Friday, July 18, 2014

Awards and Champions

We have the World Cup of Glass final coming up but before that, let’s talk about some other winners- the folks that have made it to the finals of the Glass Magazine Awards.  These awards are truly the industry gold standard, nominations come from the industry and voting is done by the industry.  Winning here is a huge honor.  Once again this year amazing candidates from all over the country have been nominated.  In the  “Best Sales Representative” category I am familiar with all three finalists and picking a winner will be pretty impossible for me.  I have known Dan Pompeo for a very long time and he is amazing- tons of energy and he always comes through.  I have gotten to deal with Stacey Quesada of Glass Apps on a few occasions and her attention to detail and follow up is one of the best I have ever worked with.  Zach Passman has always been a guy I have been told great things about, so seeing him on this list was no surprise at all.  So this vote will be incredibly hard for me.  But I will eventually pick one, and every one out there you need to do the same- for this category and the others as well.  Here’s the link, click, read and vote.  These folks are all winners in the fact they made it this far and it will be fun to see who gets the nod for being the best in 2014!  Voting ends July 31st

Elsewhere....

So it’s the finals of the World Cup of Glass.  Our three finalists are USA, Germany, and Italy.  Each won a “group” over the last few weeks.  Now they face each other.  4 categories… points are 3 for winning, 2 for second, and 1 for 3rd.  Most points win… here goes:

Innovation:

USA 3
Germany 2
Italy 1

USA actually gets lucky that it faces these two in this category.  While the US is strong in innovation its not dominant.  But compared to its competition, it still takes this category.

Quality:

Germany 3
USA 2
Italy 1

Maybe it’s a myth but I do subscribe to the theory that Germany is the home of the best quality products around.

Products:

USA  3
Italy 2
Germany 1

US dominating here, based on sheer product range and usage.  Picking 2nd was harder but went with Italy based on their decorative product lines.

Industry Support:

USA 3
Italy 2
Germany 1

I almost went with Italy at 1 because of how they really step up to support GlassBuild but the Italian contingent is not that active at the trade or code level so there’s no way they could be first. 

Final Total

USA 11
Germany 7
Italy 6

Final Conclusion:  This was a fun exercise to do… The one downer is that we’re not unified from a world standpoint when it comes to code and design.  That is something that needs to be improved upon.  I will say that it gets me excited that events like GlassBuild America bring ALL of these countries together on one floor, so you can see the greatness in action from all over!

--  Speaking of GlassBuild America, I am really excited about a few things… but the one call out I’d like to make this week is to the folks who stepped up and are taking major sponsor roles.  These are companies that realize that they are supporting the industry and the industries largest North American show, while also getting amazing brand recognition all in one fell swoop.  So major props to Quanex, Bohle, Dip Tech, GGI, Hartung Glass, Kuraray America, Diamon Fusion, YKK, Guardian, SAPA, Dow Corning, FMI, and Pilkington North America for stepping up. 

--  Last this week… a quick personal note- my nephew Josh, who has been in the industry now for several years including his current run at WA Wilson got engaged over the weekend.  Congrats to Josh and we’re thrilled that our family is getting a great new addition with Nicole!

LINKS of the WEEK

--  Fellow road warriors please read this one on the shared hotel computer… I have always been wary…

--  Another travel note… this would NOT be good… bicycle style seats on planes.  Yikes.

--  A drought in California and yet homeowners getting flack for their lawns?  What???

VIDEO of the WEEK

I have always liked Weird Al Yankovic and his song parodies.  Harmless good fun.  His latest is “Foil” as a take off on “Royals”


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