Browsing Tag

AHR

AHR Expo México

Posted on 11. October 2018

Jamie Smalling, our inside sales representative at punker LLC in Hickory, NC, visited AHR Expo México in early October. At the largest trade show of the air conditioning and ventilation industry in Latin America our representative MG Asociados exhibited the fan wheels of the punker D-Series individually and as a component in their own air handling units and box fans of the brand KLIMA.

Here Jamie shares her impressions of a unique trip to Mexico City and a whole new exhibition experience:

I was wonderfully impressed with the extent of hospitality from the group at MG Asociados from the moment I arrived, until I departed back to the States. Although my trip started out with a 3 hr delay due to a faulty plane in Dallas, TX, Adolfo patiently waited on me at the airport in Mexico as he was aware of my concerns traveling there alone as an American woman arriving late at night. Coming in for the landing in Mexico City, I was overwhelmed with the sheer size of the city and can fully understand why in Mexico they say Mexico City is it’s own country within the country. At night as the city was lit up all around as far as you could see to the mountain tops, it was a beautiful and unforgettable sight. I could not have asked for a better group to escort me in this city, as they made sure I was taken care of traveling, as well as eating dinner in the evenings as we discussed the optimism from the potential of the show each day.

The AHR Show there is a little different from what we are used too in the US, as it does not begin until 2:00 pm and last until 8:00 pm. This could help explain how very busy both days that I attended were as it had been projected to have over 350 exhibitors, and over 10,000 attendees. I would say this was a good estimate with the steady traffic through the show on Tuesday and Wednesday. Throughout the entire 6 hours, the MG booth had a steady stream of people interested in punker wheels, along with MG’s new Klima Air handling units and Box fans being show cased as new products. On Tuesday, the first day, at least 50% of the inquiries at the booth were in reference to our D-Series wheels as they not only had our wheels in their air handling unit and box fans, but also displayed over the whole booth including on their own displays.

I feel as though this trip was well worth the time, and I left there knowing there is a definite market for our wheels in Mexico and the MG group has capacity and capability to reach the market to make these sales happen for punker LLC.

I appreciate this eye opening experience, to see the market in another culture and am grateful for the partnership that MG has requested with us to reach this South American market.

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2018 AHR Expo

Posted on 2. February 2018

The new Dlight - welded for HVAC applications.

In 2018, energy efficiency was again one of the topics exhibitors and visitors were concerned with at the 2018 AHR Expo, which was held from January 22 -24 in Chicago. Thus, the punker exhibition team was thrilled about the great interest with which the high-efficiency D-Series fan wheels were met once again. Presented for the first time was an extremely lightweight fan impeller in a welded execution: the Dlight – welded.

New Product: Dlight – welded

With the Dlight – welded, punker adds to the existing D-Series, a product range of energy-efficient diffusor fan wheels unhoused applications such as plug fans, plenum fans, and air handling. The welded aluminum impeller offers a high ventilation system performance paired with low weight and pleasant acoustics. It is suited for applications that require a static pressure increase of 4 – 5.5″ WG (AMCA Class I) and compatible with various AC or EC drives.

AHR Expo – International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition

AHR Expo is the most important exhibition for Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigerating on the American continents. With an estimated 70,000 visitors and 2,100 exhibiting companies, this year’s show is the largest event since it’s start in 1930. In the good company of industry giants like ebm-papst, Ziehl-Abegg, Rosenberg and Comefri, punker exhibited fan wheels “Engineered in Germany – Made in the USA” for the seventh year in a row.

HVAC Manufacturers confident About Economic Outlook

The record-breaking visitor count is congruent with HVAC manufacturers’ extremely positive outlook for the fiscal year of 2018. According to the latest AHR Expo and ASHRAE Journal Annual Economic Outlook Survey, 89% of responders expect excellent or good growth, up 15% from the already positive outlook in 2017. The development of sales indicates that this is not just a snapshot: 69% of respondents reported higher sales in 2017 versus 57% in 2016. The percentage of businesses with a significantly higher sales growth (more than 10% year-on-year) increased as well, from Und 23% in 2016 to 34% in 2017.

punker meets Market Requirements of Reliability and Energy Efficiency

With such a positive outlook for the new fiscal year, many manufacturers are looking for the latest and best technologies and products. With regard to customer expectations, respondents continue to consider reliability and energy efficiency as the most influential factors in their 2018 buying decisions. With the D-Series, punker offers the right solution for these market requirements. This was also reflected in an even higher number of visitors on our booth, compared to the previous year.

Markets

AHR Expo Las Vegas – Energy efficiency in the desert

Posted on 17. February 2017

End of January 2017, the AHR participation (largest trade show for Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration in the US) was on punker’s agenda, already for the 6^th time in a row. The presentation of the new, highly efficient punker D-Series was a home run – this year’s show in Las Vegas was all about energy efficiency.

The exposition took place in the Las Vegas Convention Center (Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, 2017). Honestly, we had some doubts if Las Vegas was the right place for an industry trade show. But only 30 minutes after the opening these doubts proved wrong: The enormous appeal of ‘fabulous Las Vegas’ brought a visitors record already on day one. Obviously, many visitors combined a visit of Las Vegas and the trade show by arriving already the weekend before.

Our booth in the Central Hall was crowded by visitors on Monday morning: Frank Mueller (Area Sales Manager North, Central and South America), Juergen Beinke (Director Global Sales) and myself had many opportunities to spread the enthusiasm for our new energy efficient D-Series. While the interest in energy efficient solutions was still low during the 2016 AHR Expo in Orlando, it had sparked very strong interest by this year.

Energy Efficiency Everywhere

The yearly survey amongst the trade show visitors by the ASHRAE Journal (monthly journal published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) confirmed the increased awareness of energy efficient solutions: 60,5% of the 700 respondents indicated that energy efficiency is the most important aspect for their customers (ahead: 74,2% Reliability, 70,4% Cost). Only 4% indicated that customers are not willing to pay more for energy efficiency, almost 80% confirmed the increased willingness to pay more, another 80% is actively on the lookout for ‘green’ or sustainable products on the trade show. However, only 25% of the respondents notice a support or even incentives by the state to change to energy efficient products or technologies.

By presenting ‚Increasing Energy Efficiency with the new punker Diffuser Technology’ in the New Product & Technology Theater of the AHR Expo, Frank Mueller and Juergen Beinke succeeded in demonstrating to even more trade show visitors, how the punker D-Series fan wheels increase the energy efficiency of free blowing HVAC systems and reduce the operating costs at the same time.

“Made in USA” and “America first”

Apart from energy efficiency, another aspect was a hot topic in many business discussions: The question if our products are made in USA. Already in 2016, we put a strong focus on showing that we are producing in the US. The significance of ‘made in USA’, however, has even more increased, mainly due to the ‘America first’ attitude of the Trump administration and their announcement to impose punitive tariff duties on certain imports from Germany. Whatever the reason for this question was – the fact, that punker produces in the USA for the US market is key to our successful business relations in this market.

Next AHR Expo is from Jan. 22-24, 2018, in Chicago. Already looking forward to your visit on our booth No. 3337!

Markets Together

From the Idea to the Booth – 2016 AHR Show Orlando

Posted on 22. March 2016

When exhibiting at trade shows, companies always present their best side. Exhibition stands are supposed to appear effortlessly inviting, professional and innovative. In the months leading up to AHR Expo in Orlando, Florida, I came to find out just how much strategic thought and hard work goes into actualizing a successful presentation.

Coming up with a concept

The 2016 AHR Show in Orlando had the target to relaunch our HVAC wheel series to the market. The decision was made early on that there was a need for a new marketing concept, especially for the American market.

In the end of November 2015, the punker LLC team had the first brain storm meeting to discuss new ideas for the show. Members of the team included Ryan Kilkelly (Managing Director), Michael Greene (Quality Management), Jessica Owens (Inside Sales) and myself, Frank Mueller.

An abundance of ideas were laid out on the table but only two made it out of the meeting. It was decided that we need one display stand to proudly announce that Hickory manufactures in the USA and another to showcase the R63D-HVAC wheel and include technical information.

The display stands we had used in the past weren’t useful for this goal. It was decided to redesign the booth and purchase new display stands.

The different ideas of the “Made in the USA” campaign ranged from an American flag made using backward curved and cross flow wheels to powder coated wheels in the traditional US colors; red, white and blue. Ultimately, it was decided that three R63D-HVAC wheels were to be coated in these colors, which also happen to be punker’s standard corporate colors.

The concept for the HVAC display was simple, the R63D-HVAC and the new D light wheel were positioned in the center of the display while side panels included technical information from our brochure.

The Sales team at punker LLC then began the search for a company to create our vision. We found a local company nearby and began the process.

In previous years, punker has rented all equipment for the booth. This year, the decision was made to purchase all of the items. This move is sure to save punker from costly rental fees in the future.

In addition to support from the entire punker LLC team, we also received a tremendous amount of support and assistance from Frederike Walter from the Marketing Department in Eckernforde. Ms. Walter assisted in everything from the space rental, booth design, literature, wheels – you name it and she helped with it.

Planning the idea to the booth consumed a minimum of three months. A lot of planning went into turning our vision into reality and finally seeing our material waiting at our booth. There were plenty of days leading up to the show that “show planning” turned into a full time job for Jessica.

The AHR Expo 2016

The Expo took place from January 25^th – January 27^th. It is the largest show for the HVAC industry in the US. Exhibitors included many of our competitors and also many customers, too. This was truly a great opportunity to meet with our customers and especially for me to be able to introduce myself as the “New Area Sales Manager” of the Americas.

In my opinion, out of 42,396 visitors and 17,978 exhibitors, it was clear that the following three topics stood out amongst the rest:

Energy Efficiency
American Made Products “Made in the USA”
Plastic Wheels

To our surprise, many of our competitors presented plastic wheels and expect to see a great market for them in the future. However, this is not our opinion. We will watch this closely as only time will tell.

In general, the show was well attended from potential customers around the world. Not only did we have visits from many US customers, but other countries as well, such as: Israel, Egypt, Saudi-Arabia, India, Mexico, Brazil, Canada and China were also represented.

Many visitors to our booth were interested in our HVAC product line, focused on the potential for energy efficiency. Energy efficiency will begin to make a strong impact on the sale decision following the continued efforts of the DOE’s bill for efficiency.

To see more pictures from 2016 AHR Expo in Orlando, visit the SmugMug gallery.