Plumbing, Piping and PHCC Connect

Plumbing, Piping and PHCC Connect

By: Kylie Stanley, PR Technician

The plumbing and piping business is huge, and I was reminded of that as I attended PHCC Connect for the first time. PHCC Connect is an immersive expo event that brings industry leaders and professionals in plumbing, heating, cooling and ventilation together. This experience provided opportunities for attendees, educational sessions and showcased products from across the industry under one roof.

This year, PHCC Connect took place on our home turf of Cleveland, Ohio! This allowed us to showcase some hotspots to our clients and friends attending. Plus, PHCC Connect promoted Sonnhalter’s Cleveland Insider’s Guide on the app and handed out cards, which highlights restaurants and nightlife around town!

Throughout the show they continually had panel discussions taking place. Popular sessions included conversations on Chat GPT, economic trends, myths about the trades, safety and productivity through effective training practices and more!

I also loved that they had a plumbing and HVAC apprentice contest happening on the floor! The HVAC apprentice contestants had to demonstrate their knowledge with a written test, plus brazing, pressure testing, refrigerant recovery and diagnosing and repairing a package unit system. The plumbing apprentice contestants had to rough-in a bathroom – including the drain, waste and vent lines, a toilet, a sink and shower.

Pretty neat to watch tradesmen in the field demonstrate their knowledge!

One panel discussion that I attended that was full of people and full of valuable information was the “Women in Industry” luncheon. This event included an interactive panel discussion featuring women who work in the plumbing and HVAC industry. The panel shared their personal stories of being women in the industry, challenges they have faced and how the trades can be more inclusive and welcoming for young professionals.

This luncheon event really highlighted that we need to go to schools at a young age and expose to kids that there are options outside of college. Setting these standards young is vital for us to grow the trades. We also received the “The House That She Built” children’s book that educates young readers about the people and skills that go into building a home, telling the true story of a home built by all female tradespeople.

PHCC Connect was an awesome show to attend and we can’t wait to see what next year entails. The next plumbing/HVAC tradeshow we will be attending will be AHR Expo in Chicago!

To watch a behind-the-scenes look from PHCC Connect visit,

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Updated Sonnhalter HVAC Market Overview Now Available

Information on HVAC market codes, standards and certifications, key trade shows, industry associations, buying groups, training providers, top distributors, industry publications, blogs, online forums and more.  

At Sonnhalter, we pride ourselves on working only in the B2T, or Business-to-Tradesmen, industry. And that means not only being up to date on what our clients are doing, but with their industries as well.

To that end, we have developed comprehensive Market Overviews for relevant industries, and continually update them. Our latest update is for the HVAC Market. Please feel free to download, review and share, and if you have any questions, contact us.

Sign up for our updated Sonnhalter HVAC Market Overview here.

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Updated HVAC Market Overview Now Available

Information on HVAC market trends, key trade shows, industry associations, buying groups, training providers, top distributors, industry publications, blogs, online forums and more. 

 

At Sonnhalter we pride ourselves on working only in the B2T, or Business-to-Tradesmen industry. And that means not only being up to date on what our clients are doing, but with their industries as well.

To that end, we have developed comprehensive Market Overviews for relevant industries, and continually update them. Our latest update is for the HVAC Market. Please feel free to download, review and share, and if you have any questions, contact us.

Sign up for our updated Sonnhalter HVAC Market Overview here:

http://www.sonnhalter.com/tradesman-insights/market-overviews/hvac/

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AHR Expo Heats up Vegas (and probably cools it down)

By Chris Ilcin, Account Superintendent, Sonnhalter

The AHR Expo, the preeminent trade show for the HVAC industry is right around the corner. The show runs from January 30th to February 1st at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

AHR just released an optimistic 2017 forecast, based on interviews with more than 1,400 HVACR manufacturers. Because of that, this year’s show promises to be an exciting and educational affair.

Here’s what you can expect:

  • Over 2,000 exhibitors in 764 product categories
  • More than 60,000 people expected to attend
  • 200+ education seminars and product demonstrations
  • ASHRAE Learning Institute Courses and Certification exams
  • An innovative mobile app complete with agenda maker, interactive floor plan and more features

Of course Las Vegas has no end of off-the-show-floor options. If you need help finding best in dining, nightlife and sightseeing, check out the recently updated Sonnhalter Insider’s Guide to Las Vegas.

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ISH 2015: The Biggest Tradeshow I’ve Ever Attended

Source - Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Pietro Sutera

Source – Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Pietro Sutera

By Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect

I recently attended the ISH Show, a biennial show, which took place in Frankfurt, Germany in March. This was the first time I was able to attend this show and it sure did not disappoint. I guess the one word I would use to describe this show would be overwhelming!

Here are some of the amazing statistics from the show:

  • Over 850,000 square feet of exhibit space – sprawled out over 11 buildings, most with multiple levels
  • Almost 2,500 exhibitors – representing over 50 countries; and this number is not nearly as impressive as the individual sizes of their booths; 61% of these exhibitors came from outside of Germany
  • Nearly 200,000 visitors – from plumbing and HVAC professional tradesman (accounting for around a third of the total), architects and engineers, to distributors, service providers, public authorities and more; 37% of these visitors came from outside Germany

Source - Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Pietro Sutera

Source – Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Pietro Sutera

This is by far the world’s leading show for the combination of water and energy topics. Everything one could possibly imagine for these industries was covered under the following five product groups:

  1. The Bathroom Experience – think of KBIS on steroids…Grohe and Hans Grohe even had their own buildings
  2. Building and Energy Technology – everything from boiler and burners, to heat pumps and components for heating equipment
  3. Efficient Systems and Renewable Energies – all the alternative energies were represented from solar, rain water, biomass and geothermal, plus there was even an entire floor dedicated to stoves, pellet burners and fireplaces
  4. Air-Conditioning, Cooling and Ventilation Technology – this section was comparable to the entire AHR Expo in U.S.
  5. World of Installation Technology – covering plumbing techniques, tools and systems for surface mounting, pipes, fittings and fasteners

Source - Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jens Liebchen

Source – Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jens Liebchen

The overall theme for ISH 2015 was “Comfort meets Technology” where the world’s leading companies covered future-oriented issues such as resource conservation and renewable energies. Here are some of the other broad themes covered during the show:

  • ISH Water: Interior + Technology – Design and Function in Harmony. Topics covered included: the multi-generational bathroom; bathroom architecture in the light of demographic change; hygiene requirements for drinking water and efficient use of water as a resource
  • ISH Energy: Energy Efficiency Plus. Topics covered included: energy efficiency in the heating market; hybrid systems; using a single room fireplace to provide comfortable warmth and holistic sustainability
  • Future Buildings: Topics covered included technology, comfort and energy efficiency in harmony; integrating automation of interior spaces and energy efficiency and smart living – the networked home becomes an everyday reality

Amazingly, this show is really equivalent in size to 4 or 5 of our major U.S. professional tradesman shows. The show was five days in length and you needed almost all of it to walk the entire show. And the booth traffic was tremendous, and not just on the first day of the show like most U.S. trade shows, seeming to build each and every day.

If you’ve never been to the ISH Show and you are involved in any part of the Water and Energy fields, it’s definitely worth attending. Just make sure to book your travel accommodations early and wear comfortable walking shoes!

Want to keep reading about ISH? Check out these links:

Holy cow! ISH Show continues to amaze

6 plumbing trends from ISH

The show that is del-ISH

ISH Frankfurt 2015 Recap from Eric Aune

ISH 2015 — Day 1

ISH 2015 — Day 2

ISH 2015 — Day 3

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