Glass Getting a Positive Push

At the end of last month Microsoft founder Bill Gates wrote a pretty fascinating blog post.  The post was headlined “Buildings are Bad for the Climate” and he went deep into the issues he sees the traditional building causing our world going forward.  It was deep dive that went in a few different directions.  It offered some of his solutions and approaches which was nice compared to the typical article of this nature that just would “hit and run” the facts of the situation.  I think it’s worth a read.  Plus he did call out glass… but in a very positive way (in my opinion) with this line:

“ I’m aware of some promising technologies that could help buildings use energy more efficiently. I’m intrigued by windows that use so-called smart glass, which automatically turns darker when the room needs to be cooler, and lighter when it needs to be warmer.”

Now as someone who has used this space many times to talk about the dynamic glass technologies, I absolutely got a charge out of this.  It was truly nice to see at least one of our product lines get a positive push from someone as respected and well known as Gates.  What happens next with this approach remains to be seen.  Gates really didn’t push more on this article because at the same time as it came out he was in the news cycle for his wealth and taxes as a part of the on going presidential primary season.  So hopefully that passes and we see this expand and extend into where glass can truly make a difference.  It is surely one to watch.

Elsewhere…

--  Does your company temper glass?  If so make sure your plant leadership is on the Thirsty Thursday webinar this week.  This one features John Kent representing the Safety Glazing Certification Council (SGCC) and he’s bringing everyone up to speed on changes to the process.  Note that in mid-2019, SGCC implemented a new lab-training exam that will become mandatory in 2020. This may impact your facility so click here and sign up. 

--  Passing major kudos on to the Daubmann family and their My Shower Door operation.  They have really continued to outkick the coverage constantly in their approach and now added a Manufacturer of the Year award and great letter from United States Senator Rick Scott to boot.  Love the recognition that they have been able to garner and the good will they bring.  Plus Keith Daubmann is a “Stoolie” so that gives me extra incentive to like him!  Comgrats!

--  While I am passing out the props…. GREAT news from Salem Distributing on the naming of two fabulous people to VP slots.  Mike Rosato and David Anderson both got the nod for the west and east coasts respectively.  I like both of these guys a ton.  I have only known Mike for a short while and he’s always impressed me.  Meanwhile I go way back with David and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that he’s excelling at Salem.  Makes the day.  Congrats Mike and David and to Salem for the inspired choices.

--  Good economic and forecast info is now available through the talented Nick St. Denis and KM&R.  The glass and glazing quarterly review is out and you can get it and be added to the lists by clicking this link.  Nick does nice work and this is very helpful in keeping abreast of the various economic moves out there.

--  Great news from 2 great people in our world.  Super reps Lindsay & Dustin Price welcomed a new member to the family this week.  Max Andrew Price was born on 11/12.  Obviously I LOVE that name and congrats to Lindsay and Dustin on their awesome and growing family!

--  Last this week… this is the last post before the Thanksgiving holiday in the US hits.  So unless something crazy happens I won’t be back in this space until the week of 12/1.  As I have written here pretty much every year, Thanksgiving is easily my most favorite holiday.  I love everything about it and I love that it gives us a chance to reflect and thank those that mean so much to us.  It goes without saying that I am thankful to those of you who read and support this blog week in and week out.  I truly appreciate it.  I sincerely hope everyone out there has a wonderful holiday and you can enjoy the time with your family and friends. 

LINKS of the WEEK + Bonus

So not only do you get my normal links, but two extras!  Big THANKS to Jennifer Marsik Friess for sharing the first two extra excellent ones!  I figured with the long time between posts from me a couple of extra stories will come in handy!  So here goes…

THIS is how you enable greatness.  Turning a school distraction into a great outlet.

There are still great people in this world.  Here’s one.

Folks who drink gin- does this sound good at all?

This is just “wow”

Absolutely wild story on judges in Indiana brawling after hours.

VIDEO of the WEEK

Folks—I have seen a lot in my 78 years on earth (my kids will get that joke) but I have never seen anything like this.  17-year-old girl gets hopelessly stuck in her seatbelt.  Really amazing.  I can’t even fathom how this could happen…

The MVP Race Begins

And here we go… it is officially now Glass Industry MVP season… so next month I’ll release our winner and runners up but here is where I give the background on this process and also salute those recognized in the past. 

For those new to this blog…. Each year as the calendar wraps up I announce the winner and runners up of my industry MVP award.  This recognition is something I created back in 2013 to show my appreciation for those folks and companies who are always pushing for the best in our industry.  What I am looking at is people and companies that are active in the industry at the trade and technical levels.  Folks that are always promoting glass and glazing and are constantly hustling to push the greatness of what we do to the forefront.

As a look back, here are the wonderful people who have been recognized previously in this program and pretty much all of them are still very active in advancing the glass world. 

Past Industry MVP’s

2013- Tracy Rogers

2014- CR Laurence

2015- Jon Kimberlain

2016- Chuck Knickerbocker

2017- Joe Erb

2018- Nathalie Thibault

Previous Runners Up:

2013

Dr. Tom Culp

Mark Silverberg

Ed Zaucha

Mic Patterson

Oliver Stepe

Dr. Helen Sanders

Scott Thomsen

2014

John Wheaton

Rick Wright

Tom O’Malley

Bernard Lax

2015

Walker Glass  

Garret Henson

Dip Tech

Kris Vockler

2016

Mike Albert

Thom Zaremba 

Urmilla Jokhu-Sowell

SAPA

2017

GCI Consultants

Darijo Babic

Cathie Saroka

2018

Felix Munson

Jeff Haber

Glenn Miner/Rob Struble  

Greg Oehlers

So now over the next month I’ll be looking at our world to see who’s next and if you have any recommendations or nominees please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Elsewhere…

--  We are now fully into construction industry economic forecast season.  So between now and the end of the year more and more data will be released on what the analysts are seeing in their crystal balls.  Glass Magazine had a recap of the Dodge release that you can read HERE if you missed it.  In the meantime I was on the annual ConstructConnect webcast and they’re looking at a slight decrease on the non-residential side in 2020 with a bounce back in 2021.  That is similar to what we heard at GlassBuild and from other experts out there.  Still more details to come but it continues to look like we need to be smart and proactive with regards to where our business landscape is concerned.

--  One way to be smart?  Get involved with events to advance yourself and company.  On the fabrication side, I am dumbfounded by the amount of companies who are tempering and insulating glass but yet do NOT attend the NGA Annual Conference.  How can you battle in a challenging world without the knowledge that is presented at events like that one?  It’s amazing.  Anyway if you have an interest, check out this link and if you want more insight contact me.

--  I’ve mentioned John Wheaton’s blog before but I guess if I am on the path of pushing people to be “smart” a good start is checking out John’s posts.  He’s got a gift… quick and interesting posts that are extremely helpful.  Funny looking above at 2014 where John was a runner up in my MVP that year and knowing he could easily win the award yearly given his dedication to the causes.  In any case if you haven’t checked his work out, please do.

--  Next week I’ll have a take on our industry getting some good notice in what was otherwise a rough  (but true in a lot of cases) opinion piece. 

LINKS of the WEEK

Wonderful story and classic Canadian too!

Neat stuff but seems like a huge waste in a way?

I swear this sounds like something out of a movie.

VIDEO of the WEEK

Ok.. my kids are in college so this has no effect right now on me but did the “ABC” song really change?  I heard some rumblings and now see this video… come on… really?  Check it out… it’s a shock to the system!

Bring on the Innovation

Last week I mentioned preferring old-fashioned approaches vs. new technology and it dawned on me that I needed to clarify that.  I am old fashioned or even the “get off my lawn” sort of guy at home.  But in the work place give me all of the innovation you can get.  When I was at glasstec in Germany last year I was so blown away by the automation and technology and that feeling continued at GPAD earlier this year.  Seeing the high performance machinery working at the highest of levels and the visibility that it afforded the company- well I was on board.  And I still am.  I think that is an area that many need to look at as we head into some tougher sledding.  More automation and more efficiency is crucial.  And with the fear of “what happens when it goes down” minimized by the technology itself, well I can’t see any reasons NOT to make the jump.  Obviously this takes investment but it’s absolutely worth it.  So I may not have a fancy thermostat in my house and no Alexa to shut the lights off on demand, but if I ever have a say in fab plant it will have serious automation in it!

Elsewhere….

--  When I started Sole Source I was traveling to New Jersey often for client work.  On those trips I would pass this massive monstrosity on the side of the highway.  Local folks told me one day it will be a mall… or a water park… or a convention center or something.  Well that hulking structure finally came to life this week with the opening of the 3 million square foot Mega Mall “The American Dream” – I hope it does well and was worth the wait!  Hat tip to my pal Ted Bleecker for the heads up on twitter that this thing opened and congrats to him and everyone else who has products on it… good video here showing the overview…

--  Really cool collaboration announcement with Guardian Glass and the University of Michigan Taubman College getting together looking at advanced glass materials.  Obviously I love it for a bunch of reasons- its in my backyard (so maybe I’ll get a heads up on breakthroughs!) but more importantly it could bring serious new data into our world to allow us to keep advancing on the needs of the marketplace.  Kudos to everyone in involved on this and I look forward to the updates in the future!

--  Another very cool glass mention in pop culture… just started watching the TV Show “Ozark” and in the very first episode the star of the show Jason Bateman actually dips into talking about glass performance in a high rise office he’s looking at… loved it.  I’m 3 episodes in on it now and so far not bad…but hey any show that pays respect to high performance IGU’s is a winner for me.

--  Props to my friend Tim Finley as he was in the news this week announced as new rep for Graham Architectural.  I give Tim tons of credit; he went out started his own deal several months ago and has lined up incredible companies.  He’s betting on himself and winning- I love it!

--  Friends in Indianapolis… would love insight on this one… the iconic gold reflective glass building in downtown is getting rid of that gold glass… I think we are going to see a lot more of this in the next decade… the heavily reflective but poorly performing glass jobs installed in the mid 70’s to mid 80’s need to get the energy facelifts badly.  The article on it just noted the gold glass would be replaced by “transparent” glass… obviously we know its not going to be straight clear but good for whomever is involved in this one and hope it goes great so we can see more of these needed retrofits!

--  Last this week... the California wild fire situation is not good and its not going to get better any time soon.  My thoughts and prayers to all out there in the path of these events.  It’s frightening and I can only hope the weather can somehow cooperate and get some rain and cooling to try and keep this under some control. 

LINKS of the WEEK

I’m a tried and true Disney guy- but I do not like this idea at all.

I grew up in Pittsburgh and was familiar with famous potholes there.  But this was a massive sink hole… wow.  Swallowed a bus!

This is a fascinating story of ultimate responsibility and wrong place and wrong time.  Feel horrible for the homeowner that is for sure.

VIDEO of the WEEK

I am a big Barstool Sports guy and absolutely love the Pizza Reviews… this one featuring one of the best characters around “Purely Patricia” was just released this week.  Absolutely hilarious and love the chemistry between her and the host “El Pres”  Good stuff!