DRC HEAT TRANSFER Hosts 2024 Heavy-Duty Conference in Chicago
By: Linda Nguyen Skoglund, Communications Director
More than 70 people from all over the world were in Chicago June 6-7 for the 2024 NARSA/IDEA Heavy-Duty Conference.
Thursday’s portion of the conference was held at the Loews O’Hare Hotel. This year’s keynote speaker was Meridith Elliott Powell, an author and business strategist. Her presentation called “THRIVE: Turn Uncertainty To Your Competitive Advantage” made an impression on members.
“I want to go back and use some of the strategies she talked about, specifically about how to talk to your employees and problem-solving,” said longtime NARSA member Donna Dowler, who owns Southwest Radiator with her husband Ron. “If they ask you a question, you can turn it around and say, ‘That’s a great question. What do you think about that?’ We want our employees to be able to take care of things when we are gone, to give us freedom and to empower them to give us freedom when we aren’t there.”
Other presentations throughout the day included "Impact of Different Coolants on Aluminum" & "New Type of DEF" by Joe Long of Old World Industries, "Surviving OSHA” and “Airborne Metals Contaminants in a Radiator Repair Environment" by Randy Gardner of Western Maryland Consulting, “Hammers to Hashtags” by Will Garrett of Radiator Supply House, and a Q&A with Robb Leu of DRC HEAT TRANSFER.
“I really liked Robb’s presentation where the conclusion is that copper is better than aluminum,” said Ulf Anvin of Anvin International who also represents Agrawal Metal Works from India. “It was technical. I’ve been in the business for 45 years, so I always say that I know enough technology to be dangerous. I liked the way it was structured with Questions and Answers. Very often, when you listen to technicians, it’s just rambling around, but that was very structured.”
Ulf has been a NARSA member since 1987, but this was his first Heavy-Duty Conference. He also lives in Chicago, this opportunity was too good to pass up. “A function like this opens up so many good contacts. For me, as a supplier, I meet customers from all over the world. I meet customers from Australia, from the Middle East, Europe, and South America without having to travel all over. A lot of business starts here.”
On Friday, members got to tour all 5 facilities of DRC HEAT TRANSFER, based in Melrose Park, Illinois.
“We’re a vertically integrated manufacturing company,” said Brian P. Cahill of DRC HEAT TRANSFER. “We build our own cores. We fabricate our own steel components using CNC equipment. We use CNC tube benders to bend our own connection tubing. We do our own assembling, and we do our own brazing all within our own facility. It's an A to Z facility to produce the final product.”
“This is on a scale I couldn’t imagine,” said Tim Bell of Ohio Heat Transfer and Cincinnati Radiator. “The volume that DRC is doing, and the technology that they’re using— The machinery just blew me away. I wish we could have brought the whole shop with us.They would have been so impressed. Everything we saw today, all of the presentations, and all the networking had value. I’m old school, and I think this networking is what keeps the industry going.”
The group also visited AMADA’s Solution Center in nearby Schaumburg to see the latest in machinery.
“What I saw at AMADA was mind-blowing,” said Steven Blanchard of Radiator Services of Houma. “That technology can save so much time.”
Steven started as a radiator technician just a few months ago, and this was his first NARSA event. There were also several ideas Steven saw at DRC HEAT TRANSFER that he said he will take back with him to Louisiana. “Before this, I’d only ever seen the cores. I never knew how they were built. So that has already changed my perspective. Everybody in this industry should be able to see that. Whenever you can see the inside and the outside of the business that you’re working in, it gets your mind going. I love new opportunities, and I got to meet a lot of different people from other countries from Canada, Puerto Rico, and more thanks to this conference.”
Meeting like-minded people in the cooling systems industry was one of the reasons why David Bievenu of Radiator Services of Houma wanted to bring Steven along with him to Chicago. “I’ve known Brian Cahill for a while, and I’ve seen a lot of Diesel Radiator stuff,” said David Bienvenu of Radiator Services of Houma. “But I wanted to bring Steven with me so he could fall in love with the radiator business.”
“Most people don’t realize that everything that burns hydrocarbons has a cooling system,” said David. “Everything we do depends on diesel fuel, natural gas, and especially where we live near the Gulf of Mexico in the marine, there’s just a lot to it. I wanted Steven to see how a core was built from the tube to the fins to the headers and how it’s all put together, and how it’s dipped. It’s just a good opportunity to let him witness it and how it’s going. And to also see that this is a real industry and this could be a real career for the rest of his life and for his family. It was a family business for me.”
The member who traveled the farthest to attend the conference was Jeremie Mbolo from Le Geant du Radiateur based in Douala, Cameroon. Jeremie has been to several NARSA meetings over the years, but he was specifically drawn to this event because he wanted to see DRC HEAT TRANSFER up close. “I wanted to come to this meeting because I wanted to develop my business. I learned about DRC HEAT TRANSFER from NARSA, and I thought it seemed like a very interesting company. How they’re producing copper cores is very interesting to me. It’s very different from what they’re selling in Cameroon. What is coming from China is not the same. This weekend, I was able to meet new people and create important relationships. And hopefully, we can grow those relationships when I return to Africa. ”
Part of NARSA’s mission of One Idea, One Opportunity, One Connection is providing members a place to network. “I love NARSA, and I’ve said it a thousand times before. I would never be in this industry had I not gotten involved with NARSA and made the connections and friends in this business,” said David Bienvenu. “There’s something about having friends and connections that makes you love what you do more. It’s like being part of the football team with a bunch of guys you really care about. The NARSA team is the same thing.”