From the Fabricator: Huge Benefits
There was a lot of news that came out of the NGA Glass Conference last week, but the biggest to me was the announcement of a huge members benefit: the members-only Codes & Standards Help Center. That is something we’ve needed in this industry for a long time, and something that I know Urmilla Sowell and team have been working on for a while. It is finally here and it’s exciting. Congrats to everyone at NGA who worked on making this happen. Resources like this are massive. It gives the ability to raise our collective knowledge base, and strives to make sure everyone at every step of the process knows what is going on.
If you are member, jump in! And if you are not, well what are you waiting for?
Elsewhere…
NGA Glass Conference (and Fun Run) Succeeds
Also, I need to note the NGA Glass Conference was a gigantic success. It was so nice to hear from so many who attended and gained knowledge from it. I know we all are fighting Zoom/Teams fatigue, but we still have to keep up with our learning. Also, we have to keep up with rock stars like Bill Sullivan of Brin Glass who participated in the 6th Annual Fun Run by actually doing his run outside. In Minnesota. In some crazy cold weather. -2 Fahrenheit. Minus 2. Bill, my friend, you are good!
Department of Energy Offers Webinars on Energy Efficiency in Small Commercial Buildings
Here’s one for those of you who want to make sure you are staying up to speed within the Department of Energy world and how glass and energy may play together. The DOE Commercial Buildings Integration program is hosting a series of webinars to discuss barriers and solutions to the adoption of energy efficiency in small commercial buildings. They want to hear your perspective on energy efficiency strategies for small commercial buildings and ideas for building a skilled workforce that meets commercial building energy efficiency needs. You can join for one of the following dates and times (one because the webinar covers the same items, just at two different times.):
• Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET
• Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021 at 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET
Dodge Momentum Index Rises in January
On the forecasting front some good news from the Dodge Momentum Index. The index was up 3.1 percent and was the best showing since the pandemic hit last March. So hey, I’ll take that, won’t you? The overall commercial sector was in the good category with the only big downer being institutional. And obviously that is a going concern that we all have to keep track of. But, momentum at least on this index is positive now, and we await the next ABI coming on Feb. 24 to see what sort of movement is happening there.
From the Fabricator Podcast Returns
Unless something crazy happens, episode 2 of the “From the Fabricator” podcast will drop next Sunday. It’s been an interesting process for this episode; last time I had no tech issues and everything went smooth. This time, it’s been a bit more challenging, including me sounding like Bobby Brady going through puberty. Still, excited for it; great guests, interesting products, project deep dives, and more. I hope all of you who watched/listened last month come back again!
Salesforce to Continue Office Building
This is very good news when it comes to building and projects. The CRM giant Salesforce will keep going on their giant structure despite telling workers they can be remote. I’m telling you now that you will see more and more of this, and you’ll see a lot of hybrid options but the death of the office has been greatly exaggerated.
New Documentary Releases
Last this week… our industry has a connection to a really interesting independent documentary film now out. “Thunderdome, USA” is a grassroots doc shot between July 2015 and November 2016 in a rural part of Western, Pennsylvania. It was done during the run up to the 2016 presidential election and it’s a fascinating to watch attitudes then versus what they are now and the various opinions and approaches of people on all sides of the big issues of our times. (Including energy, the environment, home rule, etc.) The connection to our industry is this film was done by the talented sister duo of Lee and Maria Ziesche. Their dad, Jeff Ziesche is a great friend of mine and industry super-rep at JAZ Sales. Congrats to these awesome and brilliant young ladies and to their very proud Dad too! This doc is available to rent or buy.
