This past week our industry got news that I would say is
“insanely great.” That term usually
associated with the greatness of Steve Jobs and his Apple products, can now
apply to our world here after Nicole Harris was named as the new President and
CEO of the National Glass Association.
This news should give everyone who cares about the current and future of
our industry an extra pep in their step because there’s simply no one more
qualified or ready to take the NGA and our world here to new levels. I have known Nicole for many years, and hold
her in the highest regards. She is an
absolute class act. I will never forget
years and years ago my brother and I had dinner with Nicole and we were talking
advertising ideas. Despite the fact we
weren’t placing ads with her magazine at the time, she was still there
brainstorming with us and actually helped us develop an amazingly memorable campaign. She surely did not have to,
but did what was right. And I know going
forward she will do what’s right for this industry. This is tremendous news folks, plain and
simple. As for Phil James, in a future blog, I will have
some comments on him and his legacy. His place in industry history is
surely one to greatly respect.
Elsewhere…
-- This week is AIA in Chicago… maybe I can get a picture or video
of someone from our industry pleading for love from an architect. Seriously though very interested to see how
the show goes and the vibe. Will report
on all of this on my next blog which won’t run until after the July 4th
holiday.
-- World Cup of Glass… week 2… and I was alerted to a huge
snub… France is not in my tournament.
So while that country does boast a major player in the glass world, for
this exercise, they’ll have to wait until I do the next edition of the World
Cup of Glass. Also the feedback I got
regarding this was some of the best I have ever had. Thank you…
Ok our next round is China, Italy, South Korea, and Mexico. This result of this one was a
shocker to me.. I fully expected China to prevail but alas they fell to the
Italians in the end. Italy won the
quality segment, finished 2nd in products and 2nd in
industry support to take the day. While
China does have products, their quality continues to be hampered by some bad
actors and innovation (at least originating) is not a strong suit in my opinion. South Korea hung in there most being the home of
some major interior switchable glass players and Mexico has great supporters of
this industry and quality on par with the best.
The final breakdown though was:
Italy 13
China 11
Korea 9
Mexico 7
So Italy joins Germany in the finals… next blog we’ll have
the match up of the US, Russia, Spain, and Japan.
-- Good news also this week on Thom Zaremba being appointed to
the Canadian General Standards Board’s Glass Committee to help update the
architectural glass standards there. Thom
joins a strong group that will make sure that the right glazing products are
used in the right applications. No
question adding someone of his experience and pedigree will be great for the
effort!
-- I just heard about the retirement of one of our industries
most enjoyable people. Jim Stewart of
Tremco hung em up recently. Jim is a
great man and I will miss seeing him at industry events because he was always
the one guy I could count on to greet me with a smile and hearty
handshake. Enjoy the next phase of your
life my friend!
-- Watched the movie “Non Stop” on a flight this week and all I
can say is…wow. Solid plot and creative writing. Good action movie… Liam Neeson playing that
hero role works.
-- Just in time for the summer travel season, gas is rising but
so are airline prices. May had the
largest one-month increase in 15 years!
I noticed it as some routes I normally take I could not find a
reasonable flight price at all. Very
depressing to say the least. And this
trend looks to continue, the airlines expect flights to still be full, so I
don’t see pricing going down or even staying flat for the time being.
-- As mentioned above- no blog from me again until after the 4th
of July holiday. Hope everyone has a
great and safe Independence Day!
LINKS of the WEEK
-- Cool long form piece on benefits still being paid from the
Civil War!
-- Amazing story of pilot who has to skydive when his plane is
damaged… by a skydiver!
-- Waffle House’s are getting scary… yet another shooting. Man I like their food though.
VIDEO of the WEEK
As a former TV guy and current video editor, this piece blew
me away for the pure complexity of it.
To make this many cuts to make it end up as a song is so difficult- what
an amazing piece of work…
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