Looking Back at AIA

Before I get to the AIA review and an update on the World Cup of Glass, I have to lead off with the gigantic story that broke late Thursday and posted first GlassMagazine.com.  Cardinal Glass Industries buying Catalina Tempering Inc.  From a commercial side this is not big news.  From the residential side this is earth shaking.  Just a huge acquisition for Cardinal and now the 2^nd one in the last few months that has really made waves (first being the acquisition of Northeast Laminated in late April) Cardinal now has jumped in with 2 sharp, strategic moves and really signals their intention to continue to be a force especially on the residential glass world.  Catalina was a homegrown company that saw major success built by strategically placing plants near window manufacturers to supply them custom tempered.  I don’t believe many people could have seen this sale coming; surely there were no major indications of such. The bottom line here is that Cardinal is making moves and companies once thought to be “off the market” may actually not be…

Elsewhere…

Because of the size of the AIA recap- I am pushing Round 3 of the World Cup of Glass back a week…

--  AIA was a mixed bag.  Always great to see people and learn new things about the industry, products, and services.  However the show itself was just not that good.  Traffic was inconsistent and very light in some areas of the floor and it’s pretty apparent that the architects that were there just have too many things to see and do during this show.  Anyway, I know some companies were pleased and others not so much.  And no matter it does not dampen my enthusiasm for the next big event in our world- GlassBuild America- as that show is really coming along nicely with huge new exhibitors, innovation, and probably the coolest education set up you can imagine. 

As for the seen and visited part of the show… here goes…

--  It was good to visit Joe Erb while walking the floor; he’s always got a great insight or 100.  Walker Textures is really an impressive company- I know I always comment on their sartorial splendidness (Danik in a bow tie at this show- wow) but fact of the matter this operation should be used as a case study for a group that really “gets it.” They are always evolving and innovating.  Plus it was super to get to chat with Ross Christie of Walker while there.  Speaking of innovation, I was very impressed with the Viracon App.  Really a strong tool and will be used the way that medium was designed.  It was a pleasure to run into Jerry Schwabauer of Azon- had not seen him a while.  Cool product that was not really our industry was the home elevators from Savaria- they did feature beautiful glass doors though.  Now I don’t think I’ll ever need or have a home elevator but if I get one- this is what I’ll buy! 

--  Guardian was there in force and always so hospitable to me.  Amy Hennes is a class act and getting to see the legend Brian Craft is always a pleasure.  Brian’s healthy and looking great and led a sold out seminar during the show.  I knew very little about Vetrotech Saint Gobain, but came away from their booth impressed- getting hurricane resistant approvals is no easy task and they did it with their product.   Also impressive the new unit glaze system from CRL/US Aluminum.  Really appreciate Paul Daniels giving me a quick demo.  And I made a quick visit to see Sage and was impressed by their new booth showing shapes, sizes, and new product advancements.

--  A lot of foreign companies were on the floor trying to get a foot in the market; hopefully they realize that doing AIA is only one part of the mission to reach North America’s buyers.  PPG was there as always, got to chat with my favorite Jan Rogan and visited with Glenn Miner as always.  Rob Struble happened to be there but I never got to talk with him as he was engaged with someone every single time I swung by.  That to me may be my biggest regret of the show!  You can always count on YKK to have a buzz around their booth and this year was no different. I was very very impressed with the team from tesa tape and their product.  They will be showing at GlassBuild for the first time this fall and I think they will be a very popular destination for attendees to visit.

--  Random other thoughts… I blew it by not bringing my running gear- the temps were perfect and so many places to run.  I downloaded the app and took “Uber” everywhere.  The semi controversial car sharing service was a godsend for me.  I know that those in the cab and transport industry hate them, but as a pure consumer, in an event like this where getting around is such a pain- it was the MVP of my time there. 

--  Last this week; the World Cup of Soccer surely had our country enthused.  My wondering is what happens in 4 years when the games are in Russia and the times of games aren’t as convenient to watch live?  Still it’s been a fun tourney with still some great games to go.

LINKS of the WEEK

--  Homer Simpson designed a car in an episode in 1991.. and was ahead of his time!

--  How the World Cup is helping to drive traffic for newspapers and others.

--  Simply crazy story about a person who keeps winning lotteries. 

VIDEO of the WEEK

Ok I have 4 dogs… and not one of them could ever, ever, ever do this.  Riding a motorcycle…. Insane.

This Week

Just a quick note- no post this week.... will be back next week with AIA recap and more...

Hope everyone is well!

Insanely Great!

This past week our industry got news that I would say is “insanely great.”  That term usually associated with the greatness of Steve Jobs and his Apple products, can now apply to our world here after Nicole Harris was named as the new President and CEO of the National Glass Association.  This news should give everyone who cares about the current and future of our industry an extra pep in their step because there’s simply no one more qualified or ready to take the NGA and our world here to new levels.  I have known Nicole for many years, and hold her in the highest regards.  She is an absolute class act.  I will never forget years and years ago my brother and I had dinner with Nicole and we were talking advertising ideas.  Despite the fact we weren’t placing ads with her magazine at the time, she was still there brainstorming with us and actually helped us develop an amazingly memorable campaign.  She surely did not have to, but did what was right.  And I know going forward she will do what’s right for this industry.  This is tremendous news folks, plain and simple.  As for Phil James, in a future blog, I will have some comments on him and his legacy. His place in industry history is surely one to greatly respect.

Elsewhere…

--  This week is AIA in Chicago… maybe I can get a picture or video of someone from our industry pleading for love from an architect.  Seriously though very interested to see how the show goes and the vibe.  Will report on all of this on my next blog which won’t run until after the July 4^th holiday.

--  World Cup of Glass… week 2… and I was alerted to a huge snub… France is not in my tournament.  So while that country does boast a major player in the glass world, for this exercise, they’ll have to wait until I do the next edition of the World Cup of Glass.  Also the feedback I got regarding this was some of the best I have ever had.  Thank you…  Ok our next round is China, Italy, South Korea, and Mexico. This result of this one was a shocker to me.. I fully expected China to prevail but alas they fell to the Italians in the end.  Italy won the quality segment, finished 2^nd in products and 2^nd in industry support to take the day.  While China does have products, their quality continues to be hampered by some bad actors and innovation (at least originating) is not a strong suit in my opinion.  South Korea hung in there most being the home of some major interior switchable glass players and Mexico has great supporters of this industry and quality on par with the best.  The final breakdown though was:

Italy 13

China 11

Korea 9

Mexico 7

So Italy joins Germany in the finals… next blog we’ll have the match up of the US, Russia, Spain, and Japan.

--  Good news also this week on Thom Zaremba being appointed to the Canadian General Standards Board’s Glass Committee to help update the architectural glass standards there.  Thom joins a strong group that will make sure that the right glazing products are used in the right applications.  No question adding someone of his experience and pedigree will be great for the effort!

--  I just heard about the retirement of one of our industries most enjoyable people.  Jim Stewart of Tremco hung em up recently.  Jim is a great man and I will miss seeing him at industry events because he was always the one guy I could count on to greet me with a smile and hearty handshake.  Enjoy the next phase of your life my friend!

--  Watched the movie “Non Stop” on a flight this week and all I can say is…wow. Solid plot and creative writing.  Good action movie… Liam Neeson playing that hero role works.

--  Just in time for the summer travel season, gas is rising but so are airline prices.  May had the largest one-month increase in 15 years!  I noticed it as some routes I normally take I could not find a reasonable flight price at all.  Very depressing to say the least.    And this trend looks to continue, the airlines expect flights to still be full, so I don’t see pricing going down or even staying flat for the time being.

--  As mentioned above- no blog from me again until after the 4^th of July holiday.  Hope everyone has a great and safe Independence Day!

LINKS of the WEEK

--  Cool long form piece on benefits still being paid from the Civil War!

--  Amazing story of pilot who has to skydive when his plane is damaged… by a skydiver!

--  Waffle House’s are getting scary… yet another shooting.  Man I like their food though.

VIDEO of the WEEK

As a former TV guy and current video editor, this piece blew me away for the pure complexity of it.  To make this many cuts to make it end up as a song is so difficult- what an amazing piece of work…

Glass World Cup Kicks Off

Week 1 of the World Cup of Glass is now underway… Here’s the set up.  I selected 12 countries, and broke them into 3 groups.  Each week I’ll look at the 4 countries in that division and then decide on a winner.  Then 4 weeks from now we’ll break down the final 3.  So to kick it off, this week’s group is Germany, Finland, Canada, and Israel.  (And if you are keeping score at home, as I know all of you are, the other two groups are USA, Russia, Spain, and Japan… and China, Italy, Korea, and Mexico)

The first group really has some serious players.  Germany brings in the precision equipment that comes with so much respect, but how much have they done with regards to glass products and efficiency?  Germany is also tremendous code wise (and I wish the US would follow) as well as the host of the big glasstec show every other year. Finland is another machinery star, so many of us in this industry grew up on tempering ovens made there, plus Finland has the education side with Glass Processing Days.  Canada is a favorite of mine because I love the people there, 99% of them as classy and cool as they come, and there’s been some solid technology coming from the north but really the strength there is being able to implement great stuff, not develop it.  And Israel, a tiny country doing amazing things, its flagships of solar and digital printing are really making serious waves.  For the size of the country, I’d wager that no area does more with less.  Picking a winner from this group was brutal.  What I did was award points in each category 4,3,2,1 and the country with the most won.  The categories are innovation (what have they developed and brought to the markets, did they make a difference?), quality (what they do produce or install, is it top notch?), products (are the products mainstream, something that now is a must have?), and industry support (support of trade shows like GlassBuild and industry trades).  And the final breakdown for this group was:

Germany        14

Israel              11

Canada           9

Finland           6

So Germany moves on…. its strength in innovation and quality was too much for the rest of the group to overcome.  And this little project/series of mine was much more challenging than I thought!!  Fun, but really tougher than expected.  If you have insights or opinions, feel free to share them.  Next week, we do it again with group 2.

Elsewhere…

--  You all know I am not a big fan of Google, but this past week I had a video conference call using a Google+ hangout instead of Skype or GotoMeeting and it was super.  Great quality and sound.  So there’s the first redeeming quality of the Google+ platform for you!

--  Did you know that this year is the 20^th anniversary of the middle movie of the Mighty Ducks trilogy?  The reason this is relevant to our industry?  Well a very well done oral history was published on it and as I am reading it, one of the main characters in this story was Garrette Henson.  Now my mind started to race… could it be the same guy who’s the force behind Viracon’s sales success?  I know he spells his name differently, but maybe he tweaked it for Hollywood.  Plus the time frame makes sense and the shooting location of Minnesota makes me think we may have a Hollywood actor in our midst...  Oh and if you like oral histories this is a good one.

--  Katy Devlin’s heads up on the lead paint rule for commercial needs to be taken very seriously.  Believe me, I was there on the residential side when it launched over there and it was an absolute boondoggle. 

--  Last this week, this “Great Glazing” that Glass Magazine profiled here- the Prada storefront really looks amazing.  That is one job I’d like to see in person because the pictures blow me away- I could only imagine how great it must look in real life.  Congrats to all involved there.

  

LINKS of the WEEK

--  When did the whole “Senior Prank” thing start in High School… wasn’t around when I was in… but anyway, this one sounded pretty good.

--  These do have potential to be very comfortable slippers…

--  Really neat and creative article here- the 50 states of the US if they were High School kids.

VIDEO of the WEEK

This may get pulled from youtube, hopefully it doesn’t… amazing header goal from Robin Van Persie in the Netherlands huge 5-1 win over Spain.  It’s a great effort!!

World Cup of Glass

Later this week the World Cup kicks off and soccer fans from all around the world will be glued to their TV’s and computers following the action.  With all the hype around this event, it made me think, if we had a World Cup of the glass and glazing industry what country would be the winner?  Obviously because of homegrown bias, I would probably join many others and say the US wins that sort of approach in a landslide.  But does it?  Is the US that dominant when it comes to technology or efficiency improvements?  How does it stack up vs. Canada, Mexico, Germany, and China (yes China).  And obviously Finland, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Israel are among countries really active in our industry too.  So given all of that… which country is the best in our industry?  Well over the next month, as the World Cup of soccer is playing out, I will be determining the World Cup of Glass.  I’ll be using the parameters of innovation, quality, products, and industry support as the guidelines.  And let me know your thoughts too- via e-mail is fine, I always love learning and I’ll appreciate the insights as I determine the champ….  And yes right now I am sure the Chinese contingent is preparing a protest that there’s no way I’d judge them fairly, but I promise I will!

Elsewhere…

--  As for the actual World Cup- I don’t know enough to say who will win, but I have friends from all over the world who have their rooting interests.  And when those teams win, like my pal Joe Staffileno’s Italian team did a few years ago, the euphoria is real.

--  Congrats to my old friend and co-worker Bob Cummings on his new position at Hartung Glass.  Bob is one of the best around, classy and hard working always and he’ll do great within that super organization.

--  I had to make a trip to Omaha this past weekend and while preparing for it I looked at the weather and saw a forecast I had never seen before- It said “Mostly cloudy and humid, storms expected, with large hail, damaging winds, and a tornado.”  Ummm “…and a TORNADO”  That just blew my mind… luckily that forecast was wrong, but never before did I actually see a forecast predicting one!

--  With Kuraray acquiring the DuPont Glass Laminating Solutions, will that signal the end of the name DuPont in our industry?  Will we be living in an industry where the long time classic names Solutia and DuPont don’t exist?

--  I gotta admit I am very bummed that California Chrome did not win the Triple Crown.  I am not sure I’ll see another Triple Crown winner in my lifetime.

--  Last this week; AIA is a couple of weeks away.  This year it will be interesting to see how the show does, tough timing for sure but its in a city everyone loves to visit (Chicago) and the trade show scene is very hot right now.  Funny thing for me is when I started to research the show, 5 of the 7 largest booth spaces (not including AIA spaces) taken at the show are companies in the glass and window industry.  I guess that never-ending desire to gain love and acceptance from the architect continues.  I swear when it comes to this scenario we as an industry act like the awkward boy in high school pining over the homecoming queen.  And you know how those stories always turn out….

LINKS of the WEEK

--  Cool photo story- what some smaller level wrestlers do in their “real” lives.

--  Bizarre story and sad too thanks to the vandalism done.

VIDEO of the WEEK

There have been quite a few of these rough performances on Wheel of Fortune lately, but this one may take the cake!