glassblog

Tying up loose ends and cleaning off the desk once again with short and assorted subjects...

Big news for the industry last week when I heard that marketing superstar Christine Shaffer was leaving Viracon to go to Apogee sister company Tru Vue. I'm very happy for Christine; the folks at Tru Vue pulled a coup (sorry for the cheesy rhyme, too easy.) Its tough news for our side of the industry as no doubt Christine was a shining light, but at least she'll be close by.

• Christine was listed on this blog back in 2007 as one of the superstars of the industry, and it was fun to go back and re-read that. The others in that inaugural class are all still plugging along at high levels: Greg Carney, now on his own as a world class consultant; Brian Craft, still not reading my blog but doing great for Guardian; Mike Gainey, still a force at Azon; and Julie Schimmelpenningh at Solutia, who is always on the top of everyone's list. Only Scott Surma is missing from our industry now, but he is still kicking tail and taking names. I believe he still follows the drama here when he has time.
• I hated missing Neocon yet again last week, but heard tons of buzz from my architectural friends about it. Congrats to the fine folks at General Glass. Evidently, they made a tremendous impression on the show goers because I heard about them specifically from one of the premier interior architects in the U.S. Also heard positives on the gang from Walker (and their "Dance Fever" floor) and Guardian's big splash, but judging from the action, GGI took the cake. And to think my brother wasn't even there to take it all in!
• Went out for a run on Saturday and the first song shuffled to my iPod was "Eye of the Tiger" followed by "The Good Life." Wondering if that can be some sort of omen; the run ended with the classic Aerosmith tune "Dream On." Hmmmm....
• Congrats to the Bruin fans out there, and my condolences to the fine Canuck fans (the non-rioting ones) on their loss. The Bruins were so good they were able to get past my prediction skills.
• Speaking of the riots, did you see that the shops damaged by the riots can't put the losses to their property insurance? Evidently, this would fall under something else and they would need actual "riot" insurance. It's amazing; do insurance people ever pay anything out?
• Getting excited for GlassBuild America, and I am not alone. More than 40 first-time exhibitors have joined in so far, and I know for a fact that there are more still to come. The timing is right for show this year, and the people that want to get ahead of their competition will be there. I plan on having much more coverage on this as it creeps closer, because it will be the place to be.
• And finally this week, as most people who followed the situation expected, I am no longer employed. It is what it is. At the end of the day, it was a pleasure and honor to work with some unbelievable people over the last 10 months and I am sorry we didn't get to finish what we started. I am thinking and praying for all of them. As for me going forward, we'll see. I am getting excited over some possibilities, and as soon as there's something to report, I'll bring it. Until then, I'll be plugging along working on the manuscript for Groundhog Day 2. 

Read on for links and clip of the week...

Write Max at maxbcat@aol.com.

The opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Glass Association, Glass Magazine editors, or other glassblog contributors.

Last fall, NFRC approved technical procedures for the development of energy performance ratings for co-planar interior and exterior attachment products. This represented a major step toward one day providing third-party performance ratings for products such as blinds and shades. Throughout the development process, NFRC's Board of Directors provided guidance for the Fenestration Attachments program and continues to do so.

With technical procedures in place, NFRC's Attachments Subcommittee now is developing a certification and labeling program. It is a challenging task. Many variables affect the performance of an attachment product – e.g., the type of window to which it is attached, the operation of the attachment product itself (open/closed), the angle of the sun, etc. At the same time, it's important that NFRC provide customers with an easy-to-use label.

In early 2011, the board provided guidance on the development of the attachments label, recommending: "...that a 'Stars' rating on an attachment label [is an example of a rating system that] meets the direction previously approved by the board. Additional information on the label may be provided as long as it continues to meet board direction and the rating not be stated as a U-Factor and SHGC numerical rating. This does not exclude the use of U-factor and SHGC numerical data from other NFRC material related to attachments."

Those familiar with NFRC ratings know this is a departure from the numeric ratings found on our labels. During NFRC's spring meeting, attendees raised questions about the board's direction to the Attachments Subcommittee.

In my opinion, we need to keep in mind that customers, not building code enforcement officials, engineers or scientists, are the primary audience for these labels. In addition, the attachment label should avoid implying an undue level of precision, because NFRC does not know the performance of the window, door or skylight to which the product will be attached, the solar incident angles, or how the customer will operate the product.

The board's recommendation to use a different rating system for the attachment label will help make it more customer-friendly, allowing apples-to-apples comparisons of attachment products. It does not preclude the use of numerical data in forums other than the label itself. Providing U-factor, solar heat gain coefficient and visible transmittance data may be helpful, as long as that data is provided with additional explanations on a separate document.

While the board's direction specifically mentioned a "Stars" rating system, my interpretation is that it serves as an example. A different symbolic or scalar type system could also meet the board's guidance.

This is an opportunity for the attachments community to develop a visual ratings system that is distinct from the NFRC windows label and easily recognizable by customers. What type of system do you think the label should feature?

Jim Benney is the National Fenestration Rating Council's chief executive officer. He has been involved in developing product and performance standards for the window and glass industry for more than 25 years. He can be reached at jbenney@nfrc.org. 

The opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Glass Association, Glass Magazine editors, or other glassblog contributors.

What a slow and boring week... can't believe the lack of news in our world.

If only that was true.

For those of you who follow the news of the industry, this past week the auction for my employer (Vitro America) took place, and it continued to be a surreal story that even Hollywood would write off as "too unbelievable." After an amazingly competitive auction that featured more back and forth than a grand slam tennis final, Sun Capital outlasted the fine folks from Grey Mountain to win. This result will, once again, spur industry change and probable consolidation as there's not a lot of geographic differences between the companies. Now, I can go on and on about this. I think anyone who knows me, knows I am bitterly disappointed (actually mortally depressed is a better term) over the result because of several reasons. The biggest is I really believe what Grey Mountain would have brought to the industry would have been spectacular: breathtaking and groundbreaking plans to operate and innovate. To be a part of that would have been epic. And quite frankly, the momentum that was bubbling up at Vitro before all of this unintended collateral damage junk was thrown at us was significant, and I really wanted to see where it could go. So, that's a big reason for my sadness: never knowing what "could have been" if we got to continue as planned.

Hey that's life right? David threw one heck of a rock, but Goliath has a harder head than anyone can imagine. So for now, we'll see how this progresses. Consolidation in our world has been a fact of life for many years, and things like this are not a surprise. The industry has evolved and will continue to do so until it finds calmer skies. And as for going forward, we'll see how this all hashes out. There are a lot of people that will be affected by this, and we'll join a crowded field of folks from US Aluminum, Zeledyne, etc. who are already out there. As I have railed on here many, many times before, there's a ton of talent out there that can help upgrade and advance revenue generation, and that will surely be the case when all of this comes clear in the coming weeks. I'm sure they'll be much more to say about this in the weeks ahead. As for now, it continues to be just mind numbing for me and many others. 

Read on for links and video of the week...

Max Perilstein is chief marketing officer for Vitro Architectural Products, Memphis. Write him at mperilstein@vitro.com.

The opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Glass Association, Glass Magazine editors, or other glassblog contributors.