People in the Industry

Winners represent wide range of engineering innovation 

Danfoss has announced the winners of its 2023 EnVisioneer of the Year competition. ThermalWorks, Polar Engineering, Canal Marine and Industrial Inc. and Weis Markets took top honors in the new, expanded format that allows for multiple winners.

ThermalWorks, based in Bloomingburg, New York, was the winner in the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) category for its advanced waterless cooling system. The company built a modular, hyper-efficient, waterless chiller for the data center industry using state-of-the-art Danfoss products, including its oil-free Turbocor compressors. The fully-integrated, scalable system features a unique chilled water circuit design that rejects heat in stages – free cooling, partial free cooling, high temperature mechanical and low temperature mechanical – with one integrated unit. In addition to using no water, energy use is greatly reduced, resulting in lower carbon emissions and low Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) values compared to other high-efficiency systems.

The ThermalWorks team was presented with their EnVisioneer of the Year award by Danfoss Turbocor president Ricardo Schneider at Danfoss Turbocor headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida.

Polar Engineering, based in Victoria, British Columbia, was the Engineering Consultant category winner. Its low-GWP, high-temperature heat pump, built by Fraser Valley Refrigeration using Danfoss solenoid, isolation, and electronic expansion valves, including the Colibri EEV, has helped reduce natural gas usage at the Juan de Fuca Recreation Center by 90 percent. As part of an energy recovery system, the heat pump recaptures waste heat from the ammonia refrigeration system on site and uses it to offset the boiler loop load of the facility, resulting in an annual savings 284 tons of carbon emissions and $22,000 in fuel costs.

Pennsylvania-based Weis Markets, the End User category winner, installed a CO2 refrigeration system at its new store in Warminster, Penn. The Danfoss AK-SM 880A controller, with its communications modules, sensors, cables and valves, provides the brains behind the system, monitoring for leaks and ensuring that temperatures remain stable at desired levels. In the first four months of operation, refrigeration energy consumption was over 100,000 kWh less than at a comparable store with traditional refrigeration, saving an estimated $11,000. And by using CO2, with a GWP of 1, as the refrigerant, the store’s impact on air pollution is estimated to be 1500-4000 times less per pound of refrigerant compared to HFC/HFO refrigerants.

The Weis Markets team was presented with their award by Vikas Anand, vice president of sales at Danfoss Climate Solutions, North America, at their Warminster, Penn. store.

Canal Marine and Industrial won in the System Integrator category. The St. Catharines, Ontario-based company built an electric power system for PortsToronto’s Marilyn Bell I, Canada’s first 100 percent electric lithium-ion powered ferry. Annually, this transition to renewable power is saving 530 tons of carbon emissions, reducing estimated energy and operating costs by $150,000 on a yearly basis as well as eliminating the use of approximately 196,000 liters of diesel per year. The vessel’s propulsion system utilizes Danfoss’ air-cooled VACON® NX Series drive modules, grid converters and DC/DC converters plus filters. The components work together in common DC bus topologies to provide power conversion between the batteries and motors to power the vessel’s thrusters and other electrical systems. The batteries are charged through the common DC bus distribution system via an Automatic Shore Connection System which delivers and controls DC power via a VACON® Active Front End from the grid.

Sheila Lenss, former head of sales, Americas at Danfoss Drives, presented the Canal Marine and Industrial team with their EnVisioneer of the Year award at Canal’s corporate headquarters in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Launched in 2010, the annual EnVisioneer of the Year award competition recognizes North American original equipment manufacturers, building owners, municipalities, contractors and end users that have introduced a new product, opened a new facility or invested in a building or system upgrade in the past 18 months using Danfoss products or solutions to realize significant energy and environmental savings. Entries are judged by an independent panel of distinguished experts representing various disciplines.

“We are thrilled to recognize our EnVisioneers of the Year for their innovative work,” said Rick Sporrer, president of Danfoss North America. “Each of our winners has used Danfoss solutions to build a cleaner, more sustainable future. We applaud them for their ingenuity and their commitment to lowering carbon emissions and increasing energy efficiency.”

Max Rohr has been appointed Director of Education and Technical Marketing, a newly created function within Caleffi North America, Inc. In this capacity, Rohr will lead the ideation, development and execution of Caleffi’s training platforms including the idronics™ design journal series, Coffee with Caleffi™ monthly webinars, Caleffi Academy field training and Ask Caleffi blog and podcasts. He will also ensure technical data, designer tools and installer information remains firmly integrated within the mainstream market communications of the company.

Stated CEO Mark Olson, “A cornerstone to Caleffi success from the start has been our Excellence in Education. The size and complexity of our programs and ambition to continue leading in compelling educational approaches justifies a singular focus”.  Adds VP of Sales Roger Corrente, “Our customers often express how valuable our training is. Max is now integral to continuing the creative education initiatives that help our sales and rep teams succeed”.

After college Rohr interned at Caleffi headquarters in Italy for a year.  “It was an incredible opportunity to learn about manufacturing, shoulder-to-shoulder with a team that is so dedicated to quality control. Caleffi is committed to long-term employee development and that always stuck with me,” Rohr reminisced.

Before rejoining Caleffi in 2020, Rohr spent five years at REHAU as Marketing and Academy Manager (Leesburg, Va.) and five years in outside sales with Shamrock Sales Inc. (Denver) and broadening his overall channel experience.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and health from the University of Utah.

Company expands its breadth of senior leadership experience to focus on critical areas of the business as part of company’s strategic plan 

Malco Products, one of the nation’s leading solution developers and manufacturers of a variety of high-quality tools for the HVAC and building construction trades, has announced several new leadership roles with the organization designed to support the company’s continued growth and to focus on critical areas of the business as part of its overall strategic plan. 

Malco has enjoyed a sharp increase (to nearly 13%) in annual growth since the start of this decade and has added several new strategic leaders throughout the company and at the board level to support and accelerate Malco’s continual development of products to serve current and new markets. The latest organizational leadership changes include: 

Scott Crane has been promoted from Executive Vice President of Finance and Strategy to Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). The CSO is a key leadership position responsible for developing and executing the company’s strategic initiatives and investment strategies. Crane will play a critical role in guiding the organization’s growth and ensuring its competitive advantage in the market. 

Mike Hemmesch has been promoted from Director of Business Intelligence to Chief Financial Officer (CFO), following the retirement of current CFO Carla Hinnenkamp, who has been with Malco for 10 years. In this role, Hemmesch will oversee the finance, accounting and technology/MIS teams and manage all aspects of the company’s financial and cash flow planning as well as guiding the company’s future growth initiatives.  

“As we look ahead to the growth plans we have outlined for Malco, we knew it was important to have the right people in the right seats to ensure that our teams are well-positioned for the future,” said Rich Benninghoff, Malco’s president and CEO. “Over the past several years, we’ve seen tremendous growth as we continue to offer innovative new products that serve our end users and have been very fortunate to have built a strong bench of talent within our organization. These organizational changes will allow us to further embrace our team’s experience, focus on critical areas of the business and provide even better support for the Malco team.”  

For more information about Malco Products, visit www.malcoproducts.com.

Oatey Co., a leading manufacturer in the plumbing industry since 1916, has hired Jon Boehlke as Director of Operations at its William H. Harvey manufacturing facility in Omaha, Nebraska.

Boehlke comes to Oatey from Hormel Foods, where he worked for more than two decades in various manufacturing leadership positions, most recently serving as Senior Operations Manager. In his new position at Oatey, he will oversee the day-to-day operational and long-term strategic needs of the Omaha manufacturing facility, ensuring that operational functions are performed in a timely, efficient, and safe manner.

“Jon is a proven operations leader with robust experience leading teams and driving results in a manufacturing environment,” said Bob Beesley, Oatey’s Senior Vice President, Manufacturing and Engineering. “We are pleased to welcome him to the Oatey team and look forward to his many contributions at our Omaha site.”