“Smart” has become one of the most overused—and increasingly vague—terms in the glass and glazing world. From smart phones to smart homes to smart glass, the label has been applied so broadly that its meaning often gets lost in translation. But if we look beyond the buzzword, there’s real opportunity in what modern, forward-looking glass technologies can deliver.
Well, this is probably one of the toughest blogs I’ve had to write in a while. This past week, our industry lost two incredible men, both of whom were close friends of mine. First, it was Tim Moore who passed away. Tim was a technical powerhouse and a great and loyal person. He had an intense thirst for knowledge to the point that he’d read technical manuals for fun. He was always there for you, no matter the request.
A new episode of the "From the Fabricator" podcast is now available for your holiday listening/watching pleasure. I opened with Mark Seeton of Vitro. It was a great time for me; he answered a few glass geek questions for me, including what the game-changing product in our space from his organization was and the most significant industry change over the span of his career. Plus, he legit stunned me on the “fun” question, too. And his input on the forecast was very insightful/helpful. Then I caught up with Danielle Whatley of Texstar Glazing.
We were all over the place this week on the economic front. The latest Construction Stress Index showed that delays and cancellations have lessened from the start of the year, so that is good. The bad is they are lessening from historic highs, and that index, even with a recent nice run, is still not where any of us want it and still off 26% from year over year. Ouch. This current trendline gives some hope, but the continued instability and visibility in the market is not easing, and until some of that gets settled, we’re still fighting a rocky battle.
Fun new episode of the From the Fabricator podcast just dropped. I caught up with two dynamic people with interesting backgrounds. I start off with Karolina Styk of Press Glass. Super bright and passionate for our industry. It was cool to hear about her journey from Poland to the US and how she’s really leaned into the whole glass industry space, both in products and culture.
One of my favorite Glass Magazine issues yearly is the Top 50 Glazier edition. It’s always great to see the names of the major players in our space, but I always love the way the Glass Magazine team does deep dives into the market surrounding the players. Kudos to Norah Dick and team on that effort. In addition, this issue had info on building an internal training program, safety, and two good pieces on the growing world of security glazing. Super issue and worth checking out. You can see the articles and the whole edition online.
A topsy-turvy week in the forecast world…no rate cut (as expected) and new forecasts for the rest of 2025 released. The AIA Consensus Forecast brings several predictions together and puts them all in one handy-dandy setup. Usually, that’s the fun of going through it and seeing who is predicting what. This time, though, it was the headlines throughout the release that really threw me.
While each year holds surprises that require some change, 2025 has had several in its first half—from proposed expansions in model building codes to how the glass industry is being called on to respond to shifting global trade policies and regulations. So what’s in store as we move into the back half of 2025? How can we plan ahead to stay in the lead?