Latest Articles in Operations
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October 6, 2015Have you ever taken on a fenestration replacement project outside of your comfort zone? Were you glad you did? Or, did you wish you hadn’t? Either way, you likely gained some valuable experience from it and it influenced your project undertakings in the future. When I converse with my many dealer connections in different regions via phone, social media or in person. One dealer friend of... more »
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September 29, 2015Cash is your company’s lifeblood. Without it, the business cannot function and grow properly. While sales are important, cash is still king. Failure to have a system to effectuate collections is a plan for eventual failure. The first step is to put some past-due prevention measures in place. Some proven strategies are to develop a credit approval process for new clients, collect a 50... more »
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September 21, 2015COLUMN : Legal | OperationsEvery significant business has a multi-layered intersection with the risk inherent in the American legal system—product manufacturers and resellers especially. From the product perspective, lawyers who manage the risk at these layers require a knowledgeable connection between established legal issues and the nuances of the fenestration business. To be sure, there are a few areas you might want to... more »
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September 8, 2015There are a lot of misnomers flying around about our emerging millennial workforce. I’ve heard and read words like lazy, entitled, short on attention span, and even antisocial. Cam Marston, who will deliver the NGA\WDDA Keynote address at GlassBuild America next week, wrote of the more positive side of these up-and-comers in his recent Talk post. “The Millennial generation offers... more »
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August 25, 2015Good communication with your installers is important, but good communication between you, the installer, and your customer is even more so. That’s Not What I Meant, my latest column, discusses a costly communication lesson I learned the hard way. It wasn’t the first time, and it probably won’t be the last but ultimately, the experience reduced errors. During my installing days,... more »
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August 8, 2015You might be wondering: why should I join WDDA? Or, is it worth me taking time away from my business, and what can I possibly learn that I haven’t already seen or heard? I’d like to take this opportunity to address those commonly asked questions here. The WDDA understands the concerns of dealers and, over the past several years, the Alliance has focused on getting specialty window and... more »
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August 8, 2015The entire team at NGA\WDDA headquarters has been gearing up for GlassBuild America and Window & Door Dealer Days literally all year. And, in actuality, this event has been many years in the making. The Dream Showroom, Express Learning, the Keynote address—they’ve all been ideas that have been incubating for quite some time now. So you can only imagine what the energy is like now... more »
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June 22, 2015Three keys to successfully adding new equipmentIn order to successfully integrate equipment, it’s critical to think through every piece of the process. It starts even before specifying equipment and soliciting quotes. The first step is to identify the problem the equipment will solve. Improved ergonomics, enhanced craftsmanship and/or increased production output are all good examples of issues machinery can solve. Make sure you have a... more »
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June 22, 2015There are a few specific areas that have a large impact on the integration of new equipment into the production cycle. Rob Macaulay and Mitchell Heckbert, Urban Machinery, have the following tips for each of the critical areas. Machine Acceptance Often referred to as “factory run off,” once the machine build is complete, schedule one to two days to visit your supplier’s... more »
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May 9, 201510 pre-purchase considerations when buying new equipmentNew equipment has the ability to transform a business. Modernizing or investing in essential technology can increase capacity and open doors to new markets. But, adding machinery can also strain workflow and cause other issues if it isn’t successfully integrated into operations. To have a successful integration, it’s important to have a vision for what the equipment will mean for your company as... more »