Training, whether for technical, advertising or non-technical skills, is a cornerstone of the PHCP industry. CVC plumbers and technicians spend much of their time in customers’ homes and businesses helping, diagnosing, repairing, and installing mandatory systems and appliances that keep us healthy and comfortable. Continuing education is important for those who are an essential staff to stay on top of new products, technologies and techniques.
For box staff, classical education consisted of classroom face-to-face instruction along with hands-on activities. E-learning opportunities were considered, first, complementary; Recently, however, web-based education has an essential component of plumbing and CVC education.
We’ve noticed that marketers control the controllable.
Today we live in the era of COVID-19, a highly infectious respiratory disease that plagues the world. At the time of writing, the 18 million resource report showed international cases and nearly 689,000 deaths. The United States has 4.65 million cases shown, 157,000 deaths and 2.31 million cures. [Source, Wikipedia, The COVID Tracking Project (https://covidtracking.com) et al.]
At the beginning of this pandemic, many states followed home maintenance orders, allowing only a designated staff to move. People had to paint remotely; Primary, high school and school academics had to be informed remotely. It was a confusing and chaotic moment, as businesses and educational establishments awkwardly turned to the Internet to provide a connection through virtual assembly applications.
In the plumbing and heating industry, distance learning is something new, as marketers turn to their associations and production partners for advice.
“The content of classical education revolves around some key areas: how to manage a project, how to collect, how to locate work, how to talk to workers,” says Brian Helm, current president of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America. and president of Mechanical Inc. “With COVID-19, global change; our members sought to perceive what that meant.
As a result, the MCAA has replaced much of its programming to focus on the effect of the pandemic on its members. He developed his series of webinars on the COVID-19 (https://bit.ly/33ll8ZM) emergency plan to solve these disorders and more, including, says Helm: safety has an effect on COVID-19; Research and legal education for the Federal Paycheck Coverage Program (CARES Act); and the job control disorders surrounding the pandemic, such as on-site protection workers and how to take care of jobs.
MCAA called on many of its brands and supplier partners, some of which are Fortune 500 companies, notes, “about how they approached remote paintings and what their hot buttons were, and then to provide education about it.
“We’ve been running virtual content for our members to manage stagnant air and water systems in enclosed buildings that are now opening up for others to work with,” Helm says. “But the maximum, hard and valuable resources were probably for marketers to get assistance from the government to the extent they needed it and to perceive what the government is providing.
The education committee of the National Association of Plumbing, Heating and Refrigeration Contractors created the COVID-19 (https://bit.ly/2EQ097v) recovery webinar series with normal content based on responses from industry-renowned experts to help our members cope with demanding situations. they faced,” SAID SPCC President Jonathan Moyer. PHCC conducted several surveys on the effect that marketers have on “determining the challenge spaces we can face in our online education.”
Topics included data on federal monetary assistance, fitness and protection requirements, office reopening guidelines, visitor service and communication, and more productive monetary practices. “If our members can get out of those webinars with one or two nuggets to help them get something new and positive up to their business, then we’ve helped them run their business more effectively,” he adds.
He added that some state associations had not yet moved to the new formula when the house orders were approved. Foundation staff worked to add more than a hundred academics to the online list so that fourth-year academics can complete their formulas on time.
To learn without learning, the PHCC Educational Foundation has partnered with Professor Kirk Alter of Purdue University to lead a weekly live group, Moyer says. The loose series “Survive and Prosper in Times of Crisis” lasted 10 weeks from March to June.
“The purpose was to help marketers stay at the forefront of the transforming business environment they faced,” says Moyer. “The hearing was a combination of subcontractors from other trades and some general contractors. This combination helped the organization gain a broader attitude about how its peers and business partners were dealing with demanding structure and human resources situations.
Remote manufacturer options
For industry brands, offering factory education as the new coronavirus spreads across the country was not an option. The challenge was to adapt technical education to complement the content already held online.
“Customers were very interested in using their downtime to continue expanding their capabilities and exploring new products and applications,” says Desmond J. Clancy, Director of Sales and Customer Training at Uponor North America. “Companies are committed to keeping their workers busy; education has the highest priority. The big question was, how?
“This industry has relied heavily on education provided through an instructor in the classroom or in the convention hall in trade union corridors, production facilities, functional facilities and distribution centers. As this was not an option, we were all forced to look for other tactics to offer and consume education, such as online learning, video, social media and, of course, webinars ».
Manufacturers were given to work, presenting mandatory technical education for new industry participants as well as ongoing education modules.
Uponor has developed a series of education and sales modules for its factory sales team, representative agencies and distribution in order to “hire marketing professionals with professional education on site and continuing education opportunities”, clancy explains. “We’ve developed content that’s easy to deliver in virtual environments like Zoom or GoTo Meeting. My team organized around 60 webinars over April to June at the height of internal orders and site closures; We offer them every week. »
Uponor has also intensified its efforts on social media with a series of live events aimed at critical topics to gain advantages from its customers, he adds, while expanding the production of practical videos.
“Bell-Gossett identified from the outset that virtual education and opportunities such as live webinars and pre-recorded technical sessions would be our line of communication with marketing specialists during this period,” Licastro explains. “The launch of the Bell-Gossett Distance Learning Center allowed us to consolidate all of our educational opportunities and gadgets in one central location, offering industry professionals with simple access. So far, we have produced more than a dozen webinars, all with exceptional participation. »
Through video conferencing, the Licastro team discusses delivery topics and methods, adding activation to the VPN network so that marketers can remotely download all Little Red Schoolhouse educational materials.
“Today more than ever, our professional has the preference and time to look for more data and resources to develop their skills in the design, installation and troubleshooting of hydraulic systems,” he adds.
Uncertainty at the task site
Undoubtedly, the structure industry has been affected by COVID-19. While many states structure staff and home service providers to be a must-have staff, this is not the case everywhere. Some MCAA members were located in states with stricter restrictions, adding structural stoppages, resulting in cancellations of tasks that would possibly never return, Helm notes.
Much of Bell-Gossett’s comments from its subcontractors echoed the same view. “If an assignment did not have an awarded contract or the paintings on the site had not started, was suspended indefinitely or cancelled altogether,” says Mr. Licastro. “Projects deemed essential were allowed to continue as long as crews followed all the rules of protection and fitness for COVID-19, as published through trained government agencies.”
PhCC members were affected by the pandemic, but they had to “quickly adapt to the stage to meet new needs and protocols,” Says Moyer. “While no one is sure what the long term holds, our members have been busy evaluating the existing scenario and taking steps to prepare for possible long-term scenarios. The members of the PHCC are very resilient.”
At the end of March, PHCC Education Foundation STAFF informed members of a flexible prelearning course (https://bit.ly/2Xq4iVT; loose until the end of the year) in case “people wanted to make the transition to transitional trades or jobs or see what else there is,” Collins says.
The base was flooded with requests from contracting members about the aspect of the service and correction that saw the paints slow down due to COVID-19 fears among customers. “Possibly we would have only had about a hundred people enrolled in this course by March 26; we now have over 370 more people,” he adds. However, other academics dropped out of online courses because the paintings in their company were hectic.
Industry brands have also noticed that their subcontractors make mandatory adjustments so that their businesses can cope with the pandemic and thrive thereafter.
However, this cautious business optimism denies the genuine anxiety that many marketers and their workers feel about COVID-19 and the fitness of their families, friends and colleagues, as well as economic costs.
“Our consumers are involved in their fitness and that of their employees, families and consumers, however, as must-have painters, they are also eager to get to the site to help their consumers and our country achieve it,” clancy says. . “They make changes to the structure sites to make sure that everyone is fit and that the paintings can be made. But yes, they are very concerned about the uncertainty of the total situation.”
Helm agrees: “There’s a general level of anxiety, not only at the executive level but at the field level, too, that someone’s wife might’ve been laid off or somebody can’t meet their mortgage because they aren’t bringing in the income they had. They’re fearful that the projects still on might get shut down. But there is still some anxiety with our members on the state of the industry.”
Adds that the maximum number of MCAA members see the “working pipe” slowing down. “Construction is an indicator of economic lag,” he says. “We are one of the last sectors to enjoy a recession, and also one of the last to emerge from a recession. We have a lot of early signals we’re looking for. How much can architects charge? What kind? engineering is underway? It slows down. For example, most of our members are involved that in the defeated fall and 2021 there are many unknowns. »
Licastro sees things differently: “In the maximum areas, not 100%, the workflow returns to a general sense. Any point of anxiety about the long term is decided through the market segment. Depending on the maximum source of a subcontractor’s work, corrections to industry orientation will be different.
The long-term of distance learning
Regardless of the pandemic, education is important for an industry that adapts to a more technology-driven year. Online education, e-learning, distance education, virtual education: whatever your name is, you’re here to stay.
“The organization of live education events will remain a challenge,” says MR. Moyer from PHCC. “A recent survey through the PHCC Education Foundation showed that while some workers feel enough to get in-person education, 67% of their employers would not have them fly to class lately.”
Uponor’s Clancy points out that investing in distance learning technologies does not detract from face-to-face training.
“The long-term learning, schooling and schooling in our industry will be different,” he says. “Investing in the virtual doesn’t mean we have to take in fewer people in our school. The purpose is to attract more people to make greater use of this time: fewer classes, more practice and more practice. But we are also incredibly committed to transforming the way our industry produces, serves and consumes education and education to invest in professionals that each and every day. This is a strategy that we committed to long before COVID-19 and with which we are even more committed today. .
Uponor develops other types of distance learning, such as online learning, microlearning, video-on-demand tutorials, and other virtual paint teams to provide marketing specialists with data when and how they want it. “We are also exploring technologies like virtual truth and social learning platforms that are transformable opportunities,” clancy adds.
The nature of the will will influence long-term education in the industry, says Rheem, Oglesby.
“Students should be molded with new fabrics in the form of small pieces digestible in a similar way, especially online courses,” he says. “Further, given the shortage of labor in our industry, it can be difficult for an entrepreneur to dedicate themselves to providing full-day education to their technicians. In the long term, I think there will be an increase in distance/online services in form in the coming years. We can expect a long term with a hybrid approach, employing the most productive form in person and virtual. »
Entrepreneur education will evolve towards a hybrid approach, virtual and in-person learning more productive, says Phil Oglesby, director of education and content development at Rheem. The manufacturer recently partnered with Interplay Learning to deliver virtual, three-dimensional and custom online content.
Rheem recently partnered with Interplay Learning to deliver technical education content online, adding truth-based, three-dimensional, and personalized content, adding, “This generation is being followed through many professional trades to reflect a hands-on educational experience in a small form.”
I’m sorry, Mr. Collins, that virtual learning is the best for new generations of CVC plumbers and technicians. “I think this generation of emerging plumbing apprentices is intellectually curious and tech-savvy,” she says. “If there was an organization to make technical paintings online and remotely, it is the organization with whom to do it, because that’s how they learn. We speak your language.
The PHCC Educational Foundation works on accelerated service plumbing modules, creating smaller and more digestible courses, such as plumbing mathematics, structure mathematics, pipes or non-plumber plumbing.
“We’re in online learning,” Collins says. “One hundred percent of my career has been true to the fact that we want education to be available to everyone. And many others, even before COVID, had problems with the family circle, such as aged care or child care disorders. It is very unlikely that you will feel elegantly for 4 hours each night. I believe that the pandemic has allowed other people to see that distance education has a purpose”.
However, live and in-person education is the cornerstone of the PHCP industry, and Bell-Gossett doesn’t expect that to change, Licastro says.
“While we expect distance education to play a bigger role in the long-term life of education, we don’t expect the call to face-to-face education to decline dramatically,” he says.
While the company organizes hydronic webinars, provides virtual education at its own speed to download CEU credits through Little Red Schoolhouse Online, and adds virtual curtains to its distance learning center, Bell-Gossett is in a post-COVID-19 era.
“Our next step is to make the most of Little Red Schoolhouse’s audio and visual features through live educational events,” Licastro adds. “Students can see instructors presenting the curtains on the screen, and we can also run the formula demonstration stations in real time. These innovations will provide a distance learning experience closer to face-to-face education.”
But it is connections, networks, lifelong friendships developed over two or 3 days of extensive training, which are a component of human delight, that can never be replicated through a laptop, pill or smartphone.
“One of the most productive benefits of face-to-face education is face-to-face collaboration,” says Helm of the MCAA, “Many of our systems in the afterlife were built around the connections that other people build at events. Virtual education will be a component of the equation, however, I don’t see that we go to an exclusively virtual scenario in the long run.
Kelly Faloon collaborates with CONTRACTOR magazine. Former editor-in-chief of Plumbing-Mechanical magazine, she has more than 30 years of experience in B2B publishing; 22 of those years were loyal to the plumbing, heating, air conditioning and plumbing industry. Originally from northern Michigan’s lower peninsula, Faloon holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University.
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Consumers are spending, albeit at lower prices, and more and more millennials are resorting to remodeling.
HACKETTSTOWN, New Jersey – The National Association of Bathrooms and Kitchen (NKBA) and John Burns Real Estate Consulting (JBREC) have published their Second Quarter 2020 Kitchen and Bathroom Market Index (KBMI). NKBA’s survey of members in manufacturing, construction/construction, design and retail found that the current industry fitness is estimated at 5.9 (on a scale of 0 to 10, 0 is mediocre, five is “normal” and 10 is excellent), especially from 4.1 in the last quarter. The industry’s outlook is even more promising, with long-term business situations estimated at 61.9 (on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is incredibly low and 10 is incredibly strong, up to 19.8 in the first quarter).
Kitchen and bathroom professionals see economic uncertainty as their biggest challenge, followed by an eventual wave of COVID-19, economic recession, customer confidence and volatile inventory market. The effect of COVID-19 and the corresponding economic effect on the industry remains clear, but there are signs of optimism to come. Members cite a repressed request for home renovations, and the industry now expects sales to decline by only 4.4% by 2020, a significant improvement over the expected 13.7% decline in the last quarter survey.
“This quarter’s KBMI looks at a tendency among homeowners to reduce the costs of renovation projects, indicating that while consumers would possibly spend more than they spent at the start of the pandemic, they remain cautious,” said Todd Tomalak, director of John Burns. Real Estate Consulting. “However, the accumulation of readings of the corporate’s aptitude index and long-term scenario can serve as a positive sign for the rehabilitation of other housing-like industries and discretionary spending.”
All industry segments report that the virus had a minor effect on their businesses this quarter than in the first quarter. On a scale of one to 10, one has no effect and 10 is a significant effect, the reading of the Q2 index was 6.4, compared to 8.1 for Q1, however, the experiments differed widely by sector. Designers are most affected by COVID-19 (6.7), while stores are the least affected (6.0), probably due to increased DIY in some large stores. Manufacturers rated the effect at 6.5 and construction professionals 6.1. In addition, more than a quarter of designers (28%) which they claim is componently lower than before the pandemic, compared to 15% of stores, 12% of brands and 11% of brands.
The following effects have a more impact on the current state of the kitchen and bathroom market across the sector:
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