Catching Up All Over the Globe
Updates from Germany, to Florida, to Las Vegas
Before I get into this week, my thoughts are with everyone in Florida and those that were in the path of Hurricane Ian. The storm hit worse near Fort Myers, home of the Daubmann family and their D3/MyArchitecturalGlass business. From what I hear all is okay there with the plant, though they did have some damage. Obviously if anyone can rise above, it is that family and company. I am sure they’ll be leading the community like always too. Again, thoughts and prayers to all affected!
While I was overseas for glasstec, flights home featured long lines, but thankfully no major issues or delays, the latest Architectural Billings Index was released. It was positive once again and I think at this point that note is even starting to throw the analysts involved in producing it.
The score came in at a nice 53.3 but it was noted that “storm clouds are gathering” as well as the performances are mixed right now with some areas doing markedly better than others. I have been pessimistic on this index just because of what I see and experience, but they are the experts. However, seeing the inquiry number being lower than traditional for three straight months and the mess forming on the residential side, hearing forecast of single family to be negative in 2023, of things, really seems to tell me some of my pessimism is right.
The thought continues to be that everyone has to keep doing what is needed to roll past whatever may happen here. Diversify, communicate etc. The key approaches to beating back the challenges, and if this index keeps rolling and we don’t get a real dip, then we are all better for it, right?
Elsewhere…
Looking forward to GlassBuild
It’s October, and that means GlassBuild month is here. I know some of you are on the fence on attending because you are busy and shorthanded, but I can’t stress enough the value of getting with your peers, your suppliers, and your industry, to gain the insight needed to deal with what may come down the path in the next few months. A few have said to me that they’ll wait until BEC to cover those needs, but do you really want another five months to go by? Come on, you know you need to be there. Visit GlassBuild.com for info and registration. Even use my code MAXPOD for free entry.
People news this week
Congrats to Steve Green of Tubelite who announced his retirement this past week. Steve is surely one of the good folks in our industry and did a great job over a very long run there. Big shoes to fill for sure. Best to you Steve on your next chapter!
Sad news from our world with the passing of Richard Gianforti Sr. known best as owner of Flower City Glass. Tremendous guy. I knew him just a bit but he and my brother were very close and both Flower City and the old Perilstein Distributing (PDC) benefitted from that friendship. My thoughts and condolences go out to the entire Gianforti family and the friends and co-workers of the incredible Mr. Gianforti Sr.
New partnership
While away, the announcement that IGE Glass Technologies and Schirmer coming together on a distribution agreement was released. This is a great move for both companies. Schirmer’s profile processing centers for the commercial window and wall market is top of the line, which is huge for the quality our industry needs to put out, and obviously as I have noted here before, Michael Spellman and IGE has a knack of connecting with the market disruptors so this tracks positively. Congrats to both and looking forward to seeing this progress.
For TV fans
Last this week, Rolling Stone released its Top 100 TV Shows of all time. Great “click bait” sort of article and of course I fell right in for it. As I have listed my top 10 here in the past so it was good to see some of my picks on this more “seasoned” list, since it was some sort of committee that compiled it, but no way is “The Sopranos” better than “Breaking Bad". Just no way. Regardless, an interesting list, some pretty big omissions and odd ranks but if you like TV it’s a nice time waster.
