Giving Architects What They Want

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I spend a lot of time thinking about how the commercial glass and glazing community can collaborate on an ongoing basis with the broader architectural community. Architects are a critical part of how we create modern commercial spaces, and they’re continuously looking for new, sustainable and efficient ways to realize forward-thinking and innovative designs.

It’s our job to meet those needs. Window and glass systems are an important part of overall building design. It’s up to our industry to build relationships and to provide those quality, high-performing solutions that architects and designers demand. This is especially true as new building codes and standards mandate higher levels of performance, and as a drive toward greater sustainability becomes more important.

So, how can we help? There are a couple of ways.

Make High-Performance Products Easy to Specify

Architects need information to do their jobs properly, and it’s the responsibility of the commercial glass and glazing professionals to get them that information as easily as possible. When drafting a specification, they might need anything from thermal performance specifications, color options, LEED performance documentation, data sheets or even detailed specification guidelines. Any or all of this information could be required before a specific product becomes a specification.

It is increasingly important that this information be accessed quickly and seamlessly, particularly as specifications grow more complex due to the pressure from newer building codes. Anyone drawing up a specification for a new building in New York City, for example, needs the right information to be sure the product selected is up to code. To do their jobs well, architects are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and we need to provide them with the technical information required to help make high-performance fenestration products essential parts of new designs.

Continue Delivering New Insights

Over the last decade, the commercial design community has embraced flexible warm-edge spacer technology for high-rise applications for several reasons. The technology’s workability has brought new efficiencies to projects throughout North America, along with outstanding thermal performance. The benefits are clear, and the real-world proof is out there.

This has happened in part through relationship-building and effective communication of the benefits that true warm-edge spacers can provide. The technology has also proven itself in demanding commercial applications, heightening its appeal among commercial builders and designers. As word about the benefits continues to circulate, the momentum only stands to increase in the coming years. Meanwhile, North American commercial vinyl and window profiles are in the position that warm-edge technology was in not too long ago. Performance has caught up to demanding applications, and we need to communicate those benefits as often as we can. We have an opportunity to provide invaluable assistance, helping architects to understand the thermal and structural capabilities of today’s commercial vinyl to meet a project’s requirements.

It is our job to continue these conversations with the architectural community and to demonstrate how we can help achieve aesthetically beautiful, high-performance and cost-effective designs. Continued proactive engagement is the way forward.

Building Better Relationships with Personal Touch

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I’ve written before that collaboration between all stakeholders in the fenestration industry is a key part of how we’ll meet our collective goal and overcome our shared challenges in the coming years and decades. Because no matter what we’re facing, we’re still an industry that revolves around people. Whether its manufacturers, installers, architects or building owners, our ability to form meaningful connections is critical.

I’ve been thinking about this lately in some of my recent interfacing with the architectural community. Architects know that high-performing glass and glazing technology is essential to meeting new building codes in some of North America’s biggest markets — and they need solutions when incorporating it into their designs. Part of my job is helping identify those solutions and providing them not just with product options, but the technical and performance data they need to work those options into their specifications.

I find these to be rewarding conversations. They’re collaborative, and perhaps more important, they’re personal, with each party working to understand and educate each other. Ideally, the result will not just be a successful project, but an ongoing and mutually beneficial relationship.

I think this is a mindset that professionals throughout our industry should approach every interaction with. Because it’s important to remember that no matter what kind of business you run today, your customers have options. And providing them with an experience they’ll remember — one that shows you care about their success as much as your own — can set you apart from your competition. Here are a few ways you can accomplish it:

Intangibles matter. A great product or service might not be the only reason your customers choose to do business with your organization. Other reasons could include:

  • The decade-long relationship a salesperson has formed with a key customer.
  • That same salesperson’s ability to proactively anticipate customer needs.
  • The additional service and support provided to tackle any challenge that may arise.
  • The friendly service customers are always treated to, no matter whom they’re interacting with.

All of these things are indicative of something deeper: that you truly care about your customer and their success. With that, you can better understand how best to serve them, help meet their challenges and work to offer new solutions they want and need.

Internal customers matter, too. Ensuring your customers (or any stakeholders you regularly interface with) are receiving the best experience possible means taking care of the people that are responsible for providing that experience: your employees.

That could mean investing in training for your plant floor employees, helping them do their jobs better to deliver a more reliable product. It could mean empowering teams to do whatever it takes to provide exceptional customer care. It requires an environment of respect, alignment, and collaboration, and it should start at the very top of your organization.

In an industry where new challenges seem to crop up with increasing frequency, meeting customer expectations is becoming more demanding. Finding a way to deliver a personalized experience and foster an ongoing relationship can help.

Joe Erb is national account manager for Quanex.

Meeting New Demands Without Compromise

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I’ve written a lot in recent months about the ongoing influence energy performance has on the commercial fenestration space. We can’t ignore it. Delivering on the needs of our evolving market will require our collective innovation, advocacy and commitment to delivering quality commercial glass and window systems.

Of course, we’re not pursuing this mission in a vacuum. A confluence of unique circumstances continues to challenge the traditional ways we’re used to doing business. Many commercial glass professionals are focused on dealing with labor and supply chain issues, and it can seem difficult if not impossible to focus on other areas of the business.

How are you dealing with these challenges? How are you responding to lengthy lead times? Product shortages? Demand for systems that meet new building codes? Price increases? These are the questions I’ve been trying to help my customers answer in recent months, and in those discussions, some common themes have arisen. Here are a couple of them:

Choose the right components for the right reason. In the face of longer lead times, shortages or rising prices on critical components, a simple solution presents itself: Look for alternatives.

The reality of that decision, however, can be anything but simple. If you’ve been building your glass systems a certain way for a long time, a different component can potentially throw a monkey wrench into your process. Perhaps it isn’t handled or applied the same way and may require retraining your plant floor staff. Or, say you’ve switched to a component for pricing reasons. It’s important to consider whether your alternative supplier’s product has a reputation you can trust, and whether that supplier will support your team should any type of issues occur. After all, your reputation is at stake.

The point is this: The way you design and construct your glass systems should be intentional. It can be tempting to let pricing or availability guide your hand (and in some cases, it may be a short-term necessity) but it can’t be at the cost of sacrificing the quality of your systems. This is particularly true as the glazing industry contends with rising thermal performance demands. Not only must our products meet high standards for performance, but they also must demonstrate the ability to be durable.

Find a helping hand. While you’re making decisions about sourcing critical components, another consideration to make about the suppliers you choose to work with is the value they can provide beyond just the components themselves.

The new thermal efficiency demands provide a good example. Let’s say you’ve bid on a project where local codes (or perhaps the project’s architect) dictate the window systems in the structure achieve a certain thermal performance minimum. It’s a more challenging target than a lot of your recent work—but it’s a project worth pursuing, and if it’s accomplished successfully, can grant your business some extra clout.
Design assistance can be valuable here, and your supplier maybe able to help. For example, a high-performing spacer provider has likely been involved with numerous projects requiring top levels of performance and may be able to provide ideas that can help you hit the required performance numbers in a more efficient manner. They may also be able to provide training or quality assurance services to ensure every unit meets the quality levels your customer expects.

Meeting the challenges of today’s industry requires collaboration. Working with vendors and suppliers who are willing to share ideas along with quality products can be a recipe for success.