It may have been forgotten, or at least minimized, in light of all else going on in our world, but our industry is still “battling” for the wall. There continues to be movements out there for less glass and it is one that the NGA and its dream team of leaders and advocates are fighting at every front.
The 2021 Top Glass Fabricators report, to be featured in the magazine's March issue, will provide data and analysis for this market segment, clarifying the market and labor challenges that have affected, and will continue to affect, the manufacturing industry during the pandemic.
It’s been a roller coaster of a year by any measure. Now that we’re in the thick of autumn, one of the more surprising things we’re experiencing is the extremely hot housing market, which has driven up demand for windows and doors all across the country.
Most flexible automation solutions/strategies are aimed at medium or large companies allowing them to do more with less. These solutions have overlooked a significant part of the North American glass fabrication industry, small fabricators. Smaller fabricators are focused on a city or region. It is time smaller fabricators were able to employ an integrated software solution.
I have written a few times on the book "Designing a World-Class Architecture Firm" by Patrick MacLeamy former CEO of HOK. I was lucky enough to get an email interview with Patrick and here is Part 1. You’ll see how his passion comes through here and the book was the same way.
The latest Architectural Billings Index was released this week and it was an absolute stunner. The scoring was way beyond what I expected or what conventional wisdom was pointing to. After a few months being stuck at 40―remember a score of 50 is break-even―the index shot up to 47 this month. Absolute jaw dropper.
glasstec Virtual kicks off today. Like many trade shows and industry events, this year’s incarnation has moved online―the in-person event is slated to return in June of 2021 in its traditional venue in Düsseldorf, Germany.
This whole Architectural Billings Index, as well as all of the forecasts, have been defying some conventional wisdom in when and where they are dropping. Obviously, I don’t want negative, but it is coming. Work on the books is dropping in real life, so eventually it’s going to play out here.
There are a lot of factors that are out of our control right now in the industry—the start and stop of the economy, supply issues, and the need to adjust midstream, to name a few. When faced with the same challenges repeatedly, instead of throwing in the towel, we have the unique opportunity to look at what is and isn’t working with a critical and measured eye.
Every contractor knows how difficult it is to find the right formula for calculating estimates. In fact, many will say it’s the single most difficult part of being a glass shop owner. As I gained experience in bidding projects, I came to realize that I was looking at it all wrong.