nharris's blog

It’s not often—if ever—people assume I watch “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” but I plan to, now.  Last Friday, I met Tom Hahn at the Home Design Show in New York City, where he stopped at the Mr. ShowerDoor booth. Owner Tom Whitaker and I learned that Hahn’s daughter, Yolanda Foster, is one of the newest housewives on Bravo’s hit show, and also that she asked her project manager Dad to make her an all-glass refrigerator for which he used shower door panels. The entire unit was insulated and is a big hit on and off the show.

View a photo gallery from the show.

As I simultaneously visualized the contents of my fridge and wondered how to respond to Hahn’s, “I’m sure you’ve seen the fridge” statement, I was also thinking, “only in New York.” That’s because seconds before this encounter, Whitaker and I were discussing suitable captions for the photo he had just snapped of Roman Abramovich’s $1.5 billion yacht parked just outside the show that is held every year at Pier 94 on Manhattan’s West Side. After reeling off a few options, we decided on: “Show attendee scores prime Manhattan parking space.”

Without a doubt, the handful of glass, window and door exhibitors mixed in among 10-burner ranges, premium wine refrigerators, rare carpets and “accessory works of art” are targeting New York’s elite and their designers. So in addition to hearing unusual stories, it’s always interesting to see what suppliers bring to this home show.

Whitaker’s private label stainless steel Volante, for sliding frameless shower enclosures, appeals to the red-bottom shoe crowd.  Down the aisle, Lillian Gorbachincky, president of Cosmopolitan Glass, showcased her company’s sparkling decorative glass options. She sketched for me the almost finished artistic installation she designed of carved Lalique-like glass for three Tiffany windows at the Fifth Avenue flagship store. Rumor has it, Leonardo DiCaprio will be sharing the spotlight with her windows for a Great Gatsby inspired jewelry line.

Growing up in the 1970s, I remember thinking antique mirror looked a little cheesy on my best friend’s dining room wall.  But after visiting the Artique Glass Studio booth, I was ready for my own home makeover.  Maybe it’s age (the antiquing process?) or just how it’s been re-done, but I wasn't surprised to see Jay DeMauro talking to a different young hip designer each time I strolled by.

Bieber Architectural Windows & Doors showed a beautiful bronze-clad window and its minimalist Slim-Profile Window with concealed hinges, perfect for the skinny pant set walking the show.

At Chautauqua Woods Fine Doors & Entryways, you could see a custom entry door ‘in progress’ for a residential castle in Alpine, N.J. The artist homeowner supplied her own CAD drawings for the elaborate and massive solid mahogany door which was displayed “two stages away from its final version.”

Riviera Doors & Windows displayed several residential and commercial doors, including a line of folding doors for either application. David Lenkowsky showed me photos he’d just taken of an office installation where the client requested acoustical panels imprinted with the Manhattan skyline. Open the doors and—presto—the real skyline appears.

NanaWall was perched on an elevated platform so attendees could more easily view the company’s smoothly operating slider. Eastern Regional Sales Manager Chuck Braun noted that the New York Metro area is one of the company’s strongest. Happily, the residential market is gaining again. In fact, everyone I spoke to reported an improvement in show traffic and interest compared to the last couple of years.

I’m glad to hear it; maybe now I’ll get some time to kick back and watch Bravo’s Housewives.

Harris is publisher of Glass Magazine and vice president of the National Glass Association. Write her at nharris@glass.org.

I live in New York City, and Sandy was my first hurricane.  I am one of the very lucky.  Except for rattling windows and worry, we were spared the worst of the storm.  We never went dark, never cold, never hungry.  

John Swanson, Window & Door's associate publisher,  lives and works about 90 blocks south of me, and the lights went out.  He came to my apartment last Wednesday to get WDweekly out and charge cell phones and laptops.  He then decamped with his family to his mother's house in Massachusetts for the rest of the week.  

On Saturday afternoon, I walked around Greenwich Village, where the power had just come on. Building doormen commented about the ghost town atmosphere.  Some people I talked to hadn't yet seen the endless images of destruction on Staten Island and Atlantic City, among many others.

As is true in any disaster, where you are relative to the epi-center can mean life, death and degrees of destruction.   For some glass companies in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut last week, scrambling even a few hours before the 'worst storm ever' hit was the difference between maintaining some power and connectivity to the world or none at all.   They were also among the lucky semi-prepared in the face of Sandy’s onslaught.   We're still hearing about others who have lost their homes, their glass business or both.    

To be sure, there are lessons to be learned as mayhem continues in some areas, and clean-up and rebuilding starts in others.  For those of us safe and sound in other parts of the country, as you reach out to help those in need, think, too, about helping yourselves for a future calamity—whatever form it takes. 

As I searched for articles on disaster recovery planning (stay tuned, you’ll see a lot more), here are six steps to start thinking about and implementing now:

1. List events that may cause lost data or technology
2. Safeguard  company data
3. Safeguard the network
4. Safeguard staffing
5. Test the plan
6. Have a recovery plan

You can read the full article, “Disaster Planning in Six Quick Steps,” on Inc.com and also this one, “Disaster Recovery Planning 101.”

It will be a long road for some in our industry to get back to installing glass.  The National Glass Association is reaching out to its members in the affected areas.  We'll update our coverage as we know more.   

Harris is publisher of Glass Magazine and vice president of the National Glass Association. Write her at nharris@glass.org.

One of the many remarkable things about the world’s largest glass industry trade show is how all-encompassing it is. Every means of transforming glass into value-added products is found in glasstec’s nine halls and the booths of its 1,162 exhibitors. This includes flat glass, container glass and even art glass.

Another thing is who you meet. It’s a reunion of American one-week ex-pats I see only in Germany every two years. This year, I was fortunate to also meet several interesting locals, among them, Dr. Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk, curator of the Glass Collection at the Museum Kunstpalast. He invited me to an after-hours tour, which given my show schedule, was the only way I could have seen 3,500 years of glass-making.

A description of this beautiful collection could fill many glassblogs, but the unique thing about it was the new addition of American cut glass. You see, Dr. von Kerseenbrock-Krosigk was once the curator at the Corning Museum in New York and believes that including representative examples from America into a timeline of EMEAI glass art is important (judging from how often I heard this acronym, which stands for Europe, Asia, Middle East and India, it's now the de rigueur reference). 

The next day back at the show, it struck me that America was also uniquely represented at this year’s glasstec. There were several “new” exhibitors, among them Corning, which showed construction-sized Gorilla glass, the super thin, super strong surface you have touched many times over if you own a tablet or smartphone.

Then there was GED, with its “new to Europeans” Intercept line, and also its ATLAS equipment for producing dual or triple IG units. Triple-glazed units started in Europe; the penetration for which may be at 100 percent in Scandinavia, Joe Shaheen, told me with a big smile on his face.

"Re-newed" might be a better description for two other American exhibitors, Guardian and Quanex. Guardian’s “stand,” which is how Europeans refer to exhibit booths, was jammed with customers and worldwide reps all four days of this mega-show. This was, to say the least, a dramatic departure from the float producer’s previous glasstec no-name quarters in Hall 13. Re-branding beyond commodity takes space to display new products like SunGuard, ClimaGuard and InGlass.

Known in the European market as Edgetech, the Quanex Building Products business unit announced a third warm-edge extrusion line for its still relatively new Heinsburg, Germany, plant. The company estimates it will produce 1 billion feet of product by 2013, forecasting 30 percent growth in sales this year. “We have a very simple philosophy, said Andy Jones, managing director of Quanex’s European operations, “when we get to 80 percent capacity, we add a new line.”

Of course, there’s a darker side about capacity in the worldwide glass business. I spoke to one European veteran of glass recessions past who listed the 12 most recent European float plants in cold shut down or on hot-hold. A hot-hold, or slow production/under repair facility, is these days likely to become a cold and permanent shut down. All the float glass manufacturers—AGC/Glaverbel, Guardian, NSG/Pilkington and Saint-Gobain—are affected.

But as I learned at the Museum Kunstpalast, the glass ribbon of history that stretches across the centuries is marked by economic, political and social change—and human ingenuity. Back at the NGA/Glass Magazine co-hosted North American pavilion where 20 of the 57 North American exhibitors met with customers and prospects the world-over, Doug Canfield, Casso-Solar Technologies, Pamona, N.Y., was busy working up quotes for the steady flow of prospects he’d met with. And for Stewart Engineers, it matters not that in the past five years 80 float lines have been taken out. For this North Carolina specialist in float glass facility engineering, where one goes cold, there’s another about to be fired up.

Post-Sandy P.S.—Listening to New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, on the morning news, it’s clear that glass companies in the path of the storm will be dealing with the aftermath for some time.  Let us know what you hear. 

Last week I had a shoe situation. After my morning workout at the gym near the office, I reached for my shoe bags and discovered I packed two different shoes.  I was 20 miles and two rush-hours of traffic away from their respective mates. Unmatched, they were still preferable to my sweaty sneakers, so I put them on. 

As I walked out of the locker room, I prepared myself with a few anticipatory quips: “I couldn’t decide this morning; which do you like better?” and, “Yes, I have another pair just like these at home.”

Turns out, not a lot of people noticed. Not in the office elevator, not in my first meeting of the day, not in the kitchen getting coffee, not in the deli buying lunch.  It got me thinking about what seems obvious to some and yet not apparent to others. 

The day before I was at a meeting in Philadelphia (hence the shoe bags) presenting results of a recent Window & Door magazine survey about “new opportunities.”  In my presentation and the one that followed by National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) director of market research, Ed Hudson, there were at least two instances of what I refer to as “obvious, not apparent.”

When asked where they see new business opportunities in the next few years, vinyl window and door manufacturers indicate they are staying focused on the tried and true residential remodeling and replacement market. This is despite indicators that growth is projected in single-and multi-family new construction and even bigger gains for commercial windows, according to the annual market study prepared by Ducker Research for the American Architectural Manufacturers Association and the Window & Door Manufacturers Association. 

Hudson’s excellent presentation cited a recent NAHB study on consumer views on green home buying & renting. When asked, almost half of purchasers and renters responded: “I want an ‘environmentally friendly’ home, but I would not pay more to purchase/rent one.” 

Now, if you’re in the construction—or any—business, you’re probably saying, “this is obvious. Everyone wants more bells and whistles, more value, more whatever without paying extra for it.”

Meanwhile, many suppliers have been selling “green” for many years. Words and phrases such as energy efficiency, durability, low maintenance, comfort and healthy indoor environment are already incorporated into products and how they are marketed, and all of them are strong decision factors among buying and renting consumers. 

And yet, 55 percent of builders surveyed in the same study, who are very likely already building and marketing homes that are energy efficient, durable and low maintenance, responded this way about their intentions to build “green”: “No interest in going green” to “considering going green” and “learning how to build green.”

According to NAHB, the average cost increase of a “green home” over a standard home is 2 percent, which doesn’t seem very high, especially if builders are already incorporating green features.

Is there a disconnect, or are we missing the obvious business and marketing opportunities?

Whatever it is, noticing is a good start.

The author is publisher of Glass Magazine and vice president of publications for the National Glass Association. Write her at nharris@glass.org.

Yesterday, we published a special e-glass weekly report, breaking the news that Trainor Glass had filed for Chapter 11. An underlying question arises in these situations. What is important to cover in what is, after all, a bad news story for all involved, especially the former employees and suppliers that are owed money?

In bankruptcy stories, we try not to start by posting whatever financial details we gain access to. Many have told us they appreciate how we handle bankruptcy news because merely listing who’s owed what calls out companies potentially already in difficulty. The true value in covering bankruptcy stories is far deeper and more important.

With almost everyone I spoke to over the last several weeks about Trainor, the first reaction was shock followed by this question: What happened to cause such a large company with a great history, and what appeared to be good management, to fail? 

Other questions naturally follow, such as, are there more to come? What challenges do we still face with tight credit? How will Trainor’s failure affect the industry going forward? What lessons can we learn, for example, about pricing for market share rather than to cost? Will suppliers change their business practices to protect themselves better in the future?  

Katy Devlin’s in-depth report on the ripple effect Trainor’s closure will likely have on the glass industry addresses many of these questions, and there are still more to be asked.  

In these days of “expose-all reality TV” many Americans are riveted by the hyperbolic, often sleazy details such shows produce. I have several otherwise thoughtful, tasteful, discreet and informed friends who watch "Mob Wives." They tell me it’s like driving by an accident; you just have to look.  

Human curiosity is a powerful driver.  It’s what you do with it that counts.

The author is publisher of Glass Magazine and vice president of publications for the National Glass Association. Write her at nharris@glass.org.

When former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens talks about evolution, it's about character. It's about how he and 20 others out of a starting group of 220 recruits graduated from five weeks of  "next evolution" testing, as it's called by the commanders of the hardest combat training in the world.

At the American Architectural Manufacturers Association's 75th anniversary luncheon yesterday in Naples, Fla., Greitens described how this training principle forms the core of his post-combat work with "The Mission Continues," a non-profit organization he founded to help wounded and disabled veterans.  

Greitens autographed copies of his memoir, "The Heart and the Fist" for appreciative AAMA members.

"Every time you confront fear, every time you push yourself past your physical, mental and emotional limits, your character evolves," Greitens explained.  Disabled veterans face painful challenges as they chart a new course to become "purposeful citizen leaders."

Ask an AAMA committee task force member about evolution, and he or she might recall the hours upon grueling hours spent debating, writing and updating the standards that guide the window, door, skylight, curtain wall and storefront industry.

What AAMA volunteer members have achieved over these 75 years is not life-and-limb-perilous work (though the standards they write often address such issues), but there's no doubt their efforts are vital to the welfare of the built environment and its occupants.  

It's been a behind-the-scenes labor of "constant adaptation and progress," says AAMA President & CEO Rich Walker, in his upcoming column for Glass Magazine sister publication, Window & Door.  Evolution by another name: progress ranging from the North American Fenestration Standard to the 141-location-strong IG Certification Program; from FenestrationMasters with its 70 participating companies to the new Curtain Wall Fasteners publication.

As AAMA founding member Lyon Evans put it, this group of "technical 'smarties'" is rightly proud of their accomplishments.  Evans wrote this description of his fellow volunteers in a letter sent in recognition of the diamond anniversary just before he passed away in December at age 93. For AAMA members, his shared sentiments are emblematic of the character, evolution and legacy of their association.

Harris is publisher of Glass Magazine and vice president of publications for the National Glass Association. Write her at nharris@glass.org.

This weekend, I met up with a friend in the glass business who is helping his son build a trendy cocktail bar in New York City. Knowing the kind of high-end glass work he does, I assumed his son and business partner were incorporating spectacular and highly technical glass and metal in the bar design. Not so.

My glass-biased disappointment was short-lived when I heard about the bar top, and it got me thinking about an article I read recently on work skills for 2020.

But first, about the bar.

One day at the jobsite, someone upturned a five-pound box of nuts, spilling them everywhere. Eureka! The partners decided the bar top should be made of nuts! Entombed in plexi! How retro cool!

When trendy 20-to-30-year-olds sip inventive cocktails here, will they try to identify the nut types under their elbows? Will they know that Macadamias are high in omega-7 fat, low in protein and toxic to dogs? Will they care?

Maybe, but I know this age group does care about the subject of how the workplace is changing. In fact, anyone who expects to be working should pay attention. Recently, the Institute for the Future released its “Future Work Skills 2020” report identifying 10 future skills for the workforce: sense-making, social intelligence, novel and adaptive thinking, cross-cultural competency, computational thinking, new-media literacy, transdisciplinarity, design mindset, cognitive load management and virtual collaboration.

Two things might happen if you download the PDF report for details. It will resonate, and you’ll likely evaluate yourself and your employees against each skill. When I did so, I was reminded that the NGA publications team has collaborated virtually for more than a decade (though we have yet to set up Yammer or avatars), and we’re working hard to develop and share our new-media literacy.

The 30-year-old bar owners also are already using these future skills as they operate in the old-world construction trade, in this case, relying on novel and adaptive thinking to create a one-of-a-kind bar. I was struck by the informality, the fluidity and the pace of their enterprise. That’s not to say what they’re doing doesn’t require self-discipline—they’re up early and working at all hours on their latest venture—but they’re using sources in ways most of us couldn’t have imagined 10 years ago.

I thought about how slivered almonds, laminated between a mirrored-etched and possibly back-painted and backlit substrate would look as a kitchen counter.

Then I thought: It’s probably been done, and I need to recalibrate my novel and adaptive sense-making cross-cultural design mindset. And for sure, I’ll also ask my transdisciplinarity-driven cognitive load managing virtual team for input.

But first, I’ll eat a few nuts.

The author is publisher of Glass Magazine and its sister publication, Window & Door, and vice president of publications for the National Glass Association. Write her at nharris@glass.org.

During a recent factory tour, the VP of operations paused in front of a wall of employee photos to tell me how his company rewards money-saving ideas. “I got $6,000 last year for mine,” a customer service manager chimed in behind us. It’s not a new idea, but it seems too simple and too good not to do it.

It goes like this:

Install a suggestion box in the break room to solicit money-saving ideas. Once approved and implemented, half of the first year's savings is paid to the employee in cash.  Since 1994 at this particular company, the effort has yielded annual savings of $1,500,000 and payments to employees of $750,000.

You’ve heard it before: the men and women doing the work know best how to get it done efficiently. Moving into another hallway closer to the factory, I noted the rows of bulletin boards showing production output and other stats, current and historical, for all to see—another indicator of an involved workforce.

We donned glasses and ear plugs to enter the plant, and I surveyed the floor and workstations. Tidy and clean. Check. (You should know that I judge new friends and companies by how clean their kitchen and factory floors are.) I was also impressed by how the technicians looked up, gave us a quick nod and smiled. I asked how new machinery and tool selections were made. No surprise: The technicians choose, and thereby “own” the machine and the process.

What excellent glass company was so impressive in the face of fluctuating job scheduling, production crunches, costly lulls and capital investment in a tough economy that requires fresh ideas to stay alive? Not a glass company at all; it was Glass Magazine’s printer, Dartmouth Printing. They even provided the page from their policy manual so I could share it with you as a template. Click here to download The Employee Suggestion Program PDF.

I forgot to ask to see the suggestion box—lunch boxes were waiting—but like the factory floor, I know it is dust-free and primed to give back.

Harris is publisher of Glass Magazine and vice president of publications for the National Glass Association. Write her at nharris@glass.org.

There are three things you can always count on if you are lucky enough to attend Vitrum, the Italian glass show in Milan, Italy: high style, great food and new product introductions, especially machinery.

This year's event lived up to all three. Everything from the decorative entrance displays fashioned of glass chips and plantings, to the people (business suits, please!) conveyed an elegance most trade shows don't even try to approach. Milan is, after all, a leading fashion capital of the world.

As for the food, my taste buds and their memories attest that Vitrum 2011 was the all-time best show I've ever attended in 20-plus years, thanks to the first annual Vitrum Gourmet Festival. Usually, I shed a pound or two making trade show rounds, too busy for anything but a granola bar on the run. This show was different; make that Michelin- star-chef-spectacularly-different. Four prominent Italian chefs each prepared a multi-course feast for each of the four days. A special and very elegant "restaurant" was set up in Hall 22 with white linen tables surrounding a glass art showcase and a full-wall screen projection of the chefs and their edible artworks.

Right. So now I come to the third and most crucial item you can count on: new product introductions.

Now in its 17th year, the GIMAV-sponsored Vitrum is renown for being the venue where Italian exhibitors introduce truly new products. Call it, orgoglio, the Italian word for pride. Not surprisingly, most of the other exhibitors from around the world follow suit.

New product introductions are the core of any trade show, but these lean days, it's so much more impressive when you see it first-hand. The buzz and energy when you walk into a stand and start talking to the salespeople and technicians who want to show you what they have is jet-lag dissolving. It even helps you refocus when you're waiting for the espresso shot to kick in after the three-course lunch (with wine, no less). It's a fine thing that Vitrum and GlassBuild America are marketing partners. I'm proud to note, too, that NGA's print and electronic publications are highly regarded in a worldwide marketplace crowded by so many industry magazines.

So, if you missed Vitrum this year, I strongly encourage you not to make the mistake in Fall 2013. I'll be marking my calendar as soon as the dates are set. 

In the meantime, you can read about the products on display at the 2011 event here, as well as take a photo tour of the trade show floor.

Harris is publisher of Glass Magazine and vice president of publications for the National Glass Association. Write her at nharris@glass.org.

On Sunday afternoon, Sept. 11, 2011, as exhibitors finished assembling their booths in the usual mad dash to opening day, a sharp-eyed security guard noticed flashes of light coming from under the Barkow truck in the 800 aisle of the GlassBuild America show floor. As he approached, two men ran off, one from under the truck where he was apparently taking pictures.

Given the anniversary of the infamous date, this event brought in the Georgia police, who scanned the truck's chassis with mirrors. They quickly concluded that it was a botched job of glass truck espionage by two local yahoos.

Why the interest? For 2011, General Motors widened its truck body. Barkow's solution: "Super single" rear tires that buy enough room between the body and the outside of the tires. With President John Weise's permission, I snapped this photo with my handy iPad so I could instantly upload this trade show tale of innovation and attempted copycatting.

Steve Jobs famously said that innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower, a sentiment that resonates at every trade show, perhaps more so when times are tough. This year's GlassBuild America welcomes attendees to visit Barkow and the 392 other companies--including 73 new exhibitors--for the up-close, kick-the-tires experience only a trade show offers.

Glass Magazine extends that welcome with its own latest innovation (thank you Mr. Jobs): the glass industry's first magazine Apple app. You can download it free here.

Androiders, your tablet app is coming very soon.

Just a few years ago, the thought of reinventing the wheel was preceded by the question why. But the road keeps changing, and speed and traffic keep increasing. In our 24/7/365, post-9/11 world, news about reinvented wheels is delivered and received however you need and want to learn about it—in print, on your computer, smartphone or tablet. So whether you're delivering or receiving a load of glass, or needing to know what technology will be on it tomorrow, you have more choices. And that's a beautiful thing about innovation. 

Harris is publisher of Glass Magazine. Write her at nharris@glass.org.