Manufacturers – Why You?
For manufacturers, getting your message through the channel, let alone to end-users, can be a challenge. Most are conditioned (could be trained, sometimes it’s historical repetition) to promote features and benefits. And it is always the latest products (which is interesting given that, while they track NPI … the percentage of business driven by new product introductions … there…
Spotlight
Where Margin Is Hiding
Distributor margin rarely disappears in one dramatic event. It leaks. Slowly. Through timing gaps, unclear handoffs, and processes that span multiple departments but belong to…
Malco Launches MalcoEdge HVACR Refrigeration Tools
Malco Tools has announced MalcoEdge, a new line of HVACR refrigeration tools designed for technicians working in the field. The following is from Malco’s announcement.…
AI for HVAC Distributors: A Practical Field Guide from Pilot to Profit
For HVAC-R distributors dealing with margin pressure, labor constraints, and increasingly complex quoting environments, AI is rapidly moving from curiosity to operational necessity. After nearly…
Honeywell Q4 2025 Earnings Summary
Strong Order Growth and Record Backlog Accelerating, Separation Tracking Ahead of Schedule Honeywell Q4 earnings reflect a company in transition, posting strong results while preparing…
Explore
AI for HVAC Distributors: A Practical Field Guide from Pilot to Profit
For HVAC-R distributors dealing with margin pressure, labor constraints, and increasingly complex quoting environments, AI is rapidly moving from curiosity to operational necessity. After nearly a year of research, interviews, and vendor evaluations, I am pleased to announce the release of The AI-Enabled Distributor: From Pilot to Profit: A Field Guide written specifically for distribution executives. This is not another…
Honeywell Q4 2025 Earnings Summary
Strong Order Growth and Record Backlog Accelerating, Separation Tracking Ahead of Schedule Honeywell Q4 earnings reflect a company in transition, posting strong results while preparing for a major restructuring in 2026. Now headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Honeywell is a multinational conglomerate known for its building technologies, aerospace systems, materials, and safety and productivity solutions. The company reported Q4 2025…
What Lennox’s Low Bar Tells Us About the HVAC Market Bottom
If you spent 2025 watching orders slow, inventory stack up, and replacement demand stall, you already know it was one of the most challenging HVAC markets in over a decade. The question now is whether we have finally hit the HVAC market bottom, or whether there is more pain ahead. Lennox’s Q4 results and 2026 guidance give us something concrete…
Women in HVACR Leadership Team Takes Shape for 2026
The HVACR industry talks constantly about workforce shortages, but too many of those conversations skip past one of the clearest opportunities sitting right in front of us. Women make up roughly 3% of the HVACR workforce. That number has barely moved in years. If you want to solve the talent problem, you have to widen the pipeline, and Women in…
Smart HVAC/R Systems: Convenience or Creepy?
The HVAC/R industry crossed a line without much debate. Smart HVAC privacy wasn’t on the agenda when connected thermostats and cloud-based controllers became standard. The focus was efficiency, remote access, and fewer callbacks. But modern systems don’t just control temperature. They collect data. Occupancy patterns, schedules, runtime behavior, user access logs. The equipment we sell now knows things about the…
AI for Distributors: Supporting the Entire Sales Team
The conversation around this approach has moved past the question of whether to adopt it. The real question now is how to deploy AI for distributors in a way that actually supports the people doing the work. Too many solutions focus on one slice of the sales process while ignoring the rest. That approach creates silos, not scale. Jason Sullivan…
Visual Workplace Doubles Revenue with Multi-Channel Transformation
ALPHARETTA, Ga., Jan. 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Forward Solutions today released a new case study showcasing how embracing a multi-channel sales and marketing strategy can deliver breakthrough growth for industrial manufacturers. With business buyers now expecting a seamless experience across distributor, direct, and digital channels, many mid-market manufacturers are rethinking their single-channel approach. The featured case study highlights Visual…
Helios Bets on AI Diagnostics with Nationwide Bluon Rollout
Commercial service organizations are watching AI tools closely, trying to figure out which ones actually deliver results in the field. Helios HVACR, a nationwide commercial service provider operating in more than 40 states, just made a significant move by deploying Bluon’s HVACR AI diagnostics platform across its entire field operation. The goal is straightforward: faster diagnostics, better first-time fix rates,…
