The Wonder
Originally Published August 2017 [LinkedIn]
Before entering the manufacturing field I had a long history of working in hospitality in my native England and, for a brief time, Italy too. There’s an enormous amount of crossover, surprisingly so, between the fenestration industry and hospitality but there’s one huge difference:
In hospitality we made an experience, something that was intangible; a memory.
In manufacturing we make a product that we craft it out of nothing into something physical, that is there to be touched and used.
People are endlessly fascinated by the production process – one of the most rewarding experiences is when we take clients into our factory and show them the production lines, how we fashion raw vinyl, sheets of glass, foam spacers and a variety of components into fully functioning windows and doors. There has never been a time that we have taken someone on the floor and they haven’t left impressed and motivated.
In each industry there’s a degree of mystique in the inner workings to an outsider, a secret language of technical terms and an understanding of mechanisms and formulae to create a product. In manufacturing we actually transform raw materials in to something practical, whether it’s components or finished products.
That wonder, of seeing the unknown, is something we are very quick to make ordinary, to forget about and devalue. Plastic is so ubiquitous, it is everywhere in every part of daily life, that we don’t even acknowledge it, we don’t question how it is made. If you look around you now, even ignoring the computer, phone or tablet you're reading this on there will be man-made synthetic material within sight. This has been consciously made and fashioned, yet its very prevalence means we don't question how it was fashioned, the thought, research and countless hours that have gone into being able to produce it. It is of enormous value, not only in appreciating the process, but as a marketing and sales tool too. Part of our job is to get our clients to feel that Wonder.
A great example of a company doing this and maximizing the benefit is Deceuninck North America out of Monroe, Ohio. I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in a ‘Future Fabricators’ workshop at the plant, and part of that experience was a factory tour.
To see the hoppers filled with raw material to be expertly mixed before going through the extrusion process was an example of seeing The Wonder. From the perfectly clean factory floor to the use of high technology, it was impossible not to be wowed and leave a fanatic, and as we all know there is no greater advertising than recommendation.
Every day I try to acknowledge ‘The Wonder’, because it is easy to forget that we do something incredible every day, something that defines as human – we move forward and create and innovate. By having a team that appreciates this, we have an engaged and more productive team but we also have another way of adding value to our products - a value that can be passed along through our Dealers all the way to the homeowners.