End of era

Up and down news week for me…. First on the down side, the depressing news about the closing of Mid Ohio Tempering by the UGC… It really is very sad and upsetting news…. aside from folks losing their jobs (which is very depressing obviously and the most important) there’s a historical piece here as the original founder of this company, Jack Deyo, is another one of those guys (like I noted Eric Rapp to be last week) that would be first ballot industry hall of famers (in my opinion). Seeing his place go down in this manner, with him helpless to do anything (UGC and Jack parted a few years ago) had to be pure misery. The facility, which possibly could’ve had a buyer (especially with rumors of a west coast guy opening up in Columbus) will be remembered in my mind for its commitment to quality and customers. I guess stripping the facility and sending equipment elsewhere was the better deal in their minds. My thoughts go out to all of the folks affected by this news and I hope they can land somewhere good. (And if the rumor of someone opening in C-Bus is true, the new company has ready-made and motivated workforce)

Elsewhere…

-- Now on the upside, the UGC location in Pittsburgh made a great hire of Rob Taliani formerly of Arch. Great guy and yes I am biased as Rob is a very close friend. But still he will do extremely well for that group, especially now that he won’t have the worries of competing with his fabricators or having to go after general contractors like leadership from his old company has been quoted on. (Yep I know I am beating that dead horse... but those interviews were blog material gold!)

-- Ok, enough bad news for now… a major congrats to Darand Davies of Dallas Glass (Salem, OR) for winning the Hartung/Guardian “Beat the Heat” competition. Darand is a tremendous guy and operator and it is very nice to see people like that get some great publicity.

-- Usually on line discussions in or about our industry aren’t very popular. Don’t get me wrong, there’s tons of opinions out there shared privately everyday but putting yourself out there is rare. Well recently a phenomenon of sorts took place over at business social media site LinkedIn when they question was asked “do we have a dearth of qualified people in the façade industry?” This discussion brought tons of replies and really is an interesting question overall. We as an industry do have some holes, especially in attracting new/young/fresh talent… though we also sometimes mis-use or miss flat out quality talent as well. End of the day though I found it interesting that there was a pretty good on line discussion of an issue that will have ramifications somewhere down the line.

-- Last week while in one of my hotel stays I came across the movie “Taken” starring Liam Neeson. This is one of those movies that I just love to watch… he’s like Jack Bauer, so that’s big, I love the action, and quite frankly is my daughter ever got in trouble (like his in the movie) I wish I could morph into that character. Simply awesome.


-- By the way I did not make a post season pick last week for baseball because my choices back in April- Yanks vs Phillies is still alive. I do though want the Rangers to make it, as I love that line up and the storylines with the Rangers are amazing. (Josh Hamilton’s comeback, Ron Washington’s issues, Ian Kinsler being the rare Jewish baseball stud and so on)

LINKS of the WEEK

-- I have had some cool structures featured here… and you can add this one to the list… the balancing barn!


-- Thanks to an old pal, AKA “The Freight Train” for this one.. a great story on Barry Sanders Jr. as he is headed towards some of the same greatness his father showed. Something tells me Lions fans are hoping that he can come to Detroit!

-- The newest disease for the tech world… “Toasted Skin Syndrome” for when you work too long with your lap top... on your lap…

VIDEO of the WEEK

From a friend of the blog in New York… just an awesome shootout style of goal in Hockey… kids name is Kaspars Daugavin and I have a feeling you may be seeing his name more often in the future.