Coenco Fans Profits for Growing Client Base

Frank Siccardi said he learned how to be resourceful 500 miles into the African bush.

That’s where he taught veterinary microbiology to members of the Ibo tribe from 1964-66 as a visiting professor at what was then the University of Nigeria at Nsuakka. (Now the University of Biafra).

“We were working with classes of about 50 students,” said Siccardi, a veterinarian and an avian pathologist. “It was a very stimulating situation, and we traveled all over east Nigeria. I actually only used the telephone once in two years.”

Siccardi, 66, virtually lives on his cell phones today. As president and founder of Coenco Inc. in Fayetteville, the scientist-turned-inventor has parlayed a poultry farm experiment he started 19 years ago into a $1.5 million climate control business aimed at improving circulation and energy efficiency in large buildings.

But that’s chicken feed compared to the potential revenue that could be created by the newest generation of Coenco’s “Positive Air System” products. Designed specifically for wholesale club warehouses or large retail sales buildings, Siccardi’s latest “Real Air Movers” run ultra quiet and yet are powered to improve shopper comfort and cut energy costs.

Previous Coenco applications primarily focused on other types of large, open buildings such as warehouses, manufacturing plants and poultry houses.

“Our newest generation of Real Air Movers, coupled with the Coenco controller and data logger could be retrofitted to large retail stores and improve energy efficiency by 50 to 75 percent,” Siccardi said.

Coenco’s high-powered fan equipment and installation costs range from 12-25 cents per SF for warehouses and 70 cents to $1.20 per SF for manufacturing plants. Each situation is unique because the systems can be used in conjunction with existing heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) equipment or scaled down versions thereof.

But for companies that run on thin margins and have high energy-associated overhead, the prospect of 50 percent energy savings is enough to bend bottom lines into smiles. Josh Allen, vice president of operations and raw products for Allen Canning Co. in Siloam Springs, said Coenco has made his company more efficient since 1997 when it first retrofitted the vegetable canner’s Van Buren processing facility. Coenco is now in five Allen Canning facilities totaling 1.5 million SF.

He declined to disclose dollar figures, but Allen said Coenco’s systems have had “a very positive effect” on his firm’s profits.

“There is ample, significant savings,” Allen said.

Gaining Momentum

Allen isn’t the only believer. Siccardi said Coenco, short for Coordinated Environmental Control, operates in more than 20 million SF of building and poultry house space across 25 states. Coenco is headquartered on Hughmont Road.

About 6 million SF, or 30 percent of Coenco’s operations, includes Wal-Mart Stores Inc. distribution centers, an official at the Bentonville company said. But it’s Wal-Mart’s policy not to elaborate on its vendors or service contractors. The fact that the world’s largest retailer does business with the company is supposed to speak for itself. Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, another Coenco client, has the same philosophy.

“The reason why we’re in Wal-Mart facilities is because the company has the right attitude about energy savings and the comfort of its associates and customers,” Siccardi said. “The reason they keep kicking everyone’s butt in the retail world is because the Wal-Mart business acumen recognizes the value of efficiency.”

Other national Coenco clients include Navistar, Bush Bros. Baked Beans, Southwest Airlines, Great Dane Trailers, Reynolds Aluminum, Bumper-to-Bumper, Solvay-Interox and Georgia Pacific. So far, retrofitting older facilities has produced the most dramatic results.

Coenco ships about 40 units per week. Siccardi said sales were only slightly up this year, because of the slowed economy and adverse economic impact of the Sept. 11 attacks on America.

But in November, Siccardi said, business picked back up, and several major projects are in the works for 2002. He recently took the company’s turboprop plane to Evansville, Ind., where a Midwestern stamping and welding facility is spending about $65,000 with Coenco to clean up its air pollution and temperature problems.

Richard Reich is vice president of manufacturing for the firm that requested its name not be published. He got sold on Siccardi’s air movers while serving as fabrication operations manager at Indiana Tube Inc.’s plant in Fort Smith.

“Another contractor recommended Frank to me, and I toured a Fort Smith warehouse where I saw that his system worked,” Reich said. “Most plants have problems with air flow but use the same old measures for dealing with it. This is unique.”

Siccardi said because of the preciseness of Coenco’s system, he can budget, calculate and record the use of electricity or heat down to the kilowatt hour or cubit foot of gas for his clients.

How it Works

Siccardi said his air movers, which include motors made by Baldor Motors & Drives of Fort Smith, shoot an intense bullet of air that hits one end of a building and pushes air flow throughout the facility. Traditional fans, Siccardi said, simply spray the air.

“We’re able to establish a uniform temperature and humidity throughout the building,” Siccardi said. “And our system only needs to run for 30 seconds every 10 minutes or so, compared to five or 10 or 20 minutes an hour like traditional systems. With energy costs at 8-10 cents per kilowatt and 40-50 cents [per cubic feet of natural gas], obviously you’re talking about significant savings.”

The idea is to create a “thermal bank,” Siccardi said. His research shows once an entire building reaches a uniform temperature, the hot or cool air does not want to move as quickly, meaning additional heat ed or cooled air must be added less often.

Siccardi holds five patents related to his equipment.

‘Real’ Air vs. Hot Air

Siccardi admits he has not won every battle. There are at least three facilities where Coenco has run into situations where its system didn’t work. But the overwhelming problem in each instance, Siccardi said, was that the companies deviated from Coenco’s strategy and followed their own method of operation.

And there’s also Greg Anderson, an engineer and principal with Green Anderson Engineers Inc. of Fayetteville. He said he does not buy into Coenco’s rhetoric but declined to say much about the firm.

“I think [Siccardi] has some good principals,” Anderson said. “But there’s always several different ways to do everything. All I’ll say is anyone who is going to have a facility of any size with a mechanical heating or cooling system should have it designed by a licensed professional engineer.”

Poultry growers Jim and Beverly Allen of Berryville and Tom Dietrick of Cedar Falls, Iowa, are sold on Siccardi. Both families said when Coenco’s methods were followed, its systems improved their profits.

All Siccardi can say is Coenco’s customers are overwhelmingly happy.

“Really our only obstacle has been learning how to communicate with top managers who are interested in improving their bottom line and who can make decisions,” Siccardi said. “We’ve had to build awareness with executives who traditionally have relied on engineers to simply tell them what needs to be done.

“But the business world has changed. Executives are learning that they can say to their corporate engineers, ‘Get us something that works and that doesn’t cost a fortune.’ “

Bruce Granbois, utilities manager for Pinnacle Foods’ 350,000-SF processing plant in Fayetteville (formerly a Campbell Soup plant), said he’s seen evidence that Coenco does more than save firms money. Siccardi’s system was put into three extremely hot areas of the plant that are now consistently cool.

“The 25 to 40 workers in those areas seem to be a little more productive,” Granbois said. “Previously, we had a lot of complaints from those areas, and people seemed to be irritable. But now, they’re more comfortable and much happier at work.”