Controls Group North America Focuses on Innovation through Communication at their 2009 Annual Fall Members’ Meeting

Brea, CA -  October 23, 2009 − Controls Group North America (CGNA) hosted their annual Fall Members Meeting in September just minutes away from Honeywell, Inc., in Minneapolis. Over 40 controls distributors from across the U.S. and Canada were on hand for the business meetings and site visit at Honeywell. 

Troy Meachum, President of ACR Supply Co., and a CGNA Member, was the keynote speaker and he presented a challenging address called “High Stakes Communication.”  Mr. Meachum is a certified trainer for the Vital Smarts communication course called “Crucial Conversations” and has instructed all 7 of his branch managers and many of their employees in the skills needed for handling critical conversations.  He began his address with a promise,  “…the principles introduced here today, if practiced by your managers and employees, will impact your bottom line significantly.”

The three-day business meeting was focused on business opportunities for the upcoming year. Mike Sackett, Executive Director of CGNA, presented several new programs to the group including his “Predictable Economic Cycle” and a customizable company “dashboard” for monitoring and evaluating employee performance.  The most specific strategic planning occurred in the four committee meetings: Core Products, Burner Boiler, Systems and Integration. 

Certainly one highlight of the conference was the roll out of CGNA’s newest technology offering.  Peter Phan, IT Director for CGNA, introduced “Tech Tools,” the online resource for the 21 Niagara certified distributors in the group.  Tech Tools has been developed to give the CGNA Integration Distributors an online repository for specs, project data, training and marketing tools to reduce their project time by developing standardized information. Mr. Phan also presented his course/manual for preparing distributors to take the exam to become a LEED AP/Associate as a part of CGNA’s program to build a national network of accredited LEED Pro Distributors. 

HONEYWELL SITE VISIT & AWARD

The CGNA Fall Members' Meeting also included a factory tour at the Honeywell plant in Minneapolis. At that time, Don Anderson, CGNA’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, presented Honeywell with CGNA’s Cornerstone Award in recognition of Honeywell’s strong commitment to two-step distribution.  Tony Sugalski, Vice President and General Manager Americas, Environmental Combustion and Controls, received the award on behalf of the Honeywell team. 

Controls Group North America, (CGNA), headquartered in Brea, California, has 37 Distributor Members with over 150 locations across the United States and Canada with an on-line shared inventory and over 84,000 customers, forming the largest network of independent controls in the nation.