My dreams have been shattered yet again. There is always next year. There is no joy in Mudville. So what, it is only a game. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a die-hard New York Mets fan. And my boys dropped the ball, again. They had it in their hands, and no one could take it away, if they just held on. They didn't, I'm upset, and yet, this morning in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, the sun did rise.
My boys came in second in the American League East, and second in the National League Wild Card. In baseball, second is just not good enough.
Is it good enough for the glass business? You bet it is. We all set different goals for our businesses. It may be a sales total, or having a certain backlog amount or getting a certain share of the market. You can set any goal you want, but the most basic of all goals, and in the long-run the only one that counts, is achieving an amount of profitability to pay yourself, your investors, and have extra to grow the business.
The American League East has five teams. If you have five competitors, and somehow you knew every one's profit, and you were in second place, meeting the above goals, I would consider that just about wonderful. I remember watching the Olympics last month, and how disappointed the Silver medalists were. They had worked so hard, and yet were heart-broken not to earn the Gold. To me, they were still second best in the world at their specialty. Not Bad.
A glass shop owner or manager has to set goals and monitor the success of reaching these goals. This is the way to motivate people, to measure yours and their successes and to stop problems when they are small. When you set your goals for all aspects of the business, keep in mind that setting a profit goal is key. Don't set it to be the best in your area in profit. Set it to be enough to pay yourself a fair salary, earn a return on your investment in equipment and maybe a building, and to have something to grow with. Do this and you will be a champion each and every year. Just don't bet your profits on my Mets.
How much is enough profit? If you make 10-15% net profit before taxes, give yourself a pat on the back. From 5-10%, it is time to take a good hard look at specific areas in the company. Where are you spending? What is your overhead? How can you bring in more profitable business? Are you paying yourself a nice paycheck, without the profit being there? Speak with your accountant to help pin down where the profit is or isn't. Maybe you run a really good shop, but you need more sales. Maybe it is in your purchasing. Maybe it is your collections.
If your profit is less than 5% of sales, you really have to consider if this is the best line of work to be in.
My consulting partner, Stan Lane, has told me that he never bought a loaf of bread with a percentage point. So, if your profit is 5%, but that is still a lot of money, than you are OK. But if your overall dollars are that good, then you should find the reasons in your company you are not making a higher percentage.
Check your profit at least once a quarter. Many companies do it monthly. Do you have a bookkeeper? She/He should be able to do this easily. Now, one month does not make a panic, but trends are easy to spot if you look for them. Is labor, as a percentage of sales, increasing? Are materials costs going up, and you are not passing these increases through?
So, second best in profits is great, if it meets your goals.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Tempered Glass Is Always Perfect...Except When It Isn't
Every fabricator strives to deliver perfect tempered glass. That is why you buy from them. Most of the time, they succeed in this perfection. Sometimes their in-house quality program will reject glass, but you never know this. What happens when they ship the glass and your foreman says, "Boss, we have a problem!" Could be you and the fabricator are working to different standards of perfect. ASTM C 1048-04 is the standard for Heat-Treated Flat Glass, either Heat-Strengthened or Fully Tempered. This is the puppy we should all be petting.
Last week we learned that flat glass isn't perfect, so if a fabricator tempers a piece of flagrantly flawed float (say that three times), and it still meets the standards, you own it. Tempering adds even more variables to the mix.
Let's read excerpts of the standard on distortion in glass:
7.4.1 "Thermally tempered and heat-strengthened glass is made by heating glass in a furnace to a temperature at which the glass becomes slightly plastic. Immediately after heating, the glass surfaces are rapidly cooled by quenching with air from a series of nozzles. The original flatness of the glass is slightly modified by the heat treatment, causing reflected images to be distorted."
7.4.2 "...Fully tempered and heat-strengthened glass that has been made in a horizontal furnace my contain surface distortion. Distortion will be detected when viewing images reflected from the glass surfaces.
7.4.4 "Sealed insulating glass units also exhibit distortion regardless of glass type. Air or gas, trapped in the sealed airspace between the panes, expands or contracts, with temperature and barometric changes, creating a pressure differential between the the airspace and the atmosphere. The glass reacts to the pressure differential by being deflected inward or outward."
The standard addresses concerns that we all have. It acknowledges that glass isn't perfect. Mostly, when it comes to scratches and rubs in glass, the flat glass standard C1036, applies. So if a scratch is not visible from 11 feet away, it doesn't exist. These standards are critically important to your business. Ask your fabricator for a copy, or go to ASTM.org, where you will pay a fee for a download.
The biggest issues with tempered glass is size tolerance and 'bow and warp'.
There are special sections that address both of these.
Here is a basic chart for size tolerance that should be adhered to:
Thickness.........Finished Size Tolerance, Length or Width, plus or minus
1/8 ......................... 1/16
3/16 ....................... 1/16
1/4 ......................... 1/16
3/8 ......................... 3/32
1/2 ......................... 1/8
3/4 ......................... 3/16
As this is a plus or minus tolerance, one side of a 1/2 lite can be full by an eighth, the other side shy an eighth, making the lite 1/4 out, and it still is acceptable.
The standard for bow and warp is based on the overall size and thickness of the finished lite. Let's look at the allowable bow in just two thicknesses,
Size(in) 20-35...35-47...47-59...59-71...71-83...83-94...94-106
1/4 ..... (.12).....(.16) .....(.20)....(.28)....(.35)....(.47).....(.55)
3/8 ..... (.08)......(.08)....(.16).....(.20)....(.24)....(.28).....(.35)
A lite of 1/4 tempered, 48 x 96, can be warped over a half-inch! Do you find this acceptable? The standard does, and if your glass comes in with this warp, what do you do?
Talk with your fabricator early-on in your relationship and understand what tolerances they ascribe to. Do they have a tighter standard for a high-quality piece like a shower door or table top, than they do for general glazing? This is the key. Know what your fabricator expects of themselves and you will know the standard you can promise your customers.
One last thought, these standards are not law. If you make a contract with a customer to provide perfect glass, that is fine. Buy you probably will need to order two or three lites to get one that is dead-on perfect. If you try to always sell perfect, you better adjust your pricing now.
Last week we learned that flat glass isn't perfect, so if a fabricator tempers a piece of flagrantly flawed float (say that three times), and it still meets the standards, you own it. Tempering adds even more variables to the mix.
Let's read excerpts of the standard on distortion in glass:
7.4.1 "Thermally tempered and heat-strengthened glass is made by heating glass in a furnace to a temperature at which the glass becomes slightly plastic. Immediately after heating, the glass surfaces are rapidly cooled by quenching with air from a series of nozzles. The original flatness of the glass is slightly modified by the heat treatment, causing reflected images to be distorted."
7.4.2 "...Fully tempered and heat-strengthened glass that has been made in a horizontal furnace my contain surface distortion. Distortion will be detected when viewing images reflected from the glass surfaces.
7.4.4 "Sealed insulating glass units also exhibit distortion regardless of glass type. Air or gas, trapped in the sealed airspace between the panes, expands or contracts, with temperature and barometric changes, creating a pressure differential between the the airspace and the atmosphere. The glass reacts to the pressure differential by being deflected inward or outward."
The standard addresses concerns that we all have. It acknowledges that glass isn't perfect. Mostly, when it comes to scratches and rubs in glass, the flat glass standard C1036, applies. So if a scratch is not visible from 11 feet away, it doesn't exist. These standards are critically important to your business. Ask your fabricator for a copy, or go to ASTM.org, where you will pay a fee for a download.
The biggest issues with tempered glass is size tolerance and 'bow and warp'.
There are special sections that address both of these.
Here is a basic chart for size tolerance that should be adhered to:
Thickness.........Finished Size Tolerance, Length or Width, plus or minus
1/8 ......................... 1/16
3/16 ....................... 1/16
1/4 ......................... 1/16
3/8 ......................... 3/32
1/2 ......................... 1/8
3/4 ......................... 3/16
As this is a plus or minus tolerance, one side of a 1/2 lite can be full by an eighth, the other side shy an eighth, making the lite 1/4 out, and it still is acceptable.
The standard for bow and warp is based on the overall size and thickness of the finished lite. Let's look at the allowable bow in just two thicknesses,
Size(in) 20-35...35-47...47-59...59-71...71-83...83-94...94-106
1/4 ..... (.12).....(.16) .....(.20)....(.28)....(.35)....(.47).....(.55)
3/8 ..... (.08)......(.08)....(.16).....(.20)....(.24)....(.28).....(.35)
A lite of 1/4 tempered, 48 x 96, can be warped over a half-inch! Do you find this acceptable? The standard does, and if your glass comes in with this warp, what do you do?
Talk with your fabricator early-on in your relationship and understand what tolerances they ascribe to. Do they have a tighter standard for a high-quality piece like a shower door or table top, than they do for general glazing? This is the key. Know what your fabricator expects of themselves and you will know the standard you can promise your customers.
One last thought, these standards are not law. If you make a contract with a customer to provide perfect glass, that is fine. Buy you probably will need to order two or three lites to get one that is dead-on perfect. If you try to always sell perfect, you better adjust your pricing now.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Understanding the Glass Standards
Glass and perfect don't go together in the same sentence. There will always be something that the fussiest customer will complain about. Your two options are curling up with a bottle of Southern Comfort or understanding the glass standards that are used within our industry.
The basic standard is ASTM C 1036-06. This means: American Society for Testing and Materials, Standard # C1036, updated in 2006. If you want to download the full standard (for a small fee) go at ASTM.org and you will see the breadth of their offerings. You may be able to get a full copy from your glass wholesaler or key fabricator.
This is the standard for flat glass, that is annealed glass coming from the floaters. Tempered and laminated glass have different standards which we'll discuss in the future. But this is the parent of all the standards. If something is allowable by this standard, it is allowable in tempered or IG, or Lami, or whatever. I cannot stress how important it is for you to use this standard. Your vendors do. I bet every glass shop in America has called up their fabricator complaining about a small scratch on Mrs. Johnson's IG unit, and hears that it is within standards. You must understand these standards, and be able to manage your installs and problems using C1036-06 as a guideline.
Let's look at the standard. Again, this is for annealed glass, coming from the floater, or going to you, or to your customer. there are various sections in the standard, here is section 1.3: "The specification cover the quality requirements of flat, transparent clear, and tinted glass. This glass is intended to be used primarily for architectural glazing products including: coated glass, insulating glass units, laminated glass, mirrors, spandrel glass, or similar uses." This covers it all. Your products are in this list.
The next point to understand is there are 4 different qualities of glass mentioned, Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. Each has different standards, with Q1 being the fussiest and Q4 the most lax. Q1 is defined as glass for high-quality mirrors, Q2 for general use mirrors, Q3 for "Production of architectural glass products including coated, heat treated, laminated and other glass products.", and Q4 as general glazing applications.
The average glass shop should expect their products to meet Q3. Here are some examples of the Q3 standard:
So if there is on small blemish in a piece delivered to you, you own it.
The basic standard is ASTM C 1036-06. This means: American Society for Testing and Materials, Standard # C1036, updated in 2006. If you want to download the full standard (for a small fee) go at ASTM.org and you will see the breadth of their offerings. You may be able to get a full copy from your glass wholesaler or key fabricator.
This is the standard for flat glass, that is annealed glass coming from the floaters. Tempered and laminated glass have different standards which we'll discuss in the future. But this is the parent of all the standards. If something is allowable by this standard, it is allowable in tempered or IG, or Lami, or whatever. I cannot stress how important it is for you to use this standard. Your vendors do. I bet every glass shop in America has called up their fabricator complaining about a small scratch on Mrs. Johnson's IG unit, and hears that it is within standards. You must understand these standards, and be able to manage your installs and problems using C1036-06 as a guideline.
Let's look at the standard. Again, this is for annealed glass, coming from the floater, or going to you, or to your customer. there are various sections in the standard, here is section 1.3: "The specification cover the quality requirements of flat, transparent clear, and tinted glass. This glass is intended to be used primarily for architectural glazing products including: coated glass, insulating glass units, laminated glass, mirrors, spandrel glass, or similar uses." This covers it all. Your products are in this list.
The next point to understand is there are 4 different qualities of glass mentioned, Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. Each has different standards, with Q1 being the fussiest and Q4 the most lax. Q1 is defined as glass for high-quality mirrors, Q2 for general use mirrors, Q3 for "Production of architectural glass products including coated, heat treated, laminated and other glass products.", and Q4 as general glazing applications.
The average glass shop should expect their products to meet Q3. Here are some examples of the Q3 standard:
- Blemishes under 1.2 mm allowed
- Blemishes 1.2-2.0 mm allowed if 24" apart
- Blemishes over 2.0 mm not allowed
So if there is on small blemish in a piece delivered to you, you own it.
Let's look at one other part of the standard--The Q3 "allowable Shell Chip Size", which details what size chips are allowed:
- Chip Depth Less than or equal to 50% of glass thickness
- Chip Width Less than or equal to glass thickness
- Chip Length Less than or equal to 2 times the chip width.
So if you sell 'perfect glass' and promise beautiful glass, you may not be able to purchase beautiful glass from your fabricator. Sure, you can buy two of every order, and one will be better than the other, but you won't be in business for more than a week or two. Ask your fabricator what standards they use, and if they do the same or better than C1036. That answer is what you have to sell to.
Tempered and Lami have even looser standards, which we will discuss next week.
Monday, September 8, 2008
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