Predictions for 2019

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Time for my fearless predictions for 2019…

1.     I may as well get this one out of the way early… Security Glass will continue to grow in 2019.  Yes it’s on my list every year but I am still convinced additional growth is on the horizon.  School security is priority like never before.  More and more private businesses are upgrading and government and municipal are pretty much locked in with desires to go heavier on security. 

2.     Look at Lifting.  The days of glaziers trying to use old fashioned muscle to install and move glass are dying.  The days of installers having to share various equipment to glaze are also coming to an end.  Like never before lifting apparatus is everywhere and its advanced amazingly over the years.  Just visit GlassBuild and be in awe.  I am a big fan of this sector and its importance to our industry.

3.     Speaking of important- the Robot Revolution is here. I predict the usage of robots and automation at the fabricator level will jump quite a bit as the year ends and many fabricators will enter 2020 with a new look and approach to production.  Included is this are terms like IoT and Internet 4.0.  Get ready; innovation is coming fast and furious.

4.     Deals are not done.  Many companies who are thinking about selling are staring into the future and thinking- “this needs to be the year I sell” because we really don’t know what 2020 is going to bring from an economic side.  I see a bunch of smaller deals but we’ve got a doozy or two coming our way and the rumors are absolutely wild.

5.     Talent on the move.  I think there’s a ton of talent in our industry and I have a feeling that we are going to see some of the best folks we have transitioning either into promotions at their current company or moving on to new ones. Any business owner who’s looking to take a leading position going forward has to be looking at making a run at some of the talent out there.

So we will see how these come out… I am always curious on what my dear readers think so feel free to reach out to me and share!  Would love to have the conversation…

Elsewhere…

--  One of my favorite things each year is when it’s announced that the employees of Viracon donated a huge sum to charity.  Once again they’ve blown me away.  It was announced last week that the incredible team at there donated $116,000 to the United Way.  Kudos to everyone at Viracon and special props to Carla Kern who heads this effort up every year.  Awesome stuff!!

--  The deal on the Project Managers Reference Manual for members of NGA is an absolute steal.  Must buy.  And if you are not a member of NGA, you should join to take advantage of things like this!  For more info…

--  Additional note on Project Managers… I am honored to head up a panel at BEC in March on training of Project Managers.  We have 2 incredible industry brains on the panel in Brian Fillipiak of Alliance Glazing and Paul Robinson of Pioneer Glazing, as well as Neil Opfer, a professor in the construction school at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.  All I can say is in my initial talks with these guys; it’s been an incredible learning experience on their best practices and ideas to keep improving our world.  I think I may just moderate by introducing them and then sitting back and watching them go.   Get registered for BEC today!

--  Great cartoon given to me by my friend Scott Goodman… really sums up our world sometimes:

 

--  Last this week… for those of you going to the Annual Conference- I sincerely hope to see you there.  My schedule is pretty messy so I may not be there for long or at all depending on how things break.  I am bummed because this will be one the best conferences ever… enjoy and I look forward to hearing about all of the details.

LINKS of the WEEK

The headline is a winner all by itself.

Great headline #2

Simply incredible way to lose weight!

VIDEO of the WEEK

Skipping VIDEO of the WEEK this post… we’ll hopefully return next week!