Big Notes From The Road
Learning on the road
I have been on the road now for two solid weeks and it’s been great to see people in their natural habitats again and really get out and learn. The feedback was pretty interesting overall and I wanted to share some quick takeaways.
On the contract glazing side, there is some concern with how Q4 is playing out. There is surely a softness in many books for that time period and it’s an uncomfortable feeling. As always, our industry is pretty resilient and will fight through.
I also heard a ton of reactions from the news out of the NGA Glass Conference. The aftermath of the new ASTM standard led the way. I mentioned how big this was last week, but the other items covered like changes in SGCC and IGCC, and Katy Devlin’s market look had people buzzing big time. There was some serious "fear of missing out" after this event, as so much happened there that I think that people are realizing you can’t miss important industry events.
Last on the trend side, the world of laminated glass is obviously on fire. There was more talk on that entire area from machinery to products, and usage of lamination in previously unused places like showers, than I have heard in a long time.
Also from my travels, I’ll have a special podcast from one of my stops launching next week, it is a format I have never done before and may do it again someday. I think the insights I gained will be very beneficial to the industry and loved getting to know some seriously cool people.
Elsewhere...
Airport blues
I had a short layover at O’Hare in Chicago. I usually will do anything to avoid that airport, but this time it couldn’t be helped. I will go on record here and say it is easily the worst airport in the U.S. The signage is horrendous and the lack of bathrooms is pretty frightening. Plus they have grown so much that they just will pop a gate in anywhere there’s extra space. It truly is a bizarre flying experience there. Newark, which used to hold the title for me of worst U.S. airport. you are off the hook.
Thoughts on the latest Glass Magazine
The latest Glass Magazine is out and time to review here. It is the annual must-have “Source Book” edition of the magazine, so it’s a great resource to have as you work your way through various levels of the supply chain.
This issue is also obviously loaded with advertising and so picking the “ad of the month” was a challenge. Maybe it is because green is my favorite color, but the Lattuada North America ad really caught me. I loved the look and layout, and it was powerful. That is your winner for the month. Kudos to the team there for an excellent effort!
Miller Glass celebrates anniversary
Congrats to Sid Miller and the team at Miller Glass for celebrating their 28th year in business! Miller Glass is one of those companies that is well known and seriously respected in our space and I hope they keep on rolling for a long time ahead!
Construction stats by city
Last this week, here are the top 10 metropolitan areas for construction and multifamily starts.
Did any of these surprise you? Dallas being up so big is interesting because I know that there was some worry there that things were leveling off, but I think we all know never to mess with Texas, right? Atlanta rolling was a surprise for me and I really thought Nashville and Orlando would be on this list. In any case, let’s use this as fuel to keep plugging along out there!
