Watch those e-mails

E-mail is easy. Too easy. Richard Kelson, Esq., Babst, Calland, Clements & Zomnir P.C., Pittsburgh, says careless or casual e-mails can open companies up to problems if a legal dispute arises. Kelson spoke March 29 during the last day of the BEC Conference at Paris Las Vegas, hosted by the Glass Association of North America, Topeka, Kan.

Kelson emphasized to the audience of glaziers and suppliers the importance of watching what you say, and thinking before you speak. E-mail has shifted the way business is done, and the easy and often informal nature of e-mails can be dangerous for companies.

“Earlier in my career, my construction cases would have 100 exhibits. People would write one letter a week, if it was important. Today, I see 1,500 exhibits because of e-mails,” Kelson said. “E-mails are speaking without thinking. E-mails are too friendly to people who are not friends. E-mails are filled with bravado. … E-mails are coming from people who don’t have authority to speak for a company, and they are sent off without anyone reviewing them.”

Technology has made it possible for council to discover e-mails that were written but never sent. Mirror drives and back-up servers can house anything that has been drafted on the computer, even it if was never saved.

“I used to tell people to follow the 24-hour rule—to sit on an e-mail for 24 hours before sending,” Kelson said. “That rule won’t protect you now. Before you type an e-mail, write it out on paper, by hand.”

Kelson added that people should never send e-mails when “you’re overtired, emotional or upset.” Any e-mail sent after midnight can wait until the morning. “Don’t make a case for the other side by e-mailing after midnight,” he said.

The reply all, copy and blind copy functions in e-mail can lead to “devastating” unintended consequences if an e-mail is inadvertently sent to the wrong parties. “E-mails can end up in the wrong hands. … Always check and consider recipients before sending,” Kelson said. He also emphasized that no one should ever be copied on an e-mail to council. “This waives privilege.”

To prevent e-mail problems, and add legal protection, Kelson said managers need to train staff on writing e-mails. "If you can't train your staff to write e-mails the right way, then get a new staff."

--By Katy Devlin, associate editor

Collectively facing the dangers out there

Lions and tigers and bears? That’s nothing. The glass industry’s got codes and standards, and emissions regulations. Oh my.

The major threat to the glass industry right now, according to some presenters and industry officials here at Glass Week in Las Vegas, isn’t the economy, but proposed codes and standards, and emissions regulations or legislation. The economy, and construction industry, will recover (though, perhaps not as soon as we’d like). These codes and regulations, however, could limit the use of glass in buildings and weaken manufacturers' abilities to compete.

On the codes and standards front, ASHRAE 90.1 topped the conversation during the meetings. The 2010 version of the standard limits the window to wall ratio of buildings at 30 percent, down from 40 percent. A 25 percent reduction in glass could severely hurt an already suffering industry.

Fire-rated glass manufacturers are also facing code movement toward less glass. The sprinkler industry is issuing proposals to limit—or even eliminate—fire-rated glass in interior fire corridors, according to several fire-rated manufacturers.

And glass manufacturers could possibly see emissions requirements coming through legislation or through regulation. Both Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency are working to limit manufacturer emissions nationally. The California assembly has a bill that could be approved in the near future. Emissions regulations could make it difficult for U.S. glass manufacturers to compete in the global market.

What is the industry to do in the face of somewhat overwhelming forces? Bill Yanek, executive vice president of GANA, recommends coming together to help influence change. Energy codes, such as ASHRAE, aren’t going away. However, a whole industry voice to recommend performance-based standards that provide benefits for daylighting, rather than just eliminating windows, can make an impact. And a fire-rated glass industry, often-divided over code issues, can only challenge the sprinkler manufacturers through one voice. Emissions regulations are also coming, sooner or later. Glass manufacturers need to keep up with advancements in climate change proposals, and the industry collectively needs be vocal with government bodies about its interests.
By Katy Devlin, associate editor

Will the new jobs bill drive hires in the industry?

Last week, President Obama signed an $18 billion jobs bill to spur hiring by giving tax breaks to small businesses. The bill also includes $20 billion for highway and transit programs.

The bill was passed March 17 on a bipartisan 68-29 vote, according to an AP report. The new measure would exempt businesses hiring unemployed from the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax through December and give employers an additional $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year. Taxpayers would reimburse Social Security for the lost revenue.

In addition to the hiring tax incentives and highway funding, the bill would extend a tax break for small businesses buying new equipment and modestly expand an initiative that helps state and local governments finance infrastructure projects, according to the AP report.

It remains to be seen if the bill will spike hiring in the construction sector. Construction employment continued to shrink in most American communities as 313 out of 337 metro areas lost construction jobs between January 2009 and January 2010, according to a new analysis of federal employment figures released March 18 by the Associated General Contractors of America, Arlington, Va.

Phoenix lost more construction jobs (27,600) than any other city in America, according to the AGC report. Steubenville, Ohio, and Weirton, W. Va., experienced the largest percentage decline in construction employment (44 percent, 1,600 jobs), followed by Grand Junction, Colo., (34 percent, 3,400 jobs); Las Vegas (32 percent, 24,500 jobs); Napa, Calif., (32 percent, 1,100 jobs); and Santa Cruz, Calif., (31 percent, 1,100 jobs.)

Eau Claire, Wis., added the most construction jobs (500) between January 2009 and January 2010, and experienced the largest percentage increase (23 percent) the report noted. Other cities adding construction jobs included Ithaca, N.Y., (9 percent, 100 jobs); Michigan City, Ind., (6 percent, 100 jobs); Waterbury, Conn., (5 percent, 100 jobs); and Grand Forks, N.D., and Minnesota (5 percent, 100 jobs).

The report stated that 230 metropolitan areas experienced double-digit percentage decreases in construction employment, while no city experienced a double-digit increase in construction employment. Meanwhile, 18 cities nationwide lost more than 10,000 construction jobs between January 2009 and 2010.

What’s your take on the new jobs bill? Is it going to encourage construction company owners to hire? How will it influence the glass and glazing industry?

—By Sahely Mukerji, Senior editor, Glass Magazine

Staying strong in a weak market

Like you, I’m not immune to the seeming barrage of discouraging news regarding the construction industry out there. And frankly, sometimes I find it hard to see beyond the negative headlines. So, in an effort to brighten my outlook, I recently contacted several industry executives whose companies are doing well in this tough economy. Perhaps not surprisingly, some common strategies emerged as I listened to their success stories. One struck me in particular: Sometimes, you have to spend money to make money.

I don’t know about you, but when cash is tight, my first instinct is to save money rather than spend it. Yet, that’s exactly what these successful companies are doing. Take Maryland Glass & Mirror Co. in Baltimore, for example. It recently invested about $1.75 million in new equipment. While the company typically operates on a cash basis—“If we can’t pay for it, we don’t buy it”—officials felt strongly that an investment in new equipment was necessary to grow the business. The addition of a tempering furnace, in particular, enabled the distributor/fabricator to offer its customers a more extensive choice of products. And although it required a major cash outlay, it will save the company money in the long run. “We’re our own largest customer,” said David Dalbke, president. “We have purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars of tempered glass products from other sources. Now, we have control and can produce a quality product in a just-in-time delivery fashion.”

At Flat Glass Distributors, Jacksonville, Fla., the decision to invest in capital equipment was part of its effort to “redefine customer service” through improved turnaround times and higher product quality. So far, it’s paying off, said David Cates, vice president of sales and marketing. “We’ve been able to get customers because we’re doing a better job than our competitors,” he said. “It’s all about market share. I don’t get people telling me the economy is getting any better.”

To encourage businesses to invest in new equipment—and banks to lend them the money to do so—the Obama administration has proposed the creation of a $30 billion “Small Business Lending Fund” targeted at community and smaller banks to increase small business lending. In its FY2011 budget, the administration also proposed extending the Recovery Act provision to allow small businesses to immediately write off up to $250,000 of qualified investment, providing an immediate tax incentive to invest in plants and equipment.

If your company has found success in other ways, I’d love to hear about them as I continue to cover industry strategies for staying strong in a weak market. If you have a story to share, please leave a comment or e-mail me at jchase@glass.org.

—Jenni Chase, Editor, Glass Magazine

Running the Red Queen's race in Washington

Official Washington leaves much to be desired these days.

Here we have the presidency, the House and the Senate all in the hands of the same party, and yet we have a classic case of legislative gridlock. We're even starting to see progressive senators jumping ship, including Indiana's Evan Bayh, who cited partisan bickering and a disturbing lack of progress for his decision to retire.

Frankly, it's probably fortunate for business that our elected officials are mired in the muck. You know Washington.

And then there's the economy. Stuck in neutral, seemingly unable to burst forward due in large measure to weak consumer confidence, a still-sluggish housing market, and commercial banking still climbing out of the ditch of overcapacity, problem loans and tight lending.

We're at a standstill.

It's perfect timing for Alice in Wonderland to arrive in our local theaters. In that wonderful, classic fable, there's a metaphor that could just as easily have been written to describe today's politics: The Red Queen's race through the looking glass.

"Well, in our country," said Alice, "you'd generally get to somewhere else -- if you run very fast, for a long time."

"A slow sort of country," said the Queen. "Somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that."

Sound familiar? Is this what Bayh was talking about when he announced that he'd had it with the "do nothing" pace of Congress?

Indeed, getting from here to there is tougher than usual, for some.

There are several areas, however, where some officials -- especially at the agency level -- are pushing the ball forward, in the name of energy efficiency, and the like. Should they succeed, the results could be extremely costly to you ...

-- A move is afoot to limit the amount of glazing on commercial construction. I am part of a working group trying to head-off limits to the use of glass in the name of daylighting. The regulation, known as ASHRAE 90.1, is likely to come up at the ICC hearings in May. Bob Trainer's clarion call in an earlier blog for the "Got glass" campaign resonates strong.

-- I received an e-mail last week from a program manager in the environmental pollution control division within the state government of California. She was asking for help in gathering some facts and figures on the auto glass segment. It appears they're moving forward with their auto glass glazing requirements that she spoke about last year at an NGA event, which will require mandatory tinting by 2012. While there is mostly opportunity for the industry here, they are looking at requiring all shops to maintain and report on jobs completed within a 2-5-year period. This could increase your administrative costs by 5 to 15 percent.

-- Lead paint rules covering renovation and repair on homes and other structures built prior to 1978 are scheduled to take effect on April 22. How this ever escaped the Bush Administration, I'll never know; but it's clearly fueled by an even more activist EPA. Katie bar the door! Click on this link for more details.

While Congress may be running the Red Queen's race, it appears the agencies have no intention of relenting. At a time when business needs all the cooperation it can get from the government to grow and add jobs, it appears some activists have gotten the opposite message.

That's why now, more than ever, you need to get involved. When you see something objectionable or harmful taking place, respond quickly and proactively. Write your policymakers. Let them know you're watching, and tell them what they need to do better. In this tumultuous election year particularly, they should listen more attentively, even if they are huffing and puffing through the Red Queen's race.

— By David Walker, Vice President of Association Services, National Glass Association

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.