AMD Meets in Denver this Week

The 43rd Annual Association of Millwork Distributors (AMD) ended Monday, November 5. It was held in Denver at the Adam’s Mark Hotel and the Colorado Convention Center.

On the first day, attendees had a number of educational sessions from which to choose.

What's on the Horizon
D. Jeffrey Dietrich, Ph.D., a senior analyst and consultant for the Institute of Trend Research, provided information to help attendees tame the often-conflicting maze of economic information and news sound bites, by providing a clear view of the current U.S. economy. Dietrich said that the housing market will be the same in 2008 as in 2007.

Following Dietrich, Julie Ruth, P.E., a leading expert in the analysis and presentation of construction code, provided an introduction to energy conservation codes in the U.S. with special emphasis on codes and requirements for exterior sliding and swinging doors.

Changing Markets
Greg Brooks, a leading analyst covering trends and strategies in North American building product distribution, provided an overview of how past periods of consolidation have transformed the supply chain. In his speech, Brooks said that he believes mortgage repayment periods will begin to reach 40- or 50-years in length. He also believes that production builders (and the distributors that supply to them) can start tapping a bigger market, such as aging in place and Generations X and Y (who he says value energy efficient and trendy products). He also says distributors and builders need to look at remodeling, custom products and green products.

Michael Collins, senior analyst with Jordan, Knauff & Co., discussed the coming wave of competition from door and window companies based in China.

Collins said that in the housing market downturn, companies need to keep up their research and development. He also said that one advantage U.S. companies have over Chinese companies is that they can beat them on brand. He says that Chinese companies are all about price.

An Association on Fire
One of the hottest topics of the show, and one that Shelter is going to cover extensively in its January-February 2008 issue, dealt with AAMA/WDMA/CSA 101/I.S.2/A440-05. Both AMD’s Industry Standards and Code committee, as well as the Testing and Certification Task Group, have been working with AAMA to come up with a solution to change the standard to allow components to be tested individually, so they would be interchangeable and pass standard requirements. Right now, the verbiage of the standard pushes for a door and components to be tested as a system. The WDMA recently made a push to get the standard adopted into the 2009 international codes, and asked AAMA to support this action, which the association decided to do.

Such a standard, if adopted, would prevent pre-hangers from pre-hanging doors as they currently do. They would have to test each and every door configuration and relating components in order to sell them. Big distributors who pre-hang might be able to do a lot of testing, but smaller distributors who pre-hang would be put out of business, attendees said. Such a standard could also affect the machinery and the component manufacturers that supply pre-hangers with products.

(You can get a copy of all educational sessions from AMD for a fee of $49.99. For more information, visit www.amdweb.com.)

Opening Day
During the opening session, Bob Beckel (liberal) and Cal Thomas (conservative) served as keynote speakers. Both authors of the syndicated USA Today column, “Common Ground,” shared their differences and the commonalities that unite all members.

In their speech, Beckel and Thomas said, “There’s far too much contentiousness in politics. We are Americans first ... and there are forces that want to divide us. The other side is the Taliban--the people that want to destroy us.”

Beckel and Thomas, while different politically, believe that Americans should stop the polarization in politics and start talking with each other (and not in raised voices. They believe that we should forget our differences and unite against forces that feed on our division.

It’s a Wrap
Larry Winget, author of “It’s Called Work for a Reason!” served as the guest speaker at this year’s awards breakfast. Show attendees were impressed with Winget and his no-nonsense approach to business and life. Some of Winget’s thoughts were:

• "No one cares how good you used to be.”
• "You can’t make anyone else happy.”
• “A deal’s a deal.”
• “Do what you said you would do, the way you said you would do it and when you said you would do it.” and,
• “You have to get uncomfortable to change.”

On Display
A variety of millwork products--including railings, interior doors, door components, decorative millwork, software, mouldings, machinery, exterior doors, stairs and stair parts, screens and more were on display at this year’s convention. For specific product releases, see the November-December 2007 issue of Shelter magazine.

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