Preparing for ????

This blog has been written and re-written 4 times already.  I am struggling on how to lay it all out.  The one thing I don’t like being is negative or worrisome but unfortunately the following is what it is.  So here goes… How’s everyone feeling about a recession?  There ya go I just ripped off the band-aid and went right to it.  Put me in the “expecting it” column and I think it’s not a bad business practice for you to be preparing for one too. Aside from the volatility in the market, big triggers with diesel gas supply (which oddly not enough people are talking about and that could be devastating to our world) struggling and costs rising on Natural Gas (in part to backfilling Europe because of the war in Ukraine) has us headed there quickly.  Now before I go on, I will once again state- we are a good, strong, resilient industry.  We have beaten these things back before and we will do it again.  Just sucks that we’ve gone from one issue to the next lately.  

So what is the play here?  First, it’s get your house in order- are you as efficient as possible and capturing every detail correctly?  Next is are you diverse in your offerings?  Do you have products and services that are vast enough that when one segment is hit the other one stays up?  Those two are big steps- obviously a lot depends on how bad things could get, with worries on gas, costs, and oh availability of glass and components, this road could be very bumpy no matter what.  Now keep in mind I hate being anywhere negative with my vibes here, but I felt like it was time to sound the alarm and if this all passes with limited pain I will gladly eat as much crow as you want to serve me.  In any case it never hurts to have a good solid introspective look into how you’re approaching things as we go forward….

 

Elsewhere…

 

--  The latest Architectural Billings Index was released and it continued to amaze and hold up with positive numbers.  That is something that I can point to where positivity is a plus.  The index was down slightly from last month but still in the good zone.  Interesting that the analysts noted that a main focus of architects right now are retrofits- if you heard me speak in Toronto or Texas- I noted that trend and it really is a big one….

 

--  I mentioned efficiency above. One angle to get there?  Go as automated as you can- that is another push that I hit hard in my last two presentations.  While automation has its costs, the advantages really outweigh all else.  Every time I see a LinkedIn post from Steve Brooks or Mike Debotte with awesome manipulating equipment, I think on how crucial it is.  When I saw a post from IGE and LandGlass, I also got fired up. A fully automated plant is a game changer (as Michael Spellman of IGE is known to say) and one that would make difference on survival and thriving into the future.  And yes, I know lead-times for equipment are rough but the longer you wait the worse it looks to get.  

 

--  One of the great plants in North America is at Vitrum and they are celebrating their 25^th anniversary next month. They’ll be having a great day of celebration and education on June 16^th and that will be a tremendous industry event for sure.  Congrats to Thomas Martini and the amazing team there on a spectacular run with many many strong years to come.

 

--  Do you play WORDLE?  Thanks to the legend Chris Dolan, I got into it and I start every day playing it.  (I think Andy Russo of Glass + Metalcraft is addicted too and can blame Chris for that)  Now I am wondering if Chris is setting up the words.  Last week one of the words of the day was “Metal” and this week one was “Glass” – now that is very cool.  Now if we start getting words like “Solar” “Units” or “Nerds” I’ll know this thing is fixed! LOL

 

--  Last this week… Netflix has a 5-part documentary of the “Inspiration4” space mission from last year.  I had never heard of that mission when it was happening so watching this was all new territory for me.  I love the whole space sector and this documentary mixed that with a really human focused story.  Check it out- Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space.

 

LINKS of the WEEK

 

--  A wild story on a very ugly past matched with an insanely positive future.

 

--  Delivery robot lost in the woods.  I guess this happens now eh?

 

--  Another Gator in Florida story- as long as I don’t see them in person I am cool.

 

PROJECT of the WEEK  

Tremendous work from the team at SageGlass in this week’s spotlight.  This is at Middle Tennessee State University and a tremendous effort underway at the Athletic Center there.  The glass looks beautiful and it will make this part of campus really stand out.  Great install work by McInerney and Associates too! Kudos to old pal Peter Worstell and the classy team at Sage on a job well done!