INTRABOND changes name to ALUCOIL NORTH AMERICA
INTRABOND LLC, a continuous process manufacturer of aluminum composite architectural wall panels located in the state of South Carolina in the USA, has changed its legal business name to ALUCOIL NORTH AMERICA, LLC.
INTRABOND LLC was acquired in late 2011 by ALUCOIL S.A., a leading European manufacturer of high quality metal composite materials and other wall cladding products. The name change will align the North American business with Europe as well as new operations in South America, where construction of an aluminum composite panel plant is underway in São Paulo, Brazil under the banner ALUCOIL DO BRASlL.
The INTRABOND ACM brand will be migrated over the upcoming months to the worldwide“larson®” brand and logo. Specification efforts will focus on promoting “larson by Alucoil®” to reinforce the company and product brands simultaneously.
Important points include:
- Company Name: ALUCOIL NORTH AMERICA, LLC has replaced INTRABOND, LLC as our business name.
- EIN / Federal Tax ID: Our EIN number will not change therefore, all established business operations will be transitioned seamlessly. All bank and financial references remain the same.
- Credit: Credit terms extended to customers will not be affected by the change.
- ACM Product Brand: “larson by Alucoil®” will replace Intrabond as our ACM product brand name. The migration will occur over a 4 month time period in which both brands will be used.
- Product Certifications: We are happy to confirm that all product certifications and approvals in the USA and Canada will not be affected by the name nor brand changes and remain valid.
- Purchase orders and Invoicing: As of March 5th, 2012, the business will change all letterheads, purchase orders, and invoicing to reflect the new nomenclature. Please submit all invoicing and purchase orders to using the business name Alucoil North America, LLC.
- Contact information: All current phone numbers, faxes, and emails will still continue to function.
- Website: The current Intrabond website will be migrated to reflect the new business name and ACM product brand over the migration period. Our new URL is already active at: www.alucoilnorthamerica.com
Alucoil S.A. is a top-tier manufacturer of high-tech aluminum products for building & construction, transportation, and industrial applications in Europe. Under the larson® brand, Alucoil offers a diverse line of unique product and coating technologies that complement its core ACM materials – Including innovations such as powder coated coil, flat sheet and ACM, and a 100% recyclable A2 fire rated building panel. Alucoil is executing an aggressive global expansion plan entailing simultaneous expansion into North and South America, as well as Middle and Southeast Asia.
Alucoil is part of Grupo Alibérico, a leading European aluminum company with over 40 years of experience and know-how in the world of aluminum. Present in market sectors from building and construction, transportation, and packaging, it transforms over 100,000 tons of aluminum annually. The Aliberico team is composed of over 1,000 people and has manufacturing facilities in Spain, USA, Brazil, and commercial offices throughout Europe and North Africa. It exports to over 45 countries on five continents.
For more information please call +1 803-505-6543, email us at info@alucoilnorthamerica.com, or call your local Alucoil North America / Intrabond contact.
You Never Get More Than What You Pay For
My friend, Michael, who is a regular reader of our blog, recently asked me if we ever worried about burning bridges or damaging business relationships in any way due to something we write. I told him that as a general rule, we try to have three or four positive blogs for every negative one and that we never name names when we “go negative.” After all, this blog currently goes out to 3,215 customers, vendors, associates, and assorted other construction industry folks and we would be foolish to write some “nuclear” piece that would hurt sales. Sometimes though, we do name names in a subtle fashion and those within the industry can connect the dots for themselves. Today is such a day.
First, allow me some quick background on the project that is the subject of today’s blog and then I will let a few pictures tell their respective 1,000 words. This is a job at a large university in Florida. When the job first bid in 2009, our price was $380,000 and we were apparently low (not by much though…a worthy competitor was at $381,000). The job eventually re-bid off of revised drawings and since the metal panel scope was unchanged, our price remained $380,000. Out of the blue though, a part-time panel installer in Tampa, buying panels from a fabricator 3,164 miles from the jobsite, was at $340,000 and was consequently awarded the project. It is worth noting that this competitor’s price was $420,000 on the first round of bidding and that the architect wielded great power in the award of the panel scope to their favored fabricator/installer. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but you win some, you lose some. We had (and have) other projects going on at the university though and I would occasionally ask our project managers who had been to the town how this job turned out. I was always pleased to hear that panels appeared to be late and that at one point, most of the landscaping was in and the walls were still bare sheathing. Well, it turns out that it wasn’t worth the wait for the GC or the university. Take a look….
(click an image for fullsize and caption)
Obviously this is some of worst craftsmanship you will ever see, but it is important to note that much of the problems come from poor field measurement and installation, not fabrication. The lesson for architects is that it does little good to specify a fabricator and not put restrictions on who can perform installation.
If you’re wondering what became of this, the GC approached us last year about re-making all of the problem panels, but at present, they and the university are wrapped up in a legal battle with the subcontractor who performed so poorly and the building remains as unsightly as it does in these 2010 pictures.
Thanks for reading.
Scott Stafford
Tool of the Week, Day, etc. – “It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that’s all. When you pay
too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The
common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.”
― John Ruskin
VMZinc Upgrades Its Websites Around The Globe
February 24, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – VMZinc®, Umicore Building Products’ brand for architectural zinc, has revamped its websites around the globe to give all of them the same look, the same user-friendly and uniform navigation capabilities, and to include more extensive information.
According to Chandra Hester, marketing director for Umicore Building Products USA, the new VMZinc sites “make it easier for a customer in France or Shanghai to navigate through the American website, and the same for someone in Canada to use the French website.”
This ease of navigation is important, she said, because not every country carries the same product range. This allows customers to more easily order VMZinc products from another country.
“The new sites are more user-friendly with a cleaner look,” Hester said, “making it easier to download details, find important information to answer any zinc questions, and to specify jobs within a few clicks.”
In addition, the new homepage for each country now has much more information, making it easier to access information in fewer clicks.
“And we have our social media links — Facebook, Twitter, the ZINCsense blog, and our new YouTube channel — displayed throughout the entire website,” Hester pointed out.
Also on the right hand side of the homepages, potential customers will find useful information pertaining to each of VMZinc’s systems, including project photos, installation guides, specification, details, and magazines featuring the product in award-winning projects.
The text throughout the site has also been carefully edited to be as concise and easily understood as possible.
To see the improved VMZinc websites, go to www.vmzinc.com, click on “VMZinc worldwide,” then click on the country.
About Umicore Building Products USA, Inc.
Umicore is a world-leading producer of architectural zinc. For over 160 years Umicore has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects, and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, NC. For additional information, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.
H. H. Robertson – The Heritage of an Entire Industry
Let me set the scene. It is 1974, mid December, and while the rest of the country is cold and getting ready for Christmas, I was in sunny Marco Island, Florida enjoying a great get-away and sales meeting with the elite salesmen in my industry.
It was like I was at a TED Conference, but one specifically designed for my industry. These were the best group of promotional salesmen that I have ever met. They consistently were able to explain the merits of their products to the point where architects would write proprietary or very controlled specifications, which gave them an edge to overcome about 20% in premium cost compared to their competitors.
This group was confident. Can you imagine today an independent metal siding and roofing company on the Fortune 500 list? In 1974 they were number 462. In 1983 and 1984, they got as high as 393.
In 1906, H. H. Robertson formed a construction products company that featured corrosion-resistant metal wall and roof panels. A patent for protected sheet metal is received and the company starts an industry.
By the time I joined the company in 1972, the company was the unquestioned leader in the industry. How did they enjoy such an advantage?
Here is my theory. There are two major elements: promotional sales and settling claims.
The People
First of all, I really think the hiring process for H. H. Robertson salesmen was brutal and weeded out non-performers. I was told by the headhunter that recruited me that there were over 200 candidates screened and/or interviewed for my position before I was interviewed by the local H. H. Robertson District office manager. After that, you had to go to company headquarters in Pittsburgh and be interviewed by the Sales Manager, Don Havlish, and some of the Product Managers.
Now, to say that Don Havlish was intimidating is like saying that Donald Trump is confident. I can remember like it was yesterday the following question from Don and my answer to the salary that I wanted to go to work for H. H. Robertson.
Don asked, “Why in the h_ ll should I pay you that much money?” I answered, “Because I am a great salesman and if I do not get that much, I will be worrying about the money instead of the selling and I can make money for this company.” I think that answer closed the deal and they asked me to join the team.
The Training
I went to Pittsburgh for a solid six weeks of sales training before I was ever allowed to be in front of a customer. The training school was eight hours, five days a week of intense classroom training. The training included product training so that we knew the benefits of each of our products intimately.
The individual Product Managers conducted this training and they were competitive. They wanted each new training class to be more excited about the merits of their products than they were about the other products offered by their colleagues. That desire pushed each of them to be better and better in their presentations and therefore the salesmen and the company benefited from that.
The man who ran the Training School was Hank Hendrickson. Hank was a classic. He instilled in you the following: As a salesperson, you’re the most important person in the world of business! He made it clear that until someone sells something, nothing happens. The plant does not operate, no money moves, and the owners of a company just have an expensive hobby.
Hank taught the “Sales” course developed by Xerox: PSS – Professional Selling Skills. This course not only taught you specific ways to present and handle objections that you could actually use, but after you learned the skills and practiced them in front of your fellow classmates, you gained another level of confidence that proved extremely valuable when you left the classroom and presented to real customers.
The Literature
Remember, we are talking 1974. Al Gore had not invented the internet yet. Printed literature was the norm and extremely important. Robertson had the absolute best literature in the industry. The graphic images were extraordinary. The photos were brilliant. The text was sparse and commanding. When you presented a piece to a customer it was like you were handing over a museum piece. It was that good.
Not only was the literature for the major products great, but there were frequent “one pagers” that featured a product on a project with great photos on the front and great graphics with details and narrative on the back. The frequency of these pieces was a decided edge for great promotional salesmen because they provided a reason for you to go see the same great customer (the one who has the work) often.
I have developed the phrase, “You do not know what kind of company you are dealing with until they screw up.” I learned what that meant at Robertson.
Robertson had many more, and more innovative, products than any single competitor, but within a single product category their products were not amazingly better quality than others, in my opinion. However, somewhere along the way a culture had developed in the company to over perform when something went wrong.
I observed Robertson doing extraordinary things to rectify a bad installation. They would totally replace an entire building when other companies would reluctantly agree to a financial settlement after extended discussion or litigation. It has been said “that no one was ever fired for hiring IBM” because of their stellar reputation of servicing their customers. The same thought was prevalent during the glory days of Robertson.
For those of us who labor everyday in the general field of metal enclosure products for the construction industry, we owe a great debt to those who have preceded us. Companies like Robertson and their loyal opposition, E G Smith, Steelite, and Inryco, prepared the way for us to build an entire industry.
From time to time it is appropriate to pause and take stock of what has happened before. Let us take the best things that were done and expand upon them and isolate the bad things and diminish them.
From one old Robertson Salesman to all of you others, as our numbers continually shrink, I wish you well and good sales.
That is it for today. Post your comments on the Blog and let us stimulate the discussion.
Tool of the Week, Day, etc. – I would be negligent not to mention that many of the characteristics of the “Robertson Days” continue at Centria. Learn more about the heritage of our industry at: http://www.centria.com/history/pages/default.aspx.
Thanks,
Ted S. Miller
Umicore Ranks In Top 10 Of The World’s Most Sustainable Corporations
Based on key performance indicators, such as innovation, diversity, and eco-friendly productivity.
January 26, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) — Umicore, a global materials technology group and the parent company of Umicore BuildingProducts USA in Raleigh, NC, has been included once again in the top 10 of the world’s most sustainable companies.
Corporate Knights, an independent magazine focused on promoting sustainable development, published the rankings this week.
The “Global 100 Most Sustainable Companies” ranking is based on key performance indicators such as innovation, diversity, and productivity related to a set of environmental factors. Ranked eighth out of 100, Umicore was praised for the significant role the company plays in the metal recycling chain and the development of materials for clean energy applications.
This accolade follows Umicore’s recent inclusion in the innovative Living Planet Green Tech Index launched by WWF, the Living Planet Fund Management Company, and Chevreux.
Umicore is also a long-standing component of the FTSE4Good index, which measures performance of companies that meet globally recognized corporate responsibility standards.
“The inclusion of Umicore in these rankings and indices is a recognition that our strategy and business philosophy do meaningfully address the priorities of society today,” said Umicore CEO Marc Grynberg. “We have a strong focus on products and services that provide environmental benefits, such as recycling, automotive catalysts, and materials for rechargeable batteries. This is complemented by ambitious objectives to further improve our environmental and social performance.”
“It is great to be involved with a company that takes a strong stance on sustainability, as well as representing an architectural product that contributes to that equation,” said Daniel Nicely, market development director for Umicore Building Products USA, the manufacturer of VMZINC® architectural zinc.
For more information on Umicore’s sustainability strategies and practices, visit www.umicore.com/sustainability.
For more information on Umicore Building Products, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.
About Umicore:
Umicore is a global materials technology group. It focuses on application areas where its expertise in materials science, chemistry and metallurgy makes a real difference. Its activities are centered on four business areas: Catalysis, Energy Materials, Performance Materials, and Recycling. Each business area is divided into market-focused business units offering materials and solutions that are at the cutting edge of new technological developments and essential to everyday life. For more information: www.umicore.com
About Umicore Building Products USA:
Umicore is a world-leading producer of VMZINC® architectural zinc. For over 160 years, Umicore has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects, and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. For additional information: www.vmzinc-us.com.
Two 2012 AIA Honor Award Winners Feature VMZinc Exteriors
Architectural zinc adds to beauty, sustainability of two projects.
January 17, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) — Two of the nine projects from around the world that recently received 2012 Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) feature VMZINC® exteriors.
The award-winning Carnegie Mellon University’s Gates Center for Computer Science and the Hillman Center for Future-Generation Technologies were designed by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects of Atlanta, Ga., with special attention to energy and water conservation and other sustainable practices.
The two centers’ zinc exterior skin and distinctive window openings differ from the predominately yellow brick, historically influenced buildings on the CMU campus. Yet the jurors believed the zinc skin and window openings “surprisingly relate beautifully to the campus fabric without being literal.”
Last year, both centers received LEED® Gold certification. The use of architectural zinc contributed to the certification because zinc is manufactured using very little energy, it lasts an average of 80 years with very little maintenance, and it is completely recyclable, both during construction (construction scraps) and at the end of its use.
Another award-winning project with a VMZINC exterior is The Poetry Foundation in Chicago, designed by John Ronan Architects. The building’s outer layer is VMZINC’s black ANTHRA-ZINC®. Since transparency was an important issue in the design, the ANTHRA-ZINC is perforated where it borders the garden, allowing visual access to the garden from the street. Inside the garden, the zinc screen wall internalizes the garden experience and provides a sense of removal.
The Poetry Foundation was featured in Architectural Record in November, prior to winning one of this year’s AIA Honor Award.
“We talk a lot about the sustainability of zinc, but there’s also the aesthetic quality,” said Daniel Nicely, director of market development for Umicore Building Products USA, the manufacturer of VMZINC®. “Architectural zinc allows architects to easily create interesting and innovative forms. We’re proud that our product played a major role in the striking design and sustainability of both of these award-winning project.”
For more information on the 2012 AIA Honor Awards, go to www.aia.org/practicing/awards/2012/architecture.
For more information on VMZINC, visit www.vmzinc-us.com.
About Umicore Building Products USA, Inc.
Umicore Building Products is a world-leading producer of architectural zinc. For over 160 years, Umicore has been providing innovative solutions for building owners, architects and contractors. Umicore has offices and representatives all over the world. In the United States, Umicore Building Products USA, Inc., is based in Raleigh, NC. For additional information, visit www.vmzinc-us.com. VMZINC also maintains the blog ZINCsense and an active Facebook page.
Umicore USA / VMZinc New Offices
Check out the new offices of Rapid Materials partner Umicore USA / VMZinc.
Are You Kidding Me?
When we questioned this great service to the sales manager, he offered this equally great response, “Yeah, I can see where that might be frustrating to you, but the salesman is also frustrated because you only buy based upon price.”
Are you kidding me?
Talk about a company with their head in the sand. The market is tough right now. Those of us that compete in the subcontracting business are almost always required to be low, plus provide payment and performance bonds, plus have the best schedule, plus agree to onerous subcontract provisions, plus be able to finance the material purchases and labor until the material is on the wall.
That adds up to a lot of pluses on top of having a low price.
My suggestion to the valued supplier is to give us a reason to buy from you on something other than price.
Is your product better in a meaningful way?
Is your service better?
How long has it been since you visited and brought to us a lead on a project?
Has your tech service developed any new fabrication techniques for your product that would make our work more efficient?
And finally, how long since you offered a thank you for the business we have given you in the past?
I know the challenges of the current market conditions are making all of us a bit testy, but if price is the only differentiator in your offering, then you have got to be low. Let me assure you that your customers (subcontractors and fabricators) have to be low and offer all of the pluses outlined above.
Tool of the Week, Day, etc. – For those of you who participate in the construction industry and have a focus in metal, you may want to attend the Metal Construction Association 2012 Annual Meeting in Clearwater Beach, Florida later this month. You can learn all about the meeting at: http://www.metalconstruction.org/meet/index.cfm?pg=meet_annual.htm.
15 Things I’ve learn in 15 Years
- If you’re reading this blog, you likely spend most of your days in a heated/air-conditioned office and are pretty comfortable. I only have extensive field experience in my time here on one project, but it was a big one, and I have a pretty good idea of what our field crews go through on a daily basis. These panels are heavy, they are sharp, and they want to take off like a Frisbee in the wind. It is either hot or cold and it is hard, dirty work. It is also pretty spooky being high up on scaffolding and lifts and roofs. I am lucky to work indoors, out of the elements, and I sure appreciate the hard work our field crews do.
- Ted Miller has a saying that goes, “You’ll never work in this town again….until you’re low.” This is so true. Everyone in our industry seems to come back around at some point. The company or vendor that you used to partner with all the time will fall out of favor with you, or you’ll fall out of favor with them, but at some point, everyone lets bygones be bygones and is willing to team up again on the right project.
- One of the most dynamic changes in construction has been the way that documents are shared. I vividly recall spending most of my early days here in the dark, huddled over a scan machine, looking at drawings on microfilm that would arrive daily in the mail. When we wanted hard copies, we drove to a printer and paid a lot of money for them. I still remember how actual blueprints would irritate my contact lenses and make me sneeze occasionally. Sometimes, to save money, we would take our scales and calculators to plan rooms and do takeoffs there. Now, with various online plan rooms, FTP sites, and a plotter/scanner just down the hall from me, it is practically instantaneous to share and view drawings with customers and vendors and it is much less expensive to do so.
- One of the best things about construction is getting to see a project in person after initially seeing it on your desk years before. This is especially true when I’m on vacation somewhere and my tolerant wife puts up with me driving out of our way to see a building for the first time.
- One of my favorite Jimmy Buffett songs has a line that goes, “If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.” Humor is invaluable. I cannot count how many times we have been here working late on a bid deadline and took a five minute break to watch a funny YouTube video and successfully broke the tension.
- This is not unique to me and would apply to any industry and anyone with children, but nothing clarifies purpose like having children. If I feel distracted or unmotivated, I need look no further than the pictures on my bulletin board of my sweet little boys to snap me back to reality.
- The disappointment of a project lost far outweighs the elation of a project won. It often feels like a relief to close a job, instead of feeling like the celebration that it should be.
- As a follow up to #7 above, dwelling for more than about 24 hours on a project lost is counter-productive. There is ALWAYS another project to bid. Even in this down economy, we can barely keep up with the bidding.
- There are crooks in the industry and there’s nothing you can do about them. For example, I have seen companies use “smoke and mirrors” to mask true ownership of the company in order to help obtain contracts set aside for women and minority owned companies. I also know that there are General Contractors who present falsehoods about true costs to building owners. And, I don’t know how many times I have walked a jobsite of a competitor and seen firsthand the shortcuts that were taken. However, just like dwelling on lost projects, it is counter-productive to waste energy complaining about these practices. Just move on.
- Most drawings these days are weak. That’s all there is to it and that’s putting it nicely. But, on occasion, you get hold of a really good set of plans and it is a joy to work with them. There are column lines and sections provided on the elevations, skewed elevations get their own “straight ahead” look, dimensions are clear and match from sheet to sheet, and there is just an overall orderly flow to their layout. Some of the best firms at this are Perkins & Will, Cooper Carry, TVS, and Hawkins & Hall.
- Techies run the world. Our company would be lost without our in-house IT person, Jonathan Ethridge. From maintaining iPads that our field crews use to input field dimensions, to overseeing our enormous server, to ensuring that we have a functioning website, he truly is indispensable.
- The older I get, the more I realize what I don’t know. I know nothing about HVAC, plumbing, or electrical construction. I have only limited knowledge of the structural components that go into a building. I don’t even know AutoCAD. When I want to gripe about bad architectural drawings or a GC who doesn’t fully grasp our scope of work, I need to remember that they have to have a working knowledge of multiple scopes of work and that I’m just one small cog in the machine.
- Construction is cool. When I was a kid, I liked Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys and now I get to participate in a grown-up version of that. When people ask what I do, I invariably ask them, “Well, have you ever seen the _____ building? That was ours. Everything on the outside skin of it and all of the associated framing was by us.” We have done so many projects in so many cities now that I can usually even cite a building to an out of towner that gives them a frame of reference. It’s not much, but I like to think that a little bit of my legacy from my time on earth will be that I worked on some office buildings and airports and stadiums and museums and hospitals that will be around long after I’m gone.
- This isn’t construction specific, but you spend more time with your co-workers than your family, so you ought to get to know them and care for them. Last week, several of us attended a memorial for the mother of one of our engineers, Paul Roberts, and I feel closer to him now having learned about his mom and shared a small bit of his pain. When my own mother passed in 2007, I can still recall the hugs from my co-workers at her funeral and how it drew me closer to them. It’s about bids and sales and dollars and cents, but it’s really about people and connections.
- I am lucky. I like to think that I work hard, but I am also extremely lucky and I realize that. Before I came to Miller-Clapperton, I was doing unfulfilling work in a warehouse for a fraction of what I earn now. Ted and Zeke Miller reached out to me for an interview and that changed the course of my life. I guess I showed a good head for numbers and displayed effective written skills in their evaluation, so they took a chance on me, and for that, I am thankful. Later, they encouraged me to complete my degree and for 15 years have been nothing but good to me. I have had the opportunity to see and do things that my parents could never have dreamed of and I owe it all to this company.
Alucoil ACM Enters the Americas with Intrabond LLC Purchase
Intrabond LLC, manufacturer of aluminum composite material (ACM) located in Manning, South Carolina USA, this past 30th of September 2011 by Alucoil S.A., of Miranda de Ebro, Spain.
