Sunday, August 26, 2018

Watching the Momentum

Quick looks at the latest forecasts are showing some slowing of momentum on the commercial building side.  The question though is… are we trending downward or is this just a blip on the radar?  One example?  The Architectural Billings Index was positive again for the 42nd time in the last 49 months but I was reading online where some analysts were worrying over the number.  I am not ready to fret yet given all of the other action happening right now and the positive metrics out there, but as always I will continue to keep close watch and see if anything looks out of sort in the next few reports.

Elsewhere…

--  Congrats to Bill Daubmann and the team at D3 in Florida on their latest expansion news.  Man that company has continued to grow over the years and it’s been nice to follow their continued development.

--  Saw a thread on an architectural message board recently that said architects are seeing less and less LEED projects.  So I have to ask- is that something our industry is seeing as well?  Are you getting less requests than in the past? I know glass is relatively minor in the big picture of LEED, but still a slowing of LEED projects would be newsworthy.

--  And we are now just 2 weeks away from GlassBuild America.  I have told you about GEF, Fall Conference, and Express Learning.  Now what about the awesome on floor ACTION DEMOS.  Seriously worth your time.  Check out the line up HERE.  These demos are moneymakers for you as a business owner or as a manager.  Check them out.  There is still time to register for the show and grab a room in Vegas.  You want to be at the show and quite frankly you NEED to be at this show!

This week’s interview- Dan Plotnick, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Solar Seal

I have known Dan for many years, but until I got the answers from this interview I really never knew him.  My gosh his path to this business is a fun and wild one. (His wife compares him to Forrest Gump with the travels/people etc.  She’s dead on!)   We are lucky to have him in our industry.  I enjoyed getting to communicate with Dan no matter where in the world he was stationed and always appreciated how he kept up with my posts.  Now its great to have him in North America and in the commercial fab business!  It’s a long one but well worth the read in my opinion!

Am I reading your past right- you were a history major?  If that is correct, how in the world did you end up as such a high powered sales and marketing executive?

Max, you are correct – my major was history with a concentration on the Middle East and a minor in political science.  I went to a small liberal arts college with 1600 students in Los Angeles and my average class size was 15 people.  In class, there was nowhere to hide.  While on paper I’m a history major, in reality, I was a communications major.  Every exam was essay based, I didn’t have one “scan-tron” test and certainly didn’t need a #2 pencil. 

With 15 students on average per class, all lectures were discussion based with open debate based on assigned reading or current events of the day.  If you went to class unprepared, you were embarrassed by the Professor and other students.  You had to digest large amounts of information, have a clear point of view and defend it.  In short, it was analogous to sales: take in large amounts of information, ask a lot of questions, listen and understand other people’s points of view so you can come up with solutions to their problems. 

After university I was in film and television production in New York City -- communications.  Oddly enough, my old babysitter and family friend opened the door to get me into the business and I worked on feature films and commercials.  I didn’t like the industry.  I got into the business because a friend put in a kind word to her contacts and helped me get interviews.  I quickly understood that to move up in the film industry it was all about networking and ultimately, nepotism.  I enjoyed the networking and was too idealistic at the time to appreciate the nepotism!

One successful film producer who liked me took me aside and we had a heart to heart talk.  Basically, in a kind way he told me that if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn’t.  Chasing film work destroyed 2 of his marriages, his family life was in shambles and he had no free time.  Being an idealistic 22 year old who was on the fence about film, this talk reinforced my beliefs.   I have no doubt I could have worked the system and been successful, but I didn’t want to sell my soul in the process to get there.  An interesting aside:  my family friend who introduced me to the business was an accountant on motion pictures.   She has been incredibly successful and has produced the “Sopranos” and “Girls” for HBO amongst other projects. 

With film in my immediate past, I had to look for something else to do.  I was an athlete and I played tennis for my college team.  I wanted to be involved with tennis and I got a job with the largest tennis court and running track surfacing company in the West.  It was Denver based with offices throughout the Rocky Mountain Region and Far West.  This is where I learned specification-based selling and where I really started to develop a career.  One thing that has been consistent is that I had a lot of decision making power and autonomy at a young age.  I was able to make mistakes.  At 26, I ran a sports flooring division and was able to create a distributor network of installers in multiple states. To keep this from running 30 pages, the company was eventually purchased by the same group that owned Astroturf.   After the sale, I didn’t think the company had a future as Astroturf had lawsuits pending for patent infringement and subsequently went bankrupt.   My wife had a great job opportunity in Seattle and we decided to move to the Pacific Northwest. 

I had a career in construction specification-based sales and wanted to continue with it.  This led me to Pilkington. 

You’ve had a heck of a career already and you are still pretty young too… can you walk me through what its been like working for the biggest companies in our industry in roles that took you overseas for years at a time?

I started in the glass industry at Pilkington as a territory Manager in the Pacific Northwest, covering that part of the country, the Rocky Mountain Region and Western Canada.  My work history in glass is clearly marked as entering companies during internal transitions or seeing through major economic booms and busts.  I got used to living in a blurry world and have always been able to cope well with change.  As a newcomer to a company, change is easy to deal with as you aren’t defined by historical constraints or enamored with certain totems from the past. 

When I joined Pilkington, there was major restructuring right before I started.  There were employee layoffs in many departments, a new CEO was hired and my boss, Steve Weidner was transitioning back into a Sales VP role.  I was hired because of my sales and specification experience.  At this time the PNA sales reps had a role change and were being asked to make sales calls and architectural presentations. 

Our North American division was successful under Steve’s guidance.  As a result, PNA was asked to send people to attend a 2-week Pilkington global management identification training program in the UK.  I was picked.  This was a turning point for me.  At this program I was identified as someone with leadership skills and the temperament to work and lead people from other cultures. Working for a multi-national, these were desired traits.  Steve Weidner was an excellent person to work for and he took my career development seriously.  In late 2004 he gave me a chance to work in another culture to help grow our overseas sales efforts.  The Country?  India.

I was one of the first North American employees to be sent to India for the architectural business.  I had a simple mandate, which was: “figure it out.”  At the time, we had one direct sales rep and an independent agent.  India was booming and figuring out a sales and marketing plan was easy once culture shock wore off.   I visited 5 cities over 3 weeks, met with glass processors, architects, glaziers, took part in a trade show in Bangalore and subsequently went back to India to work with the team 2-3 more times for similar durations in 2005.  Because of our efforts, we restructured sales and marketing and divided the country into 4 zones with direct sales coverage as well as establishing a central office in New Delhi.  We established new routes to market, created a team of sales people and technical reps – in other words, duplicate what made us successful in other parts of the world and localize it appropriately.  It was an amazing experience.  The team was our new local employees, our export manager from the UK and myself running a program comprised of enthusiastic people, all in our 20’s and 30’s, running around India like a bunch of headless chickens.  We got our glass specified in projects, sold tons of glass into premier buildings throughout the country, while upsetting a global competitor who had major operations in the country.  We were a small focused machine with a narrow highly profitable target segment --  a nice position to be in.   Working overseas we had a lot of autonomy, which continues throughout my career.  I always end up in positions where I must “figure it out.” 

What was exciting for Pilks in India is that we were identifying sites to build a float line in the country and my team and I were establishing routes to market once we had a float.  As I stated earlier – I enter companies during transitions. NSG bought Pilkington.  The float project was scrapped.   

From the success of the Indian experience, Pilkington was looking to extricate from our Hong Kong Office and I was chosen to lead our Commercial efforts based in Shanghai, China.  I was the first commercial employee based locally new office in 2006.  My role was to help grow sales in China to a broader customer audience, learn more about our JV partner, SYP, and sell products from our global facilities throughout all of Asia. 

You asked what was it like working overseas with large players in our industry? 

It truly accelerated my learning curve because I had access to our global leadership team, took part in presentations to the Board of Directors and was part of the decision-making process at the highest levels for our efforts in Asia. Coming from flogging float in Seattle to understanding the dynamics of working in China where one city, Qinghuangdao has more float plants than the whole of North America really tested my strategic abilities, helped me put convoluted routes to market in perspective, and understand channel strategy/segmentation as a very small player in such a complex and ever changing environment were our keys for growth.

In addition, being close to Japan, I had the pleasure of taking part in the first commercial interactions between Pilkington and our NSG counterparts.  I was our commercial face to the market in Asia.  My intellectual curiosity helped me learn and understand as best I could an ancient culture.  I asked a million questions, learned the language, experienced many other points of view and synthesized the information overload into action.  Bringing this full circle, my “history/communications” major uniquely helped prepare me for these roles.   

One of the most interesting, challenging and rewarding roles was the National Sales Director for Pilkington China.  I was in charge of sales and marketing from our Changshu float and coating factory.  Without getting too specific, I was the leader of a domestic Chinese sales and marketing team who were technically employed by SYP but worked with me.   Fortunately, China wasn’t really affected by the financial crisis, or as the NSG employees in Japan called it “the Lehman shock,” whose 10-year anniversary is today. It was an amazing time to be living in Shanghai – a true economic powerhouse that was undergoing a tremendous rate of change.  To be involved in many prestigious projects in the country, working with the major Chinese domestic and foreign curtain wall companies was eye opening and humbling.  For people involved in the building industry, China was candy-land.  Working with our JV partner certainly wasn’t without major challenges, such as training a domestic Chinese sales force about corporate compliance and anti-corruption as expected by a multi-national company.  I’m proud that I was the “bridge and shield” between our respective organizations and that we had cultivated a local team capable of working anywhere in the world. 

I was in China for over 6 years and was going to transition back to the USA with Pilkington in 2012.  The Guardian Asia team found out about my role change and contacted me – they were looking to buy a large float and coating company in China and they offered me a role I couldn’t refuse.  Sales and Marketing Director for all of Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong.  We lived there for four years.  I was specifically tasked with growing the coatings business in the region as well as helping qualify new investment opportunities.   Guardian Asia had a traditional sales link to our UAE facility for coatings, but my team helped to further open sales from Europe and the USA.  We were involved in hundreds of very large jobs, some we won – the new Abu Dhabi airport terminal, Apple’s R and D headquarters in Japan, as well as some we lost – the 2 spectacular buildings at Changi airport in Singapore, to name a few. 

In addition, there was more change to work through – within 3-4 months of starting this role, Koch Industries became Guardians partner.  I remember being in one of our Reps cars in Perth, Australia huddled around the speaker on his mobile phone to listen to the global announcement about Koch.  Again, change management and flexibility were required skills.  I joined Guardian post Russ Ebeid and I had the privilege of working under Scott Thomsen through the start of the Koch transition.

This role was interesting because we had teams from New Zealand through all of Asia and I was truly a road warrior.  If you saw the George Clooney movie, “Up in the Air” that lifestyle wasn’t far from my work life at the time.  From this role, I was asked to eventually move to Bangkok, Thailand to take the lead for all sales in Asia Pacific, including float from our Thailand factories, managing the inside and outside domestic Thai sales teams as well as the architectural teams throughout the region.  This gave me a broader industry view as we had a challenging Thai domestic market to work through as well as exports to all the countries throughout the region.  I got to make sales calls in diverse economies, like Myanmar, where tinted glass was a big purchase to promoting and writing code for the most sophisticated triple silver coatings and laminates to the governing energy departments in Singapore.

What I liked the most -- it was a different challenge every day.  On Monday I could be in Seoul specifying triple silvers for the Hyundai headquarters curtain wall and the next day we would be at the Hyundai auto factory negotiating the tinted auto glass buy for the new Genesis.  The glass industry has a myriad of challenges, a lot is self-inflicted.  Yet, there are so many applications for the product, every sale presents its unique aspects, therefore it never gets boring.  Moreover, I had interactions with key Guardian leaders, including Kevin Baird, Chris Dolan, Joe Butler and Bruce Milley, whom I’m still friends with today. 

I was very lucky those eleven years abroad – I lived in (3) of the world’s great cities: Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bangkok, traveled to over 30 countries for the role;  and because I was always with local people, had an open mind and enjoyed travel, food and karaoke in different cultures, my life was like an Anthony Bourdain episode of “No Reservations” every day I was on the road.  My wife and I could have been “lifers” in Asia, but I lived away from family and friends for almost 30 years and it was time to come home. 

How has the transition into the commercial fabrication world with Solar Seal been- this is newer territory for you correct?

My transition to VP of Sales and Marketing for Solar Seal has been fun.  The role change takes me from working with the major float companies calling on processing customers to going to work directly for a processing customer.  While I understand the industry, products and how the parts fit together, learning the personalities, the challenges of working downstream, and our operational constraints is certainly difficult.  That stated, my approach to leadership and how we treat customers remain the same.  The over-riding theme for me is to project to the customer that we are taking an outside-in approach to their business – trying to be the best solutions provider for them in their marketplace that we can be.  Which really is the essence of marketing and what being a true partnership supplier is all about.

LINKS of the WEEK

Rough things happen when you abandon a dog.

Sorry.  This is idiotic and a waste of time by so many

Drunk man goes to parents home and sleeps- except it wasn’t his parents home anymore.  Uh Oh

VIDEO of the WEEK

This is a compilation of some crazy sports endings.  Amazingly I did not see or do not remember a bunch of them.  Good stuff…

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Net Zero Nice Job

I am big fan of zero net energy building and was pretty excited to see a quick profile on the Vans Headquarters.  I pay close attention to the way the glass and glazing is shown and utilized and this project does show us at our best.   The one thing not mentioned in this piece was who manufactured, fabricated, and installed the glazing.  If it was your company please let me know…. Would love to pass that along to my readers and give a deserving pat on the back!  Good stuff overall and we as an industry need to really keep pushing our involvement in projects like this!

Elsewhere…

--  GlassBuild America.  I know I am always promoting but I am too excited about it not to keep yapping away.  One of the bigger draws each year is the Glazing Executives Forum and this year the agenda is jam packed with excellent presentations.  Starting with a piece on safe handling of big glass (Hey big glass is the trend now, so getting insight on handling techniques is crucial) and leading to incredible expert presentations on Exit Planning, Recruiting, Getting Paid and Managing Cash Flow you have the opportunity to gather an insane amount of education.  Plus I’m moderating a panel with representatives from YKK AP, Guardian Glass, and Viracon- which will provide visibility into the supply chain world.  Seriously a great event… sign up today!!

--  Speaking of signing up- there is still plenty of time- so get that registration done and accommodations completed.   Time is flying and it will be Labor Day before you know it- so don’t delay.

--  Glass Magazine review time… the August issue, which feels like an old fashioned phone book checking in at almost 150 pages.  A majority of this edition is a GlassBuild America preview and that has obvious value to the thousands prepping to attend.  Other items to note, a trends piece looking back at what drove the market in 2017, and of course must read info from the great Dr. Tom Culp on the energy codes coming down the pike.  For me though, the best piece was from the excellent legal mind of Matt Johnson.  Matt is always brilliant in his writings and this piece on marketing tactics is very timely given the biggest show in North America just a month away.  So if you have not checked it out yet- please do so!

--  Ad of the month… really tough call because there were TONS of them to choose from.  So I am noting two of them… first for a small and smart ad is Yorglas.  Really cool ad that I could not stop looking at thanks to the “legend” theme.   The other one is for the two pager from IUPAT.  The left side of the ad stopped me cold and then led me to dig into the text on the right.  Super effective use of the space.  Kudos to the design minds behind both efforts!

--  It’s been a while since I did a book review…  mostly because I am so far behind on my reading.  “Conspiracy” by Ryan Holiday is about the big court case between Hulk Hogan and the website Gawker.com.  The book was an extremely deep dive into the case and the characters involved.  If you followed that case at all, the book is absolutely worth it.  If you love a case of revenge, this one will work too.  Great read overall.

--  Last this week… no interview for this post- I am hoping to do two more and then shut it down until next summer.  The interview series has really been tremendous for me and the feedback I have gotten has really blown me away.  Thank you to all of the awesome people who did this with me so far and to all of you who have been reading and sharing your thoughts.  I am excited to continue this next year!

LINKS of the WEEK

Every year there’s a “great mugshot” story.  Here’s 2018’s version

Ramen Noodles stolen… 100k Worth!!

4-year-old kid smarter than the caregiver who unbelievably left him in a hot van for an hour.

VIDEO of the WEEK

The great Steve Perry is back singing again!  The former lead singer of Journey has a new single out and its pretty solid… I’m a big Journey/Perry fan so this was good news!


Sunday, August 12, 2018

Is it Really Back?

I thought I was dreaming when I saw a headline recently that asbestos could now legally be used again in manufacturing.  Amazingly it was not a fantasy, it is true and I am pretty thrown by it.  Obviously for years the push to remove it and deal with it has been a major task and one that has caused significant issues beyond the serious health risks that kicked the whole ban into motion.  So to see it back was jarring.  I was however relieved to see at least a solid initial push back by the architectural community.  It has begun on social media and I look for it to keep growing.   This is going to be one to watch on the building side, because I just can’t see it having legs no matter what the argument for bringing it back is.  I guess we will see…

Elsewhere…

We are now 1 month away from GlassBuild America and the anticipation for this years event is growing nicely.  I am expecting very strong attendance and I am loving the diverse range of exhibitors.  So much to see there for sure.   In addition the action demos are all “must see” types of events along with the Express Learning.  I seriously recommend you looking at the GlassBuild America website and familiarize yourself with everything that is happening because it’s a lot different than it was in the past.  Next week I’ll start breaking down specific items to see to help you in your planning process…

The latest updated website on the market features one of the best upgrades yet.  Diamon–Fusion (DFI) launched a new site that is heavy on video right out of the gate (bold and daring in our usually conservative industry) and it truly blew me away.  Congrats to the entire team at DFI for a job well done! 

This week’s interview: Alissa Schmidt, Technical Resources Manager, Viracon.

I was very excited that Alissa accepted my request for an interview in this series as I wanted to get a feel for not only her career journey but also to get her insight on the technical and project side.  She certainly did not disappoint with her answers.  Alissa has easily one of the most talented technical minds and approaches in our industry.   Overall I continue to be amazed at the incredible amount of personal talent that is amassed at Viracon, obviously Alissa fits in there perfectly.

Your career started in Marketing (I had a boss tell me no one needs marketing- so good for you for getting out- LOL) and then you seemed to settle into the design and technical side.  What was it like to go from promotion of product to having such a crucial hand in the way the product is placed and performs?

I guess I’ve never really thought of my transition as anything more than natural growth with the company growth in knowledge and experience that lead to the role I’m currently in. I love promoting Viracon regardless of whether I’m helping our marketing department with content development, having a conversation directly with an architect or writing a letter to a customer to explain something they need more details about. At the same time, my move to the technical side has allowed me to gain a better understanding of our product development process and how product characteristics tie to performance in the field.

In case more detail is better, here’s a little background about my path at Viracon:
Although I came to Viracon with an interior design degree and experience as a kitchen designer, I also spent four years after college as a marketing coordinator. When I read Viracon’s job posting for an architectural design specialist, I saw they were looking for someone who had design OR marketing experience. Since I had both, I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about the company and position. I recall arriving for the architectural design interview only to be notified that I was going to be interviewing for the position I applied for as well as a marketing position. This was due to my prior experience in marketing and potential reorganization that was going to happen in the department. In the end, I was offered the design position and started with Viracon in that role. The architectural design department was, however, very integrated into the marketing department so my first several years at Viracon included quite a bit of marketing support.

As Viracon grew, the design team grew and we restructured it as a separate entity from our marketing department. Changes in leadership around this same time lead to a design management opportunity. I had been with Viracon 7 years, had learned a lot about helping architects design with glass and was ready to take on the challenge of managing the architectural design team. A short time after I moved into the management role, a retirement on the technical side provided an opportunity for me to manage both the design and technical teams. This is the role I’m currently enjoying today.

I also enjoy the challenge of finding ways to improve, both personally and within the departments I manage. I discovered a communications program specifically targeted at communicating technical information to a non-technical audience. This is a great fit with my current position so I am currently working on my master’s degree through this program and anticipate graduating in 2019. 

With your position, and the awesome company you work for, I’d say you are positioned perfectly to be on the cutting edge of the industry.  What are you seeing out there that excites you and conversely keeps you up at night?

The electronic design tools architects have at their hands today are incredible. These tools have facilitated increased complexity of building shapes and forms. I wouldn’t say the complexity was previously impossible but the speed and accuracy of today’s software have expanded its use to a much broader audience.

While this explosion of complexity is super exciting for me as a designer, it keeps our manufacturing and technical experts on their toes. Complex building forms create glass shapes and sizes that were once reserved for high-profile, high-budget projects. Today, it is common for mainstream projects to include glass that poses a variety of fabrication challenges. The twists and turns of the unique building forms also change the way a building interacts with its surroundings. There might be 5 or 10 wind loads on a building rather than one corner and one typical load of a basic, rectangular building. This can require extensive glass strength analysis, deflection and sightline calculations. In some cases, the complexity request finite element analysis because the traditional strength analysis programs do not suffice.

What’s the most fun you’ve had on a project in your career- was it something that you had a hand in from the start or maybe a massive signature project that you helped make sure everything clicked… or maybe something else that you can point to as memorable to you…

I hate picking favorites so choosing a single project over all others is nearly impossible. I’ve definitely had many fantastic experiences while I’ve been with Viracon. When I first started, Seven World Trade Center had been recently completed. I remember receiving a lot of calls from architects who wanted to talk about the glass. Even though I hadn’t personally worked on the project, these conversations were a quick introduction into how much fun it can be to talk about glass that comes from a small town in Minnesota and makes its way to a distinctive New York City building.

I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in the design process for everything from our local arts center addition to the Dallas Cowboys Stadium to One World Trade Center. My career here at Viracon has also offered a lot of fantastic opportunities to see our glass in-person. One of the most memorable is a trip where I was able to visit One World Trade Center under construction, near the holidays. From the ground the glass looked great, from the 56th floor, the view was beautiful but the best vantage point of the building during that trip was from across the street where the construction lights were turned into multi-colored lights for the holidays. This little touch made me think about how a building really does interact with, and influence, people. 

LINKS of the WEEK

Escape the nursing home and first place you go?  Heavy metal concert!

Whenever I think we as an industry communicate badly, I remember there’s certain companies in the airline industry.


VIDEO of the WEEK


Skipping the video of the week… nothing great caught my fancy.  We’ll see what we can find for next week!