VIDEO: Architects one-on-one

Katy Devlin, Glass Magazine’s commercial glass and metals editor, interviewed several architects on film during the AIA Convention in Boston to learn about the state of the industry and hear what the design community wants from glass and glazing. Watch the video.

Read news from the convention in the May 20 issue of e-glass weekly.

The best of Boston swag

—By Katy Devlin, commercial glass & metals editor

The swanky swag bags of lavish jewels, cutting-edge gadgets and trip vouchers from the Hollywood awards shows can easily top $40,000 in value (celebs must pay taxes on these high-priced “gifts” since an IRS cracked down in 2006, according to E! Online).

While there were a few flat-screen TV and iPod giveaways, as well as a car raffle during the AIA Convention last week, the giveaways on the tradeshow floor were markedly less glamorous than this year’s Oscars. Even so, free is free, and many of the more than 20,000 attendees came home with packed bags of their Boston swag.

Of course, there was an ample selection of lanyards and pens and bags (oh my!), in addition to the expected edible goodies—mints, Jolly Ranchers, chocolates and popcorn. But, in my walk amid the about 800 exhibitor booths, some swag items really caught my eye.

Officials from Edgetech IG, Cambridge, Ohio, took a traditional giveaway and upgraded it with its “Predator Pen.” Thanks to Joe Erb, product manager at Edgetech, for helping us catch the pen in action.



Thermique Technologies, Chicago, provided one of the most popular giveaway items at the show—a plastic construction document tube. One of the other high-demand items was the perpetually filled bowl of Bayer Aspirin packages from Sheffield-Plastics, Sheffield, Mass.

Our booth neighbor, the American Architectural Manufacturers Association, Schaumburg, Ill., handed out tape measures, very popular among the architectural crowd. While Linetec, Wausau, Wis., handed out yo-yos, very popular among the Glass Magazine crowd.

Apple Cookie & Chocolate Co., Turtle Creek, Pa., provided one of the more unique swag treats—solid chocolate molded into hard hats, hammers and other construction-related shapes. Stuffed animals were a popular gift, including the Dalmatians from Schott, Elmsford, N.Y. And many companies also gave green. Edgetech, Weyerhaeuser Co., Federal Way, Wash., and several other companies gave trees to plant.

My personal favorite swag item was the fine pair of glasses from Arkema Inc., Philadelphia. Now, be honest, who looks better, Amanda Behnke, the NGA publication department’s special projects coordinator, or me?

Higher prices and customer satisfaction are not mutually exclusive

—By Jenni Chase, editor, AutoGlass Magazine

With the cost of everything from gasoline to coffee to stamps on the rise, the thought of spending money on retail glass services may be less than appealing to many of today’s consumers. Let’s face it, it’s more fun to spend that economic stimulus check on a new TV than a shower door.

But before you lower prices in an attempt to attract customers, consider the following statement from the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan: “Quality plays a more important role in satisfying customers than price in almost all … industries. Price promotions can be an effective short-term approach to improving [customer] satisfaction, but price cutting is almost never sustainable in the long term.”

Companies that focus on quality tend to fare better over time in the American Customer Satisfaction Index than companies that focus on price, according to the research center.

And it’s OK to charge a premium for that quality service. Higher prices and customer satisfaction are not mutually exclusive.

Take supermarkets, for example. Food prices rose at twice the rate of overall inflation in 2007, yet customer satisfaction with supermarkets reached its highest level in 14 years, according to the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index results.

On the flip side, low-price provider Wal-Mart saw customer satisfaction rates slip to an all-time low in fourth quarter 2007, trailing all other department and discount chains in the ACSI, said Professor Claes Fornell, NQRC director, in his fourth quarter commentary.

“With quality lagging, low price in town is not enough to keep Wal-Mart in the middle of the pack in customer satisfaction," Fornell says.

“As customer satisfaction improves, the demand curve shifts upward, making room for more pricing power," he explains. "It is not that higher prices lead to higher satisfaction, but higher satisfaction makes it possible to charge higher prices."

Prices on the rise for aluminum, glass, PVB, milk, coffee, stamps …

—By Katy Devlin, commercial glass and metals editor, Glass Magazine

Officials from Wawa, the 24-hour convenience store that oft served as my temple for midnight cravings during college, upped its coffee prices by 6 cents, according to a May 2 Associated Press report. The cause: rising gas price.

According to the Energy Information Administration, gas prices on April 28 were at about $3.60, up 62 cents compared to last year. Diesel fuel, at $4.18, was up $1.37.

Stamp costs will increase to 42 cents, with fuel costs also to blame, right along with grocery prices—milk prices are up 26 percent and egg prices 40 percent since last year, according to a March 9 article from The Boston Globe.

I finally got over the sticker shock of seeing prices at the pump top $2, then $3 and now at times $4, and now it’s started with my coffee, my stamps, my milk and my eggs, too. Don’t even get me going on the jumps in my subway fares and Zipcar rates.

The industry has been feeling price increases for even longer than I’ve suffered my 6-cent bump in coffee costs. The first three issues of e-glass weekly in June 2006 all contained articles about pricing. Click here for the e-glass weekly archives. Aluminum, in particular, has been on a price rollercoaster.

Mike Petersen, president of Petersen Aluminum in Chicago, told me last week he worries customers will start looking for alternatives because of the high cost for aluminum products; prices for aluminum on the London Metal Exchange have spiked 21 percent since the start of the year. But he added that prices for those alternatives are also on the rise. “Vinyl has gone up just as much,” he said. Read an article in this week’s e-glass weekly to learn more about rising aluminum costs.

The industry has also seen glass prices and fuel surcharges rise, right along with related products including PVB.

How high can gas prices go? And what impact will we feel from the falling dollar?

While these questions are worrisome, the scariest thing about these price increases is that I’ve started saying things like: “Why, when I was a kid, I could go to the movies for $4, send a letter for 25 cents and fill up my parents’ Ford Escort wagon for $10.”

Toledo reaching for the sun

By Sahely Mukerji, managing editor, Glass Magazine/AutoGlass

I recently got an e-mail from Todd Lang of Development Counsellors International who offered an interesting bit of info about Toledo, the U.S. city with the 10th fastest population loss since 2000. Home of Pilkington NA, Toledo, is using an old industry—glass—to power a new industry—solar cells.
Lang backed up his statement with the following:
First Solar, a leading solar cell manufacturer in the U.S., has added 365 employees at the Toledo facility in four years. The company’s revenue for the fiscal year ended Dec. 29, 2007, was $504.0 million, up from $135 million in fiscal year 2006. The technology developed in Toledo allows First Solar to sell panels 35 percent lower than the competition, yet maintain a 45 percent profit margin.
Pilkington supplies to First Solar. Two years ago its sales in glass used for solar cells barely registered on the spreadsheet. It is expected to reach 10 percent of overall revenues in the next five years.
The University of Toledo recently devoted more than $20 million to researching solar power and build additional lab space to spur future spin-offs. This is in addition to $3.6 million spent last year to establish The Center for Photovoltaic Energy and Hydrogen.
Xunlight Corp., formerly MWOE Solar Inc., a technology spin-off from UT, received its initial funding of $7 million to produce lightweight and flexible solar cells. The financing was led by Emerald Technology Ventures, a globally active venture capital firm specializing in energy, materials and water technologies along with NGP Energy Technology Partners, an energy technology private equity fund. Xunlight will begin production next year increasing their staff from 18 to 40.
DCI, a privately funded economic development group, is working to establish venture capital funds to assist in building this solar power cluster in NW Ohio. Please write me if you have more to add regarding Toledo’s rejuvenation efforts.

More than 800 attend Mid-Atlantic Glass Expo

By Matt Slovick, editor in chief, Glass Magazine


The Mid-Atlantic Glass Expo came to Martin’s Crosswinds in Greenbelt, Md., again April 16.

About 82 exhibitors had table-top displays at the venue. Maureen Heavner, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Glass Association of Buckeystown, Md., reported that 839 people attended the expo, which lasted from 4 to 9 p.m.

This is truly one of the networking and social events each year in this region. The room had the feeling of a Happy Hour as attendees walked the floor, shook hands, won door prizes and had a beverage or two. The free soft pretzels made my night.

The MGA also welcomed nine new members to the floor this year.

With the credit crunch a relevant topic these days, I asked Paul Schodorf of Schodorf Truck Body & Equipment Co., Columbus, Ohio, if he has felt any effect. His company relies on new truck purchases. Schodorf said the slowness he is experiencing is due to the economy in general and not because customers can’t secure credit.

“New trucks nationally follow the economy and, in the case of trucks to haul glass, residential and commercial construction,” Schodorf said. He said the prevalent forces are incredibly weak consumer demand along with the downturn of the housing market and commercial construction.
“In other words, we don't notice people not buying because they can't get credit,” Schodorf said. “Everyone is spending as little as possible.”

Schodorf said his company does accept credit cards for a large percentage of its sales. While the fees are unpleasant, he says, it's quick secure money.

The MGA has two social events upcoming. Its golf tournament is June 25 at Worthington Manor Golf Club in Urbana, Md. The annual crab feast is July 16 in Baltimore. For information, call 301-831-8338 or e-mail midatlanticglass@comcast.net.

Varieties of glass remind me of 'Gump' scene

By Matt Slovick, editor in chief, Glass Magazine


People often ask me about the glass industry, and I find myself mentioning tempered glass and low-E glass and decorative glass. A scene from the movie “Forrest Gump” always comes to mind when Forrest meets Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue for the first time on an Army bus. Bubba, in his Southern drawl, goes on about the shrimpin’ business and the many ways you can prepare it. Through ensuing scenes he tells Forrest how you can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sauté it and make shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, etc.

Greg Carney, technical director for the Glass Association of North America, is from Mississippi and has a bit of a Southern drawl himself. He is extremely knowledgeable about glass. I can image Greg striking up a similar conversation: “Glass has been around for thousands of years. You can cut it, shape it, bend it, drill it, paint it. There’s monolithic glass, laminated glass, annealed glass, tempered glass, heat-strengthened glass. You have your decorative glass, channel glass, low-emissivity glass, sand-blasted glass, photovoltaic glass, acid-etch glass, reflective glass, fire-resistant glass, cast glass, ceramic frit glass, dichroic glass, slumped glass, spandrel glass and stained glass.”

I'm sure Greg could keep going.

Before making the jump to the glass industry, I worked at newspapers and at a newspaper Web site. At both places, I had a chance to write about film and do some interesting pieces. One such online project was about movies filmed in Washington, D.C. I also did another feature on journalists in film.

I thought about trying to do a column about glass that is significant in movies, but no specific films jumped to mind. But one scene did.

In “The Lake House” (2006), which features a glass house, Keanu Reeves plays Alex Wyler, an architect in Chicago who has a troubled relationship with his father Simon (Christopher Plummer), a renowned architect. Alex moves into the glass house that was designed by his father and finds a letter from a former tenant, Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock). It just so happens, Alex is living in 2004, but Kate is living in 2006. Yep, only in the movies.

Alex has a meeting with his father, who gives a passionate speech about the use of light in architecture: “You mentioned Meier. His Barcelona museum stands in the same area as Casa de la Caritat. It drinks the same light. Meier designed a series of louvered skylights to capture that light and cast it inward to illuminate the art within, but indirectly. And, that was important, because although light enhances art, it can also degrade it. … Now, come on. You know as well as I do that the light in Barcelona is quite different from the light in Tokyo. And, the light in Tokyo is different from that in Prague. A truly great structure, one that is meant to stand the tests of time never disregards its environment. A serious architect takes that into account. He knows that if he wants presence, he must consult with nature. He must be captivated by the light. Always the light. Always.”

Thanks to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) for supplying the quote.