W&D Weekly - July 11, 2007 | Vol 2, Num 27
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Jeld-Wen Grows in Pennsylvania
Adding to its current locations in Pennsylvania, Jeld-Wen Inc. will begin construction on a new plant in September...
Adding to its current locations in Pennsylvania, Jeld-Wen Inc. will begin construction on a new plant in September, according to the local Allentown, Pa., newspaper. The Schuylkill County facility will likely employ about 275 people.
The paper reports that the Klamath Falls, Ore.-based manufacturer paid nearly $1.5 million for the 42-acre plot of land at Cass Township industrial park.
Jeld-Wen currently has two plants in nearby Ringtown, which produce windows and doors. The new facility will house door systems production, currently housed in Ringtown. The door systems operation there was planned to be temporary, company officials note, until a long-term facility could be constructed.
The transfer of the door operations will not affect the window operation currently located in Ringtown, officials add.
“Jeld-Wen is proud to be located in Pennsylvania and we are excited about the growth opportunity of a new facility in Cass Township,” says John Caine, the company’s general manager. “Cass Township is a great location from which we can provide our customers reliable products and service.”
Jeld-Wen is going through the permitting process for land development, planning and storm water for the new site, the paper adds.
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Fenetech Users Look at Emerging Technologies
Aurora, Ohio—Improving the flow of business was the theme at Fenetech Corp.’s annual users conference held the last week of June. Visual selling, RFID and order entry were a few of many topics covered...
Aurora, Ohio—Improving the flow of business was the theme at Fenetech Corp.’s annual users conference held the last week of June. Ron Crowl, president of the software company, told attendees that current development efforts are going beyond their businesses and “improving flow for manufacturers’ customers.”
The Fenetech conference served as a forum for manufacturers using the software to review features of various modules within the system and provide feedback.
A provider of RFID tags and systems reviewed the technology and discussed potential applications in the window and door plant at the Fenetech conference.
More than 60 executives representing more than 30 window, sunroom and glass fabrication companies attended the three-day event, which included in-depth discussions of numerous modules in Fenetech’s FeneVision package, collecting customer feedback for improvements. The conference also featured several emerging technology sessions looking at new software and systems that can provide manufacturers with new efficiencies and capabilities.
VISUAL SELLING AND RFID
One technology that attracted interest from manufacturers was visual selling software. Combining digital pictures of a home with manufacturer product images, this software enables salespeople to show the homeowner what their house will look like with various improvements, including new windows, doors or a sunroom or patio enclosure, explained Marco Hunstad of RenoWorks. Many remodeling contractors and home improvement dealers are already taking advantage of this tool, he noted, as he demonstrated the capabilities of these packages. He explained also how manufacturers can get their product images into the system for their dealers to use.
The cost of radio frequency identification (RFID) is dropping, and low-cost RFID tags, as well as scanning systems, are bringing this technology within reach of window and door manufacturers, said Shauna Lamp from MPI Label Systems. She offered an overview of the various types of RFID tags and systems available, noting that some larger window and door manufacturers are already using them. One practice under consideration, she noted, is putting an RFID tag within a vinyl frame before weldeing it, which would not only allow tracking a product through shipping and delivery, but enable service people to immediately identify a window in the field.
Based on the costs she outlined, a number of manufacturer attendees suggested they could easily justify the use of this technology in their shipping departments as it could provide greater efficiency and accuracy than bar code scanning systems.
Other sessions covered truck route optimization systems and new developments in tablet PCs. Joe Hudson of Edge Seal Technologies, an IG fabricator based in Walton Hills, Ohio, provided attendees with an overview of emerging glass technologies. Triple-silver-layer low-E glasses—now promoted by PPG and Cardinal—offer better shading coefficient and significantly reduce UV transmission, he said, but offer similar U-values to double-stack low-E glasses. He discussed also Guardian’s glass designed specifically to reduce UV penetration in the home. Hudson covered the history of self-cleaning glasses as well. These products were “over-hyped” initially, he stated, but are now beginning to make some progress in the market as “low-maintenance” glasses at lower-costs.
Focusing on the residential market, his company sees growing demand for IG units with mini-blinds, as well as growing demand for SDLs, Hudson said. Demand is increasing for color in vinyl also, he noted, adding to the complexity of two-tone muntins.
ORDER ENTRY
Within Fenetech, one of the emerging technologies is a new Web-based system designed to allow manufacturers to accept orders from dealers and salespeople online. The sessions included discussion about the pros and cons of such systems versus remote order entry, systems where data is entered into a laptop and uploaded later to a manufacturer’s main system.
The availability of the Web-based system reflects “the outward focus enabling you to work better with your customers” that Fenetech has emphasized in recent years, Crowl told attendees at the conclusion of the event. He reported also that the company has signed agreements with both RenoWorks and CubeRoute, a truck route optimization software company, to develop interfaces for those products with FeneVision. Noting that the company puts about 10,000 man-hours into software development on an annual basis, Crowl concluded by thanking customers for their input throughout the event and promising continued enhancements to the company’s software.
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New Labor Agreement Signed at BiltBest
BiltBest Windows & Patio Doors, based in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., has signed a long-term labor agreement with its employees...
BiltBest Windows & Patio Doors, based in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., has signed a long-term labor agreement with its manufacturing employees. The contract incorporates a new gain-sharing program that “will cement a strong partnership between the company and its employees, and align all company resources in maintaining strong business relationships with its customers, meeting flexible production demands, consistently improving quality, and achieving 99 percent-plus on-time and complete shipments,” officials report.
The five-year labor agreement was reached between BiltBest and the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO/CLC, Local 400G. The agreement was ratified by a substantial margin among the union membership, it is reported, and calls for wage and benefit enhancements, as well as a gain-sharing provision for the manufacturing employees that will be also provided to all regular, non-union, hourly employees.
“We are extremely pleased with the new union agreement,” says Jay Hoffer, BiltBest president. “The negotiations were conducted in an environment of mutual respect, openness, and a desire on both sides to achieve an agreement that is a win for our company, our employees and our customers. BiltBest employees are hard working, dedicated people and are our most valuable resource. This new contract is a milestone achievement and places us squarely where we want to be, positioned to take our place as a major player based on our growth, in the upper tier of players competing in the high-end residential new construction market.”
The 52-year-old company produces custom wood windows and patio doors, and has a network of 300 dealers across the country.
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Groupe Bocenor Changes Names, Expands Products
Quebec window and door manufacturer Groupe Bocenor Inc. will now be known as GBO Inc. and has added new products...
Quebec window and door manufacturer Groupe Bocenor Inc. will now be known as GBO Inc. and has added new products and marketing strategies in an attempt to spark profitability.
“We’ve virtually rebuilt the company over the past two years since we emerged from a financial restructuring in 2004-2005,” said Dennis Wood, interim CEO, at the company’s annual meeting. “We've repaid $8 million of long-term debt, closed plants, updated our manufacturing and marketing, and developed top-quality products while maintaining the Bonneville brand name.”
GBO will focus on the U.S. East Coast, Greater Montreal and Greater Toronto markets, according to a report in the Montreal Gazette. The company sells to independent building materials distributors, specialty window and door distributors, retailers and construction and renovation contractors.
Wood reports that the company’s turn-around may take a while, thanks to the current, extended U.S. housing slump. Its last profitable year was 2003, when it reported sales of $124 million. The company employs about 500 in the Beauce area of Quebec.
“Despite the slowdown in housing starts, especially in the U.S., the home-improvement market remains stable,” Wood says. “Sales in May and June improved, helped by the launch of 12 new products. We've recruited nearly 30 new customers since March, and we expect moderate sales growth for fiscal 2008.”
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- LEED for Homes Public Comment Period Closes Friday
from U.S. Green Building Council - Remodeling Lead Rule Would Leave Children Unprotected
from Nation's Building News - Correlation Between Customer Satisfaction and Profitability
from GuildQuality
...
LEED for Homes Public Comment Period Closes Friday
from U.S. Green Building Council
USGBC invites the public to comment on the draft LEED for Homes Rating System, which is currently in pilot testing. LEED for Homes was developed to meet the unique needs of the residential market single family and multi-family homes, affordable housing and market rate projects. It addresses aspects of residential building such as locations, sites, homeowner awareness, energy and water concerns. Any member of the public can comment on the draft rating system. The public comment period has been open since June 13 and closes Saturday, July 14, at midnight Pacific Standard Time... read more
Remodeling Lead Rule Would Leave Children Unprotected
from Nation's Building News
NAHB is calling for the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up ambiguities in its recently published supplement to the proposed rules for remodeling and renovation activities in homes where there may be lead-based paint.
The agency now wants to include “child-occupied facilities” in the proposed rule, an addition NAHB wholeheartedly supports “because their inclusion will capture additional sources of lead contamination,” NAHB Staff Vice President for Environmental and Labor Policy Susan Asmus said in a 19-page comment letter to EPA... read more
Correlation Between Customer Satisfaction and Profitability
from GuildQuality
GuildQuality collects a LOT of customer feedback. Lately, we’ve been interviewing around a hundred homeowners a day about their experience with one of our builders, remodelers or real estate developers.
Given the importance of the building profession, I was pleased to see a significant trend emerge from a research project we’ve been working on. With the help of 15 remodelers and Remodelers Advantage, we’ve been able to make some judgments about the correlation between customer satisfaction and profitability... read more