Happy 80 and 100-plus Forecasts, Firms and More
Business anniversaries, looking forward to GlassBuild America, and some exciting family news
It is anniversary time on my latest edition of the From the Fabricator podcast. This time out we celebrate 80 and 100 years in this crazy business. First up is the duo of Lee Harrison and Ross Christie from Walker Glass. If you know anything about their story it really is fascinating the way they evolved over the years and Lee and Ross added items to that story I didn’t even know.
Plus, some great advice and lots of positivity from two tremendous business people and industry supporters. Then on to the 100th anniversary of Reed Rubber Products and Clark Reed. That was a great chance for me to chat with someone new and learn about a very successful operation.
Plus, it was interesting to hear about Reed’s 4 pillar approach to the future and their focus on our space. Good stuff all the way around and overall a thrill for me to once get talk to seriously talented people with great companies. As always thank you for listening/watching/supporting. It is much appreciated!
Elsewhere...
GlassBuild America
One month until Glassbuild, have you signed up yet? Keep in mind the two add on events that are a must. The Glazing Executive Forum this year is absolutely loaded. Love the schedule and the speakers. Kudos to Jenni Chase and her team on this one, really a strong agenda that also has a focus on the peer groups, best practices for the win, and from past experience those are a huge benefit to all that participate. See the schedule and learn more here.
Then on the last day of the show, CR Laurence is the lead sponsor on the first ever GlassBuild Tailgate Party. This will not disappoint. I say that confidently because I know the grill skills that so many in our industry have, like John Wheaton, Jon Kimberlain, Sara Neiswanger, Andrew Haring and the list goes on and on and on, and I am confident that a great time will be had by all. More info on this one is here. I am getting so pumped for this show. Obviously, I have glasstec the week of 9/18 before it, but the energy around GlassBuild has me fired up.
A quick look at the economic landscape
More good stuff from a former, and hopefully recurring, guest on my podcast. I’m speaking of Nick St. Denis, the Director of Research from Key Media. He has his latest quarterly review out for the glass and glazing space and it is a fascinating and quick look at the economic landscape we are all in. Inflation is playing with some of the numbers, but there are some positive takeaways. Click here to see the report and get on his mail list.
Top architectural firms
Another interesting link to check out is the top 110 Architectural firms from Building & Design Construction Magazine. A lot of the usual suspects, some I thought were bigger than others but what caught my eye was the 2021 revenue. The big players are really big. Some eye openers as always.
Subscriptions on the rise
This item caught my eye: The move to the subscription model in more things beyond typical services is growing. Did you see that Toyota evidently has started charging $8 a month to remotely start vehicles using a key fob. I mean that is a wild add on that used to be free. I rarely use that feature on my Jeep, so I would probably not pay for it if I was prompted to.
In any case, we are seeing this creep in our industry with some glazing features being subscription only, like switching glass from clear to a different state, and I am sure that will get people very mad since you don’t have to pay a subscription to open and close your blinds. Anyway, our world continues to evolve in ways to monetize things, agree or not, it seems like the wave of the future.
Welcoming another Perilstein into the world (and maybe into the glass industry in 20 years)
Last this week, I am horrendously late on some very good family news. One day before my big brother celebrated his birthday, happy birthday visionary Stevie P, his son Evan and wife Amanda welcomed a new baby boy to the world. That alone is great, but the significance for me is in the name, Harrison, which is after my dad who passed away back in 2001.
Given that my great grandfather Harris Perilstein started in the glass business, with H Perilstein Glass, in the US in 1898 and spawned a ton of action in our industry including connections to many of the best organizations in our world now, to see another H. Perilstein arrive on the scene is beyond awesome. Now not putting any pressure on the kid, but if there was ever someone destined for our space it would be that guy! Congrats again to my brother and his wife, and of course Evan and Amanda, fantastic news!
