Economic Softness

I mentioned on my last post that the softness of the market was a discussion point at GlassBuild and this week I wanted to dig deeper into it.  There is no doubt we have hit a slowing point in many of our markets.  The forecast presented at GlassBuild also backed that up and we did get some indexes that performed on the weak side from the Architectural Billings Index and McGraw Hill.  So it’s there and its real.  On the flip side, expectations are that these are just somewhat temporary times and we’ll see positive swings return soon.  In addition home sales have had a surprising resurgence in the last two months as well.  But bottom line is we are starting a softening slide, and if we are going to slow up, at least doing it in a more orderly fashion is the way to go.  So as I have stressed before- this is the time you prepare and work on your efficiencies.  This is where you strengthen that bond with your supply chain (thousands did that at GlassBuild) and this is where you look closer at the diversification of your offerings.  Overall analysis has been stressing that the slowing will reverse and this won’t be like what so many of us dealt with in 2009 but why not use this time to be smart and get and stay ahead of any potential negativity.

Want some more interesting background on what’s happening out there?  Good piece here from Alex Carrick of ConstructConnect on the US Economy.

Elsewhere….

--  I do hate writing the negatives on the forecasts but it is what it is and we all have to handle this better than we did in the past.  We know better now!

--  Some leftover tidbits from GlassBuild include the incredible tour of Mercedes Benz Stadium.  Really a neat experience.  But best part for me (and there were tons of great moments) was talking with glaziers and fellow glass lovers about the frustration of the stadium using a plastic on a major portion of their curtain wall vs. glass.  The stadium plays up that the plastic is better for energy and glare and I gotta tell you I surely did not agree (and was not alone on that obviously).  That was a tough pill to swallow and I think all of us will be watching how that material (the plastic) performs over the next few years.  This could be a classic “why glass is better” case study in the making!

--  I also was honored to moderate a panel on the “Battle for the Wall” and it was the most enjoyable 45 minutes I think I have ever had on stage.  Five brilliant people on stage just riffing about glass, glazing, collaboration, owners, contractors, innovation, next steps etc.  Really incredible stuff- I think we could’ve easily went two hours without losing the audience at all.  Key takeaway though of that session was this “battle” whether it is a code, or Bill DeBlasio’s cluelessness, or the Green New Deal- all are massive opportunities for industry to show what we can do… and THAT I love…

--  It was also a pleasure to meet and work with Roberto Bicchiarelli, of Permasteelisa and Steven Rainville of Olson Kundig.  First time meeting them and I hope we can have them around in more industry events in the future!  Of course the other three folks on the panel are no slouches either- great work from code savant Dr. Tom Culp, Nick Bagatelos of BAG’s Inc., and Vitro Architectural’s Paul Bush.  Tremendous talents all!

--  Usually a story like this would be in my links section but it involves glass, so its going here… so this company could’ve broken the glass- had a glazier/glass shop there pretty quick and a new door in relatively quickly.  Instead they went viral and look pretty stupid- unless I am missing something…

--  School safety and security is a huge issue right now and the glass industry is right there with excellent products.  Now there’s an additional push through congress for better designs in schools. 

--  Last this week… we’ve moved into October… this year has absolutely flown by.  So coming up on the blog we’ll have my yearly MVP and runners up along with some other fun things.  Also please feel free to share this blog with other industry folks.  I have been doing this a long time and assumed everyone who wanted to read this did- but you never know!  Thank you.

LINKS of the WEEK

RIP to the worlds oldest living barber,,, 108!

There really is still some good in the world…

I’m very anti college (maybe having 2 kids in it at same time is the reason) and stories like this add to it.  Never heard of this scenario though before…

VIDEO of the WEEK

I LOVED the series Breaking Bad and coming October 11^th a new movie advancing that story is coming out with “El Camino” – I cannot wait to see what the genius Vince Gilligan has on tap for this one… here’s the latest trailer….

Gigantic GlassBuild Gigantic Recap

Another GlassBuild America is in the books… What an incredible time and experience. So much was going on at the show that the three days were like a blur for me, but I tried to keep solid notes so this post show report would be as good as possible. Here goes….

The show itself was a positive one.  The floor looked fantastic!  The exhibits and their designs were the best I have ever seen at this show and full credit to every marketing manager involved there for jobs very well done!  I know a ton of business got done-from new supply deals to machinery and tools being sold left and right.  That is a huge component of GlassBuild and I am thrilled to see it pay off.  Overall the attitude about the market was cautiously optimistic (and I think that was the word some press coverage of the event used as well.) There are some slowing trends in the economy and we were also told in some of the education sessions about market softening but overall the feeling and data presented was that whatever the roadblock is going to be the duration will be short and pain won’t be severe.  We’ll keep monitoring all of that and I’ll address in more detail on next week’s post.  

Also you may have seen the shower door news I hinted on a few weeks ago here.  It was announced at the show that Dreamline was grabbing Arizona Shower Door.  That will be an interesting combo to watch now.  Plenty of other rumors were out there but nothing out of the ordinary at this point.   All in all it was a tremendous three days in Atlanta and now has me fired up for Vegas GBA 2020… but before we get there we have Annual Conference and BEC to get through and we have my annual “who’s who” recap below…

I’ll start off with the best exhibits in my opinion… Obviously the HHH setup with the gigantic piece of bent glass (Melissa Blank and Mike Synon never fail to amaze) and CARVART with the 20-foot-high piece of decorative were tremendous.  I also really loved what Roto did with their booth making it look like a home and I was impressed by Fenzi, IGE, and Salem on the machinery side.  CRL’s new booth was a shock to the system (in a good way) as not only was it different but super stylish.  Overall though as noted above- tons of absolutely fabulous exhibits!  

Best shirts… Fenetech. Props to Samantha Hudeck there for some tremendous taste and style.  Best giveaway was a tie between Bohle for their mini suction cups and CGH for their battery charger that was connected to their Express Learning speech.  Smart in rewarding the attendees and making them remember the presentation for sure.  I must say I also loved how many people did neat drawings for things like Yeti coolers.  Excellent ideas.

People wise… I’ll start with the GlassBuild Ambassadors who attended and I got to visit with- Rowe Fenestration, Edify Studios, and Tim Finley.  These folks are all industry stars and positive disruptors of the norm.  Serious difference makers and I loved spending time with all of them- with special mention to marketing genius Lindsey Parker of Rowe Fen who was at her first GlassBuild and I hope she’ll be back on the floor next year in Vegas.

This show always gets me back to seeing great people from my past.  To see a bunch of the current Trulite people like April Oakley, Ken Passmore, Debbie Lamer, Ruby DeRubeis who I worked with in my past never gets old.  Love seeing them and miss working with them.  I also spent time with former co-workers Jon Johnson, Dan Danese, Rick Kurzweil, Terry Hessom, Scott Goodman, and Waylon McCall.  On Waylon I had not seen him since 2011 and that was incredibly cool to visit with him!

I admire so many people for their immense talent including all listed above and also people like the great Mike Cully of United Plate, the spectacular Shelly Farmer of Trex, the brilliant Bob Larson of PGP, and the magnificent Mike Gainey of Ensinger.  

It was great to visit with Devin Bowman and David Vermeulen of TGP but I missed their co-worker and blogger extraordinaire Chuck Knickerbocker. That was a bummer.  Chuck may have been still fired up his Eagles lost to the Falcons right before the show.  

The energy Dustin Anderson of Anderson Glass brought to the show was real. The guy just cares a ton and his sharing the story of the adventures of his past were the talk of the event.  He is a good man that is willing to share the tough lessons so everyone can learn and that is impressive and admirable.  

Adding to my network is a big one… met Luc Boileau of Herzog Glass and it was awesome on two levels.  One – I have always been a fan of Herzog- great company.  Two- Luc’s dad was the legendary hockey coach Marc Boileau who was the Pittsburgh Penguins coach in the mid 70’s and going down memory lane with Luc was a blast.  Also met Billy Britt of Britt and Tilson glass for the first time in person- good, smart dude who is always hustling.  I knew him from social media, now in real life.  Same with Chris Phillips of Showcase Shower Door.  Chris is the king of the shower enclosure world and he had a tremendous presentation at the show and was so busy that I only got about 30 seconds with him.  I think you’ll be hearing and seeing a lot more of Chris in the future.  

The show is great for expanding the efforts of big causes and from that end the NACC/AGMT set up was crucial.  Nice to catch up with Ben Beeler while he educated the masses there but hated that I did not see Jeff Dalaba.  Stanley Yee of Dow is always on top of major industry challenges and it was great to get caught up on what he’s seeing… some of which could be VERY big and important for our world.  Stay tuned. Usually Jon Kimberlain of Dow is in that same boat but unfortunately he missed the show this year.

As I noted last week- I hated that my brother Steve was missing the show- I can’t tell you how many people asked where he was and wanted to hustle right by me once they found out he wasn’t there. Also missing was my good friend Chris Dolan of Guardian Glass.  Chris is always a highlight for me so it was a bit empty not running into him.  

Joe Marini and Tom Olson were at the show but I missed them, and same with Manny Borda of IGE and Matt Ferguson of AGC.  Was bummed to not spend any time with them. I barely spent time with Gus Trupiano of GGI but we always were headed in different directions.  Was nice though to see marketing and PR master Rich Porayko for a few minutes. 

A few of my all-time favorites were there… Tom O’Malley of Clover is awesome though I think I wear him out.  Love Casey Winchell of IDN Global- she is just so cool.  The Walker Glass guys were there but shockingly Danik Dancause did not bring the A game clothes wise.  That bears watching- is he losing his taste?  Max Halls and Ian Patlin of Paragon are staples at all of these events and it was nice to see Ralph Aknin and the team from Glass 3 Enterprises come a very long way from British Columbia to learn and advance their awesome operation.  

Last… so this was the first year that I worked GlassBuild with Andrew Haring.  Andrew was always there with CR Laurence but this was the first time for him as VP at NGA.  The guy is an absolute monster energy wise.  He was everywhere and his ideas and push are what really helped the show have that “buzz” throughout.  It was honor to work with Andrew and the entire incredible NGA team that just worked tirelessly on this event.  I am in awe of all of them!

OK- so back to work we go… if you have feedback on GlassBuild feel free to deliver it to me or note if you attended you did get a survey invite right after the show ended.  PLEASE give us your feedback!  Thanks for always reading my very long show recaps too!!

LINKS of the WEEK

No links this week… just so beat from the show!

VIDEO of the WEEK

If you did not see the videos that came out each day- please take a look… only 1 minute long or so each but very cool tastes of the show!

Day 1- https://youtu.be/dZ8gaFp_wDE

Day 3- https://youtu.be/5VLI4c_fHoU

And here’s the fun from Day 2….

It's Time!

The week is finally here… it is GlassBuild America time.  I am already on site in Atlanta and I absolutely love seeing a blank floor transform into an amazing tradeshow in such a short period of time.  I really admire the people that come in from all over the world and work incredibly hard to show off their products and services for three days.  Most people will only see them for those “show days” but I get to see them out here setting up, sweating and hustling and making sure their exhibit is just perfect, and that really impresses me.  The care and dedication to the cause here is really special.

In addition I was quickly in awe upon my arrival… in my first 5 minutes on the floor I saw jaw dropping pieces of large glass at Carvart and at HHH.  That led the way followed by impressive footprints and layouts all over the floor.  Pretty much every booth from the 10 x 10 all the way up to the monsters are really showing creativity… awesome!

Overall I am so excited for everyone to finally get here.  I have been living and breathing GlassBuild for 6 months now.  I’ve driven my family and non-glass friends crazy because every movement of the earth for me was connected to GlassBuild somehow.  I love this event because it is my chance to grow and learn but it is also it is the main industry show and it’s the place where everyone in our world can advance themselves and their businesses in such a short period of time… I just love it.

Other notes:

--  If you are not coming to GlassBuild (additional note on that below) you can follow all the action through the GlassBuild social media channels.  On these channels they’ll be plenty of info including some live streams of different events.

First the searchable hashtag is #GlassBuild and here’s where to find us:

Twitter:  @GlassBuild and @GlassNation as well as @GlassMag @WindowDoorMag

LinkedIn:  National Glass Association

Facebook: GlassBuild

In addition, you’ll be getting a “GlassBuild Daily” e-mail each morning with recaps and previews.

--  On Wednesday this week I am getting to tour the spectacular Mercedes Benz Stadium.  I am so pumped to see that beauty inside and out and also get insight from the incredible folks who supplied glass and glazing to it- Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, CR Laurence, and Clover Architectural Products.  Tom O’Malley of Clover is a great friend of mine and I am so pumped that he can show off Clover’s fabulous work inside this stadium.

--  I also am looking forward to the education and demos.  One of the fun ones will be the Live Edify Studios Podcast featuring Steven Rainville of epic architectural firm Olson Kundig and the world wide respected building scientist Stephen Selkowitz.  The Edify guys Brad Walker and Brad Glauser are brilliant interviewers and I expect this session to provide tons of news and insight. Want to know what is truly “next” in our industry?  I believe you’ll find out during this session.

--  Make sure you download the App and if you are here take part in the “Step Challenge” to win great prizes… But even without that the App is a must.

--  Plus the Knowledge Bar is back this year- each day experts will be stationed in the association booth (wait til you see this area!) to get your code, technical, and marketing questions answered.  Check the schedule for exact times.

--  Last I mentioned if you are “not” here and for me the biggest one who will be missing this event is my brother.  He had an awesome once in a lifetime sort of trip scheduled that obviously took precedence over this so I understand.  But it simply will not be the same without him here.  Brother Steve you will be missed big time!  

--  OK let’s get it on!  If you are in Atlanta and see me, please stop me to say hi.  I’ll see you next week with all of the best recaps of this event including the always fun “who’s who” at the show.

LINKS of the WEEK

I’d take more kids right now… but not when I’m 74.. and not twins… but good for this woman!

This story could be like an episode of “Breaking Bad” my gosh… what a mix

Interesting technology but absolutely will be a disaster that won’t work.  

VIDEO of the WEEK

Sorry… skipping this again… will be back next week hopefully!!

Quick Hits

Quick hits this post leading into the biggest week of the year in Atlanta next week…

--  Congrats to everyone who picked up the most prestigious honor in our industry with the announcements of the winners of the Glass Magazine Awards.  Some incredible projects and products noted and I am sure the judges had their hands full in the voting process. 

--  Is there a big move happening on the shower door side of our world?  I keep hearing about one but not seeing anything official… I guess maybe at GlassBuild we’ll get some clarity?

--  Next week I’ll be posting from the site of GlassBuild with a preview of the big show.  I am so excited for it as positive vibes are everywhere headed into the event and I am pumped to see old friends and network with new ones!

--  The drawings for the new Kansas City Airport are out.  I have written about this project a few times because of all of the controversy around it and now its getting closer and closer to fruition.  They have a goal of being done by 2023… that we’ll see.  Until then these drawings look good.

--  I saw that Greenbuild is having President Obama speak at their convention.  Exhibiting there is absolutely awful and while the former President may draw some additional people it won’t help the floor or exhibitors there.  Greenbuild now has had Vice President Gore, President Bill Clinton, Hilary Clinton, and Colin Powell as some of its past keynote speakers… which is great for the egos of the people putting on the event but still astounds me on how its helps the environment or the event.

--  Last before my latest interview…  the NFL Season has started so its time for predictions… I think every year I pick Carolina and I am going to do so again this year…especially since I heard my brother has Cam Newton as his QB on his fantasy team.  Cam and Stevie P can’t go wrong.  Carolina beats the Ravens in the big game…

Big 3 Interview- John Vissari, Director of Sales and Marketing, United Plate Glass

This was a cool one for me… I am big fan of United Plate (Mike and Joyce Cully are simply two of the best people alive) and of John Vissari.   John is one of those talented people who hustled and hustled and hustled some more to really become and major force in our world.  Hard working and an absolute class act- it was fun to get background and perspective from him.

I noticed on LinkedIn you’ve been at United Plate for 21 years (Did you start there when you were 5?  You don’t look old enough to be anywhere for 21 years.) How did you end up there and what’s it been like as UPG has grown so much during that time?

I originally walked into UPG just looking for a temporary summer position. I didn’t know anything about glass at all. Right from the start, I was immediately impressed with the Cully family - Bill, Mike, Bart, and Joyce. And I met all of them, because they were all there working side by side with everyone else. They were some of the hardest working, nicest, down to earth people I ever met. And that made me want to be a part of their team and help them be successful. I tried to show them I was a go-getter from the start. And I sure did … in my very first week I managed to unintentionally steal a customer’s Jeep and illegally endorse a company check! But those are stories for another day. Through it all, they stuck with me. And it’s been a whirlwind of a ride. Mike’s commitment and drive has been a wonder to see. The glass business truly is his passion, and that becomes contagious. But through all the growth and success, that family feel at UPG, which was immediately apparent from the start, has remained the same.

Any new product trend that have caught your eye out there or is it still the tried and true high performance glazing still owning the marketplace?

You hit the nail on the head with the high performance glazing. And I don’t see an end in sight on that front. But speaking from a fabricator’s point view, another trend we’re seeing is bigger and bigger glass sizes. One of the most common questions I get is, “What’s the biggest _____ you can make?” Typically followed up with, “OK, how fast can you get it to me? I needed it yesterday.”

Fun one… I know you are sports fan… what is favorite all-time sports memory and why?  Could be you personally playing or favorite team… curious on what made the cut for you!

November 13, 1993. South Bend, Indiana. #1 ranked Florida State coming in undefeated to face my Fighting Irish, who were also undefeated and ranked #2 in the country. Game of the Century ensued. Final score: Notre Dame 31 - National Champions 24. That’s what I thought my answer would be. But it has since been surpassed by the joy of watching my two daughters be involved in sports. Too many great memories to list, but the ones I always go back to in my mind: My oldest daughter was seven and feeling under the weather on the day of her team’s championship game. When my wife asked her if she was too sick to go, she said fighting back tears, “No, I just want to be there to contribute to my team.” And my youngest daughter, when trying out for a new 12U travel team, was asked what position she plays. She answered, “I normally play shortstop, but I’ll play whatever position you need me to play.” That’s when I knew they got it, and they’ll be fine no matter what they choose to do in life. I’m so proud of them.

Thanks John- love it all especially the sports thoughts!

LINKS of the WEEK

The video is worthless but the story here is oh so good!

I mean isn’t this what vanity license plates are for?

This is great.  The Bahamas are going to need a ton of support for many years

VIDEO of the WEEK

THIS IS AWESOME!  Man the guy who caught this is a hero…