Monday, May 3, 2010

Arch Angel, Arch Enemy?

The news last week that Leon Silverstein had exited Arch Aluminum was met with a mixture of reactions ranging from shock to “I told you so.” Whether or not Silverstein will someday re-purchase Arch or own a competing entity in the future was the subject of much conjecture, none of which is worthy of discussion at this time.

What is worthy of our time is some educated conjecture about the immediate future of Arch. I spoke with a lot of people about the company’s new life without Silverstein. “What’s the most important thing Sun can do now?” I asked over and over again. And over and over again, the answers I received all clustered around the following themes:

1. Repair relationships—especially among industry creditors that took a haircut. Such reparations could help entice some of those suppliers that have stopped to begin selling product to Arch again.

2. Get certified—meaning get the certified fabricator designations that have been removed in recent months back, including in PPG and Guardian’s programs. (Note Trulite has remained on the PPG program throughout.) Such designations are extremely important to Arch’s future sales as they provide a source of new leads and possible sales.

3. Consolidate—close or combine locations that are not profitable. Concentrate on continued development in the solar arena.

4. Friends and family—Arch was a family-owned business until very recently. Some of its employees are friends with or family of the former owners. That doesn’t necessarily mean that these employees are any less talented than other Arch employees. Sun needs to embrace the employees it intends to have as part of its future.

5. Redefinition—the biggest question for Arch is how is it going to define itself going forward. Leon Silverstein was the “face” of Arch and defined its brand. Where does the company go without him and how does it define itself? Low-cost leader? Fastest shipper? Technical champion? Solar innovator? How Arch defines itself internally and to the outside world will help shape its future success.

Link Chick Links

Well, I told you we’d have some exciting news about Link Chick’s links and we do – she has gotten so prolific that we have created a page where you can go and peruse said links. Link Chick scours the web so you don’t have to. My favorite link last week was about Mayberry’s Thelma Lou (the actress Betty Lynn) moving from California to Mount Airy (the real life inspiration for Mayberry) and getting robbed there. You just can’t make that stuff up.

Anyway, we thought it would be nice for the industry to have a place it could go to see and read links that have nothing to do with glass every once in awhile, so when you need a rest from industry info, be sure to visit http://linkchick.usglassmag.com/.