Potential Roadblocks Ahead

So a few weeks ago I was extremely honored to give the keynote address at the Texas Glass Association Glass Conference II.  It really was a wonderful experience as the folks from great state of Texas are some of the best around.  They are truly classy and hospitable to the end.  The theme of my hour-long presentation was “State of the Industry” where I spent around 30 minutes on economic forecasts and then the rest on trends, concepts, events, and conclusions.  On the forecast side I pulled data from 11 different sources and went through many different segments and applications.  The main takeaway I provided after all of this research was that there is a softening of the markets coming our way. It doesn’t look like it will be a long stretch and there’s no indicators that show the weaknesses being 2008/9-like bad, but it was interesting for me to get into all of the data and see this is what we have coming.  Basically some lighter volumes into 2020 but things improving towards the end of next year and into 2021.  One of the things I told the attendees was to look at technology and innovation NOW vs. later.  If you can improve yourself or your operation now- meaning efficiencies etc. this is the time to do it.   Don’t wait until next year that is for sure. 

The event overall was fantastic.  Dustin Anderson of Anderson Glass had an incredible presentation on the workforce of today and how to reach them.  He’s become a very polished and natural speaker- so he’s more than just a TV star these days.  In addition I really enjoyed what Nathan McKenna of Vitro and Erica Couch of Tri-Star delivered in their spots.  Great stuff all the way around.  Kudos to Felix Munson, Sam Hill, and everyone at the TGA for a job well done!

Elsewhere…

--  I did also talk about the Architectural Billings Index (ABI) and was waiting to see if we were back in the black this month after our first down month in 2 years.  Sure enough we climbed into positive territory- barely at 50.5.  I had a feeling it would pop up from its low number in the previous month and now I see it treading water for while. 

--  Glass Magazine review time… the issue has “Protector” on the very snazzy cover and is the May 2019 edition.  The main theme is Glass & Metals 401- Guide to Protective Glazing.  With how important this segment is in our world right now, I strongly recommend you grab the issue or check it out online as the info in here is absolutely fabulous and necessary. 

--  Ad of the month goes to CR Laurence.  “The Building Envelope Simplified” was an excellent ad piece that truly shows the power of glass and smartly showed where CRL’s contributions were.  The picture and callouts did the heavy lifting and impressed me.  Kudos to the minds behind that one!

--  I never fly in or out of JFK in NYC- but I may have to make an exception some day to get to the new TWA hotel there.  Looks incredibly cool!

-- Last this week… another GlassBuild plug from me.  Don’t click away- read on please… have you registered yet?  Have you gotten the hotel taken care of?  If not do it now… we have now passed Memorial Day and we all know this summer will fly by.  There’s a ton of good pieces in the works for the show and you will need to be there and especially if you are looking to the advice I laid out at the top of the post- you HAVE to be there….  Any questions on it- please reach out to me!

LINKS of the WEEK

--  We see this every year and I never get tired of it!  Dogs in the yearbook!

--  Another story we always see yet people seemingly don’t learn. Please don’t leave your kid or pets in hot cars with the windows up! 

I love good news!  Good job young man!

VIDEO of the WEEK

This is a classic song, classic clip and just awesome dancing… just brings a smile to the face!

Award and Interview Season

A couple of fun ones to cover at this top of the post this week… first the single most prestigious award program in the entire glass industry is now open for nominations.  The Glass Magazine Awards for 2019 launched last week and I am so excited to see the process play out.  There are so many great categories that will really show off the extreme talent in our industry.  So check out thelink and get your projects and products in!!

Also my summer interview series- “The Big 3” is back again… Last summer I interviewed several people from many different walks of life in the glass and glazing universe and I’m doing it again this year.  I already have 9 people on my wish list and I am starting to reach out now.   If all goes well I’ll start rolling out the first one in the next few weeks and it will run through the next few months. 

Elsewhere…

--  Congrats to the folks at Guardian Glass on their new website.   A nice advancement on the previous version, layout is solid for user experience and video piece in center of screen works well.  Tons of info on there too.  Good job to all involved!

--  New fun follow on Twitter is “Cursed Architecture.”   Find it here and follow along as the post some of the craziest layouts and mistakes you could ever imagine.   

--  Fall Conference registration is open and its being held in the great town of Toledo.

Unfortunately I have to miss it and that’s killing me as there’s a load of VERY important technical items on the agenda and there’s also the “Old Guard Group” which brings together some of the best folks our industry has ever had and they share their wisdom. 

--  Speaking of the Fall Conference, a staple at events like that was Doug Nelson.  Sadly the word broke at the end of the week that Doug had passed away.  No doubt that was some rough news to hear.  Doug was the owner of the Brin group in Minnesota and was a force in the Flat Glass Manufacturers Association (FGMA) and then into the Glass Association of North America (GANA) back in the day.  I will always remember Doug for just holding court amongst the crowd.  He was bigger than life to me as I was just a pup learning the ins and outs.  I admired what he had built then and his legacy is still alive today with the companies he built still thriving in the Twin Cities.  My thoughts and prayers to Doug’s family and friends as well as everyone that worked with him at Brin.  A tough loss for sure.

--  I’ll be shocked if this is the design in the end but this look for the new Notre Dame rebuild is pretty fascinating.

--  As I am sure you know GlassBuild registration is open but also do not forget to book your hotel room.  GlassBuild gets a great block of rooms at favorable rates- so book through the GlassBuild site to take advantage!  Click here!

--  Last this week... programming note- no blog post from me next week… unless of course some sort of major story breaks.  Otherwise I’ll see you back in this space week of 5/26.

LINKS of the WEEK

An iguana as a weapon?  Really?

Frightening but the guy I believe is OK.

Met Shaq once- such a nice guy. See stuff like this about him all the time.  Great to see!

VIDEO of the WEEK

Not sure if I posted this trailer or not- but the next MUST SEE movie for me is Rocketman- the Elton John Story and that comes out at the end of this month… can’t wait!

Opportunity is Ours

Last week I briefly touched on the story from New York City and the Mayor there commenting on glass and glazing.  Since then it’s been a very interesting ride to follow the various stories and reaction to it.  First as the news got some legs folks from the Mayor’s office tried to soften it some with some much needed clarifications on what he meant.  Then we got some excellent takes on the issue from Glass Magazine editor Katy Devlin, View’s Rao Mulpuri, and my old pal Dr. Helen Sanders of Technoform.  But even with the smart comments coming in, the initial damage was done.  The narrative that stuck was: a “ban” on glass was needed because glass is bad.  So here we go again.  I even chuckled when I looked at these two e-mails back to back in my inbox

So it is now back to us to be better at how we communicate our products and how our industry represents ourselves.  This is an OPPORTUNITY for us.  We all know that we have GREAT products that can meet and exceed the energy needs and provide benefits that brick and other products do not.  We can rise to the challenge and show we are not the problem here and actually bring positive solutions with us.  Older buildings that desperately need energy upgrades everywhere are where this effort should start.  Glass needs to be the driver and the solution.  Let’s go get it.

Elsewhere…

--  I missed noting the annual “Take Your Child to Work” day on last weeks post.  It was really cool to see so many companies in our industry showing off what they did on social media.  When you think about the whole “ban” issue and also the fact we need youth in this business, it’s really important to get kids interested in our world sooner than later.  So big props to everyone who brought their kids in and to all the companies who pushed and supported it!

--  So has everyone seen Avengers End Game yet?  Super movie.  Don’t worry I won’t spoil it but I do want to say I loved the glass usage in the movie- and I got a kick out of some of the breakage too- looked like in some scenes the glass broke more like annealed.  So while others will go see that movie again to experience it another time, I’ll go back to study break patterns…

--  Never thought I’d see Wal Mart as the next leader in store innovation but here you are… interesting piece on a test store in NewYork. 

--  Travel nugget… I swear I have a Joe DiMaggio like streak of picking the wrong security line at airports.  I have the awesome TSA pre-check but once you get through that and have to pick a line…. I think I am 0 for my last 30 on choosing the faster one through.   So if you see me at that part of the airport go opposite of my choice!

--  Last this week.. the glass industry someday could be known as the place that spawned the next awesome social media network!  Check out this great article on Jeff Meyer of White Bear Glass as he and his family and partners have launched a new social and file sharing site called “The Horn”  - This thing has incredible potential and the key is privacy.  While Facebook just decided that privacy is important, Jeff’s site is all over it.  Wouldn’t it be awesome that a Minnesota company with a major connection to the glass industry makes inroads in the tech world of Silicon Valley?  So combining with the top story- not only is the glass world great but we also do social media better than anyone else too…. Good luck Jeff!!

LINKS of the WEEK

Very interesting story here on a good thing done but a delay needed in publicly thanking.

I don’t go to doctors to begin with but no way am I going if it’s a screen with an “Artificial Intelligence” doctor.   Look out.

This takes data mining to an incredible level

VIDEO of the WEEK

This video is absolutely fascinating.  It is a mouse who is cleaning up small tools on a workbench.  Yes. Seriously.  And evidently this mouse does it nightly too.  I’m floored here.  (Yes I am easily amused and entertained)