W&D Weekly - August 8 2007 | Vol 2, Num 31
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Green Building Movement Tops WDMA Agenda
How individual companies and the association as a whole can respond more pro-actively to the green building movement was the topic of a panel discussion highlighting the agenda of the WDMA summer meeting this week...
Cambridge, Md.—How individual companies and the association as a whole can respond more pro-actively to the green building movement was the topic of a panel discussion highlighting the agenda of the Window & Door Manufacturers Association summer meeting taking place here this week. Pete Walker of Huber Engineered Woods and chairman of WDMA’s Environmental Stewardship Committee, unveiled a new section on WDMA’s Web site devoted to sustainability issues, reflecting the organization’s efforts to date to gather information and resources.
WDMA’s green building panelists included (from left to right) Brian Strombotne of Green Builder Media, GreenSeal’s Cheryl Baldwin, Curt Alt of the Composite Panel Association and Pete Walker, Huber Engineered Woods.
A “materials revolution” is taking place, and it’s generating much interest from architects, Blaine Brownell told the WDMA audience.
Walker also noted that WDMA plans to become more involved as an advocate in the green building arena—pointing to the need for industry representation in such organizations as the U.S. Green Building Council. Jeff Lowinski, WDMA’s technical director, also raised the possibility of WDMA expanding upon its current Hallmark certification to cover numerous other “green” issues, such as recycled content.
The green building or sustainability movement covers a whole spectrum of issues, noted Brian Strombotne of Green Builder Media. Window and door manufacturers must look beyond such single issues—like the energy efficiency of their products—to how their company operates as a whole. Companies need to take such environmentally friendly steps as water reclamation, energy efficiency in their plants, raw materials, emissions, waste management, transportation and packaging. “You need to bring life-cycle analysis into new product development,” he suggested. “What happens when your products have finished their useful life? Do you have a take-back plan?” Suggesting that an overall goal should be a public declaration of sustainability backed by meaningful procedures and processes, Strombotne said, “You need to create a whole sustainable culture” within a company.
Green certification definitely covers a broad range of company practices, not just a product, noted Cheryl Baldwin of GreenSeal Inc. She followed Strombotne, reviewing her organization’s “leadership standards” in various product areas, including windows. GreenSeal, she continued, has been focusing its promotional efforts toward institutional customers to date, but now plans to raise the profile of its green-certification program, which covers a broad array of products, among consumers as well.
Curt Alt of the Composite Panel Association reviewed his organization’s efforts to create a green certification program for its products. “Wood products by their very nature are green. Composite wood products are very green, because they are made of recycled content,” he explained. “So we have a very good story to tell. The question is how do we get this message out.” The association’s program, he noted, focuses on product characteristics, such as recycled content and formaldehyde levels.
Responding to one manufacturer’s question about how to choose between all the possible rating programs and labels that could be put on a window now, Lowinski suggested adding green criteria within WDMA’s certification program would certainly be an option if members wanted to go in that direction. As an organization, he suggested, there’s no reason WDMA couldn’t develop criteria for rating products in the various areas of concern to green-conscious customers. “We already have pieces of a green program in place. We’re already in the plant, so we have the enforcement.”
NEW MATERIALS
The movement toward sustainability is a key driver in a “materials revolution,” according to Blaine Brownell, an architect and author who also spoke at the WDMA summer meeting. “We’ve seen more new materials in the past few years than in the whole previous history of buildings,” he noted, adding that, “Architects are very interested in this development.”
Photovoltaic technologies, including products incorporated into window glass and new product ideas—incorporating mirrored ducts and fiber optics—to bring natural daylight into a building were among the products he showcased using these new materials. He also showed an “Eco-Curtain,” a façade incorporating vertical turbine blades to harness wind power, and suggested that vertical environments in urban settings represent many opportunities for multiple functions.
Materials development is being influenced by new ideas, such as biomimicry, Brownell stated, with engineers and scientists looking at nature for inspiration. A spider web, he explained, is ounce for ounce stronger than anything, and researchers are looking to replicate that strength in new manmade materials.
WDMA wraps up its summer meeting today. Further highlights will appear in next week’s WDweekly and a full report will be featured in the September issue of Window & Door.
Pella Mentioned as Suitor for Efco
Efco Corp. reportedly told employees it is negotiating with a potential buyer, believed by some to be Pella...
Efco Corp., the manufacturer of commercial and architectural fenestration products, told its employees on July 30 it is in the midst of “very serious” negotiations with a potential buyer, according to a report in the Monett (Mo.) Times, a local newspaper. Chris Fuldner, Efco CEO, told the paper that talks are still ongoing, and it is not certain any deal will be completed.
The newspaper asked Fuldner specifically if Pella Corp. was the suitor. He responded by saying he was bound by a confidentially agreement not to disclose the party Efco was in talks with, and could not confirm or deny Pella was involved.
A Pella spokesperson contacted by Window & Door declined to comment on the subject as well.
Efco currently employs about 1,500 people, and the newspaper says rumors about a pending sale have been circulating for weeks. It reports also that, according to company sources, the goal of the negotiations is for Efco to remain an independent subsidiary with its brand name maintained.
Maine Manufacturer Grows
Waterville Window Co. Inc. will expand its factory to accommodate raw materials that are currently being housed off-site...
Waterville Window Co. Inc. will expand its factory by about 10,000 square feet to accommodate raw materials that are currently being housed off-site. The Winslow, Maine, producer of vinyl windows expects the project, likely to be completed in September, may add six positions to its employee roster of 36 full-time workers.
“We were using too much of our manufacturing facility for storage,” company president Donald J. Shirley told the local newspaper. The company currently has two off-site storage facilities, causing truck drivers to have to stop at three locations when the main production facility is factored in. The expansion will eliminate the need for the other storage facilities and allow the company more manufacturing floor space.
Waterville Window had sales last year of about $3 million, the paper notes, selling 11 new construction and replacement window systems to New England region retailers. In addition to vinyl window lines, the company offers vinyl railing and fencing materials, and is a distributor of Impression Brand aluminum windows.
The company utilizes cross-training methodology to keep its workforce employed year-round, even when production slows significantly in the winter months. Shirley has pushed the company down the path of automation with the addition in recent years of advanced equipment.
“We have automated the shop a lot since 1998,” he says. “We’ve spent a little over $1 million in new machinery updating the shop.”
- Second Chances
Two decades after battling his own demons, Southern Industries' Jim Felton is on a mission to help others
from the Augusta Chronicle - UPDATED LINK Home Depot Fires Employees Amid Probe of Kickbacks
from CNNMoney.com - Windows of Opportunity
Two ex-Goodrich employees now operate their own window business
from The Record - Nardelli Selected To Run Chrysler
from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
...
Second Chances
Two decades after battling his own demons, Southern Industries' Jim Felton is on a mission to help others
from the Augusta Chronicle
Spend some time around Southern Industries' recently completed headquarters and showroom on Bobby Jones Expressway and you'll realize the $25 million-a-year company Mr. Felton founded four decades ago is equal parts business and rehabilitation center. Nearly 30 percent of the 132 employees working in the Southern Industries family of companies, including Southern Siding & Window and Enloe Residential, are recovering drug and alcohol addicts... read more
UPDATED LINK Home Depot Fires Employees Amid Probe of Kickbacks
from CNNMoney.com
Home Depot Inc. fired four merchandise-purchasing employees who allegedly received kickbacks to ensure certain flooring products were stocked by the retailer and put in prominent positions, the company said... read more
Windows of Opportunity
Two ex-Goodrich employees now operate their own window business
from The Record
When BF Goodrich workers were told last year that the Kitchener plant would be shutting down, Cornel Ciot was as shocked as anyone. But the tire builder was not entirely unprepared. When the shutdown was announced, the 43-year-old Ciot and his brother-in-law, Gabriel Barbu, 44, both of Kitchener, had already purchased an empty lot on South Field Drive in Elmira with the hope of someday starting a business. The demise of the tire plant, part of the global Michelin company, accelerated their plans, pushing everything ahead by a few years... read more
Nardelli Selected To Run Chrysler
from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Home Depot's ex-CEO takes a gamble: He reportedly won't be paid if he doesn't achieve a turnaround
Ousted Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli has found a new home. He starts work today at the newly privatized Chrysler LLC. Chrysler's new owner, the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, hired Nardelli because of his turnaround experience and his 30 years with General Electric, where he won kudos for his work with its transportation division, Jason Vines, vice president of communications, said Sunday night... read more