Equipementier HVAC Automotive
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Having been a significant player in the vehicle air conditioning market for more than 35 years with its brand Ecoclim, SNDC is a Toulouse-based company that designs and produces tools for handling refrigerants.
As well as being a distributor, SNDC also has a design studio, a test centre, a production unit, a hotline and an after-sales service. SNDC’s sole objective: customer satisfaction.
In 2015, as a result of one customer’s wish to reuse R404A refrigerant, the RF404 and RF452 units were born. The initial thoughts from within the SNDC team continued with a meeting with the Carrier Transicold group at that year’s Solutrans event. During this meeting, the SNDC team noted the high expectations of after-sales service operators for tools that would reduce refrigerant expenses whilst minimising the impact on the environment. At SNDC, however, we recognise that it will not be an easy task to change the habits of refrigerated vehicle operators.
Even though they already had extensive experience in the design and manufacture of multifunctional tools (recovery, recycling and charging) operating with simple fluids (R134a and R1234yf), SNDC’s R&D team had to rethink its approach to address a number of uncertainties: the quality of the recovery and reuse of complex fluids (R404A, R452A), high pressures, storage capacity and compliance with various regulations. Collaboration with the Carrier Transicold Group because in 2017, and after extensive experimentation of the design, the SNDC team swapped their designer hat for a chemist’s hat. Analysis of samples of fluids treated using its tool, carried out by a French leader in refrigerants, led to them meeting the criteria of the NF 35-421 standard at the end of 2018.
More than two years after launch, the Ecoclim RF404 and RF452 units are more relevant than ever, providing answers to many current economic, environmental and organisational challenges for after-sales services. Always attentive to feedback and suggestions from its customers, SNDC has continued to improve its product range, services and customer support.
Olivier Vermot, manager and founder of the 6 agencies that make up Froid Routier Service (subsidiaries of the Marty group), is a member of the Carrier Transicold network. His feedback has been very positive on the daily contribution of the Ecoclim RF404 and RF452 units.
With a desire to modernise the business and involve staff in the promotion of the profession, Vermot has brought the Froid Routier Service workshops into the digital era. The evolution of ERP, real-time management and traceability of fluid movements and the acquisition of Ecoclim RF404 and RF452 control units. His modern vision of the refrigerated vehicle sector has led him to take on new challenges by equipping his workshops with the optimal tools for the job.
It has been a little less than a year since Vermot equipped his workshops with Ecoclim RF units: “The training is fast and the tools are ideally suited to our work. I am pleasantly surprised. The RF units are intuitive to use. […] They offer convenience too. There is also a true desire to consume less fluid, and we have considerably reduced our consumption since the RF units arrived. These days, we only add additional top-ups of new refrigerant, and the impact is considerable.”
Stéphane Arbod, Technical Manager, adds: “The arrival of the units in our workshops is welcome and has allowed us to change our way of working. By combining all the necessary tools in a single unit, the devices allow us to save time and be more confident in our fluid handling.” To the question about the changes related to the use of the units, there is only one answer: “It’s all there […] it’s the device that does everything […]. Despite our lack of a clear outlook for their long-term use, I am convinced that the risk of breakage or loss will greatly decrease. We only handle the fluid once, so we are cleaner, and there are fewer connections and disconnections than with our traditional tools. Even if these devices are quickly for new recruits to be trained on, this does not detract from the expertise required by our technicians to work on faulty equipment; it just frees us up to perform other tasks.”
The premium magazine dedicated the refrigeration logistics chain.
