Rumors- The Follow Up

Wow, talk about some rumors and BAM tons of interest and views of the blog follow! Wednesday’s post set a record for traffic to this site- so Thank you and feel free to bookmark this address and check back again.

Anyway, with all of the interest in the rumors, the questions came in starting late yesterday and throughout today…

Who is it?

Well I can tell you if Vistawall is being bought by someone other than Oldcastle, it WON’T be: YKK, US Alum or Arch… but it is a major aluminum player…. And its not EFCO as scuttlebutt on the street says they are for sale too (Could it be that Oldcastle is going after EFCO and all of the talk about Vistawall was a very elaborate and well done smoke screen?) I still don’t think so, but then again so many people are talking about this deal, who knows what is fact, fiction or otherwise.

So I guess we will see what comes down in the next few weeks. But my gut still leans to the OC/Vistawall angle, but my bets have been hedged just slightly with the revelations hinted above.

Elsewhere…

-- Noted from the Friday USGNN- 2 items…. First the joint statement from the industry groups on the NFRC. As mentioned here last week, it’s a great step and it proof that this industry is not as fragmented as some within the NFRC and DOE believe. While there will obviously be some differing opinions from within our industry, the reality is the massive majority is united. Best line from the release (though the whole release was super)

The program needs a fundamental change (not just minor tweaks) to make the program viable.

-- Also the note on the weakness of the CSI show is one I covered on this blog several weeks ago. There’s no question that show is in deep trouble, and maybe under new management it has a chance to re-invent itself. (Ah Vegas in June- 112 degrees here we come!) But when people start using the quantity vs quality argument, you know you’re in trouble. I think I learned that in marketing 101… tell your superiors while traffic was slow, it was all quality leads! Plus aside from being slow, I am sure the poor souls who exhibited were probably inundated from people trying to sell them on lead programs and website ads.

-- Lastly for this extra “bonus” post for the week… the USGBC, rated as “From the Fabricator’s” Most Powerful organization (click here- scroll down) announced today that they will require at least 2 Optimize Energy Performance points. Now I take that as great news for our industry because that would mean that the desire to go to more efficient Low E’s like Guardian’s new SN 54 among others, as well as thermally improved spacer like Edgetech’s Tri Seal or Azon’s Warmlight would be welcomed in the big scheme of things. From the aluminum side, there are also products with thermal breaks that will provide the performances needed. So for our industry I take this as a plus. We still fall behind bike racks and waterless urinals, but we’re making strides.