The Champlain Valley Chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) in Burlington, Vt., has presented Hill Phoenix with its first Research Promotion Award, recognizing the Hill Phoenix Learning Center, for its leadership and commitment to training for the commercial refrigeration/supermarket industries.
In November, Hill Phoenix trained more than 50 technicians, engineers and energy engineers for the ASHRAE chapter. The program focused on areas such as DX refrigeration, refrigerant advances and standards, CO2 emissions, green chill closed loop systems and the different ways to use glycol.
Normal.dotm002010-12-22T15:37:00Z11892Penton Media Inc.2112812.00false18 pt18 pt00falsefalsefalse The Learning Center was started in 2005 and has since provided training to more than 10,000 industry professionals“This is the first time we’ve presented this award,” said ASHRAE’s Peter Bailey, refrigeration chairman of the Champlain Valley Chapter. “There are so many changes and advances in commercial refrigeration systems and we wanted to enhance our training for members. There are many grocery stores in this area but not a lot of training programs," Bailey says. "Hill Phoenix’s Learning Center program exposed our members to the latest equipment and technologies on the market. It’s rare we can offer on-site training to so many members at one time; usually a technician or engineer has to leave the area to travel to a manufacturer for training, so this program was very valuable.”
Bailey notes that with rapid changes in technology, many technicians don’t know a lot about new systems when they get to market. And the link between the manufacturer and installation is vital. “The last thing you want is to have the installers be the only ones who know anything about the technology. This is especially true in the energy arena as we move to the green technology and solutions,” he explains.
Henry Pellerin, director of Learning Center Programs at Hill Phoenix, hopes the company is filling a void in this area. “What we’re seeing is a decrease in the number of qualified technicians entering this field and engineers who can adequately service the latest systems in grocery refrigeration, and organizations like ASHRAE, as well as the stores themselves, have less resources to train contractors or personnel. Yet at the same time, there’s a growing dependency on contractors/dealers to service the equipment, so advanced training programs like the ones our Learning Center offer are critical.”
The Learning Center was started in 2005 and has since provided training to more than 10,000 industry professionals, ranging from service contractors and specifying engineers to store development and procurement personnel. The center’s key results for customers are easier adoption of new technologies and gaining the necessary knowledge to help customers get the most out of equipment in their stores. -more- -2- According to Bailey, the benefits of such training are multiple: Training can be expensive, so programs that reach an entire membership base like ASHRAE is a cost-effective way to share and educate; For store owners, enhanced training results in a wider range of people familiar with new technologies and thus more competitive bidding; And, training makes the technicians themselves more competitive, which translates into hiring locally and keeping money in the state.
About The Hill Phoenix Learning Center
The Hill Phoenix Learning Center offers training programs on a variety of topics including walk-in cooler installation and knowledge, secondary refrigeration, product and systems knowledge, Coolgenix, DX systems installation, SmartValve, basic refrigeration and more. The center offers online and on-site training and can also customize curricula based on customers’ specific needs. www.hillphoenixlc.com; 770-285-3100.