By Jessica Kirby
The New Horizons Foundation offers “A Chance to Grow” by turning good ideas into solid results that will position HVAC and sheet metal contractors as positive, knowledgeable, key participants in the construction process.
HVAC and sheet metal contractors, industry partners, and leading researchers in the US have created the New Horizons Foundation, which has, for more than a decade, worked collaboratively to develop a cutting-edge research and education portfolio that is making this industry stronger, more efficient, and more profitable.
“The foundation is a sheet metal/HVAC industry initiative established by leading sheet metal contractors and SMACNA 17 years ago,” says New Horizons Foundation (NHF) Executive Director Tom Soles. “After an initial endowment provided by SMACNA, subsequent funding has been provided by SMACNA contractors, SMACNA Chapters, and industry professionals and suppliers.”
The Foundation commissions critical investigations of business management issues impacting contractors’ growth and productivity. Past studies have examined everything from market recovery and decision-making to labor and technology.
The foundation solicits requests for project proposals from leading industry consultants, experts, and the higher educational institutions in June of each year and members of NHF’s Summit Council are invited to an annual leadership and project selection meeting each fall to deliberate and select projects to pursue.
“[In 2018], for example, RFPs were sent to approximately 35 interested research organizations, and 14 proposals were received,” Soles says. “The Summit Council selected three projects for 2019 at its fall meeting. To date, 29 research reports and 10 white papers have been developed by the foundation.”
The group also develops workforce capabilities through leading-edge educational programs that combine well-researched best practices with fundamental skills. This means foundation projects are often translated into educational programs that can be delivered through SMACNA’s 100 chapters throughout the US and Canada. These business or project management type topics are intended to help contractors improve their performance.
“A program developed a number of years ago, ‘Quantifying the Cumulative Impact of Change Orders,’ is a good example of a research project that has practical implications and was translated into a half-day educational program, focused on the impact of change orders on labor productivity, that was delivered through SMACNA Chapters,” Soles says.
Another project under development for release in the first quarter 2019 is the Library of Knowledge project, almost an internal project of organizing by topic/subject matter for the whole ongoing library of research projects and white papers.
The goals are to organize and catalogue the NHF library; improve accessibility to find research products; by improving access increase implementation of research results; and act as a roadmap for future research.
‘The Internet of Things and the Implications and Strategies for Sheet Metal and HVAC Contractors’ is another foundation project expected to be completed by mid-year 2019.
The vast library of projects and research is available to all of the industry categories, which help’s achieve another of NHF’s primary objectives: providing a knowledge link among industry members, suppliers, contracting industry partners, colleges and universities, other national and international trade associations, and customers.
In simple terms, the New Horizons Foundation works to keep the industry strong. Its proponents see education, information, and merit performance as the cornerstones of a productive and prosperous HVAC and sheet metal industry. Foundation members see their responsibility is to take a visionary approach to providing the information and education that will give contractors the best possible opportunities to develop their companies.
“We’re also finishing a project, ‘Tools for the Hiring, Promotion, and Talent Development of Sheet Metal and Mechanical Contractor Personnel’ that identifies and evaluates model profile and usable tools to help contractors identify and hire the right talent and the best career areas where that talent can develop and succeed,” Soles says. “Another project to be completed soon identifies customer satisfaction measurements that differentiate a contractor from its competition by focusing on select measurable achievements that stand out.”
Skills shortage is very real and getting more critical all the time. From senior company managers to the craftsman in the field, the sheet metal / HVAC industry requires a unifying force to convey the message that it has a bright and dynamic future, and NHF is determined to add to that message with a state of the art work environment populated with effective managers, qualified supervisors, and skilled workers.
To help achieve this, the Foundation has three important labor-related objectives:
• Build key relationships with allied industry partners and academic institutions in order to identify, monitor, and analyze major workforce-related trends that affect the HVAC and sheet metal industry.
• Provide education and information that will help position HVAC and sheet metal contractors as positive, knowledgeable, participants in the construction process.
• Encourage career participation in the HVAC and sheet metal industry by those most likely to excel at such work. Improve and develop the capabilities of the current and future workforce through leading edge educational programs.
The foundation has delivered several research projects on labor and management development including “The Use of Just-in-Time Training in Construction,” “Mentoring and Coaching Practices: Developing the Next Generation,” and “A Comparison of Operation Cost Factors: Union Versus Nonunion HVAC and Sheet Metal Contractors”. Visit the website at newhorizonsfoundation.org to view these and other NHF reports.
“We believe the Foundation’s program portfolio is essential to the survival and prosperity of major contracting firms and smaller, independent, local companies,” says Soles. “Every company deserves a chance to grow.” ß
