By David MacDonald W hen I asked Wayne why Doubl-Kold has both national and international appeal, he was quick to answer: “We strive to be the business where you can get all your industrial refrigeration needs in one place. We provide engineering design and installation for refrigeration projects directly to customers like warehouses and packers for fresh fruits and vegetables, food distribu- tion warehouses, and seafood processors. We also provide engineering services for other engineering firms. We can design and build almost anything our clients need.” “We strive to be the business where you can get all your industrial refrigeration needs in one place.” The Doubl-Kold team offers full installation of all their indus- trial refrigeration systems, service on all installed systems, in-house programming, panel construction, they are an UL panel shop, and service on all computer control systems, and retail parts for hands-on clients. That being said, Dou- bl-Kold provides training for all products and equipment they sell. “The Process Safety Management [PSM] services we provide are innumerably beneficial to our clients,” Wayne remarked. “The nearly 20,000 square feet facility we’re in now is on a five acre lot. We have offices, a class- room, an inventory area, a service shop, and a control shop.
In the classroom, our engineers often conduct tutorials and we do regular HAZMAT training. We’ve even brought in outside vendors to conduct seminars for our clients and staff. We’re always looking to go that extra mile. ” Wayne believes in honestly representing his products, which is why Doubl-Kold’s primary suppliers are American companies – and several of those have worldwide exposure and sales. All of our other primary suppliers are based here in the States. While some of these companies do have factories abroad, they’re homegrown businesses, like us,” Wayne explained. “And like us, when Baltimore AirCoil is selling us condensers or Hansen Technologies is selling us relief valves and isolation valves, they’re trying to give us more than their competitors – that’s the spirit of American business. A perfect ‘For instance’ would be our twenty-plus year business relationship with Van Amburg Enterprises, a local Yakima metal fabrication company. They’ve provided all our sheet metal needs, fabricating and installing. Even though we’ve established a working relationship with them years ago, they do every job like they’re making a first impression. That’s what we aspire to as well.” For nearly forty years, Doubl-Kold has been living up to its name for one simple reason: it’s always been helmed by tradesmen. In 1998, Wayne and his equal partners Ken Adams, Vice President of Sales, and Russ Staples, Vice Pres- ident of Construction, purchased Doubl-Kold, Inc. from Jack Staples and Terry Ingham who founded the company 20 years earlier. “We were actually all employees of theirs, so growing the brand wasn’t something we had to do from scratch,” Wayne explained. “We became Northwest Refrig- eration Contractors, Inc. doing business as Doubl-Kold. We stayed in the original location for about ten years, which was about 8,000 square feet on two acres.” “Our Ozone systems are the perfect testament to our R and D.” Staying in touch with his roots is at the heart of Wayne’s business acumen. “Ken’s father, Jim Adams, was actually my first employer when I graduated high school in 1978,” he reminisced. “He owned a local company called Refrig- eration & Services, Inc. Then I served an apprentice- ship with the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union Local 598 and worked for several contractors until 1987 when I went to work for Doubl-Kold Inc. My apprenticeship really gave me a boost to explore my other interests and broaden my horizons. I have also had training in electronics, compressor repair, pump repair, and business management. In addition to all that, I have both electrical and electrical administrator licenses, a Class 5 Boiler license, mechanical administrator licenses in Alaska and California, and I serve as trustee of several unions’ ERISA trusts. Through the years, I’ve had various jobs and duties through out my career before becoming a partner in Doubl-Kold. I delivered parts to job sites, did inventory control; I was an apprentice steamfit- ter, a welder, foreman, service tech, project manager, and
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • APRIL 2017
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