Hiring Great People in 2008

Historically, the two weekends after New Year's Day are the largest help wanted issues of any newspaper. With people looking for jobs, how do you stand out from the others in trying to hire the best people?

Most companies looking to hire wait until the new year begins. People currently working want to stay at their current jobs until the end of the year to earn bonuses and holiday pay, qualify for retirement plans and enjoy holiday parties with their co-workers. Conversely, hiring companies don't want to start people in December for the same financial reasons, and because current people are more interested in their holiday shopping than training a rookie. People make their New Year's resolution "to get a job they like".

How do you start your quest to hire great people?

If you are replacing a current person, terminate them. Nothing is more embarrassing than to have a current person come up to you and say, "I saw my job advertised in the paper---what's going on?" (I did learn this rule the hard way!) Sure, you and your team will have to work a touch differently, and more often then not, you'll find the person you are firing hurt the team efforts rather than helped...after all, that is why you are making the change.

The day after the termination, post the job description of the new person on your company bulletin board, asking your current employees for referrals. A current employee knows the ins and outs, the good and bad parts of the job, and if they are recommending their friend for the job, the friend will be fully briefed before your first interview. Most people take pride in their job and their workplace. They will only ask their friends that are good workers to join the team. Additionally, a new employee will be welcomed if a friend of a current employee.

Hiring through internal referral is, by far, the best way to hire working level people. (I guess by saying this, that senior management doesn't work--- but you know what I mean, don't you?)

Interview every referral you get. You don't have to hire someone from this pool, but I bet you'll get good talent here.

A question that comes up here is one of hiring family members. There are pros and cons, both with good points. At Floral Glass we went out of our way to hire family members. If a person is a great worker, the odds are his brother or sister has the same values. Current employees will not recommend their black-sheep cousins, as it does reflect on them. We had many families working with us. We had three brothers in one family, and they all rose to line supervisors positions. Work ethic instilled at a young age does carry through to glass companies.

Yes, we had an occasional problem, but less so than in our total workforce. There is no doubt that this helped us. You don't want to have two family members posting cash and doing collections, but other than that, go for it. Look at your employee manual; if it prohibits nepotism, revise it by saying, "We are glad to interview referred family members for employment at our company. Referred applicants will receive the same treatment as job applicants from other sources"

Help wanted ads are the next most common source of gaining new employees. Ads are placed in sections based on the type of job. If you are hiring an installer, don't place it in the medical help section. Confirm the section you want with the person taking the ad. If in a general section, it is most often alphabetized using the first letter of the headline. The headline is what gets your ad read. Don't use "hard worker wanted" or 'full-time job". Say something special to get attention. Use phrases like "Exciting glass industry" or "Energy savings glass installation". Help wanted advertising is just like every other type of advertising...you want someone to read and take action based on your ad. If the ad looks small and cheap, it gives that impression of your company. Now, don't take a half-page; do put your headline in a larger type and do put a thin box around your ad. The purpose is not to hire people with the ad; you do that in person. The ad should contain the basic job description, in seven-to-ten words, your location, a short list of your benefits, and the hours of work. THE PURPOSE OF A HELP WANTED AD IS TO GET PEOPLE TO CALL YOU OR STOP IN AT YOUR SHOP. This is what you want. Give the reader a reason to call you--invite them to call you to ask questions.

Never put wages in the ad. People who want more will never call. Your firm is more than wages---maybe you have great benefits---and the whole package makes you very competitive.

Somebody in the back row just said, "Hey, Bieber, now I gotta spend more time talking to people, interviewing and such...I don't have enough time!" Hiring good people is the most important job of a leader, bar none. Don't scrimp on time for this important task.

You don't like newspaper advertising? Next week I'll be with my in-laws and not able to post, but the following week we will talk about non-traditional ways to get job applicants. The week after that, we will discuss interviewing techniques that will help you hire the best candidates.

Safety--Round Three

My Son, Philip, who is a better writer and editor than I, tells me never carry a thought longer than three times. So this will be the third and final installment on Safety in the Glass Industry.

Safety in the glass industry (and most industries) is driven by four things:

1. A desire to keep people safe and in one piece
2. A need to reduce worker's comp costs
3. A need to keep people working and productive
4. A desire to avoid problems with governments (OSHA)

If you have a true desire to remain accident-free, read on. If you are willing to accept having some accidents, then stop reading and go to work because you are going to need every penny you can get your hands on to pay your comp bills and OSHA fines,

A while back I too believed that some accidents were unavoidable, and that a small accident was OK. As our worker's comp rate slowly climbed, as our workforce became less experienced, I learned that having a safe company was not a cost, but an investment that pays real dollars and goodwill back to leadership.

If you allow a 'simple cut' as OK, where do you draw the line. Three stitches? Five stitches? A tendon in the wrist? As you work towards a zero accident rate, the three just mentioned would end up as: Nothing, Nothing, and Three stitches. The cut tendon could be avoided or at least the damage reduced. How?????? By teaching proper practices, enforcing handling and shop rules, and by wearing the correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The biggest cause of glass accidents is handling glass too often. DUH! Of course. The less 'touches' you have, the less chance for an injury. Plan your travels during the day with the last stop on the inside of the rack, and the first stop towards the edge. You say, well the orders don't come that way...and I say, get the scheduler in your company involved so that they schedule jobs with large glass on trucks that don't have other stops, or later in the day on trucks with multiple stops. You see, it does takes everyone in a company to create a safe company. Wet glass is tougher to handle than dry glass, of course you know that. When your scheduler makes appointments for large glass, do they say that high winds or rain will cause a delay? Or is it up the the installer to make his stops, no matter what? Give the installer the authority to decide when it is not safe to carry certain glass. If you have a good team they will not abuse the privileges; your teams will grow because of your trust in them.

So 'work smart' will reduce accidents. I promise. In my observations, the next biggest cause of accidents was clutter around the shop or truck. If you are carrying a lite of glass and have to step over something, your balance changes and that can cause a slip. Always have clean walkways in your shop. Have clean racks so that glass doesn't break when sliding out. Have good lighting so that a small run can be seen before a lite is picked up. Which begs the rule that every lite is inspected before it is picked up. Good lighting doesn't work if people don't open their eyes!

Working smart involves wearing shoes that support and protect you. Glass shops should allow only leather work boots, at least ankle height, with metal toes and a metatarsal guard. What is a metatarsal guard? It is a piece of steel worn on top of the shoe, above the ankle. They sure are wimpy looking---until you realize that major league umpires wear them because they prevent injuries---and umpires are far from wimpy.

If you require work boots, (YOU SHOULD) you will be responsible to pay for them. Sears is about the best choice, along with local uniform or work supply outlets. There are expensive boots, and there are realistic boots. You should offer to pay up to a set amount, usually $50-70, and if the worker wants more expensive boots than that, let them pay the difference. What do you do if the worker left his boots at home...send him home to get them, on his time, not yours. He is late when he goes for them and comes back. Too bad. Nobody wakes up in the morning and forgets to put shoes on. If employees are responsible they wear boots, if they are lazy or trouble-making they will wear their sneakers. No boots, no work, no exceptions.

Arm guards are next...there are many types to wear. I recommend a short pair of wrist guards, from the base of the hand up about six inches and then a cut protecting sleeve from the shoulder down to a point where the wrist guard is covered. Cut wrists are an expensive, and unfortunately too common injury in our trade.

If you are a manufacturer, then leg guards, or chaps should be part of your PPE program. I've found very few installation companies that use or provide chaps. So, if you don't have chaps, insist on a heavy denim-type pant, not shorts!

Safety equipment is not going to be the most comfortable option for your staff. They will complain, they will try to get around the rules, just like the 3rd graders who pass notes, but this is for every one's good. Enforce the rules you create. Use one or two people from your shop floor to help pick out various safety equipment. Try different types for a week, and you'll find greater cooperation from the work force.

All of this helps point one and two. Point three calls for keeping people working. Let's now tell you Bieber's Brainstorm: 'ONLY THE GOOD EMPLOYEES HURT THEMSELVES. THE INJURIES ONLY HAPPEN DURING BUSY TIMES OF THE YEAR. INJURIES ONLY OCCUR WHEN OTHER KEY PEOPLE ARE ON VACATION. When an accident occurs, of course you loose a good worker, even if it is just for that day. You also have three people talking about it for a day. Accidents hurt productivity beyond the person that has the injury. My feelings are that for every day an employee is lost due to an accident, you loose an additional day of productivity because of having to refocus efforts of others.

Number four, which will bite you when you are not looking is OSHA. If you have a serious injury rate higher than other firms like yours, you can expect a visit from OSHA. I have been involved with a couple of OSHA visits, and I was so surprised how careful and friendly the inspectors were. Of course, we didn't argue with them, that may have helped. But they were not there to hurt us, but to find ways to prevent accidents. Their mantra, "zero accidents", is what they will talk with you about. If you have a process in your business that has the potential of an accident, and you don't have accident prevention in place, OSHA will tell you to stop doing that, now. The answer of: "It will cost money to build a guard", or "it will take longer to do something", will not fly. Trust me, the OSHA agents I met were unflappable in their goal of stopping accidents. They took no middle ground, no compromise. An OSHA visit, will, in the long run, make you a better company, but it will be expensive and time consuming. Avoid the visit by preventing accidents.

We could write three blogs on each of the points here, but you get the drift. Avoid accidents and you will be a better company. Still have questions? Catch me at paulbaseball@msn.com, anytime.

Oh Say Can You See

In the glass industry the most basic personal safety equipment are gloves and safety glasses. Yet, in a very casual and unscientific survey I saw many glaziers and fabricators not wearing safety glasses. I kept asking 'why not?', and the overwhelming answer was "I'm careful--nothing will happen to me". I called this the 'Superman' complex as it was mostly in younger workers who thought they were invincible.

Every person in a plant, a glass shop or on a job site should wear approved safety glasses. Approved glasses are polycarbonate or approved corrective lenses, usually chemically tempered glass. No excuses. No exemptions. If you walk into your shop for just a minute, put on safety glasses. If you take someone on a tour, give them safety glasses. It's OK to set up a small safety zone by your back door for deliveries, as long as there is no glass in this area.

Owners must wear the glasses. Even if running out for 10 seconds, wear the glasses. By setting the example it is easier to enforce this safety rule throughout your organization. If you wear prescription lenses, simple side shields are available. These slip on the sides of the ear pieces protecting you from bouncing fragments. Looking chic doesn't exclude safety glasses. There are many supply companies that sell safety glasses that you won't be embarrassed to wear. Sunglasses are not safety glasses--don't allow them unless they are certified for safety. For job sites or residential calls don't allow tinted or reflective glasses. Your customers want to see who they let into their house!

It is impossible to place a value on an accident that didn't happen, but in comp cases, loosing partial or full sight is a very expensive claim. A scar on a wrist is a small claim; any claim that involves the face is an expensive claim. But don't do this for the insurance...mandate safety glasses because a horrible injury is totally preventable by wearing glasses.

If someone doesn't wear glasses, safety glasses are an adjustment. When you start your program, give it a week or two for people to get used to them. Issue each person a pair of glasses, and keep spares for visitors by the door to your shop. Yes, you will get complaints on a hot day, and some joker will say he can't see as well, using glasses as an excuse for doing something wrong. Stand firm that glasses have to be worn.

Every glass fabricator has a favorite customer. At Floral Glass our favorite customer was a gentleman named Howie Norden, from Northport, NY. He was a customer for 40+ years. He was and still is the most honest man you'll meet. He always had a joke to tell, always had a smile on his face. One day his son, Howard Jr. came in with a tragic story. His Dad was throwing some glass into the dumpster and a fragment jumped out and went right into Howie's eye. It was a long surgery, and a long recovery. After the bandages came off, his vision was saved, but he didn't see as clearly as he had before the surgery. Howie had thrown glass into that dumpster for 40 years and never had an accident. He now wears safety glasses whenever he is near glass. It only takes one freak accident to have a devastating effect.

Simply put--avoid OSHA, avoid claims, avoid trouble--provide and make mandatory the wearing of safety glasses in every corner of your shop.

Wear Your Safety Belt!

A very dear friend of my brother-in-law had an horrendous auto accident Sunday bringing sadness to our Thanksgiving weekend. I have been planning to do some blogs on safety in glass shops and plants and this now is the time to start.

Always wear your seat belts in a moving vehicle. If you are a company owner, insist that all employees wear seat belts at all times. No exceptions. Teach your employees, and your family that seat belts save lives. Sure I have seen that rare newspaper story that talks about how someone was trapped by their seat belt, but I have seen many more about people whose lives were saved by a combination of airbags and seat belts. Forty nine out of fifty states require seat belts (or child seats with belts) for all people in a car. The reason--they work.


The one state out of fifty that doesn't require belts, you ask? Why it is right here in New Hampshire where the 'live free or die' movement says the state can't tell people what to do. We also don't require motorcyclists to wear helmets. There is no coincidence that New Hampshire is one of the largest states in medical transplants. The reason is, of course, cycle and car accidents with severe head trauma, leaving organs available for transplant.

Make this a bold type statement in your employee handbook. This is for the employee's safety; and for you, an employee who is less severely injured will have a lower claim, which has a lower impact on your worker's comp insurance.

It is your job to make sure every vehicle has working seat belts, and that you have told each employee the importance of this rule. After that, it is up to each person within the company. You should set the tone by always wearing yours.

If you have a forklift, make sure it has a seat belt, and that it is used. Besides being a easy target for an OSHA visit, it just makes good sense when the night shift has their forklift races.

So, if an employee pulls in to your shop and is not wearing his/her seat belt in a company vehicle...warn them, and educate them. Make this rule have teeth. The second offense is a suspension...the third should be a longer suspension, and the fourth becomes termination. No excuses allowed. Don't listen. This is a black and white situation.

This and That at Thanksgiving

Woke up this morning to a steady snow fall. About an inch of the white stuff on the ground in the front yard already and more on the way. The best part was opening the door for our cat, Whitely. She runs out under a protected entry and then like you see in the cartoons, she applies the brakes. She skidded into the snow and looked at me like what the heck is this. We adopted her this year as a young cat, and we are not sure how young, so this may be her first snow. She took a fearful step and then pulled her paw back, then another step, and suddenly she leaps out and rolls over. Oh, to be a kid again.

Does anyone really want to talk glass now? I had an interesting visit recently which would be right for a discussion on a short week. Moving to New Hampshire we needed new wills. We met with an attorney and everything is really simple--all to the kids--but wait, he said, what if you are involved in a tragic accident and the four of you are all killed. Do you want the state of New Hampshire to decide who gets your assets?

It was an interesting question and one which Elaine and I couldn't immediately answer. IF there are not provisions for what he called a "nuclear accident" then Elaine's Mother would receive half our assets, and a cousin of mine in California would receive the other half. The lawyer asked us to prepare a list of who would receive assets in this case...a school we had attended, our Temple, nieces on Elaine's side of the family?

It is an interesting exercise to go through as we were forced to specifically think about our lives, what impact they have had on society, and what impact we would leave by allocating sums of money to certain people and institutions.

Elaine and I have discussed this, and still do not have a final list. But, this has been a real eye-opener for me to create this list. I'm told that everyone with a will should have this list attached. Think about it this weekend when we are being thankful for what we have. Who do you want to say thank you to?

Improving Employee Reliability, Part Two

Last week we talked about financial incentives to improve employee reliability, specifically hitting them in the wallet. There are many other ways to improve this most-important of all employee characteristics. Let's look at a few.

Have an on-time lottery. Set a prize each week, if you are a 3 man shop, make it a $20 bill. If you are 30 man shop, a DVD player or a small TV, or a VISA gift card. Put all employee names in a hat. Pull one name and if that employee had perfect attendance for the week, not a minute late, he or she would win the prize.

If you pulled a name that was disqualified, no prize is won, and it carries over to next week. The disqualified name is not put back in the pot. It's fun and will work. Once a quarter have a super prize of all people with perfect attendance for the quarter.

Explain to each different work team or job crew how important each person's role is. Show how each team is slowed down, or even stopped if one person is late. Peer pressure is stronger than employer pressure in any job condition and will work if you have a team type environment.

This next one sounds corny, but it really is true. People react to accolades from peers and employers better than money. For each person who has perfect attendance for a quarter, give them a framed certificate they can hang in your shop. Give a better certificate for two consecutive quarters, and even better for a year. Make each certificate presentation a big deal in the company, and this will pay dividends. Remember back to first grade---you got a gold star if you had perfect attendance. It works just as well now as it did then!

Create an administrative attendance system that understands people do need time off on occasion. We used to call it paid personal days (PPD), and employees earned a certain amount each year. They could be used when sick, or to extend a vacation by a day, or to visit Grandma. As long as they were scheduled in advance, they didn't count against any attendance awards. The scheduling in advance is the key comment.

We even went as far as to allow conditional PPD's. A person requested to take off a day if it were a sunny day so they could play golf. If the weather was bad, they came in. We had our plans in place to cover the job if they did play golf: if the person came in we had them train in another department. A win all the way around.

Have a real bereavement policy covering parents, grandparents, spouse, children, brothers and sisters. Some companies include in-laws, some don't, its up to you. Whether it is one, two or three days is up to you. Make it a standing rule that the newspaper notice has to be turned in for every person. This way you are not discriminating by asking some people for proof and not others. If a person wants to take extra days for a bereavement, then use the PPD's as available. Don't count these against perfect attendance goals.

People often ask for other legitimate days off, not to count against goals, but you, as owner, have to draw the line somewhere. You do have a business to run. If someone wants to take a day off for xyz reason, they are going to take it by calling in sick that morning. If you pre-schedule it, at least you are keeping the firm running.

Another attendance problem is the lengthy lunch...when a person is due back at their work station at 1:00, and really get there at 1:10. If you have a lunch facility in your shop is it clean and fun to go into? If not, people will rush out to a fast-food shop and can be late. If you have 10 people, and one microwave, people will leave their posts early so their food can go in the microwave. Buying two more microwaves is a small investment.

Most businesses and shops have a lunch truck that visits. If your specified lunch period is 12:15 to 12:45, but the lunch truck gets there at 12:30, people won't go back to their work stations on time. Talk with the driver and see how you can alter the schedule, or maybe alter your lunch period.

Most companies pay on Friday, and most employees go to the bank to cash or deposit their checks. This is a classic cause of getting back to work late. A couple of solutions are: extend the lunch break on Friday by fifteen minutes and work the extra time at the end of the day. Direct deposit of checks will cure this. Many employees are afraid of direct deposit for a variety of reasons. Encourage all people to take direct deposit. In some states you cannot force people to enroll. Check with your banker.

Do you have enough parking? Does the second shift have to wait until the first shift leaves to open up a parking space. If an employee is in your parking lot, and you have not given them a space to park in, they will consider that as your problem, and expect to be paid. Silly? Of Course, but it happens.

If I say 'Cal Ripken' you would say the longest consecutive games of baseball ever played. Think of this as Cal's job. He went 15 years without missing a day of work. The country went wild of this. If you have people who have gone five years without missing a day...have a party in their honor on a Friday afternoon. If someone has achieved ten years...take the whole company out for dinner in honor of this great worker. People get motivated to achieve this same goal when they see recognition like this. Take an ad in your local paper showing a picture of your achiever. Maybe the business section of the paper will follow-up and do a story. Send a photo to trade magazines. Publicity about people achieving goals is great publicity.

We talked about penalizing people for missing time, with the hope that inflicting financial pain will solve the problem, and we've talked about positive reinforcement. Every company has to use a combination of the two to succeed. Good luck with crafting your plan.

Reliability is the Most Important Employee Habit

I was in a conversation with a business owner the other day, and he asked me what was my biggest employee headache, and how did I turn it around.

An easy answer---employee reliability---was number one. Simply defined as "Did the employee show up, ready for work, when she/he was supposed to?"

In my thirty years of leadership responsibility this is the one thing that got under my skin the most. If an employee can't do an assigned task, then it was my fault for not teaching well. If an employee was injured, it was my fault for not having the proper guards and protective equipment in place. If glass was delivered broken, it is my fault for not having the correct trucks or packing supplies available.

The only thing my employees ever had to do was show up on time, ready to work. Everything else can be taught.

This was my hot button. Come in late to work and you would not be on my good side. (Prejudices do come in to play here...A late night Mets game was a good excuse for being late!)

And this is definitely a case of do what I say, not what I do. I kept an abominable schedule, but we won't go into that here.

We allowed a five minute late period for punch-in. After that, the employee was tardy. Even if they worked the extra time at the end of the day, it didn't make up for the fact that a crew was one person short and had to scramble to get started. Three tardys earned an employee a written warning about the importance of being at work timely. Two written warnings earned a one day suspension with out pay or benefits. Three suspensions lost the person a good job.

As an employer you must set and monitor your standards. Having a mechanical or even a computerized time clock is absolutely mandatory. If you leave it to a sign in sheet, you will not get good results. A supervisor who doesn't want to seem like a hard case will adjust the time to keep from getting into an argument. And, it is a matter of whose watch is correct.

At work on time and READY TO WORK are two separate concepts. A worker who stumbles in at 7:00, but needs five minutes to put on their hard hat, safety glasses and steel-toed shoes, and is ready to work at 7:06 is late. Make sure you use this as a standard. There have been some recent Supreme Court decisions that say if an employee has to come to work early to be ready for a shift, they have to be paid for that time. So if you have a heavy dress code, consider this. But if a man has to punch in, walk to his locker to hang up his coat, put on safety glasses and he's ready to work, than a simple act like this does not qualify for the exclusion.

If an employee comes to work at 7:00, and needs a bathroom break at 7:15, you have a right to be upset. You should be. If an employee clocks in and then takes ten minutes to walk to their work station, be upset.

What can employers do? For a chronically late employee, buy them an alarm clock. They are three or four dollars for a little digital one. Wipe out the excuse. Explain that they are part of a team, and if the whole team is not efficient because of one member being late, it is a problem. Another tool to use is the pocketbook. Allow every employee to make up one or two lates per year, by working past the normal ending time. After that, they should be docked for a quarter hour, or whatever your timekeeping standard is.

People will react better when the penalty is real.

We had a program, that with the blessing of our union, helped us. One year we were due to give a fifty cent raise. Instead of giving the raise in the hourly rate, we created an attendance bonus system. Each employee was given a sixty cent per hour bonus, if they worked 40 hours per week. So, a man who didn't miss any time was paid an extra $24.00 per week. The employee who was late once, earned their regular wages, but lost out on the $24. This really helped with the chronic come-in-lates or leaves-early crowd. If an employee had pre-scheduled a late, then we were OK with it, for we could move people around the day before and not leave a crew short one man. This seems so simple, come to work every day, on time, and earn a bonus. Come in late, and loose big time. There were a few people who didn't earn their bonus. People realized the old excuses didn't apply and their paycheck now ruled all.

It used to be, on a snowy day, we would hear, "you know what the roads are like, so some people would be late. Under our bonus program, even with the weather excuse, people were not paid the bonus. Amazingly, people woke up earlier, and left their homes earlier to get to work on time.

People used to make doctors appointments at any time, and would just leave work early. Now, one early leave cost $24. It worked. We didn't do it not to pay our workers...we kept track...we paid out just as much as before, but with greater efficiency among our workers. This was a win-win for all of us.

As a follow-up, it worked for six years. There was a little bit of extra bookkeeping along with this, and some exceptions were made, but it was a great success. When our firm was purchased by Oldcastle Glass, they discontinued this policy as it didn't fit with their corporate plans.

I don't know if there has been any backsliding, but I doubt it.

Next week we'll talk more about what you can do to encourage reliability of your employees, so you can be reliable to your customers.

Rudy Guiliani Wants In Too!

I have been inundated with calls and mail from the glass industry in response to last week's blog on Joe Torre joining the glass industry. I'll easily place him. The most surprising call, though, was from Rudy Guiliani, who said, he too was interested in the glass industry. I thought somebody was pulling my leg, but I called back and indeed it was hiz honor.

Rudy said, that while he was sure of becoming the next President, he wanted to have a fall back--just in case. He told me that any job that was good enough for Joe Torre was just perfect with him. We discussed his work history and what he was looking for, and came up with these 'talking points' for Rudy's campaign to get a job in the glass industry.

• In his last job, as Mayor of NYC, he negotiated with Unions on many issues. Rudy knows there are many unionized glass companies and he knows he can help them stare down the unions.
• Rudy fought the Mafia with great success. Just put him loose in your accounts receivable office and you will have no bad debts--guaranteed.
• Rudy knows quite a bit about Bullet and Blast Resistant glazing.
• Rudy told me that glass is important and should not be legislated away because it breaks. He thinks office workers everywhere should have a glass window to look out of.
• Mr. Mayor, ever the leader, wants to change the name of low-e to High-E, figures it will sell better.
• Since Rudy has been married three times, he knows all about family plans in medical insurance, payroll deductions, and prepaid legal plans, therefore he could run any glass company's HR department.
• Rudy has also been impressed with glass and mirror. He has a mirror in his office, in his house and on his campaign bus that he looks at every chance he can.
• Since Rudy is traveling back and forth between New Hampshire, Iowa, Michigan and Florida, he knows all the airline schedules and could help a company's travel department.
• Rudy prefers a company with a Republican base, no wait, now it's a liberal base, no wait, now it's a conservative base...don't worry about this...he'll fit in anywhere.
• Rudy figures he can help a nation-wide company sell their glass in New York City...after all every single person in New York believes him and will buy from him.
• His only strange request is that he not have to entertain guests and visitors at a Mets game. Once a closed mind, always a closed mind.
• Please note--he may not be available until June, or maybe November.

So, he would be the perfect person to help any glass company. As before, please send your job requirements and offering salary to me at paulbaseball@msn.com and I'll make sure that Rudy follows up on all serious offers.

Joe Torre Wants to be in the Glass Industry

On a delayed flight a couple of years ago I was sitting next to Joe Torre, and we had time to really understand each other. He told me about baseball and dealing with George Steinbrenner, and I told him about the glass industry and Chuck Kaplanek. I told him how happy I was, and he told me how unhappy he was. The boss DOES make all the difference. He was so impressed that he said he would be glad to join Floral Glass if he ever left baseball.

Well, everyone who can read a newspaper knows that Joe is now out of work in one of the more classless ways ever dreamed up by an idiotic boss.

Joe called me and said he was ready to start working. I explained to him that the business had been sold to Oldcastle Glass and we were not able to hire him, as we were no longer involved with the firm. This is when he threw me the curve ball. Joe said, "Well, since I can't work for Chuck, why don't you become my agent and get me a job in the glass industry you love so much?"

After an hour on the phone, Joe appointed me as exclusive bargaining agent for the glass industry. I asked him why glass. He said he had been following the industry ever since our chance encounter in that airplane and he saw an industry that was slow and steady, no ups and downs like a pennant race. He also read stories about glass tops breaking all over the country, and he figured that someone has to replace them, so why not him? The main reason, he said, was because I had told him about low-e glass, and that soon, everyone in the world would be using low-e, and he figured that would be a lot of people for him to sell glass to.

So...to the glass industry of the United States of America...I hereby offer the services of Joe Torre, manager extraordinaire, to work for your company. Here is what he feels would be appropriate for a man of his experience:

• A three year, no cut contract.
• Steady year-round work...he is tired of only working the spring and summer, and an occasional fall.
• A company with a Chief Executive who doesn't interfere with employees way down the line.
• A firm that sells low-e glass.
• Third base coach on the company softball team.
• Joe wants to use his experience with the Japanese market, but admits no experience with European countries (Please, someone tell this to Asahi/AGC).
• He would like a company that will send him to train in Florida, preferably in February or March.
• A company that is considered 'major' in the industry, rather than a minor player.
• A company where he doesn't have to autograph his finished goods every day.
• A position with Lyle Hill's company in Chicago, where he could have occasional afternoons off.

Joe has long been associated with winning. He will be able to help any company move from third place to first place in our industry. Joe guarantees that press coverage of his new employer will increase and that can only be good. He is hoping to find a company with many branches across the USA, where he can help align these branches into defined divisions, each contributing to the profit picture.

Remember, as Joe's exclusive agent for the glass industry, I will work hard to get him into the right position. FIRST, I'll take your phone call to talk about Joe; SECOND, we'll set up a meeting on the THIRD of next month; don't come up SHORT, STOP and think what Joe brings to the table; we'll negotiate so nothing is LEFT on the table; RIGHT on! we'll CENTER our thoughts on low-e so the sales PITCH will be OK with Joe and when we are done, we'll CATCH some sleep after this negotiation.

Don't make an error, Hire Joe (and his wordy agent). Email me at (what else) paulbaseball@msn.com

Finding Time to Run A Glass Business

At last week's Grand Rapids trade show, during my presentation on working with your glass vendors, I discussed one piece of a road map. "Take time ahead of an annual meeting with your key vendor to study what you are buying, talk to your receiving department, the finance department and your sales group. There are basic questions to see if your vendor is treating you well. (These points were discussed at the seminar, and are free to our readers, just drop me an e-mail at paulbaseball@msn.com).

The actual vendor meeting should be about an hour long, and the prep time should be 4 to 5 hours.

A hand rose up from the back, (there were actually people sitting in back AND front), and Patti Lampl, an industry consultant specializing in personnel in the glass industry, asked the Chevrolet question of the day. "If this set-up, the actual meeting, and the follow through take up about ten hours, and you work with multiple vendors, you then loose a lot of time to actually do the work!"

I was silent for a few seconds, and the only answer I could give her was a one syllable phrase "YES". Someone in the audience blurted out, sure If we do all this purchasing by the book, then we won't have time to sell.

One of the toughest decisions any manager/owner has to make is how to use his/her time. And yes, emergencies can arise, snow and high winds change every body's plans, but let's set a starting point with time.

Here is an agenda for a single owner, 4-6 installers, 1 shop person, a bookkeeper and and counter person.

The owner should spend 50% of his/her time directly with customers, getting new work, confirming work, following up at job-sites where you already have work. 10% hiring and training workers. If you have low-turnover, they your training should be top notch! 10% running the business of the glass business, working with vendors, the phone company, meetings with your insurance advisor,etc. The last usable 10% should be working to grow the business for the future. This includes attending trade shows, learning from your peers, studying trade magazines and web sites.

I would place the purchasing annual meeting in this zone of life. What can you and the partnership of your vendor be doing in the future. If the meeting is just who's got the lowest price...take a step back. Remember, your key vendor is the one that has your philosophies and if needed, you would be glad to work there. You may have two or three key vendors, one for auto glass, one for aluminum and one for flat glass. This 10% cut of time isn't for today's problems, it focuses on next month opportunities.

The last 10% is time for you and your family. A week or two of vacation, and a couple of days here and there for you to learn, attending trade shows, getting in-depth tour of a vendor's facility. (how many have actually seen glass made at a floater)? Maybe a two-day course in how to use a computer to help you make your shower door drawings.

Everyone in business has a struggle in filling their time usage dance-card. I strongly recommend that you do create and actively use your time to learn from and work with your vendors.

Some thoughts from Glass Expo in Grand Rapids

Greetings from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I feel like a foreign correspondent reporting back home. It is always exciting to be at a glass trade show, in any part of the country. I just have a few minutes, and I want to pass on one key observation.

Glass shop owners and glass industry leaders are here asking and answering questions of each other. I overheard a fabricator asking a customer how could he improve his service, and I observed shop owners getting information on new products.

The point is, people here are learning how to improve their businesses and our industry. And, these people are our current and future leaders. People who want to learn make time to do it. They budget precious dollars to get this learning experience. And they profit by it.

You don't have to travel to Grand Rapids; you don't have to spend money. Dealers associations work hard to disseminate information. Magazines publish articles that will inform you in the various segments of our industry. All you have to do is be committed to learn, invest your time in teaching yourself, and then teach your company.

So, do you budget time and money to learn? Trust me, it is worth it.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

A few minutes ago I read a news-break update that Isiah Thomas and the New York Knicks Basketball Club have been found guilty of sexual harassment in the offices.

Wait a minute you say, a professional basketball organization is involved with locker-room humor and men traveling around the country. Certainly this is acknowledged in this environment. The 'wrong' buzzer is squealing now in the background. Sexual harassment can and does happen everywhere in business, there are no places where it is acceptable under current law and custom.

An off-color joke can be considered harassment. Certainly any touching, and direct sexual overtures are way over the line. Hanging a pin-up calendar can be grounds enough for an employee to file a complaint.

Here's what you do. As soon as possible, write a statement that should go in your employee manual stating that your company frowns on any sort of sexual harassment. Appoint a senior level person, or the owner, to receive all complaints regarding harassment. Have a meeting with the whole company explaining that you do not tolerate sexual harassment, and that anyone who feels they have been harassed, or made to feel uncomfortable, should speak with the appointed listener. This listener should immediately investigate any claim, report back to ownership, and then together, meet with and counsel the offending party, if you find there is one. Explain that one person did find the behavior offensive, and counsel the offender on what not to do in the future. Go back to the complainant and explain that you have indeed counseled all involved, and any further complaint will be taken more seriously.

If a second complaint comes in, you really have to talk with the offender. It doesn't matter that they think it was innocent or cute. A letter of reprimand needs to go in the personnel file, and probably a suspension for a day or two, without pay, will get every one's attention. A third valid complaint should cause dismissal.

If you just laugh this away, it will come back to bite you. No questions asked. Your company can be liable for big bucks, as well as you individually if you do not create effective action to stop the harassment.

I had an interesting case a couple of years back, where one male supervisor said something like 'C'mon girls, let's load this cart'. Of course, all the loaders were men, a few of Hispanic background, where calling a man a girl is extremely offensive. This employee filed a complaint with the state Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, there was an investigation, which said that our supervisor was indeed saying an offensive comment. To make a long story short, we paid a $5,000 fine, in this male-to-male conversation. The moral of this story is that you have to be careful, always, in what you say in the workplace.

Any questions? Drop me an e-mail at paulbaseball@msn.com and I can send you a one-page sexual harassment statement to go into your employee manual.

Preparing an Emergency Book

One of the most important tools for any company, in any industry, is to have an emergency procedures book. It doesn't have to be fancy, just a simple binder will do. But, it will be the most important book you have when an emergency comes up.

Yes, it will happen to you. No one is immune. Whether a lightening strike, or a vehicle accident, it will happen.

The book should list:

• Owner's home phone, cell phone; owner's spouse cell phone; and the phone numbers of owner's family
• Key employee's home and cell numbers
• Phone numbers for police, fire and ambulance (if not 911) and the non-emergency number for each group
• Closest hospitals main numbers, emergency room numbers
• Phone numbers for electric, gas, water, and oil heat companies for emergency shut-off; also the numbers for emergency service and information on service interruption
• Your local sewer authority for back-ups in the system; or the cesspool servicing firm
• An environmental spill containment firm; a pre-set company on this issue will save you a bundle
• Your insurance agent, who you should call after the emergency is under control; your worker's comp insurance carrier if this is an injury to an employee
• Your lawyer; if the emergency involves injury to a non-employee, your lawyer and your insurance agent have to get into this quickly
• If you a union company, the phone numbers for the business agent and leadership of the local you deal with
• A garbage clean-up and hauling company for when you drop a load of glass on the side of a road.
• Phone numbers, office, cell, and home for: electrician, plumber, heat and air-conditioning
• Your phone carrier and your local service company that handles your phone sets and wiring
• The computer company that set up your office network
• A restoration company that can come in to mitigate smoke and water damage
• Here is an odd one--if you need to keep something cold, such as PVB, vinyl, for making laminated glass, a dry ice delivery company
• A crane repair company
• A tow truck for your fleet; and a mobile tire fixer that can go to a location where your truck is down
• The body shop you want a down vehicle to go to
• A repair company for your fork-lift
• The central station number and the installer's number for your burglar and fire alarm system
• Your locksmith to help you seal your building, or to gain access where needed
• The number for a public relations or advertising agency that you have worked with; in a serious accident you need a predetermined list of who can talk to media and what their limitations are
• The dispatcher's of your main vendors, if you have to delay or reroute shipments that are on the way to you
• Your bank, if you have to stop checks that may be stolen or lost credit cards, or who you can turn to for an emergency loan
• Your landlord, if you rent
• If you own and have tenants in part of the space, their key people phone numbers

This will take a winter weekend to put together. If you have multiple locations, create a list for each location. Update the book once or maybe twice a year. Keep a copy by your work desk, at your home, and tucked into the trunk of your car. If you travel, stick the phone lists in your suitcase. Emergencies only happen when you are in far-away places.

Hiring for the Ethnic Marketplace

The ethnic marketplace is growing in the United States. Glass use is cross-cultural, in that people of all cultures need glass replaced. Don't confuse economic class with cultural class. Poor people of any culture wont buy a new frameless shower, but middle and upper class in every culture are customers for heavy glass.

You goal is to make it as easy as possible for every culture to buy at your shop. It is a basic law of business that customers will buy from a company that they feel comfortable with. In your approach to selling in the ethnic marketplace, the first step is to have a counter or salesperson be fluently bi-lingual in the target language and English. The next time you hire, make this a requirement for hiring. You will pay more for a bi-lingual person, but it should prove to be worth it.

Oh, a detail...How do you hire someone who is bilingual? You state your need in your help-wanted ad. If this doesn't bring in the right candidates here are the back-door ways to hire.

• If the target market is big enough for you to want to sell into, there will usually be a newspaper in that language. Place your help-wanted here.

• First and second generation ethnic groups in America have the highest percentage of religious affiliation of any group. Find the church or temple, make an appointment to meet with the leader. Explain that you wish to hire someone with language skills. Every leader I ever contacted was brimming with ideas and candidates. They know who needs a job, know who can do a job, and who has the desire to work hard. This was my best source of hiring of dual-language speakers.

• Contact the state or county employment center. Explain fully what you need. In some areas, State referral systems often have a rule requiring that every applicant be sent to you, and the employment counselors can't prescreen. Even if this is the case, it is worth it. Spend a day on short interviews and bring back serious candidates for second interviews. PS, never hire someone without a second interview. Try to make the second interview at the same time as the start of the shift they could be hired for. If they can't get out of bed for an interview, they surely won't make it for a daily job.

• There may be a city council member who is of the ethnic group you want. Contact their office and you will get a couple of candidates. Politicians love this kind of phone call and will almost always come through for you.

The most important advice is: Don't forget you are in the glass business. Your first criterion in hiring is: Can the person serve your customers with your products? Hire someone that is trainable in glass, or has some construction related experience. Maybe a strong background in retail will be most important if you have the capability to teach the glass business.

Cross-Cultural Selling

Everyone in business wants this...an easy path to selling more of whatever we sell; probably glass if you are reading this blog. The United States is the world's largest (and BEST) melting pot. We have hundreds of cultures living in peace and harmony. How you can tap into this cultural sales market...read on.

First a true story. My paternal Grandfather came here from Hungary about 1905. He saw the Statue of Liberty and New York City, and immediately traveled to Trenton, NJ, which had a small enclave of Hungarian immigrants. After all, you wanted to live and work with people you could understand and who might be a cousin, or a friend of a friend. And this is how blocks of a city became an enclave of people from one country.

Part of this is related to the point of entry, Europeans huddled on the east coast, and Asians on the west coast. Some groups traveled to the mid west, like the Polish community of Chicago. And recently, the American South and South West are experiencing a strong influx of Hispanics.

Now, the assumption is you are in business. Also, that business comes before politics. If you believe in English only, click through and go somewhere else on the web. If you want to sell your products or services in a multi-cultural environment...keep reading.

First, decide which culture you want to sell to. In many towns, there may be Spanish speakers, and a large Asian population. Pick one; don't try to do more than one culture at a time. Make your decision on which culture's economy needs your service. Are the residents young or old? Are they working in physical or intellectual work? Are they home-owners or renters? Don't play politics...pick the one with the money to spend on glass and mirror work.

You may or may not have the language skills, but you don't need them! Most advertising companies will translate an ad for you. The phone books companies will do this for free because most big cities offer dual language phone books.

Your chamber of commerce may offer free translations of fliers or sales literature. Contact the Spanish Department at your local high school. Ask if they do translations...many do for free! There are numerous agencies that do this for a fee, but with a little bit of homework, you will get this done for free.

There are hundreds of AM radio stations broadcasting in Spanish who all offer free translation and help with properly understanding the ethnic marketplace.

Look at your present workforce. Is anyone a member of the ethnic group you want to sell to? Talk to him/her, find out where they live, how they spend their money...in a Latino environment, or in the general environment. In studies I have read, most first and second generation immigrants prefer to spend money within their ethnic group, and most third generation families spend in the full local economy. Ask him/her what magazines they read? Is there a local newspaper that serves the community?

In advertising, put translated ads in posters or billboards in the community. Allow for differences in style. If you have had success with a picture of a large home that you have replaced glass in, consider that your new audience may live only in the inner city, and may be renovating smaller apartments. A home owner will want a bathroom wall mirrored, but an apartment owner will want framed mirrors they can take with them.

If the ethnic group you target own homes, read about what styles are popular in that group. Just type in 'ethnic magazines' or 'Spanish magazines' in Google, and hundreds of titles appear for you to brows through. Go the closest public library to the area you want to sell into. You will see local publications and advertising that will give you ideas.

This has been the easy part, next week we will discuss hiring practices that will work...and will ensure that you hire the correct employees for the marketplace.

Why the Glass Industry is Better Than Baseball

Ouch, this headline a hard statement to make, especially to me. Here is how I came to this mind-numbing conclusion.

Every morning I go to Mets.com to read up on my boys loss or win on the previous day. Fortunately, this year we have more wins than losses. Living in New England now, my second stop is Red Sox.com, which is is also an exciting and rewarding visit this year. But then I look at second place, and while they teams are almost as good, they aren't in first place. There is a decided difference between being in first or second place. It means more money, more fame, and helps to keep building the ball club. Second place means you are trying to rebuild for next year. Or maybe by trading away top prospects, you can gain one over-the-hill veteran to help make the September stretch drive.

Being in third place or lower usually means you are less than .500 in games won, so you are in the bottom half.

Baseball games also lend this, you are a winner or a looser, there is no middle ground. Each day, you either win, or lose. Winning is better.

How does this relate to the glass industry? I just finished reading about the survey from INC Magazine, listing the top 5,000 growth businesses in the country. AEE Solar of Redway, CA, led the glass industry listings with 846% growth in three years. Next was GT Solar, of Merrimack, NH, with an 801% growth. Third place is Smart Building Systems of Fort Myers, FL, with a 322% growth.

Now this third place is not too shabby!

There are shades of winning and loosing in the glass industry. Having the 10Th largest glass shop in the New York area is huge. There are over 1,000 glass shops in metropolitan New York. I bet the first 700 make money and support their owners quite nicely. Can you imagine if there were 700 major league teams, all with weak pitching? With thirty teams spread across 2 leagues and three divisions each, there can only be six winners in baseball.

In the league of the New York Glass Industry, probably nine hundred out of a thousand are winners. It's a lot better to deal with these nine hundred than pulling for the second place Yankees. In sports it is first or worst, with very little middle ground. Glass is easier. We can all be winners.
(To read more about Inc's list, go to http://www.inc.com/inc5000/)

A Blunt Reply to a Ding-Dong in the Glass Business

I received an anonymous e-mail from a reader that accused me of being in the employ of the glass manufacturers because I strongly advocate the use of low-e glass.

Anytime Mr. or Ms. Stupidly Anonymous wishes to view my bank deposit records they are welcome; but that will never happen because they don't want to speak in person.

I, and the others who write here, promote low-e glass because it is a better product for consumers. The cost-payback is usually low, under two or three years. The benefits last forever. Low-e has everything going for it, except universal knowledge.

Mr. and Mrs. DingDong installed plate glass all their lives and they are not going to change now.

If you still aren't sure about low-e, drop me a note at paulbaseball@msn.com and I will answer your questions, or get someone who can. I hope that everyone who reads USGlass, and the News Forum quotes and installs low-e every day.

Raising A Glass Can Destroy Your Glass Business

Sure, it was just an occasional beer on a hot day. But you have been noticing that Sam (we'll call him Sam) has been coming back a few minutes late from lunch and you could smell beer on him. In fact just the other day something funny happened. Sam cut a piece of window glass at 27 1/2" instead of 21 1/2". The customer didn't see it until she got home and called you. You said you would Sam right over with the correct piece.

You walked into the shop, and found Sam, sitting against the back door, catching a few minutes of shut-eye. You gave him a nudge, the order for the correct size, and he was on his way. Took the van, the correct piece of glass, and was back in thirty minutes.

It was while Sam was driving your van that you started to think. You realize Sam had a couple of beers at lunch, and was now driving your van, and going into a customer's home. You break into a sweat when you remember the low number you put on your liability insurance. Well, Sam came back and no damage done. You dodged the bullet today...and someday soon, you are going to have that talk with Sam you keep putting off.

If you were to open the dictionary to "unexpectedly going out of business without a penny left", there's your picture. Wait a minute, you fired that Kid last summer who stole some office supplies, and you released the counter person who ordered the wrong windshield. You are fairly tough on your employees, so it is OK to bend a rule or two for Sam, who worked for your Father for ten years before you took over the business.


The picture is still in the dictionary, this time under "didn't see it coming at em".

An employee who works while impaired, whether from alcohol or drugs can bury your business. Alcohol is legal, and the drugs may be a prescription that is legal. Nonetheless, an employee who is not fit for work, that you let work, opens you and your business to liability that will bury you.

If Sam had a fender bender with your van, that wasn't even his fault, and the Police smelled alcohol, and did the Breathalyzer, in most states you own the accident. If Sam made an off-color remark at the customer's home, you could be on the way to handing over the keys. You have complete responsibility if you knowingly allow an employee who has had a drink get in contact with the public.

There is no question that every glass shop should create and enforce a zero tolerance on alcohol during the work day. If you go to lunch with a customer, it is not wimpy to order an iced tea. The three drink lunch was acceptable a generation ago, but not now.

If Sam has a drink, comes back to work, and causes an accident in which he and another worker are hurt, go to the hospital and have blood work, and it comes back positive for alcohol, you have created a hazardous work place. The injured, non-drinking, worker can sue you for negligence.

The hardest part of a zero-tolerance position is that you do have to enforce it. Announce it to your crews, meet with them and explain this is not a comment about drinking, but a safety issue. The macho guys will say that one beer at lunch doesn't affect them. It might effect them less than it would me, but an ounce of alcohol affects every one to some degree. There are no exceptions. Ask each worker if they want to be on the other side of a 72 x 100 mirror with a guy who had a beer twenty minutes earlier.

If you don't have a program now, look in the yellow pages for drug testing. It is not expensive to create a program. Ask for quotes covering writing your policy and training your supervisors. This shouldn't be over a couple of thousand dollars for a medium sized company. You have to commit time from yourself and your supervisors to be trained. And, you have to be role models. Unquestionable. No middle ground. You have to train every supervisor to notice signs of intoxication or impairment. If a supervisor suspects someone to be impaired, call your testing company and they will come to you to do a Breathalyzer. Never send someone to drive themselves to the testing center. If they have an accident, you are responsible. The mobile tests are accurate and legal. Even if your state has a .08 threshold for driving impairment, you can set your level at .04, or .02. This goes beyond being able to drive a car. It is using power tools, cutting and lifting glass, making an impression on the public with your name on their backs.

The hardest thing is to enforce the issue. If someone is drunk at work, and your program allows for a 60 day suspension, then enforce the suspension, even if it is for "the guy you could never do without". Its your program, you can start with a 30 day suspension, or instant dismissal, or just probation and a warning. Whatever you pick, it must be enforced evenly to every employee. If it is your son or daughter, so be it.

I promise you, if you create an even-handed policy, enforce it equally within your entire company, your glass shop will be better of for it.

What's In Our Future

Working with consulting clients, the most often asked question is: What is the future of the glass industry? Or as the business side of us would say, Where should I be investing my money in the glass business?

My answer is quick and sure--go with PVB laminating.

Laminated glass offers many avenues of sale, safety glass, great color possibilities, blast and bullet resistance and ease of use at the installer level.

If you live or work near the East Coast of the United States, hurricane glass should be a phrase in your vocabulary.

If you have an airport in your back yard, or an interstate, laminated glass reduces sound transmission through your windows.

Lami does all this and more. Put lami into a residential IG unit and the furniture fades less. Most skylights are made using lami to meet the code for glass fallout. Lami protects most jewelry stores in our country from the smash-and-grab thief.

Add low-e to one light of the lami sandwich in an insulating glass unit and energy efficiency is in your installation.

If you are in a retail glass shop, learn everything you can about lami, study Solutia's and Dupont's web sites (listed in the US Glass Forum this week). If you are wondering how to grow your business, Lami is the way to go.

Lami can do everything. Wow, this sure does sound like a prepared blog by some association selling lami, but it is not. My consulting customers have paid a lot to hear this same advice. The only fee I hope to get from our USGlass readers is a simple phrase spoken out-loud: "Go Mets" While my hourly rate would be nice, the Mets are more important than money.

So what have we learned today? The future of the glass industry lies with laminated glass, and I can be bought fairly cheap.

What to Do When Your Employees Hit Home Runs--and Their Names are not Bonds or Rodriguez

This past weekend two events happened in Major League Baseball which everyone has heard about. Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron's home run record, and Alex Rodriguez became the youngest ballplayer to reach the 500 home run milestone. To the seven people out there who care about Barry Bonds--congratulations. The rest of us can admire the skill and grace that Alex Rodriguez has displayed.

What do you do when a player on your glass industry team team hits a Home Run? Let's define what a Long Ball is in our glass industry league. It is doing a tough job, with a fussy customer, so well that the expected complaint phone call becomes a thank you phone call from the customer. That's a Round-Tripper! It is when a customer calls your office for a quote, and your office assistant does the quote, calls the customer back, sells the job, adds low-e, and when you look at it, the selling price is just a little higher than you would have asked for! That's a Dinger.

A Home Run is a 3 month period without a recordable accident. And of course, a Grand Slam year is when your accountant tells you to start spending on capital equipment.

When a Round-Tripper is hit, reward the employee when it happens. Let the flashbulbs pop and the streamers come down from the upper deck. Don't wait until the employee's written review. Order a cake from the bakery, get your staff together and have a ten minute celebration sharing the joy of something well done. As for the individual, privately give them a small thank you. It can be a prepaid gas card or a restaurant gift card. The amount of money can be small or significant, but the THANK YOU should be shouted so that your whole company knows that this special someone did something that helped the whole company. If the Big Hit scored you a $100,000 profit, then the celebration should be a lot larger.

So, enjoy the game in the glass industry league, celebrate every time someone Goes Yard, and you will be in the profit play-offs every year!

Window Cleaning--Part II

The old saying is absolutely true...You do learn something new every day!

Last week I wrote a story about cleaning the new windows in our house. The story closed with a plug for GANA's window cleaning procedure. After all, I am in the glass industry, and GANA is the loudest and most knowledgeable voice in our industry. I have always, and still do believe, that if GANA's technical committee publishes a standard or procedure it is correct.

Here is what I learned...A gentleman named Gary Mauer sent a couple of replies to that post, with a couple of good questions. I thought back and did not ever remember coming in contact with Mr. Mauer. Who was he? I looked at his e-mail address on his note, www.window-cleaning.net and my learning for the day started.

This is an association of professional window cleaners. There was a lot of vendor info and a couple of technical papers. I read one on 'tempering debris' and why poorly cleaned and maintained tempering ovens can cause dust to be baked on the glass during tempering. When this glass is cleaned in the field these microscopic particles dislodge and these particles are the cause of the scratches, not the razor blade or paint scraper in the hand of the window cleaner.

The writer of the paper goes on to say that he disclaims scratches in any event on any tempered glass.

What a fascinating thought this is. I looked at our industry from the other side and found that we are not perfect. This truly was an "AHA" moment for me. Sure, I had customers want to remake glass because of problems, but that came from glass shops in my industry. I had never looked from the outside in.

I remember many times my tempering managers shut down one of our ovens for cleaning because of specks in the oven. I never thought of the results of not cleaning, as we always did clean. I imagine there are temperers who do not clean often enough and produce glass with embedded debris.

I don't agree with the web site that all scratches on tempered glass come from this problem, but it sure was interesting seeing the other side of the coin.

Mr. Mauer certainly did me a favor by taking the time to write his note. Thank you Gary Mauer for showing this old dog a new trick.

We're Cleaning Our Windows

We finally have our new windows installed in our house in New Hampshire. We chose metal-clad wood Marvin Windows with Cardinal Soft-Coat Low-e. We were replacing single paned wood windows, originally installed in the house in 1940. To say that we will have improvements in our energy usage is an understatement.

The picture is the view from our living room, with Mount Monodnack about 5.5 miles away, in the upper left, and Bowker Pond at the base of the hill. We see roughly 100 square miles of forest and lakes through these windows, and they just had to be perfect.

And they were. The delivery was on-time, the installation was steady and didn't bring any problems, and we were ready for the finishing touch...the cleaning of the windows. The windows were protected in transit from Marvin, and only got dirty with the construction needed to put them in. A lot of saw dust, some fingerprints, and a few specks of paint.

The assumption here is that I know something about glass. I really do. Honest. But what I know about glass has not been transferred to my wife.

She wanted to help in this project so she volunteered to clean the windows.

Elaine started with a spray bottle window cleaner and did a great job, until she hit some adhesive residue from the manufacturer's labels. Manufacturers and fabricators have to walk a fine line between too little adhesive, which leaves no residue but often leaves no label, and too much residue, which guarantees information, but also guarantees left-over adhesive.

Marvin's adhesive was pretty good...just a slight amount of residue.

Elaine didn't ask me for advice. She could handle this. I saved our marriage at the last second as I saw her carrying a bottle of abrasive cleanser towards the living room windows. Another few seconds and, well you know.

All's well that ended well, but this little incident reminded me of some comments I wanted to make to our glass industry readers.

The GANA (Glass Association of North America) website has a great informational bulletin on cleaning glass. Go to glasswebsite.com, click on publications and scroll about halfway down to "Proper Procedures for Cleaning Architectural Glass Products". You should print this and make it a part of every job submission you do.

Every one reading this article has gone back to a job site that has 'scratches', which the customer wants you to fix, where the scratches have the telltale marks of razor blades from cleaning.

Unless you will be present at the cleaning, it becomes your word against theirs...and no matter what, you loose. There will be an argument, an upset customer, and a question mark about getting new work. Take five minutes out of your schedule at the turnover time, speak with the owner about proper glass cleaning, and send a copy of the GANA Procedures to the owner and to the glass cleaners. Most professional window cleaners are good...you just have to help a little. It is a good investment on your part to ensure your last check and retainage come in on time.

Many Shades of White, The Easy Way

This past week I was discussing laminated glass with a client and remembered this inexpensive way to make some unique glass. We once had a customer ask for a glass facade made up of many shades of white glass, going from darker to lighter up the building.

We suggested using laminated glass, two lights of Starphire(tm), with two .030 white interlayers for the base. The next step was using one .030 white and one .015 white. The next was one .030 white, and the top was one .015 white along with an .015 clear. Each step was just a little bit lighter in color intensity. We made a mock-up, the customer loved it, and we sold a nice job. The alternative would have been sandblasting with different grits. Using lami was cleaner looking and less expensive.

We made alternate samples changing one lite of the lami to acid etched glass, which doubled the number of shades of white. The customer stayed with just the original four shades. This was an easy way to create additional color change in white glass.

Do you have any stories about color in glass? Post them at the USGlass News Forum pages, and...we thank you.

The All Star Game

Come on, you knew this was coming...it is the time of the Major League Baseball All-Star game, and you thought it would be skipped here?

It is time for each of us to think about the All-Stars in our life... but that is easy...our families, our parents, our kids, maybe even a puppy, that is the first team.

Since this is supposed to be a glass blog, (Deb Levy tells me this), lets look at the All-Stars in business. Think about it, who are the people you would send to the glass industry all-star game.

Drop me a note at paulbaseball@msn.com and tell us who is:

The best glass salesperson that calls on you....
The best metal salesperson that calls on you....
The best glass telephone salesperson you work with....
The best metal telephone salesperson you work with....
The best supplies salesperson you work with (phone or in person).....

Send us your list, we may not be able to publish each one, but I will try to get every All-Star's name published. This is your chance to recognize the All-Stars in your life.

P.S When I ran this idea past a few people they were hesitant to list the best employees in their company, for a couple of reasons, and they were right. Think of who your all-stars are, go tell them they are an all-star, you'll feel good and so will they.

How to Make Up Your Mind on the Oldcastle-Vistawall Combination

Is it time to make up your mind on THE news story of the week in our industry? People have been calling me and asking if I think the merger will work. This is an easy question, but not THE question of the week.


Of course it will work. If you define work as making money for Oldcastle Glass. The people putting this merger together are pros at what they do. Oldcastle Glass' growth comes as much from acquisition as it does from real business growth. This is their declared policy, and they are good at it. After they acquire companies they are tops at combining knowledge and cost savings to the benefit of all.


Do you define success as keeping all the employees happy? This benchmark wouldn't happen even if every employee was given a million bucks. Some people will grouse they should have had a million and one. A lot of people will be nervous about their jobs. Rightly so. An acquiring company usually changes people. Some people will get new opportunities, and some people will get early retirement.




But that still is not the right question. You might think it is "What will the competitors do in the face of this change?" Well, don't bother with this one. Unless you are one of a hand full of people, you can't impact this decision. Certainly the marketplace will change to some degree, but with no way of knowing what the change will be, all will be waiting.




Open the envelope already, what is THE question?




Will the Oldcastle-Vistawall acquisition affect me and my business?



Yes.



You will have to decide if you want to buy from a super-sized conglomerate or from a local source. The super-sized one will have all the answers, will improve our industry with knowledge and vision and should give a return to its shareholders. The local sources will have to get better at what they does in order to compete. They must carry a fuller line, have better training for people and be able to support you on energy savings and structural information. In other words, every vendor has to get better in order to earn your dollars.



I think we all come out ahead in this. The only one who doesn't is the one who will sit there and watch the changes in our industry go by without them.




This acquisition will ferment change in our industry. Roll with the changes, or they will walk right by.

What Do You Look For In A Tempered Glass Supplier

On the pages of USGlass News Forum I wrote the top ten list of statements you don't want to hear from a temperer, so let's take a serious look at tempering suppliers.

In creating a list of characteristics of tempering suppliers, there are 75 features that came to mind. Some are petty and some are extremely important.

Number a page 1-25, and write in the numbers of those characteristics from the most important to those of lesser importance. E-mail your list to paulbaseball@msn.com, or fax to 603-242-3527. We'll post a summary of your replies in three weeks.

1. Can do 1/8.

2. Can do 5/8.

3. Can do 3/4.

4. Can do as small as 6 x 6.

5. Can do as small as 12 x 12.

6. Capacity up to 72 wide.

7. Capacity up to 84 wide.

8. Capacity up to 96 wide.

9. Capacity up to 120 wide.

10. Capacity up to 168 long.

11. Capacity up to 180 long.

12. Capacity up to 200 long.

13. Can mitre and bevel front and back.

14. Can polish and mitre shaped glass.

15. Cuts shapes with a water jet.

16. Has automated and consistent shape catalog.

17. Stocks all standard colors.

18. Stocks 3 or more patterns of obscure glass.

19. Stocks 3/8 pattern glass for shower doors.

20. Is also a laminator.

21. Is also an insulator.

22. Sells only to the glass trade on a wholesale basis.

23. Does ceramic frit spandrel.

24. Does opaci-coat(tm) spandrel.

25. Does silk screen patterns for spandrel or vision.

26. Manufactures all glass entrance systems.

27. Stocks door hardware for resale.

28. Provides engineering services for all glass doors.

29. Stocks shower door hardware for resale.

30. Helps with designs for shower doors for free.

31. Helps with designs for shower doors for a fee.

32. Meets ASTM standards for quality.

33. Exceeds ASTM standards for quality.

34. All glass marked with accurate shipping labels.

35. Shower doors are wrapped and protected.

36. On time exceeds 90%.

37. On time exceeds 95%.

38. On time exceeds 98%.

39. Remakes are next day.

40. Remakes are 3 days.

41. Design help for wind load, thermal stress, weight.

42. Union shop.

43. Non-union shop.

44. Crane equipped flat bed trucks.

45. Ability to hoist above first floor.

46. Minimum pricing of 5 sq ft.

47. Minimum pricing of 7 sq ft.

48. Minimum pricing of 10 sq ft.

49. Pricing based on size of particular order.

50. Consistent pricing regardless of order size.

51. Open account terms.

52. Cash discount for prompt payment.

53. Accepts credit card payments.

54. Friendly telephone support.

55. Knowledgeable telephone support.

56. Friendly field sales support.

57. Knowledgeable field sales support.

58. Independent company.

59. Part of large national company.

60. Does advertising that helps your shop.

61. Communicates well on problems.

62. Communicates well on down-time.

63. Protects you if your customer calls for pricing.

64. Company has and follows ethical standards.

65. Boxes glass according to schedules.

66. Will ship to job sites.

67. Will ship to secure job sites, like airports.

68. Has useful web site.

69. Allows direct ordering via web site.

70. Gives order status via web site.

71. Sends samples for free.

72. Charges for samples.

73. Understands heat soaking.

74. Does heat soaking.

75. Anything else you want_____________.