Happy New Year! We
are off and running in 2020 and I am excited about all to come this year. Each year on this blog I start off with
reviewing my predictions from the previous year and then I go to my predictions
for the year ahead. So next week is when
I’ll look back and the week after is when I’ll make my “money back guaranteed”
predictions for 2020. For this opening
post we’ll talk economic forecasts yet again now that pretty much all of the
analysts have weighed in. The majority
of data points to a similar year economy wise to 2019. Solid but not spectacular but also not
dreadful- so I take that as positive.
There is expected to be a lull along the way and many of you experienced
that lull in 2019- so nothing new there.
In talking with many glazing companies over the last few weeks, their
backlogs are solid and sold through 2020 so work is lined up. Machinery folks seemingly are doing well too,
many of which had huge performances at and post GlassBuild that will pay off in
2020. So the overall feeling is on the
plus side. Negatives can be the potential
slowing on the residential side, softness on some of the indicators for
spending and starts, and concerns in the RV and high end auto markets. Every
item of data bears watching and I’ll continue to monitor and report. The wild card is the presidential election in
the US. At this point it’s anyone’s
guess on how the campaigns and rhetoric that comes with it with have any
impact- all I know is its going to be an adventure with regards to media and
coverage. So far none of that dialogue
has touched the day-to-day economy negatively but you never know. So buckle in and let’s get 2020 off and
running!
Elsewhere….
-- One change to my posts this year and I need your help! Instead of doing the video of the week, I am
doing a “Project of the Week” so I can recognize more greatness from all parts
of our industry. Send me a couple of
photos and basic details and I’ll line up and feature them here each week. It can be a finished project or one in
process- I just want to push that we as an industry do great work! First “Project of the Week” is below!
-- Holidays are over- have you registered for BEC yet? It is in NASHVILLE this year. I’ve been stunned on how many people I tell
that and they didn’t realize it. Awesome
location, incredible agenda, and off the charts networking. BE THERE.
-- Big news from New York City with the passing of Local Law
97. This law will push for higher
performance glass in the right ways vs. a “ban” or something silly like
that. This also could be a great boost
to many of the sophisticated glass products like VIG that have been looking for
that perfect home.
-- People news… saw that Linetec is transitioning to a new
leader with Jon Close taking over for the retiring Rick Marshall. Linetec is one very impressive company and
this smart shift looks like the successes will keep coming.
-- I am a little late on this one but congrats to Mary Avery on
her new position as Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Tubelite. If you’ve read this blog before you know I am
huge fan of Mary’s and its great to see her constantly excelling out there.
-- Also I was pumped to see that my friend Tim Finley and T.FIN
Building Solutions making news again with representing the CGH companies. Love when good things happen good people!
-- I understand a new version of LEED is out there- 4.1. So to those of you who follow it better than
I do, is there any improvement in the areas of glass and glazing getting more
opportunities to be a part of the process?
-- Last this week… new book that I devoured during the holidays
called “The Only Plane in the Sky- An Oral History of 9/11” was an incredible
read. There have been some excerpts out
there that got me going but my goodness this is most in-depth and gripping read
about the horrific 9/11 tragedy. The
oral history style format really works here because that event had so many
moving parts and this style was best to capture it all.
LINKS of the WEEK
Cute and funny here.
Duck needs a partner!
This has a deeper play here- if you get any USB drive from
someone you don’t know- don’t put it in a computer you care about- especially a
networked work computer. Shame on the
people who send this stuff out- terrible marketing effort.
BONUS LINK: Massive Tumbleweed in Washington State!
PROJECT of the WEEK
This one is from the fine folks at Champion Glass in San
Antonio. They did not send this to me as
a part of this series- but its so cool I thought this would be a great one to
share with the world. This is the
Cavender Project, when done it will possibly be the largest “mass-timber”
building in Texas. But I am loving the
look of the glass so far! Clean and
sharp and nice work by the team at Champion!
Hopefully when this is done I’ll get the updated pics to share again.
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