Happy Trails
Leading off with another big retirement in our industry. Les Young of Binswanger Glass retired at the end of last week. For me, there are not too many men out there as good as Les. Just an awesome human being. I had the honor of working twice with Les, once as a direct employee and once as a consultant and each time my experience was so much better because of my friendship with Les. Les ran the Human Resources for Binswanger, which could be a very tough job on occasion, but he always kept a positive approach to everything. Les also was a sponge for knowledge wanting more detail and info and ways to better improve everything we did. I am thrilled that Les is now headed to the next phase of his life where he can hopefully sit back and relax and enjoy Ole Miss football (Hotty Toddy!) and his incredible family. This industry will not be the same without Les involved that is for sure. Enjoy your retirement my friend!!
Elsewhere…
- The next release of the Architectural Billings Index will be released this week and this one will be more interesting than normal. As you may remember, last month was a “good” report (relative to the time we are in) and had some momentum. But since then there has been more of a lull out there and also some virus-related issues that have hampered some planning. So, where will the index land? I am obviously hoping for up, but my call here is it drops to 38 with new project inquiries also dipping a little too. I hope I am wrong for sure, but we will see Wednesday when it is released and I’ll of course recap it here next post.
- Two milestones to celebrate for Guardian Glass this week. First, the Guardian Glass Carleton plant celebrated its 50th anniversary this week. Because it’s not far from my home, I have been lucky enough to visit that location many times and it’s an awesome place. Also this week, it is the 25th anniversary of the launch of the SunGuard product line. I remember when it came out and I think that was around the time I got to get to know the great Chris Dolan. For me, it’s not only an important product for our world but also a tremendous industry connection was made for me. Congrats to everyone on the team there for both milestones!
- Cool news for the guys at Tomakk Glass in Louisiana. They launched earlier this year and recently the Governor of Louisiana honored them for their work and impact in the state. I love when our industry gets positive recognition and I surely enjoy when someone as powerful as a Governor takes notice. Congrats to the folks at Tomakk (the leader there, Clay Hargett, is an excellent guy) and best to you all going forward!
- I loved the blog from David Vermeulen of Technical Glass Products last week. If you missed it, check it out as he jumps into one of the biggest questions we all have every day in this industry: how to get an architect to specify you. As we all know, our industry would probably sell our own mothers for the basic love of an architect, so it was very insightful of David to walk everyone through the process. Good stuff and great read!
- World Architecture News has a bunch of contests running right now and one is the best corporate office designs of 2020. Pretty neat designs and I am sure folks in our world had something to do with it. Here’s the top 6. Note this link you may have to register for, but the site is free.
- Last this week; wouldn’t be a post from me right now without a plug for GlassBuild Connect. A good friend of mine called this week and said, “tell me more about GlassBuild. I see all the ads, but what is it and what’s in it for me?”
It was a great question, and because GlassBuild Connect is so vast and comprehensive it could be hard to explain. So here goes. This is a one-month event on GlassBuild.com. It will have more than 300 exhibitors showing their products on specific pages easily accessed by product search. It also will feature daily content including videos, demos, podcasts, panel sessions, blogs and other features that will cover trends, innovations, codes, forecasts, installation, and more. There is a ton here. Content will stay online all month.
This is so much more than just a dropped in virtual show trying to pull a fast one. This is the GlassBuild tradition, but online for a month and loaded up for all. Most important, the exhibitors of GlassBuild Connect have been incredible with getting behind this effort so we as an industry should support them and their efforts. So please go register now at GlassBuild.com. Oh, and keep eyes open there’s more contests too: there’s been a couple of trips and other goodies given away with more to come!
