After more than 30 years in the industry, Jorge Nakamura continues to lead the air conditioning sector in Peru.
by Alejandra García Vélez
The participation in projects such as the implementation of the ventilation system at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, Turkey, are a sign of the scope and experience of the Professional of the month of this edition.
Jorge Nakamura Muroy was born in Lima, Peru, on the first of December 1944; The son of Japanese immigrants, he first graduated in Electrical Engineering in his native country and then obtained a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Great Britain.
More than thirty years of work consolidate him as one of the most important figures in the HVAC/R industry in Peru; its beginnings, in 1970, were given by the hand of the businessman Carlos Hiraoka, founder of the company Importaciones Hiraoka, who hired him to develop and implement a ventilation system for the building of his property.
"The trust placed in me, without much experience in the field and barely exceeding 30 years, was a great challenge, which thank God I was able to face and fulfill," said Nakamura. And he added that thanks to that experience he managed in the year 1,974 to found the company Proterm S.R.L. (today Proterm Peru S.A.C.). "Without that great opportunity provided by a man I will thank all my life, maybe things would have been different," he said. Challenges and learnings
During the 36 years of life of Proterm Peru, the company has served companies in the commercial and industrial sector, such as Banco de Crédito del Perú, Banco HSBC, Pesquera Diamante, Corporación Lindley (Inca Kola), Importaciones Hiraoka, and Scotiabank; but despite these credentials our Professional of the Month knows that constant updating work must be done to continue offering customers the best service.
"The biggest challenge I face is in technology, keeping up with the dizzying advances that are taking place. Over the years I've had, that's a real challenge." In the same way, he stressed that for any company the main philosophy should be to maintain cordial treatment with employees even in the moments of tension that arise.
He also added that "the great objective of a manager in the field of an HVAC/R company is to satisfy the customer in all aspects. This task is not easy, since HVAC/R is not only science or technology, it is also about satisfying the personal particularities of the client."
He also pointed out that the key to positioning a company is the fulfillment of the commitments acquired not only in terms of agreed deadlines, but also in terms of quality. Evolution in Peru
The Professional of the Month highlights that the HVAC/R industry in Peru is shaping up better and better. "Gone are the economic and political ups and downs of the country. Peru is currently growing on very solid foundations and economic well-being is clearly reflected in the demand for services in the field of HVAC/R," he said.
He also highlighted the evolution that the industry has undergone since he began working in it almost forty years ago. "I have the privilege of having lived the great changes that have occurred in our specialty. When we started, air conditioning was considered a real luxury, today it is a necessity," adding that "we were the first to install a split type equipment in Peru, before only the window type were known. But today we have a wide variety of equipment, very high efficiency and operating with ecological refrigerant."
Precisely, Nakamura stressed the importance of working with an environmental awareness, "HVAC / R systems are large consumers of electrical energy. In a building, these systems can constitute up to 40% or more of the total energy consumed. Therefore, it should be the concern of those of us in this business, to improve the efficiency of the systems we use", and pointed out that "fortunately, we already have ecological refrigerants that prevent us from continuing with the damage to the ozone layer".
The day to day
The professional of the month defines himself as a "workaholic", and highlights that "my company and the satisfaction of our customers are my passion". That is why he arrives every day at the office at 8:30 a.m. and usually stays until 7:30 p.m., or even until later, taking care of sketching the projects to be developed, giving guidelines and recommendations.
He is also in charge of the final review and approval of the projects, he also considers that one of his most important tasks is to receive pressure from clients and calm them down. "The challenge is not to transmit that pressure to employees in the company," he says. Finally, he confesses that during the last few years he has dedicated himself to preparing to leave the company in the hands of his son. The family
But not everything in the life of Jorge Nakamura is work, his wife Teresa Goshima, their three children, Jorge, Patricia and Angelica, form their family nucleus. Jorge, was in charge of giving his father the first grandson, which according to the proud grandfather is "the center of the family". Patricia, who is also married, is also a graduate in education and is currently in Japan pursuing doctoral studies.
Angelica is dedicated to psychology and has a master's degree from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania (United States). For his part, his future successor, Jorge, is a graduate in Electronic Engineering and has a master's degree in Business Administration.
Nakamura, who dedicated 22 years of his professional life to teaching, was a senior lecturer in Thermodynamics at the Faculty of Mechanics of the National University of Engineering. Among his hobbies was photography, but he stopped practicing it as a sign of protest when digital photography supplanted traditional photography. In addition, he is a fan of baseball, especially the New York Yankees, and an admirer of boxing, particularly Muhammad Ali.
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