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!