A new episode of the “From the Fabricator” podcast is now up, and this was a learning edition for me. First up, Seth Madole of Viracon. Seth has been a key cog in the Viracon machine for years, and it was great to get his insight into successful business approaches and, of course, the supply chain, which falls under his responsibilities at Viracon. Lots of good stuff from a first-class person. Then I talked with Kevin Black of Flexijet. Kevin is also a fantastic person and talent, and I loved his take on attracting youth to our space —if more people did it, we could fill more holes. Plus, Flexijet was a product I knew little about until recently (thanks to smarter guys than me, Ryan Shoemaker of Champagne Glass and Abdeali Karimjee of Precision Glass Industries), and I am fascinated by it. Looking forward to seeing it in action at GlassBuild. Two people, two differing worlds and roles, but two people who shine in our space. Check it out and THANK YOU for the continued support!
AUDIO (also search “From the Fabricator” on Spotify, Apple, etc.)
Thanks to FHC-Frameless Hardware Company for sponsoring this episode!
Elsewhere…
-- Seth and I talked about the indexes (he had a great take on the ABI), so it made sense that both the ABI and the latest start info were released this week. The ABI I expected to stay flat sank badly instead, to 43.3, one of the lowest tallies ever. So obviously things aren’t great in Architect land. Project inquiries, which are a key metric for me, stayed above water again at 50.1. On the starts side, the news was a little better, but for the first time in a while, the inflation adjustment was added, which took some wind out of our sails. Still non-residential and commercial posted positive scores- we did know things were busting out a little more, so this was a nice confirmation (no matter the reach) for me. The grind continues, folks… let’s be smart out there, ok?
-- Another industry titan was lost recently. Don Thomas, a longtime customer of mine in Michigan and the father of two very successful leaders in our industry, Brian Thomas at Super Sky and Tim Thomas at Erie Architectural, passed away. Don was pure class and did things the right way. Qualities that his sons picked up and carried on 10-fold. My condolences to Brian, Tim, and the Thomas family on their loss.
-- Good and huge news…I have written a few times about Acelab, the best outlet for connecting architects with building material manufacturers. I’m a fan. I even had their founder, Vardhan Mehta, on my podcast very early on in their journey (October 2022). Anyway, they announced a very nice series A funding play (14 million!), which will allow them to keep going and growing. This is huge, and it is really the future in that space. I am so happy for Vardhan and the team- good folks! Congrats!
-- More good news about great people… Walker Glass announced 3 moves with 2 of my all-time favorites involved. Marc Deschamps is now Vice President, Products and Business Development, and Charles Alexander is now Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Marc and Charles are terrific people who are fiercely dedicated to our industry and obviously their company. I love seeing them both gaining more honor, which is deserved. In addition, Walker announced Angelo Grippo as the new Vice President, R&D and Technical Services. I don’t know Angelo, but I do know Randy Brooks, CEO of Walker, and his brilliant business acumen tells me Angelo is probably a great talent too. Congrats to all!
-- And last this week… did you know that on October 25th, 2005, I posted for the very first time on this blog? Twenty years later, here I am. I’ve celebrated past milestones before (last year was 1000 posts, etc.), so I won’t go crazy with memories, etc.- but just a simple thank you to everyone who was on then, picked it up years ago, or picked it up recently. It means a ton. And please —if you see me at GlassBuild, grab me to say hi. I love meeting/catching up with people from our space and expanding the network!
LINKS of the WEEK
This is fascinating. A driverless WAYMO taxi gets pulled over… how did the cops handle it?https://apnews.com/article/waymo-no-driver-traffic-ticket-0a0dffb19bf38c5ee85681a6f83591ff
Well, how about this... Chat GTP helped a woman win the lottery https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2025/10/16/lotto-Michigan-Lottery-Powerball-ChatGPT/2361760633593/
Michael J Fox has a new book out with a comical take on his role in the cult hit “Teen Wolf” – which was the movie right before he broke out in “Back to the Future” https://nypost.com/2025/10/17/entertainment/michael-j-fox-on-why-he-felt-like-a-whore-on-the-set-of-teen-wolf/ ((Real ones know his turn as Alex P Keaton was the breakout though))
PROJECT of the WEEK
Out to the west coast, and this beauty was posted by Patrick Sullivan of Pacific Coast Glazing. He noted a design-assist project for the UCI Mesa expansion. The glass and glazing look spot on, and I assume everyone involved in this is pretty happy- or at least they should be. Patrick did not note who the various suppliers were on this one, but I did see in the comments that my pals at Architectural Glazing Solutions (the wonderful Pompeo family) had a product on there. Good stuff! Congrats to everyone on this one!
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