AGRR - March/April 2008 - AGRR Magazine

Tucson TimeA NNUAL M EETING IN S UNNY A RIZONAby Penny Stacey and Charles CumpstonTo figure out the future of theindustry—a burning questionon most of ourminds—one doesn’t need acrystal ball, one just needs a newspaper,according to Don Ableson, presidentof Ableson Consulting LLC andformer executive director of theNorth American Specialty Vehicle Activityfor General Motors. Ablesonpointed out a number of automotiveheadlines from the last few monthsat the recent auto glass conference inTucson, Ariz.“These headlines are precursors ofevolutionary changes that will behappening to our industry,” he saidin his keynote address. Ablesonopened the conference on February12 to an audience of about 60 people.He pointed out a variety of recent ofheadlines that have appeared in thenews, such as ones dealing withchanging global economics, variouseconomic factors throughout theworld and the fuel issues the worldhas been experiencing.He also noted that with the economyin its current state, what customersare looking for is changing too.“To succeed as a business today,you must have the highest quality andFor an expanded versionof this article, visitwww.agrrmag.com.the lowest price,” Ableson said,adding that this is compelling manymanufacturers to outsource parts.Profits and PeopleAfter Ableson’s discussion, thegroup broke into small groups to discussa variety of topics from sales andprofit to utilizing technology.Richard Voreis of Consulting Collaborativemoderated a session on increasingsales and profits.Voreis had attendees fill in a 13-question self-assessment of theirbusinesses, which focused on thecommunication between managementand employees.He then asked attendees to sharewhat they had done to increase salesat their companies. One person indicatedthat he had hired an outsidesalesperson, while another said conductingcontinuing educationcourses for insurance agents hadbeen successful.A lengthy discussion of yellowpages versus Internet as a marketingtool followed. Most said that they arefinding the Internet more successfuland that increases in the cost of yellowpages advertising is making thedecision to switch easier. However, itwas mentioned that the price of advertisingonline is also increasing asmore companies are using it andbidding on the costs of placement.Incorporating TechnologyJoel Timmons, founder and presidentof Profitable Glass Solutions andthe author of a bi-weekly blog onAGRR’s daily e-news site, glass-BYTEs.com, held a session on incorporatingtechnology into yourbusiness for efficiency purposes. Attendeesalso brainstormed ideas forsoftware needed to help with this.One hot topic was the recent DOT430 recall, and how additional technologycould have made this easierfor shops to pull records to find outwhen and where the recalled DOT 430glass had been used (see related storyon page 14).“We register the glass parts andwrite them down, but to find thesepieces, we’ve got to get this informationinto some kind of form,” saidDave Burns of Ray Sands Auto Glass inRochester, N.Y.Safe ShopsWhile safety is usually a big topic, italmost always focuses on the safety ofinstallations, but Charles Turiello of DiamondTriumph Glass actually focusedon safety of workers in his discussion.“The message has to be communicatedon a daily basis,” Turiello said.He suggested that shops formsafety committees and contact OSHAto help define best practices for theirbusinesses.36 AGRR March/April 2008 www.agrrmag.com