Big Company Moves
Big industry news this past week with some of the parts of CGH being sold off.
First, we heard the news of the assets from Columbia Commercial Building Products being divvyed up between two companies, with the window system going to Arcadia and the architectural aluminum to FHC. Nice moves for both of those companies, especially with regards to expanding their products lines. Again, with how crazy our world is, diversifying what you do is not a bad play right now.
Then the news dropped that Solar Seal was being sold to O3 Industries. This made me very happy, as I know the Solar Seal people were absolutely determined to see their operation land in good hands, and from all indications, it has. They surely beat out the rumors of their demise, and that truly is a cool thing. So far, these moves look to be very good ones for many involved, and there are few more shoes still to drop before it is said and done.
Elsewhere…
Jeff Haber on “Creating Structure”
I have talked on here a lot about John Wheaton’s “Creating Structure” podcast, and this latest episode is incredible. His guest is one of my “Influential 15” and someone that truly commands a ton of deserved respect in our industry, Jeff Haber of W&W.
This interview absolutely delivers. The beauty of this cast was previewed really early on when John noted that if he saw Jeff at an event like BEC, he’d get a few minutes to chat with him, and both would move on to network elsewhere, so getting him for an hour-plus is something that just does not happen. This really is special.
Among the items covered here were Jeff’s history, W&W’s history (Racquetball Courts for the win!), value props, diversification, communication and an amazing segment where off the top of his head Jeff riffs out 15 or more site considerations when working in New York City. Truly a must-listen and a great job by both! Click here to listen. By the way, if I ever interviewed Jeff it would go kind of like this so I am glad John did it, and is so good!
Pittsburgh airport remodel
So I saw this blurb on the remodeling of the Pittsburgh Airport, and I got sentimental. The original Perilstein Distributing (PDC) did a lot of the glass in that structure when it was first built and when I first started in the industry it was one of the first places my brother took me to show me what our company did (back when you could visit an airport without flying). It was so cool to see our logo on the tempered glass and name stamped on the spacers, it really started that level of pride first in working in the business and then obviously for our industry. Whomever does the modernization, do it up great, my friends!
New ASTM standard for Laminated Glass
Laminated glass continues to be a hot product, and with that usually comes more oversight and standards. Including, now this one in the new ASTM C1900. Things like this help our world perform better and I am all for it.
Jenifer Truhn at Glass Hardware Specialists
Good news about Anixter’s Jenifer Truhn with her now taking on a new role there leading a team of Glass Hardware Specialists. I had the honor of meeting Jen a few years ago when her involvement at the Detroit Glass Dealers Association (DGDA) was helping promote GlassBuild America and from there on out I would see her from time to time making great inroads in the market, and also on LinkedIn. Super talented. I think Jen will do great in this new role, and I appreciate her continued support of our industry too! (Her company just smartly joined the NGA!)
Google algorithms
Marketing friends, are you following the latest from Google and their new algorithm changes for later this year? From what I am seeing, it means website optimization will take a serious headline role like never before. This will certainly be interesting once it rolls out and how it affects older sites and also newer ones not built to keep up with the Google updates. Never a dull moment out there…
Net zero glass projects
Last this week… cool look at some Net Zero projects. Some are better looking than others and some use glass more effectively. Check it out and let me know what you think and if you supplied any material on any of these!
