Your Second Season

As a native of Detroit, MI, hockey has always been a sport I’ve followed (we’re somewhat passionate about our Red Wings). And having followed the Chicago Bulls since I was a 12-year-old, seeing them rise to dominate the sport of basketball in the late ’90s was fantastic to watch (as for witnessing their current plight and general lack of long-term planning, I’ll leave that for my occasional rants on Facebook).

But the great thing about both sports, at least to me, is the playoffs. Both are played in the winter, but determine their champion in June. The long grind of the regular season turns into an impassioned eight weeks of epic battles and memorable matchups.

As I write this, I’m returning to Chicago from a two-day trip to visit with several HVACR suppliers, service providers and manufacturers. While traveling for business certainly is not as much fun when you’re trying to get to Houston, Dallas and points in between to see six organizations in a 48-hour span is as, say, going to Key West, FL, it does have its moments. Those highlights—much like those critical plays during playoff time—are what help keep you moving forward and drive on toward higher, loftier goals.

On the last visit of my trip, I had the opportunity to sit and chat with several folks with Pure Chem Separation, L.P. down in Rhome, TX. We talked about reclamation, what was I hearing on the street about the demand for R-22, how many RSES Journal readers did I think were taking the time to properly reclaim used refrigerant, and a myriad of other topics. It was interesting. It was intriguing.

In our conversation, we talked extensively about refrigerant reclamation and the separation of mixed refrigerants (these guys are experts in that arena). We discussed marketing opportunities, their business model and how they were growing their company. (And with a program targeting contractors, they are. Big time. To find out more about that, click here.)

And as I got ready to head out with the hope that I wouldn’t miss my flight out of DFW (I didn’t…thank God!), they took five minutes to show off their facility. They have a lot of pride in their business and they wanted to share that with me. It was refreshing to see someone so upbeat about the opportunities that the down (but…gulp…hopefully recovering) economy had presented them. At the very end of that tour, they showed where they were building a whole new warehouse for them to store product. Indeed, they were planning for growth and expansion. That wasn’t intriguing—that was exciting.

For the principals at Pure Chem, their second season is on the horizon. They are planning for the future, looking ahead with the expectation to take home their own championship of sorts: growth. Their operation runs 24 hours a day. They’ve added four sales reps and plan to bring two more on board. They are exploring more and more ways to get the word out about their contractor-focused refrigerant buy-back program. And they only see more opportunities out there.

To win titles, it takes discipline, talent, patience and perseverance. It’s a challenging task that many attempt, but few are able to achieve. Personally, seeing companies like Pure Chem take on the obstacles and find ways to overcome them are exactly why I believe in the future of our industry and those who want to see it succeed.

Now, as for those playoffs, Game 1 of the Wings-Coyotes series just went final, and Phoenix is up 1 game to none...anyone want to bet against my Red Wings???