Leopoldo Carbajal Romero is the CEO of the company Climas S.A de C.V. and the Professional of the Month representing Mexico.
by Duván Chaverra Agudelo
At the AHR Expo in Las Vegas I personally met Leopoldo Carbajal Romero, I already knew about his journey and the importance of the company he represents in the HVAC sector in Mexico, but being able to talk to him and listen to him allowed me to understand him much more and realize the kind of professional and person he is. He is humble, sometimes shy, but at first glance you can see the passion for what he does and the taste he gets from it.
For these reasons he deserves to be recognized as the Professional of the Month of this edition on behalf of Mexico.
Leopoldo, or Polo, as many know him, has dedicated more than 27 years of his life to this air conditioning industry and his entire professional career has been given to the same company, of which he has been manager for 20 years; it is the company Climas S.A de C.V. which is located in Chihuahua, a city in northern Mexico of about 800,000 inhabitants.
"I am an Industrial Mechanical Engineer with a specialty in Design from the Technological Institute of Chihuahua. All my work experience has been developed in the company where I am currently a director for 20 years, but this 2017 I am celebrating 27 years working in this company. I started as a project engineer, then I became a construction supervisor, engineering manager, and I am currently a partner and general director of Climas S.A. de C.V., a proudly Chihuahuan and Mexican company that next year will celebrate 60 years of continuous work. " commented the guest.
Leopoldo, who considers himself a very positive, creative and committed to everything that is innovation and progress for his community, told us how his first approach to our industry was: "My first contact with the world of air conditioning was in an industrial exhibition at my professional school, for which they requested volunteers for the different exhibitors, and for things of fate I had to be in the module of the company Climas. We had a very good experience in this exhibition and I received a job proposal at the end of my studies which I let go for a while, but then they called me to be part of this great team."
Challenges
Our guest has in his mind the goal of showing the world the benefits of Mexico as an important country in the air conditioning sector and that can rub shoulders with the greats of the world.
"My main challenges in the industry in which we develop is to be able to show a face to foreign investors in which Mexico is seen as a country where there is a lot of capacity and talent to be on par with the great companies of the world and be able to support the development and growth of our nation," explained the Pro of the month, who also always sees as other new challenges to the "infinity of new things in technology, equipment, systems for the current technological development in many areas of life, which I see as areas of improvement and opportunity".
On his leadership, the CEO of Climas commented that "I believe that the fact that I am recognized in this market is because I have always been a person who blindly believes in our ability to compete internationally with our projects and designs, since we are on par with any engineer in the world.
I have always been a person who has never stopped studying and improving myself day by day in all areas: technically, in business, in personal development; I am a person who knows very well that in this life you never finish learning."
Your experience in the industry
"The evolution that the air conditioning industry has had in our area is very well influenced by our customers, who are mostly transnational companies from many parts of the world: German, English, Japanese, Korean, French, American, among others, and each client brings their ideas and systems that work in different parts of the world. The ability to understand these systems, the way to adapt them to Mexico and our flexibility to solve has put us at a very high point before the world," said Leopoldo.
In addition, the guest analyzes that globalization plays today a fundamental role in the development of the guild. "The air conditioning industry is increasingly globalized, Mexico is no exception due to the high foreign investment of industrial plants from many countries that come to install their production, this has brought us a need for new developments and innovations to be at the height of these customers."
Regarding the near future of the air conditioning sector, the Professional of the Month assures that "the future of the air conditioning industry is very promising and new developments of all kinds are increasingly seen in Mexico for the hotel sector, health, hospitals and clinics, education, office and corporate buildings, or in our case, large industrial plants. In particular we have had to be part of the development of projects including engineering and installation for renowned plants such as Pirelli, Bombadier Aeroespacial, Mondelez International, TPI wind fan plant, Ford Motor Company, Denso, Caterpillar Industries, in short... a large number of industrial plants".
More from the professional
Leopoldo must travel frequently to different parts of Mexico and the world. Although he lives in the city of Chihuahua, he says that due to the projects he must carry out, 50% of his time is spent on work trips. "We have many projects in much of the Mexican Republic and there are a number of international clients to whom we must give specialized, technical attention and above all, offer them reliability in Mexico."
Finally, thanks to his work, the professional of the month has the opportunity to know different parts of the world, something that he is passionate about and that he takes advantage of always thinking about his country. "Thank God I have had many opportunities to know places, which has helped us to enrich the feasibility that Mexico is on par with many countries in terms of engineering. and design. The air conditioning systems of the different regions are closely linked to the type of climate you have and the economic capacity".
