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!

Big Time Thank You

There are a lot of incredible people in this industry.  I note them all the time on here and try to give props and notice as much as possible.  I have made life long friends along the way and so many people helped me develop and grow.  One person who checks every box in this category is Cliff Monroe.  I had the supreme honor of working with Cliff for several years and spending tons of time with him either on the road or at various tech conferences.  Recently Cliff let me know he’s hanging them up… retiring from our world to go and enjoy the rest of what life has to offer.  Obviously on one hand it will suck to lose the talent and brainpower Cliff brought to our world… but on the other I am thrilled he’s walking away and going to start the next great phase in his world.   

And I did reach out to ask Cliff I could blog this and he of course had a classic Cliff-like self deprecating comment of approval but added this line that I think is perfect example of Cliff’s class:

The glass business has been nothing short of a lifetime of learning.  I am blessed to have had met, sat with and worked with some of the brightest, smartest, mentally inspiring and forward thinking persons of our industries time.

Thank you to all.

No THANK YOU sir… You will be missed Cliff and allow me add again how grateful I am to you for all you did for me personally and our industry at large!

Elsewhere…

--  Another Architectural Billings Index was released this past week and it showed a slight negative result at 49.7.  The number 50 is the break even so it was close to level but not there.  The positive was it did bounce back from an awful previous month where the number was 47.2.  Looking deeper into the problem areas… the issues are in the North and Midwest.  Those regions performed poorly which is a worry since some of those locations are already in a softening stage- so seeing a number that won’t directly affect our world for a bit should raise some red flags.  I think it continues to be an issue out there that the timing now is crucial to be preparing for the more extended lull.

--  I was on an architectural chat board recently and once again the discussion of “Heat soaked” glass came up.  This area fascinates the architectural community a great deal.  While some people get the applications and needs for Heat Soak, it is amazing how many still do not…

--  From the latest awesome NGA Technical and Advocacy Newsletter… this nugget:

In September, NFRC announced plans for a fresh reboot of commercial ratings based on two paths: one for custom projects (certification for a specific building project) and one for commercial products (certification for individual products and product lines). Both are intended to be more streamlined and offer more flexibility than previous attempts to address the commercial market.

All I can say is I am too old to fight these things so I am seriously hoping that the streamlining and flexibility actually come into play.  I seriously have to laugh though… if the NFRC would’ve listened to our world way back things would’ve been so different… and actually successful.   But I was just a mad man who was mocked so what did I know… hmmm.

--  Last this week- the huge news that the NACC process was added into the MasterSpec documents.  I have been banging the drum for a while on this certification and it’s growing on a daily basis.  Things like this will only make it advance even more.

LINKS of the WEEK

I am happy to say I am old fashioned.  I like my old fashioned thermostat.  And no Alexa etc… because when these things fail?  Look out.

This could’ve been an episode of Breaking Bad.  Sad though this one was a true story.

I think sometimes Sports can make people extra stupid.  Like this story.

VIDEO of the WEEK

Obviously by now you know I am a huge Breaking Bad and Vince Gilligan fan.  So I came across this screen test/audition of Aaron Paul as him reading for his role on BB.  Its awesome to see what started there and what it ended up becoming in the end… brilliance.

Huge Step for Education

One big story that I failed to cover more adequately from GlassBuild was the Friese Foundation stepping in to provide very generous support of the MyGlassClass.com  program.  This new philanthropic organization headed up by industry veteran Don Friese is awesome and by them stepping in to help continue the build on the educational needs of our industry is nothing short of incredible.  We need to keep growing the educational offerings at every level and we need keep gaining knowledge as an industry.  This support will go a long way to accomplishing those goals.  It comes as no surprise to me that Mr. Friese would be on the forefront of this- class acts do class things and his desire to see this industry evolve positively is amazing and appreciated.  If you missed the video announcing this- check this out… great insight and comments!

Elsewhere…

--  On the good education approach- kudos to Guardian Glass for their “Ask the Expert” series.  Really well done approach and good use of the “YouTube” space.  Smart work for sure… but my only beef is I needed more of Chris Dolan.  I think he’s holding out on sharing his expertise with the rest of us! 

--  I caught the latest Mission Impossible movie recently and loved the starring role Glass had it in… especially the skylights.  Really cool scenes there…

--  What a weird stretch we are in with forecasts and indexes.  They are all over the place but one interesting nugget is the single family housing side of things is having a nice run.  This is encapsulated somewhat in this tweet from Robert Dietz Chief Economist, National Association of Home Builders

Total housing starts falls back in Sept on multifamily volatility. Single-family starts edge up to a solid 918K annual pace. Single-family permits also up, and have improved each month since Apr. Single-family starts have grown each month since May.

As we know residential work can be a signal to the commercial side.  So far it’s been a bit puzzling to get a feel so we’ll keep watching.  Interestingly enough the Dodge Momentum Index had a big September thanks to a nice month on the commercial side.  So we continue to monitor the roller coaster…

--  Bird friendly glass was back in the news this week in a big way… the NASCAR Hall of Fame had a severe issue with bird strikes.  There is no doubt this movement to bird friendly glazing is needed and no doubt also that it’s a space that is growing extremely fast.   Time to get on board with the process if you have not… here’s a great piece from Glass Magazine from earlier this year with excellent insight on glass being the solution…

--  Last this week… This was something that tickled my interest…the top Architecture schools in the US.   I usually keep up on top schools for everything but I have to admit I did not realize some of these schools were big architecture players.  Specifically Syracuse.  I thought for sure that university was more known for its broadcasters than anything else.  Anyway fun read…

LINKS of the WEEK

--  I just found a bunch of old floppy discs and reminisced about using them… having no idea that amazingly the US Military STILL is using them!  Wow… (UPDATE- supposedly this story is incorrect- so keep that in mind)

--  This is a football play you don’t see much…

--  Great story about the “Pizza guy” and his work and rise… not to mention his compassion.

VIDEO of the WEEK

This one is going to appeal to a VERY small part of my readership… so we are celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the best baseball season ever… The Pirates 1979 championship and the classic  “We are Family” tune that went with it.  I LOVE that song and team and it makes me always think of my Dad… so in honor of that time and the anniversary of the thrilling game 7 win (10/17/79) here’s the final recap video and great song at the end starting at the 2:21 mark.

October, 2005

So for this weeks post, a different approach…

In October of 2005 I decided to get into the world of blogging.  My first main post started with:

What I think is the first ever BLOG related to the glass and aluminum industry is now alive! If someone else has one, then by all means I apologize.

We have a good industry but we face huge hurdles.

I started this as a way to get information out to the masses in a non-traditional way. I hope that I can spark debate and eventually help the industry win the battles it faces.

Now if you would’ve told me 14 years ago that I would still be blogging and how different my professional career turned out- well I would’ve told you that you’re crazy.  But yet here we are blogging away and so thank you to all of you who have followed me through the years.  I truly appreciate it.

Back in 2005 our industry was quite different- a lot of major brands that were powerhouses then don’t exist now.  Technology was getting better and better but nowhere like today and we surely weren’t much of a global industry then with regards to source and supply.  Standing here in 2019 we are in a much better place in so many ways and that is something that I am personally and professionally grateful for.

As I think everyone who knows me knows- I do love the glass industry and I love what we do and how we do it.  It wasn’t always like that- I had zero desire to be in the business growing up or all the way through college and early into my professional life. (My family has been in the glass business since 1898)  But my brother once told me that glass is in my blood (so blame goes to him that I am here) and he was right. 

So my mission for this blog hasn’t changed much since 2005.  I still want to get info out and get people fired up and I still believe this is therapeutic for me in that I can get things off my chest.   Obviously I am not as rough and militant as I was years ago but I think mellowing was the right call for many reasons.  Though I know there are old school readers of this that would love for me to revert back… sorry can’t do that!

So where I am going with all of this… well it’s a look back but this is also a plea to all who read this to continue to push for the betterment of the industry.  Get involved and stay involved.  Get to the shows and conferences.  Educate and communicate.  And push our products to the forefront of the building product world.  Many of you already do this (and do it extremely well) but if not I’m asking you look at 2020 as the chance to really make that difference.

So I have 14 years of this in the books, this is post #770, and I’m going to keep pushing until I hopefully hit 1000 at least.  Thank you again for joining me on this ride.  Next week we’ll get back to the traditional industry scuttlebutt and we’ll finish 2019 strong!

LINKS of the WEEK

I am not sure this will have the effect they want it to- but it’s a fascinating argument- will getting rid of drive through lanes at Fast Food restaurants make us healthier?

This story is missing a big piece… no way this happened overnight…. And I wonder if its even true.

Which one of my travel warriors can relate to this one?

VIDEO of the WEEK

So since this is a “look back” piece I wanted to use an oldie but goodie video.  Funny as I dug back into my archives, a bunch of my videos that I featured here no longer exist online…  Anyway this is a fun one and here is what I wrote leading into it… from 2006 and I would love to see this still today… post job or end of year press conferences?  YES!!

“It’s getting down the stretch of 2006 and I think everyone is at wits end. Yes the holidays are coming but most people are so busy right now, they are in a real scramble mode. Now only that everyone wants their project done before the holidays so the pressure is intense.

So with that in mind, take 2 minutes and watch how these various NFL coaches react... can you imagine if the glass industry had press conferences? Man that would be hilarious.”