Denver’s Hercules Industries leverages the experience of military veterans to thrive in a down economy.

Chantilly, VA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/27/2015 -- When the economy took a downturn, Denver's Hercules Industries didn't. How did the wholesale distributor and manufacturer of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) products and equipment manage it? "When you step back and look, our single biggest asset is our employees," says Dan Grady, Hercules' commercial branch manager.

Many of those employees are veterans. "Individuals who have served in the military have a certain power," Grady says. He believes veterans have a unique interconnection between purpose, work ethic, leadership, and drive and the ability to make decisions quickly and accurately. "A majority of our competitors cannot bring this blend of talent to the table," Grady adds.

Hercules relies on the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) to provide this quality labor. According to SMART Local 9 Business Manager Eric DeBay, many individuals have gone straight from the U.S. Navy's metal department to SMART's apprenticeship program. "These apprentices bring discipline and leadership with them…They excel in training and the trade."

Identifying qualified veterans is not difficult as a result of the Helmets to Hardhats program, which helps military service members successfully transition back into civilian life by offering them the means to secure a quality career in the construction industry. Helmets to Hardhats maintains a database of more than 100,000 former military career seekers.

Helmets to Hardhats gives veterans an opportunity to transition into federally approved apprenticeship training programs—such as the one affiliated with SMART Local 9. These programs not only come at no cost to veterans and provide an income during training, but also they lead into well-paying careers in specialized, skilled crafts.

Hercules Industries: www.herculesindustries.com
SMART Local 9: www.smw9.com
Helmets to Hardhats: www.helmetstohardhats.org
Previous SMART-SMACNA press releases: http://pinpmagazine.org/pressreleases.htm

The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) have a labor-management partnership that is more than 75 years old. The goal is to maintain an effective cooperative effort that demonstrates Expertise in the industrial and architectural sheet metal and heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) markets. SMART and SMACNA publish Partners in Progress magazine. For additional information, visit www.pinp.org.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

In Oklahoma City, the sheet metal industry is trying a new approach to educating the apprentices who are building careers. It's working!

Oklahoma City, OK -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/13/2015 -- Most construction apprenticeships share a decades-old approach: On-the-job training and classroom work are mandatory; a specified number of hours of each precede an apprentice's graduation to journeyman status.

But – in an industry whose traditions originated with the building of the pyramids – what worked yesterday might not be the best approach today. In Oklahoma City, Okla., the organized sheet metal industry is working on a new and different approach.

"What it boils down to is, here, we're not just building buildings," explained Nic Bittle, the consultant spearheading the project. "We're also building people."

Changes involve instructing the apprentices, and interacting with them, in a curriculum that seeks to address their mindset . . . personal skills (to accompany the jobsite skills they must learn). Instruction comes via two brief online sessions each month and face-to-face meetings.

Why change now? Bob Demechko, a member of SMART Local Union 124 who serves on the area's apprenticeship committee, explained: "What I did 15 years ago isn't really relevant. We've got people now who think differently than we perhaps did. The goal is the same: To produce the best sheet metal worker out there.

"But now, to communicate with and help them, you've got to approach it differently." Demechko is shop and field superintendent for Harrison Orr Air Conditioning.

Bittle's concept avoids long lectures. "We don't want to be throw out a lot of ideas all at once, in a three-hour lecture, and then expect the apprentices to change overnight," he said. "We are trying to give the apprentices exactly what they need in terms of information and education, in bits and pieces – precisely when they need it."

Is this new approach working? Most of those concerned with the new Oklahoma City program answer "it's really too soon to tell." It originated in the past year with training specifically targeted at apprentices in each of the four years of the area's four-year apprenticeship program.

However, Nathan Dills, owner of ACP Sheet Metal, said he already has seen positive results: "One of the subjects tackled in this first year was money management, something we typically don't talk about," explained Dills, who is also a member of the local apprenticeship committee.

"Now several have opened their first savings accounts. A few have talked about the efforts they are putting in to get their families to live within a budget – something younger people don't routinely do, in any generation."

Added Bittle: "We are challenging them to think about the ideas we're introducing to them. For the industry and for the apprentices, this is not an 'easy fix' of any kind. On the other hand, it provides a long-term benefit – kind of like eating your vegetables!"

Additional info:

Article on OKC apprenticeship – see p23-24 of this 28p PDF: http://bit.ly/1u6FnD4
Innovative program launched in Oklahoma City: http://bit.ly/1BTIq2N
SNIPS magazine article on OKC apprenticeship: http://bit.ly/1ytTf9s

About SMART and SMACNA
The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) have a labor-management partnership that is more than 75 years old. The goal is to maintain an effective cooperative effort that demonstrates Expertise in the industrial and architectural sheet metal and heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) markets. SMART and SMACNA publish Partners in Progress magazine. For additional information, visit www.pinp.org.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

The SMACNA-SMART Partnership is giving members a chance to highlight the sheet metal trade in creative, short videos -- a contest. Entries welcome through March 15.

Chantilly, VA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/19/2015 -- Few people know what sheet metal workers do. The SMACNA-SMART Labor Management Partnership Trust is giving its members a chance to highlight their trade in creative, short videos—up to 90 seconds long—and earn a prize of up to $500 in the process.

Videos can highlight labor-management success stories, technical skills, recruiting, training or other subjects related to the industry. Only current members of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) or employees of a contractor affiliated with the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA), SMACNA-SMART Joint Apprenticeship Training Center, or SMACNA chapter may participate.

Entrants must visit the Partners in Progress Facebook page, choose Video Contest, provide their full name; Union number, SMACNA chapter, or affiliated contractor name; valid email address, and the YouTube URL for the video. The Sheet Metal Challenge Video Contest is open for entries through March 15. One entry per person.

Beginning March 16, voting will open on Facebook to select the best. Cash prizes for the entries receiving the most votes are $500, $300, and $200 for first through third place.

Outstaning entries will be used on SMACNA's and SMART's Web sites, in advertising, and on social media.

Full contest rules available at pinpmagazine.org/contest/videocontest01rules.htm or they may be requested via an email to editor@pinpmagazine.org

Additional info:

About The International Association of SMART
The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) have a labor-management partnership that is more than 75 years old. The goal is to maintain an effective cooperative effort that demonstrates Expertise in the industrial and architectural sheet metal and heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) markets. SMART and SMACNA publish Partners in Progress magazine.

For additional information, visit http://www.pinp.org

For more information contact:
Kaarin Engelmann
Editor, Partners in Progress magazine
editor@pinpmagazine.org
888-586-0387

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Homeowners in Northern California are getting a break with their HVAC repair + replacement needs

Stockton, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/27/2015 -- Homeowners with a "to-do" list of systems and equipment in their homes that need to be repaired, replaced, and/or serviced are getting a break – at least, in Northern California.

Sheet Metal Workers' Local Union No. 104, through contractors that use its members, offers two residential rebate programs for HVAC systems. They are:

- The Residential Heating and Air Conditioning Rebate Program covers furnace and air conditioning equipment replacements and additions. The year-round program provides homeowner rebates of $75.00 to $415.00.

- The Residential Spring and Fall Tune-up Rebate Program offers a rebate of $50.00 and runs from April & May and then again in October & November.

"The Residential program has been around for almost two decades," said Bruce Word, business manager of SMART Local Union 104. "We came up with it, experimented with how it might work, and we've modified it over time.

"Over the past five years, we've sent checks to over 25,000 homeowners in the area, totaling more than $3.1 million.

"Today, we've made it so it's easy for the homeowner. When they call a participating contractor, the contractor will give them an estimate right on the spot. That estimate includes the rebate that they will be receiving."

According to Word, many residents initially discover the available rebates when they see advertisements in their local weekly "shopper," publications, newspapers, direct mailers, as well as phone and internet solicitations.

Why are the organized sheet metal workers giving money back to their customers, via two programs, on a routine basis?

"It's pretty simple," explained Matthew Smith of Smith Heating & Air Conditioning (Stockton CA), one of more than 75 participating contractors. "Our Union wants to promote our preventive maintenance and service offerings. Providing rebate dollars – for things like equipment replacement – helps the homeowner make a decision to give us a try.

"Our sheet metal workers are knowledgeable, skilled, and more than able to do this work. We think if the homeowner works with us once, they will call us again."

More information for homeowners on the rebates can be found online at:
https://www.smw104.org/rebates/

Background information for writers/editors:

SMART Local Union 104 -- https://www.smw104.org

HVAC Expertise Central Valley Contractors -- http://hvacexpertisecentralvalley.com/

The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) have a labor-management partnership that is more than 75 years old.

About SMACNA
SMACNA's contractors (using SMART workers) specialize in HVAC, architectural and industrial sheet metal, ventilation system testing & balancing, and energy management and maintenance. SMACNA develops voluntary technical standards and manuals that are accepted, referenced, and acknowledged worldwide.

SMART and SMACNA publish Partners in Progress magazine. For additional information, visit http://www.pinp.org

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Located in Brazil, the 3rd largest aquarium in the world -- scheduled to open in 2015 -- includes a building envelope designed and manufactured in Kansas City MO and Grand Prairie TX

Kansas City, MO -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/21/2014 -- Does the United States make things that customers around the world want to buy? People in the sheet metal industry working at Zahner (Kansas City MO) answer with a resounding, "Yes!"

Zahner's engineers and sheet metal workers, located in Kansas City and Grand Prairie TX are fabricating using ZAHNER's patented ZEPPS system. The geometry-controlled edges of the frames are clad in architecturally significant aluminum

When it opens in 2015, the facility – located in Fortaleza, in the state of Ceara, Brazil – will be the third-largest aquarium on Planet Earth.

"We've been working on this project—the design, and our resolution of very complex architectural/engineering interfaces, and much more—for two years," says Gary Davis, director of marketing for Zahner.

"It's a big project, even for us. Much of the work recently has involved coordinating our 3D design/engineering scopes-of-work with Imagic Brasil, the Architect of Record in Brazil."

Brazilian designers as well as government officials have traveled to the United States to review the engineering solutions and architectural surfaces that Zahner is preparing. Manufacturing has not yet begun on the main project; it might take as long as nine months and involve as many as 70 sheet metal workers (at both U.S. plants).

However, something representative of the structural frame is already in place. In Fortaleza. Ceara government officials believe the aquarium will be a major tourist attraction, and wanted a sort of "teaser" in place before 2015.

As a result, Kevin Hidy -- a member of Local 2 of SMART and fabrication director for Zahner -- recently traveled with two company executives to work with Brazilian crews for the on-site assembly of a 30-foot-tall mock-up of the aquarium's exterior.

In essence, this effort represents a rehearsal of what's yet to come. "It was a 10-day trip," Hidy explains. "The mock-up is sized to scale, and we had a chance to work with the local workforce."

When the project is ready to roll, Zahner's Kansas City and Grand Prairie plants will complete the fabrication and then ship the framing and the Facade elements to Brazil. From there, Brazilian workforce will erect the Zahner systems on-site.

"The design featured numerous geometrically curved edges," Davis says. "Our company is well-known among architects. They know if they can imagine it, our engineers and plant staff will design a solution to turn their concepts and aesthetics into a reality."

Background: United States-based ICM, Inc. was awarded a $150 million contract to build the aquarium, which will be the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. When finished, the facility will house roughly 5,000 creatures (500 species), with 38 display tanks and up to 15 million liters of water.

Located in Brazil's northeast, the state of Ceara has about 8.8 million residents. The government there believes the aquarium will attract 1.2 million visitors annually.

More information:

- Zahner blog on aquarium fabrication project: http://bit.ly/1sBuLri
- Imagic Brazil—additional project renderings: http://bit.ly/1leGugS
- ICM, Inc.: http://icm-corp.com/
- Architectural Sheet Metal Expertise: http://www.asm-expertise.com

About The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers
The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) have a labor-management partnership that is more than 75 years old. The goal is to maintain an effective cooperative effort that demonstrates expertise in the industrial and architectural sheet metal and heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) markets. SMART and SMACNA publish Partners in Progress magazine.

For additional information, visit http://www.pinp.org

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

In the Chicago Metro area, sheet metal contractors and their workers have created -- and will stand behind -- a 5-year warranty on sheet metal roofing work they do together for customers.

Chantilly, VA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/21/2014 -- Customers desiring metal roofs on new or existing buildings typically hire sheet metal contractors. This investment (by a homeowner or business) is – ideally – one that will last for decades.

But what happens if a problem develops with the roof and, when the customer calls for assistance . . . it turns out the contractor has gone out of business?

In the Chicago Metro area, SMACNA Greater Chicago (the local chapter of the sheet metal contractors association) and SMART Local Union 265 have combined to create and stand behind (financially and otherwise) a 5-year warranty on sheet metal roofing work done by their member contractors.

It's available to customers at no additional charge.

Here's how it works:
- The contractor does the job.
- If there's a problem within the 5-year period, the contractor returns and fixes it.
- If the installing contractor is no longer in business, another union sheet metal contractor will do the job (no charge to the customer).
- One can hope that no problems will develop.
- Whether the contractor remains in business or not, an inspection is offered to the customer (again, at no charge) at the end of the 5-year warranty period – to ensure the work will retain integrity over time.

"We have a strong local association and great ties with the workers who are members of Local 265," explained Ken Wiesbrook, a VP at Wiesbrook Sheet Metal (Plainfield Ill.). "We all talked about this idea – all the participating companies, with the union. We thought it was possible to offer this, and now we've made it happen for our customers."

Added Chuck Ruegge of Local 265: "Now, our contractors can tell the customer – 'if something happens, Mr. Owner, we're going to stand behind you.' Our competitors just can't come close to matching that."

*************

SMACNA Greater Chicago – http://smacnagreaterchicago.org/
SMART Local 265 – http://www.smart265.org/

About SMART and SMACNA
The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) have a labor-management partnership that is more than 75 years old. The goal is to maintain an effective cooperative effort that demonstrates Expertise in the industrial and architectural sheet metal and heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) markets. SMART and SMACNA publish Partners in Progress magazine. For additional information, visit http://www.pinp.org.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm