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March 13, 2016
Tips on how to successfully integrate new equipment
Prior planning is the most important aspect of adding new machinery to an existing production line, and it begins before the new equipment makes the first part, or is even delivered. The planning stage involves correctly identifying the need by evaluating the entire line. To accurately determine what part of the process needs to improve some of the questions you'll need to ask are:
Are all the...
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October 27, 2015
New classifications could spell liability for window and door companies
This summer, the National Labor Relations Board significantly expanded risk for companies that subcontract employees to be considered a “joint employer” of its contractors. The risk involves liability for injuries, taxes, contract breaches and other third-party claims. This can affect residential construction constituents who market “installed sales” to the extent that any...
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October 6, 2015
Have 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...
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September 29, 2015
Cash 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...
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September 21, 2015
Every 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...
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September 8, 2015
There 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...
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August 25, 2015
Good 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,...
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August 8, 2015
You 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...
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August 8, 2015
The 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...
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June 22, 2015
Three keys to successfully adding new equipment
In 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...
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