathan Sollenberger is a Co-Creator of the SafTDek product. He has worked as a project engineer with Hoffman & Hoffman, Inc. and has worked in the industry since 2014. Ryan Kerfien is a Co-Creator of the SafTDek product. He received a B.S. in Technology Education from the State University of New York at Oswego and an M.BA. in Business Administration and Management from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte Belk College of Business. Greg Crumpton is Vice President of Service Logic. He attended Clayton State College and studied business; he attended Georgia Tech University and studied finance and accounting, and AMA courses on business fundamentals. Crumpton has been with Service Logic for over 8 years.

Various strategies and techniques can be employed to combat the spread of respiratory viruses in buildings. These strategies aim to reduce the concentration of respiratory viruses in the air and on surfaces, making it less likely for people to contract the virus. Some of the most effective strategies include increasing ventilation and filtration, implementing social distancing protocols, increasing cleaning and disinfection, and encouraging the wearing of face masks or other personal protective equipment (PPE).Why is respiratory virus indoor transmission such an important topic, and why is it essential to have the basic knowledge to adopt the right ways to prevent such transmission?On today's episode of Conversation to the Edge by Service Logic, host Michelle Dawn Mooney chats with Kevin Boyle, Vice President of Products and Marketing at GPS Air, and Charles Waddell, Founder and CTO at GPS Air, to discuss how to mitigate the spread of respiratory viruses in buildings. They talked about:1. The importance of respiratory virus indoor transmission and how to mitigate it 2. The common multi-layered solution approach 3. Testing in Poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)Respiratory virus mitigation in buildings requires a multi-faceted approach, including increasing ventilation and filtration, implementing social distancing protocols, increasing cleaning and disinfection, and encouraging face masks or other personal protective equipment (PPE). Building owners and managers must work with public health officials and experts to develop and implement effective respiratory virus mitigation strategies."Multi-layer strategy is the concept where you use multiple technologies in combination with each other to get a better result,” said Charles Waddell, Founder and CTO at GPS Air. This approach aims to provide a comprehensive and effective solution by addressing different aspects of the problem. Some common multi-layered solution approaches include engineering and administrative controls, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), social distancing and hygiene practices, and monitoring and tracking.Indoor air quality (IAQ) is an important aspect of respiratory virus mitigation in buildings. Poor IAQ can increase the risk of respiratory infections and aggravate existing respiratory conditions. “Buildings that are poorly ventilated or have high levels of indoor air pollution can create an environment conducive to spreading respiratory viruses such as COVID-19,” said Kevin Boyle, Vice President of Products and Marketing at GPS Air.In conclusion, respiratory virus mitigation in buildings is a complex issue that requires a multi-faceted approach. Improving indoor air quality is an important aspect of this effort, as poor IAQ can increase the risk of respiratory infections and aggravate existing respiratory conditions.

Various strategies and techniques can be employed to combat the spread of respiratory viruses in buildings. These strategies aim to reduce the concentration of respiratory viruses in the air and on surfaces, making it less likely for people to contract the virus. Some of the most effective strategies include increasing ventilation and filtration, implementing social distancing protocols, increasing cleaning and disinfection, and encouraging the wearing of face masks or other personal protective equipment (PPE).Why is respiratory virus indoor transmission such an important topic, and why is it essential to have the basic knowledge to adopt the right ways to prevent such transmission?On today's episode of Conversation to the Edge by Service Logic, host Michelle Dawn Mooney chats with Kevin Boyle, Vice President of Products and Marketing at GPS Air, and Charles Waddell, Founder and CTO at GPS Air, to discuss how to mitigate the spread of respiratory viruses in buildings. They talked about:1. The importance of respiratory virus indoor transmission and how to mitigate it 2. The common multi-layered solution approach 3. Testing in Poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)Respiratory virus mitigation in buildings requires a multi-faceted approach, including increasing ventilation and filtration, implementing social distancing protocols, increasing cleaning and disinfection, and encouraging face masks or other personal protective equipment (PPE). Building owners and managers must work with public health officials and experts to develop and implement effective respiratory virus mitigation strategies."Multi-layer strategy is the concept where you use multiple technologies in combination with each other to get a better result,” said Charles Waddell, Founder and CTO at GPS Air. This approach aims to provide a comprehensive and effective solution by addressing different aspects of the problem. Some common multi-layered solution approaches include engineering and administrative controls, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), social distancing and hygiene practices, and monitoring and tracking.Indoor air quality (IAQ) is an important aspect of respiratory virus mitigation in buildings. Poor IAQ can increase the risk of respiratory infections and aggravate existing respiratory conditions. “Buildings that are poorly ventilated or have high levels of indoor air pollution can create an environment conducive to spreading respiratory viruses such as COVID-19,” said Kevin Boyle, Vice President of Products and Marketing at GPS Air.In conclusion, respiratory virus mitigation in buildings is a complex issue that requires a multi-faceted approach. Improving indoor air quality is an important aspect of this effort, as poor IAQ can increase the risk of respiratory infections and aggravate existing respiratory conditions.

Getting new workers into a trade profession is a tricky proposition these days. But a trade career can offer many rewards if one goes down that path. Eric Bolin, VP of Talent Development for Service Logic, said he'd seen the drop in new talent coming into the trades over the past thirty years, and he believes the time is right for people to seek these opportunities. “For an individual who is younger or someone who's looking for a change in their career path, here's an opportunity where number one, you get paid for your time spent,” Bolin said. “That gives you an opportunity to invest in yourself and to grow, and honestly, your career trajectory is solely up to you.” And in all trades right now, these opportunities are wide open. Bolin said there isn't one magic secret to getting strong candidates in the door from a talent development perspective: it's a combination of things. At ServiceLogic, Bolin said they decided to invest in an initiative to bolster talent development. “Our strategy focuses in several key areas, and it's all around our EDGE Talent Development Program. Why is it called the EDGE? Well, we want to create through intentional investments a competitive edge for ServiceLogic companies in our marketplace.” Because ServiceLogic provides several different trade opportunities within their organization, Bolin said the EDGE program encompasses a wide range of training throughout the company to touch all areas. It is more than an onboarding strategy; it's a growth and retention platform to provide endless opportunities and success for its employees. “We want to create not only educational opportunities for our workforce but also our management and supervision to structure the company's culture, to create that one thing that makes it more attractive to retain people, and attract people from the outside to come and work for us,” Bolin said.

Safety, quality, and compliance training are essential, but are time-consuming and create administrative burdens for businesses. Greg Crumpton, Vice President of Critical Environments and Facilities at Service Logic, and Tony DeAscentis, CEO of Ving, chatted with host Tyler Kern about how Ving is changing this. Ving offers a safety, quality, and compliance training and monitoring management and communication platform targeting building, manufacturing, and service industries. A plethora of training topics are available, including OSHA, customer compliance, supervisory skills development, and more. Ving uses a combination of videos, audio, documents, assessments, hyperlinks, and QR codes.Supervisors monitor employee training progress through color-coded dashboards and reporting. The platform's efficiency and scale allows supervisors to get training done amongst other day-to-day activities. Training is accessible on any personal device without a plug-in or sign-on. DeAscentis stated, “It's really about empowering your leadership to be proactive as well as making sure the information, the training is easy to access for all your employees because that's really what it's about. Keeping that field, the decentralized field, in the know.” Ving boasts a 95 percent year-over-year renewal rate, which attests to their quality. Content is built from scratch to ensure information is retained and reused on the job. Courses can be used off the shelf, customized, or created from scratch by businesses. The app is an annual subscription that provides access to all features. Once the license point is determined, that determines the cost. “You get access to all features so that your people can use the tool to their advantage to create a sense of timeliness and accountability across the organization to interact with critical on the job training and information,” said DeAscentis.To learn more about Ving's services, visit vingapp.com, servicelogic.com, or follow the Conversations from the Edge podcast on Spotify or Apple iTunes.

Safety, quality, and compliance training are essential, but are time-consuming and create administrative burdens for businesses. Greg Crumpton, Vice President of Critical Environments and Facilities at Service Logic, and Tony DeAscentis, CEO of Ving, chatted with host Tyler Kern about how Ving is changing this. Ving offers a safety, quality, and compliance training and monitoring management and communication platform targeting building, manufacturing, and service industries. A plethora of training topics are available, including OSHA, customer compliance, supervisory skills development, and more. Ving uses a combination of videos, audio, documents, assessments, hyperlinks, and QR codes.Supervisors monitor employee training progress through color-coded dashboards and reporting. The platform's efficiency and scale allows supervisors to get training done amongst other day-to-day activities. Training is accessible on any personal device without a plug-in or sign-on. DeAscentis stated, “It's really about empowering your leadership to be proactive as well as making sure the information, the training is easy to access for all your employees because that's really what it's about. Keeping that field, the decentralized field, in the know.” Ving boasts a 95 percent year-over-year renewal rate, which attests to their quality. Content is built from scratch to ensure information is retained and reused on the job. Courses can be used off the shelf, customized, or created from scratch by businesses. The app is an annual subscription that provides access to all features. Once the license point is determined, that determines the cost. “You get access to all features so that your people can use the tool to their advantage to create a sense of timeliness and accountability across the organization to interact with critical on the job training and information,” said DeAscentis.To learn more about Ving's services, visit vingapp.com, servicelogic.com, or follow the Conversations from the Edge podcast on Spotify or Apple iTunes.

The HVAC industry has long been male-dominated, but women are joining the field in larger numbers and making an impact. One of those is Brittney Johnson, Maintenance Sales Representative, Commercial Mechanical at Commercial Mechanical Utah. She spoke with Conversations from the Edge host Hilary Kennedy about her career.Johnson explained that after high school, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. She tried community college and other paths but still didn't have a calling. When she moved to Wilmington, NC, her father, who worked in the HVAC industry, prompted her to look into a customer service job. “I started the job and did that for two-and-a-half years. It became stagnant, and I decided I wanted to get into sales.”There weren't any sales positions in Wilmington, so Johnson applied for a job in Utah. She earned the role and moved across the country. In transitioning from customer service to sales, Johnson said, “It was lots of learning. I didn't know much about the equipment. I also spoke to other women in business. It was saying yes to something that scares you.”Does being a woman in HVAC have advantages? Johnson thinks so because “women have more of a willingness to collaborate and prefer to work in groups.”Johnson appreciates team building and supporting others. She named several women that are inspirations to her as she continues her career. “It was great to see somebody like me closing big deals and doing the same work as men.”Johnson admits it's a challenging career, but that's also what's great about it. “I enjoy not just selling a product. I'm selling something I know will be beneficial to the customer, which makes me feel good. I'm here to help you with your building.”

Perhaps at no time in history have we thought as much about the air we breathe indoors. With research suggesting that COVID-19 spreads more readily in indoor environments, measures need to be taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but there also are steps that can be taken by business owners or building operators to help filter the air for general well-being. “One of the questions we get all the time is, ‘How effective is your product against COVID-19?’,” said Scott Gugenheim, EVP of Sales at Global Plasma Solutions. “Up until recently, we didn’t have a really solid answer for that.” There are difficulties in testing and actually acquiring the virus, but GPS was able to get the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus through its aviation division, which allowed their products to be adequately studied. “We get the results back, and it was 99.4% effective after 30 minutes of exposure, so we were really excited to have that news. We were the first ones in our industry to have testing done on the actual COVID-19 strain,” Gugenheim said. “We share that information but also share that with an asterisk. This was done in an aviation environment, so it’s set up for airplane testing, which is a smaller area (that presents) a much higher ion concentration than what you’d see in a large facility.” Testing continues, Gugenheim said, but they’re pleased with the initial information and the fact that they were able to get data on their specific products against this specific virus, even as many competitors release data pertaining to other coronaviruses. For Matt Howard, Regional President at Service Logic, the mix of a familiar partner and cutting-edge technology made joining forces with Global Plasma Solutions a perfect partnership. “Service Logic, predominantly being an HVAC company, has always been very involved in the indoor air quality arena, and recently, with the uptick in COVID-19, Service Logic began to look for a partner to bring a solution to our customers. Scott Gugenheim worked with us at Service Logic. He was a member of the Service Logic family for many years,” Howard said. “He joined the team at GPS, so it was one of the first technologies we began to look at. “The fit really, really hit well from the beginning. Then, as we began to study the technology, we felt like it was a great product and a great offering for Service Logic to take to our customer base.”

Jonathan Sterling, president of Maxair Mechanical spoke on this episode of Conversations from the EDGE about peer groups, and how they offer many benefits for an organization. Before Maxair joined the Service Logic group of companies, they participated in non-competitive peer groups with similar type businesses across the country. “Through this process, we gained tremendous knowledge on how to improve our business,” Sterling said. “Participating in these groups allowed our company to grow by more than four times in a relatively short period by using the knowledge that we gained from others and implementing those strategies we learned.” Maxair’s first peer group sessions were with top leadership throughout the industry. Now employees from all levels within Maxair attend these gatherings and share insight, knowledge, and ideas. “One of our dispatchers attended a meeting of other dispatchers and came back armed with best practices and strategies we were able to implement throughout our organization,” he said. Peer groups offer opportunities for training a larger pool of people from companies that may be too small to afford these types of training sessions on their own. “Service Logic’s EDGE program has training coming for service managers in early 2020,” Sterling said. “One of the essential aspects of these sessions was not only the information provided by an expert or trainer, but the interactions between peers meeting each other and sharing similar situations and best practices.”

On this episode of Conversations from the EDGE with Service Logic, host James Kent spoke with Chris Douglas, President of Encon Heating & A/C, about Douglas’ 37 years with Encon, tracing a career path that began as a service technician. It was during this first role with the Encon, Douglas learned the importance of a great customer experience. “I quickly understood, I was the face of the company in the eyes of the customer, and that the level of customer service delivered every day was my responsibility,” Douglas said. Douglas took those early lessons and used them to shape his views on customer experience. “We are in a relationship business, so we focus a lot on the relationship," he said. To move the customer experience to the forefront of Encon’s business model, Douglas and his team rolled out an initiative called, ‘Unleashing Excellence.’ This process was modeled after the book by Dennis Snow & Teri Yanovitch, Unleashing Excellence: The Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service. “We used Snow’s book,” Douglas said, “along with other publications, to create a roadmap as to how to go about implementing a program at Encon that would ensure we provide an exceptional customer experience every time we came in contact with a customer.” The reaction from customers to the rollout was both immediate and overwhelmingly positive.

The process of integrating new systems into existing ecosystems is detailed, by its very nature. On today’s installment of Service Logic's Conversations from The EDGE, host Sean Heath spoke with Greg Crumpton and StrategITcom’s Carrie Goetz to discuss the nature of an IT ecosystem and the challenges that present themselves during these implementations. “I think ‘ecosystems’ is really sort of an oxymoron, right? We know that it’s an ecosystem, but people don’t treat it that way. Budgets are still very much siloed. There’s still kind of a component where Facilities does their thing and IT does their thing, but nobody really treats it as a cohesive ecosystem,” Goetz said. One of the biggest keys to success, according to Crumpton, is getting everyone on the same page as early as possible. “You want to be there for that first conversation, so that you start setting expectations early, and you’re also, while you’re explaining those expectations, setting requirements. You’re finding out more and more detail,” he said. “You’re getting all that detail as you go to help build that formula right out of the gate that first time.” Recent outages with massive, cloud-based companies, shine a spotlight on proper data center planning according to Goetz. “Outages are always preventable, but throwing additional redundancy at an outage is not always the best way to go,” she said. “If IT has done their job and they fail over to other sites, then you can minimize the impact of that outage. But, if you put all of your eggs in one basket and the handle breaks: you’re going to be scrambling, right?”

In the business world, there are a few phrases that are mainly used out of habit, without really considering the root meaning of the words being put together. On this episode of Conversations from The EDGE by Service Logic, Elizabeth Barber, Service Manager for Service Logic, had a thoughtful conversation with host Sean Heath as they discussed exactly that concept. “Any time there is business being done, there is ‘service’ being given,” said Barber. “You have customer service at your local Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. And you have customer service all the way up to when you buy a million-dollar home. Those are very different industries and the service is not separate from the industry in which it is in.” For Barber, ‘serving’ is a synonym for ‘solving.' “Getting good service is not always ‘the customer is always right’ sort of philosophy. Good service is when you feel like somebody cares about what is going on,” she said. “I often believe that sometimes you make your biggest advocates when you take a situation that was going sideways and you make it right for them.” In her experience, focusing on the personal relationships facilitates the professional transactions. “I always like to say that my job is not really related to HVAC, my job is communication. If I communicate properly, to the right people, at the end of the day, the HVAC work gets done.”

On this month's episode of Conversations From The EDGE podcast, with Service Logic, host Scott Sidway sat down with Service Logic's Tony Ponzo to discuss the twists and turns of his successful career path, including an unexpected injury that changed his trajectory. Ponzo is Chief Operating Officer of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Service Logic, the largest privately owned HVAC and mechanical services company in the United States, but his 37-year career in the industry began like many others -- as a tradesman. "I started as an apprentice pipefitter in 1982 making $6.50 an hour," he said. Ponzo spent more than a decade in the field until he was injured on the job. Looking for something he could do in the office with minimal physical effort, his company plopped him into sales. "I had no idea what I was doing but I enjoyed it because I enjoyed talking to people," Ponzo said. Turns out sales was a great fit for the experienced tradesman who didn't expect to end his field career so suddenly, but embraced the fact he could "take it a little easy on my body and just use my mind," Ponzo said. From sales, he moved into operations and eventually management, with the ultimate goal to run a business someday. When that opportunity came, he followed a mantra that's served him well ever since. "If you run a business based solely on economics, you'll make bad decisions. If you make decisions that are in the best interest of your customer, the money will follow."

What's the single most valuable skillset for a skilled tradesman? Surprise, it's not 100 percent talent. Soft skills can be the secret ingredient for success in blue-collar trades, according to Josh Zolin, author of the book Blue Is the New White: The Best Path to Success No One Told You About and CEO of Windy City Equipment Services. Josh joined Service Logic Vice President Greg Crumpton and host Sean Heath on this new episode of Conversations from The EDGE with Service Logic. "I used to think soft skills were 50/50 versus technical prowess, but now I think overall EQ is superior," Josh said. "There's always help on the technical side, but being able to put the customer at ease far outweighs being able to read a meter or a set of gauges." Josh and Greg point to emotional intelligence, empathy for customers, and a service-minded attitude as traits that fall under the "soft skills" umbrella. "That's really the path to success," Josh said. But before the industry can extoll the virtues of soft skills, it must first change its perception. A career in the skilled trades was once well-regarded as a good, lucrative profession, but somewhere along the way society labeled skilled tradesmen as blue-collar and less desirable than college-educated white-collar workers, Josh explained. "The responsibility falls on us inside the trades to bring to light what a career in the trades actually means and how many different trajectories are available," Josh said. Greg said, "That means you have to reach out and bring people with you. It's all about relations."

Great customer service is about delivering in a timely manner with the least amount of roadblocks possible. But is service also a soft skill? "You bet," said Greg Crumpton, vice president of critical facilities at Service Logic. On this episode of Conversations from The EDGE with Service Logic, host Sean Heath discussed the role of attitude and company culture play in providing great service with Crumpton and guest Erik Crawford, founder and president of Ultra Pure Systems, a leading manufacturer of commercial water purification equipment for data centers, healthcare facilities, and more. As the largest privately owned HVAC and mechanical services company in the United States, Service Logic is colloquially known to its customers as the "factory service guys," Crawford said. "At the end of the day we want to make any problems transparent to the customer who bought the piece of equipment," Crawford said. "It has been proven over and over, the technician is the 100 percent most valuable person the manufacturer has once that equipment leaves the door. He continued, "Having a strong service arm that can resolve those problems in a short period of time really makes or breaks most manufacturers." As such, service providers such as Service Logic become subject matter experts on the equipment and parts it supports, something Crawford said is a valuable surprise for customers. "I understand the service guy may not know everything about my particular equipment, but having the right attitude and approaching something with confidence goes a long way," he said. That's where soft skills such as listening to the customer's problem and being diligent about working the problem are critical for the "2 a.m., on-call people," as Crumpton described. "You're there because somebody has a need, and that need is super important," Crumpton said. "It's part of company culture to make sure your team understands we're a service company and service, unfortunately, doesn't have a time clock."

Running a small HVAC business is difficult, relying on a single owner to maintain all aspects of the business. In this new episode of Conversations from The EDGE with Service Logic, host Sean Heath sat down with Tim Riedel, president of Service Logic, to discuss how the nationwide HVAC company approaches acquisitions and help ensure that buyer and seller see eye to eye. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company is the largest privately held energy and HVAC/mechanical company in the United States. Their robust acquisitions program offers company owners the opportunity to financially secure their business while gaining a well-established partner in business. “For many, selling their business is like selling their baby,” Riedel said. “We need to feel out whether we are the right fit for you and are you the right company for us. The more time we spend getting to know one another, the better chance we’ll both make the right decision.” Riedel said interestingly, most sellers aren’t looking to retire and leave the business. “They take chips off the table, secure what they’ve built, and stay now, feeling a tremendous burden off their shoulders,” he said. “Then in the future, they want to have their employees and customers taken care of and make sure their business has the right home.”

The US student loan debt hovers at $902 billion. Meanwhile, Millennials and Gen Z’ers are unable to find jobs with their four-year degrees. Their debt continues to mount as they work any job to cover the bills. But this common tail doesn’t have to be the norm. Skills tradesmen and craftsmen jobs are out there and in high demand. We tackled the topic of filling jobs in skilled trades today on this episode of Conversations from the Edge by Service Logic. Joining the conversation was Greg Crumpton, vice president at Service Logic, and Gary McCreadie, founder of HVAC Know-It-All. The skilled tradesmen we have all grown up calling to fix our air conditioners, plumbing, or roofing, are beginning to retire. Crumpton referred to the phenomenon as the “Silver Tsunami.” As these Baby Boomer craftsmen close out their careers, no one is stepping up to fill the shoes. But why? Greg explained how common trade skills have long had an image issue with the younger generation. “We need to show them that the trades are cool,” McCreadie said. Tradesmen are in fact artists, masters of a craft that we need and use every day. For many skittish Millenials who entered the workforce as the Great Recession hit, they may be asking “Is this job recession-proof?” To that McCreadie said: “Service isn’t recession proof...but resistant.” Things will always break, and service and maintenance calls are made regardless of the state of the economy. McCreadie and Crumpton wrapped up their conversation with sage advice. McCreadie painted the picture of the end of a long workday as a tradesman as a rewarding one - “You’re doing something honest, and you’re helping people out.”

A sweltering summer means it’s a busy time for Bobby Marcus, vice president of controls division for Engineered Cooling Services, a division of Service Logic. On this episode of Conversations from The EDGE with Service Logic, Marcus shared his perspective on the challenges of integrating modern HVAC systems and controls. The Internet of Things has come for air conditioning systems, and while sophisticated technology exists to make life easier, that’s not always the case. According to Marcus, there are two gaps he sees in his line of work. The first is the gap between older legacy systems and integrating them with the standardized protocols and digital technologies now available that can provide detailed analytics and intelligent operation. And then there’s the customer’s ability to operate their high-tech system. “The gap is the capabilities of the system versus the capabilities of the user," Marcus said. While he understands that modern systems can provide excellent enhancements for tech-savvy consumers, he said that "the majority of customers just want some basic controls and interface.” He sees his job as an integrator tasked with making things simple. To do this, he consolidates individual controllers into a single web server that allows users to understand and monitor their HVAC system. He also tries to find ways to make their existing systems all function seamlessly together, so customers don’t have to throw out expensive investments. Then comes the final and crucial part of the equation: continuous training to expand the user’s capabilities. Marcus likes to visit customers monthly or quarterly, where he can ensure proper operation and provide ongoing education. “We want to be with them for the life of the system," Marcus said.

There are a lot of moving parts in any building, but the most noticeable is usually the interior environment. Maintaining a comfortable atmosphere makes a tremendous difference in the day-to-day for any company, but the actual maintenance can be a challenge for on-site personnel. On this MarketScale Building Management Podcast, host Sean Heath sat down with the Senior Vice President of Strategic Accounts for Service Logic, Roger Nayle. They discuss a few reasons that 3rd-party services make the most sense, the cost-benefit proposition, and the advantage that delegating maintenance responsibilities can provide. “Many times the simple task of preventative maintenance or the simple task of filter changes simply aren’t done consistently. So, having a 3rd party company do that work for them makes a lot of sense and a lot of times something they really don’t realize could cut their costs dramatically by doing consistent maintenance,” Nayle said.

Greg Crumpton was born in 1964, the last year classified as the “Baby Boomer” generation. Not only was he born into this generation, but his vertical is defined by it; working in the skilled trade industry, Crumpton is seeing a massive wave of retirement from the Baby Boomers. In the next 13 years, 47 million Baby Boomers will retire, and more than two million will be skilled trade workers. The skilled trade workforce is already experiencing a labor shortage, and now, the industry must look to replace an entire generation of people. Crumpton has felt this impending retirement wave first hand; he’s the vice president of critical facilities at Service Logic, the largest privately owned HVAC and mechanical services company in the United States. Service Logic has experienced the industry’s labor shortage, but its hiring team works to recruit high school graduates, military veterans and displaced workers from other industries. They also find innovative and authentic ways retain their current staff and train them for other skilled trades. “We’re actually able to give workers something that’s applicable to their daily life and that can really help them with a whole career,” Crumpton said. On this MarketScale Building Management Podcast, listen to Crumpton and host Sam Mosher discuss the skilled trade labor shortage and how those in the industry can work to fill it.