Category: The Cooling Journal

I recently had the honor to preside over the induction of one of the most admired members of the NARSA/IDEA community. David Bienvenu has been a fixture of the NARSA community for more than 30 years now. I first met David at a NARSA event at his shop in 2009. It was one of the most successful Ed-Techs to that point, and it opened my eyes to a whole other branch of the heat transfer industry.

We live in an age where we are more connected than ever and yet paradoxically, it is also easier than ever to exist in cultural and professional silos where everyone thinks like us. While this may be comforting, it usually does not promote learning new ideas. It is precisely that exchange with others who may look at something from a different perspective that helps you grow.

NARSA/IDEA is still the only trade association that represents engine heat transfer for transportation and stationary engines along with the diesel particulate filter systems industries. Our members are service/repair facilities, distributors and manufacturers. The board still believes in creating the one idea, the one opportunity, and the one connection which will allow your business to be more profitable.

2021 left us with a lot of questions: With the fragility of our supply chain exposed, will there be any long term changes? Has partnering with countries who have a different governing philosophy made us vulnerable? Will small businesses who are struggling with their labor forces ever fully recover?

I have been a podcast addict for at least eight years now and thought it would be an interesting platform for our niche audience. For those of you not familiar with a podcast, it is on-demand radio. And since podcasts are produced digitally and distributed on the internet, there are much lower barriers to entry than traditional terrestrial radio. As a result, there are over two million podcasts on every niche topic imaginable. Into bow hunting? A quick search yielded at least eight podcasts dedicated to bowhunting. Want to listen to a show about welding? There are at least 15 just in English. This ability to cost effectively produce a program geared to a super niche audience is something that simply was not possible to do before.