CMA debate highlights Glazing Executives Forum

Margaret Webb, executive director, Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance, Ottawa, Ontario, and Jim Benney, director, National Fenestration Rating Council, Greenbelt, Md., engaged in “Point-Counter Point” as part of the second annual Glazing Executives Forum, Sept. 10, at the Georgia World Congress Center. One hundred and forty-one attendees crowded the room to hear Webb and Benney. The forum took place on the opening day of GlassBuid America. When Webb and Benney got into the technical nitty-gritty of the Component Modeling Approach, Rodney Van Buskirk, chairman for the National Glass Association and president of Bacon & Van Buskirk Glass Co. in Champaign, Ill., interrupted, and asked them to explain why the glaziers need NFRC when the AAMA standards were already in place. Members of the audience also asked why they need CMA and what the specific numbers meant in dollars. “You are over-analyzing the whole thing,” one of the audience members said, “we need a simpler system.” Another member asked who was profiting from the NFRC system; Benney responded “Theoretically, the public.” The general consensus was that the CMA was not required. Webb urged the members to attend the NFRC meetings. “I’d like each one of you to go to the NFRC Web site, download the documents and read,” she said. “And then I’d like you to contact Jim. And if you want to make sure your voice is heard, you have to come to the meetings.” Other than the “Point-Counter Point,” the forum also included a talk about the Second Annual Benchmark Study Results by John Brandt, CEO, MPI Group in Shaker Heights, Ohio; an economic forecast by Jeff Dietrich, senior analyst, Institute for Trend Research in Concord, N.H.; and breakout sessions on glazing products facilitated by John Heinaman, president, Heinaman Contract Glazing in Lake Forest, Calif., and metal products facilitated by Kevin McMahon, president, K-Man Glass Corp. in Bethel, Conn. Business breakout sessions included “Recruiting, Training, Retaining in the Contract Glazing Industry” facilitated by Ron Clawson, principal, Quattrolifts USA Ltd. in Henderson, Nev., and “Peak Performance and Performance Management” facilitated by Richard Voreis, CEO of Consulting Collaborative in Dallas.

--By Sahely Mukerji, managing editor, Glass MagazineShare this article: