Flashings

Georgia-Pacific sells distribution business

Georgia-Pacific Corp., Atlanta, has reached a definitive agreement to sell its building products distribution business to a distribution company owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP, an investment firm in New York, and members of the distribution business' management team. Georgia-Pacific plans to enter into a five-year agreement with the distribution company to purchase Georgia-Pacific structural panels, lumber and other building products. All current distribution business employees are expected to join the new company.

"This agreement is yet another major step forward in reducing debt and sharpening the focus of Georgia-Pacific," says A.D. "Pete" Correll, Georgia-Pacific's chairman and chief executive officer. "We believe this transaction represents a fair valuation of the distribution business, is consistent with our strategy and is in our shareholders' long-term interest."

The transaction is valued at $810 million.

DOL attracts workers to trades

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has developed its Skills to Building America's Future initiative, a national outreach and education program to attract young people and transitioning workers to skilled trade careers. Initiative partners include the National Association of Home Builders, Construction Industry Roundtable, National Heavy and Highway Alliance, and alliance-affiliated international unions.

"We need the skills and talents of a new generation of skilled tradesmen and [trades]women," says Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. "[During] the next few years, many jobs will be created in the skilled trades, and even more opportunities will open up as the baby boom generation retires. The skilled trades offer more than great jobs—they also play a key role in building America's future."

The goals of the initiative are to inform people that skilled trade jobs are plentiful, lucrative and fulfilling; offer training, education and apprenticeship opportunities; build awareness of why skilled workers are important to the United States and its economy; and invite young people and transitioning workers to pursue trade-related careers. The partners hope to achieve these goals by working with state and local governments, educators and counselors, trade schools and apprentice programs.

NRCA's Executive Vice President William Good adds: "We are pleased to know DOL attaches so much importance to careers in the construction industry. The department has identified the roofing industry as a ‘high-growth' industry with an expectation that the industry will grow by some 20,000 jobs during the next decade. The department also understands any discussion of construction work force issues necessarily involves a focus on training, and we are delighted to see creative solutions in that area, as well."

You get what you pay for

It seems with an economy still struggling to get on its feet, the timeless idea of getting what you pay for remains applicable. Although companies may ponder lowering prices and possibly, by extension, lowering product quality, they should rethink that action, says R. Eric Reidenbach, principal of VALTec Group Inc., Morgantown, W.Va., and co-author of Dominating Markets with Value.

Reidenbach emphasizes the importance of value over price, explaining that customers save more money by paying a little more for quality instead of paying a little less for a shoddy product. Paying less sometimes provides customers with less quality and can cost them more money in the long run.

"Receiving a poor product or service, even for less money, makes you vulnerable in several areas, including inferior quality, time wasted obtaining service—and the cost of eventually buying something that works," Reidenbach says.

Satisfying your customers will lead to them coming back for more; so while you are providing your customers with quality products, you also are gaining a loyal customer base. Therefore, concentrating on customer satisfaction and not lowering prices are viable options for business survival in a slow economy.

Source: The Manager's Intelligence Report, July 2003 issue.

BASF acquires Foam Enterprises

In March, BASF Corp., Hudson Falls, N.J., purchased Foam Enterprises Inc., Minneapolis. Although complete financial details were not disclosed, BASF purchased 100 percent of Foam Enterprises' stock March 1.

Foam Enterprises will operate as a BASF subsidiary, and no employee changes are expected. Foam Enterprises employs 80 people at its Minneapolis office and research and production operations in Houston.

Dennis Holbert, Foam Enterprises' founder and president, says: "After 27 years of developing our skills in rigid polyurethane foam and corresponding application equipment, we are taking the next major step toward that goal. As part of BASF, we are bringing our own unique capabilities to the business. We enthusiastically look forward to the current challenges of the marketplace, as well as the ongoing opportunities of our future with BASF."

Don't replace conversation with e-mail

E-mail seems to have replaced other modes of communication in the current business world. Often, e-mail supersedes telephone calls or face-to-face conversations in the workplace. Using electronic communication is appropriate in some cases, such as a mass e-mail to employees informing them of a meeting.

However, there are employees who abuse the privilege and use e-mail for all communication. This can be a problem because it is much easier to misinterpret what is said in an e-mail than what is said to a person's face. For this and other reasons, follow these simple e-mail rules:

• Do not use your work e-mail account as your personal e-mail account. Avoid inappropriate material, including jokes and photos.
  
  
• Negotiate in person. If you are trying to make an important decision or reach a resolution, deal with the person involved—not with his or her e-mail account.
  
  
• Don't use e-mail to criticize another employee.

Source: Adapted from BusinessWeek as cited in First Draft, February 2003 issue.

Submittal and protocol document is developed

NRCA and the Roof Consultants Institute (RCI) recently developed the NRCA/RCI Roofing Project Submittal and Protocol Guidelines. The document is meant to be the first of many documents the organizations will develop as part of an ongoing partnership.

The NRCA/RCI partnership developed at a meeting between NRCA and RCI executives during the 12th International Roofing and Waterproofing Conference held Sept. 25-27, 2002, in Orlando, Fla. As a result of that meeting, a task force was formed to investigate developing a mutual document. Task force members included Mike Blanchette, vice president of Amtech Roofing Consultants Inc., Dallas; Steve Kruger, president of L.E. Schwartz & Son Inc., Macon, Ga.; Bruce McCrory, chief operating officer and general manager of Kiker Corp., Mobile, Ala.; Luther C. Mock, RRC, managing partner of EDIFIS Building Exterior Solutions, Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Reid Ribble, president of The Ribble Group Inc., Kaukauna, Wis.

Tom Bollnow, an NRCA senior director of technical services, acted as task force mediator and says: "From the beginning, there was total agreement about the purpose for such a document between NRCA and RCI. There was total cooperation among the task force members to develop the guidelines."

The document, which is designed for building owners, specifiers and roofing contractors, is presented in a matrix format that divides a roofing project into five categories—prebid, bidding period, preconstruction, construction and close-out. Within each category, the document displays responsibilities (project drawings, change requests, material storage, etc.); designates who is responsible for completing tasks (a building owner, specifier or roofing contractor); and provides comments supporting the tasks.

The document is available to NRCA members for $15 and nonmembers for $20 by contacting NRCA Info-Express at (866) ASK-NRCA (275-6722) or visiting www.shop.nrca.net.