ICARHMA – supply chain issues

In 1991 Eurovent, together with the American, Canadian and Japanese associations founded ICARHMA, the International Council of Air-Conditioning, Refrigeration, and Heating Manufacturers Associations. Meanwhile the membership has increased to eleven members covering many parts of the world. ICARHMA allows the association to discuss global issues related to energy and environmental related issues.

Upcoming Annual Meeting

ICARHMA members meet in general twice per year, once at the time of the AHR Expo in USA and once for an Annual Meeting hosted by the members. In general, most associations also meet informally at the time of the CR Expo in China and other events, often on a bilateral basis.

Eurovent hosted the 2014 Annual Meeting on Berlin and is expected to host the 2026 Annual Meeting.

During the meetings, issues are looked at from a global point of view. In the past years, focus lay with refrigerants, while since the pandemic the focus has shifted to the aspects that disrupt the industry.

For the upcoming meeting, AHRI has communicated the white paper on ‘Supply Chain Disruptions Affect Viability of U.S. Manufacturing Sector’ (GEN 1297.01), and it will be part of the discussion on 13 October.

The last time ICARHMA met face-to-face dated from the AHR Expo in Orlando in 2020. Since then, meetings and exchanges have been online. If all would go well, the members will meet during the AHR Expo in Las Vegas at the end of January 2022.

Top 3 issues

Within ICARHMA the top 3 issues confronting associations are traced at each meeting. These change and develop over time. For the upcoming meeting the Eurovent top 3 issues are:

1. Lack of HVACR skilled persons as well as persons in the related logistics infrastructures (workforce in general, this phenomenon is happening across Europe and most acute in Great Britain), coupled to a disruption in the (global) supply chains and price increases (materials, energy) that appeared in late 2020 and are accelerating at present that somehow will need to be passed on.
2. Move towards stronger environmental requirements (impacting energy efficiency of buildings and products, refrigerants) and the likely introduction of a Sustainable Products Initiative.
3. Increased complexity of the European regulatory environment (weak implementation and important delays) Re-emergence of national requirements with Member States exploring the limits when transposing European Directives.