When I return from a big industry trade show, I often put together a list of the best. After returning from GlassBuild America, this time my reviews have more to do with the market than the players. But of course there a few standouts that I just have to mention.
Company that can truly say: Mission Accomplished! That honor goes to Energi (formerly Royal Building Products). When Royal’s door and window division was purchased in April 2016 and the name was changed to Energi Fenestration Solutions, getting that new brand recognition was a pretty tall order. At GlassBuild, the company produced popcorn boxes with the company’s branding, and in the first two days distributed 3,000 servings of popcorn. “The goal was to have everyone walking around with it,” said Martin Boulanger, marketing director. Mission accomplished. They also had a presence that gets my best booth award (see pic).
Company with the most consistent message. Deceuninck North America is pretty near perfect when it comes to message consistency. Every year I talk to its CEO, Filip Geeraert, as I do with many other industry CEOS. Geeraert always has the same message, and one of those is his company’s commitment to zero back orders. He made this pledge several years ago and continues to honor this promise to the industry. The customer-focused organization no doubt has that same consistency when it comes to its customers, which they surely appreciate.
Best somewhat candid pic. There’s one every year. I walk around taking pics, and an industry staple (this time Jan Huml from Interlock North America) grabbed his colleague and posed for this pic.
In addition to meeting with industry companies I attended an event hosted by Mike Collins, managing partner, Building Industry Advisors, and DWM blogger. Collins briefed a group of door and window executives on the state of the market, and below are the high points (and maybe a few lows).
• Projected GPD growth going forward is 2.4 percent.
• The construction labor shortage continues to be a problem, even though overall unemployment is at 4 percent.
• Good and bad news about millennials. They just don’t have that imperative to buy homes as generations before them. But in terms of hiring, they want to be mentored and they want to be engaged—great news for industry companies looking to hire.
• Great advice. Find those areas that are fully recovered from the recession and use that information to make future business decisions.
• “There is not a bubble that has to burst.” Hallelujah.
• Bad news if you weren’t part of multi-family market. This market is now flat. “If you weren’t part of that growth, you missed an opportunity,” said Collins.
• Mergers and acquisitions. Activity dropped substantially in 2016. “I believe it’s because people are having fun again,” said Collins. He also said there will be a window of opportunity for future deals in the next 18 months … Stay tuned … to DWM of course.