INDUSTRY NEWS: September 2008

Map of Africa highlighting country location. The U.S. Embassy in Conakry (Guinea, Africa) will soon be sporting four new FRP doors, manufactured in the Ozark Mountains.

The nation of Guinea is on the western coast of Africa. >>>

"This is our first international transaction," said Margaret Ratchford, sales & customer service director of Universal Pultrusions LLC (UniPul), the Marshall, Arkansas-based manufacturing company which shipped the finished doors on August 26. "We are all very excited about it."

<<< Conakry, the capital city of Guinea, is situated on Tumbo Island connected to the mainland by a 300-meter pier.

This benchmark sale is, it is hoped by all who work for UniPul, foretelling of greater things to come as the company's reputation for producing what is perhaps the toughest, most durable and best looking heavy-duty personnel door in the marketplace travels across the USA and around the world.

"Our company has been in business since 1986," Ratchford continued. "I worked here when things got started, left for a while when I began raising my family, and came back in 2006," she said. "Our doors have always been unique to the industry and the word is spreading about the quality of our product. We are seeing a steady increase in orders."

At right: John Coppersmith, who runs the spray booth at UniPul and oversees shipping, loads the crated doors into the FedEx truck. More photos: click here.

"Thanks so very much for making sure this order went through," wrote Boubacar Kanneh, Embassy Procurement Supervisor, in an email to Ratchford. "I am very grateful for all of your assistance. Hope to do more business with your Company in the future. Best regards." ~~~

INDUSTRY NEWS: August 2008

Water & Wastewater topic of business meeting, pictured l/r: Susan Poe, Wastewater Trainer/Technician with the Arkansas Rural Water Association, Keith Jensen, President & Technical Director of Universal Pultrusions LLC (UniPul), Gene Henderson, V.P. of the SPG Water Association, Veronica Salmons representing Alliance Water Resources of Colombia, Missouri, James Busby, Mayor of the City of Marshall and Vice Chair Ozark Mountains Regional Public Water Authority, Dale Jensen of Flippin, Margaret Ratchford, Sales & Customer Service Director of UniPul, Jimmy Blair and Anthony Mathis, both with the City of Marshall Water Department, Joe Dillard Regional Representative to U.S. Congressional Representative Marion Berry, T.P. Hubbard, President of the South Mountain Water Association, Johnny Hinchey, Searcy County Judge and Director of the Ozark Mountains Regional Public Water Authority, Ray Barnes, City of Leslie Water Superintendent, Hughy Ragland, Superintendent of the Morningstar Water Association, and Kevin Elliot, Superintendent City of Marshall Water Department. Also attending but not pictured, Kevin Jensen of Metalogic, Inc., Christine Beems, Communications Director of UniPul, and Shawna Weiss, a 9th grader from the nearby City of Clinton, Arkansas.

APPLES & ORANGES

Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of hardworking men and women like a recession. Breathe the term and folks start ducking for cover, and generally at the top of the 'batten down the hatches' list, bean-counters start looking to cut costs and marketers start inventing new phrases to hype why getting less (product or service) for the same (or more) money is actually, as dear Martha would affirm, "a good thing."

Smoke and mirrors aside, economic cycles are cyclical, coming and going with a seemingly unpredictable yet steadily consistent redundancy. Orders are up today, down tomorrow. Business as usual. Nothing new under the sun.

The truly good thing about these repetitive contractions is that they are -- like any birth -- followed by periods of expansion and growth. Also that during the downturn a winnowing takes place which ultimately leaves the manufacturing base as a whole in much better shape, with much stronger individual businesses than existed before the downturn began.

Still, transitions necessitate a particular type of alertness because those who are ill-prepared to chart a steady course through the turning tide too often start grasping at stop-gap measures to buoy-up their rocking boat.

Examples of this are everywhere and perhaps best illustrated by the chronically shrinking cereal box wearing the 'new and improved' label at a 10% increased shelf-price. This kind of shell game goes on in the industrial courtyard too, and the consequences to the unwary are substantial.

Let's say, for example, that a manufacturer of widgets wants to undercut competitors' prices but respective of production and material costs that is simply not a realistic option.

Still one way this could be accomplished would be for that manufacturer to essentially go back to the drawing board and redesign their product, using less of this or more of that to come up with a new product that looked just like the old product but cost less to produce because it was fundamentally different.

On the one hand, doing this is what business has been doing since the dawn of time. It is perfectly legit and totally pragmatic, yet if customers are not fully informed about such behind the scenes changes they may end up footing the bill for something they never bargained for and really did not want.

In the manufacture of FRP doors, for example, it is understood that the strength of the finished product is greatly dependent on the resin to reinforcing fiber ratio, with higher fiber content resulting in a dramatically stronger and more durable product.

By rule of thumb, hand lay up 'form built' FRP processes result in products containing 60% resin and 40% fiber. Vacuum infusion produces products with 40% resin and 60% fiber. Pultrusion achieves ratios of 35% resin to 65% reinforcement, thus delivering the strongest product of the three.

According to DHI’s Paul E. Himes, one of the top five ‘hidden risks’ in the current construction environment is ‘materials substitution’.

“We are now seeing this start to happen again,” reports Himes. “Cheaper materials are being installed instead of what was specified and contracted for. The lower the bid, the higher the temptation to substitute -- and we're not talking about approved substitutions.”

Yet another pitfall to avoid according to Building Design+Construction is ‘greenwashing.’

"Green is an enormous market trend," said Jeaneen Zappa, deputy director of the Green Building Alliance in the South Side. "Nearly everybody is trying in some ways to capitalize on that. In the course of that, there's some 'greenwashing' going on -- in other words, a misrepresentation of the true sustainability or greenness of a product."

"There are a lot of claims being made about products being green that are not backed up by objective data or clear standards," said Caren Glotfelty, director of environmental programs at The Heinz Endowments. "It's kind of a vacuum of information that entrepreneurs will swarm into."

Yet if you, the consumer, are uninformed about such things or, worse still, if the manufacturer of a product purposefully tries to disguise or bury these facts, it is the quality of your project and durability of your reputation that stand to lose.

Moore and his crew continue to study samples of plastic 'soup' from deep in the Pacific Ocean. The amount of 'disposable' plastic produced in the United States has nearly doubled in the past two decades. This includes plastic bags, toothbrushes, cigarette lighters, beverage bottles and their caps, toys, and fast food wrappers. And sadly, way too much of it is ending up in ocean waters. There it is tumbled and swirled by waves and currents, breaking down into tiny bits and dust-sized particles, turning the seawater into a viscous soup.

Algalita researchers say there are five major gyres around the world where this particulate sludge accumulates, but that these appear invisible to nautical passersby, aerial photographers and even satellite imagery because most of the plastic bits are translucent. Eighty percent of the plastic comes not from ships but from land, where tossed consumer goods eventually travel from backyards and street gutters to creeks and streams to rivers and on into the ocean.

For more than a decade Algalita researchers have been collecting samples from the North Pacific Gyre, which traps untold amounts of plastic particles in its eddies.

July 24, 2008, brought together the group noted above during a quarterly Customer Service Seminar hosted by Universal Pultrusions LLC, Marshall, Arkansas.

"It gets harder and harder every year, to deal with water and wastewater issues,” Susan Poe, Wastewater Trainer/Technician with the Arkansas Rural Water Association (ARWA), advised the group of civic leaders, local water quality professionals and interested citizens.

“The costs just keep on skyrocketing," Poe elaborated, explaining that many of the challenges that ARWA helps to resolve have to do with meeting regulatory quality standards on a shoe-string budget.

She said that new technology, such as 'onsite-chlorinators,' will in the long run make regulatory compliance much easier for water and wastewater treatment systems, but that cost aside the biggest obstacle to overcome is lack of familiarity.

"Once a new technology is installed and doing its job, everyone loves it," Poe acknowledged, but she said the crux of the matter is getting the information out there about new approaches to solving old problems.

Poe also noted the growing need for trained water quality professionals and engineers, explaining that a large portion of the current workforce is rapidly approaching retirement age and there simply are not enough qualified people to go around.

“Water and wastewater treatment are considered dangerous professions due to potential chemical exposure,” Poe pointed out, emphasizing that this is why training and ongoing education are vital, not just for the health of the community water system but also for the well-being of the operators who do the work.

The educational program was held at Universal Pultrusions (UniPul) LLC, an industrial door manufacturing company, as part of their quarterly customer service training seminar.

Above: Ray Barnes, City of Leslie Water Superintendent, and Hughy Ragland, Superintendent of the Morningstar Water Association, seated beneath the graphic wall mural in the company offices which illustrates expansion plans of the UniPul manufacturing facility.

Subsequent to Poe’s presentation, Keith Jensen, President & Technical Director of the manufacturing facility, led the group on a factory tour illustrating his company’s role as a service provider to the water and wastewater industry.

Jensen explained that the simple door can be a real headache in an industrial setting where subjection to chronic wetness and caustic cleaning compounds in a chemically saturated environment can cause huge maintenance problems and repetitive retrofitting costs. His company’s goal, as he explained it, is to manufacture doors that are problem-free and last the lifetime of the facility in which they are installed.

Also during the program, Jensen’s plan for expanding his factory’s production facilities to accommodate the steady growth in demand for pultruded products was announced. Plans call for an approximate 28% increase in manufacturing floor space and the addition of approx 2000 sq.ft. of administrative offices.

Emphasizing that it is impossible for people to utilize a resource they don’t know exists, Joe Dillard, Regional Representative to U.S. Congressional Representative Marion Berry, said that the overall program addressed a significant need by introducing more decision-makers to the high-quality consulting, training, planning and development resources available to them at no cost through the ARWA, to help them solve difficult water and wastewater problems.

For more information on the services available from ARWA, visit www.ArkansasRuralWater.org or phone 501-676-2255.

For more info about Universal Pultrusions, phone 870-448-4406.

Descendents of the family that established "Body By Fisher" are getting back into the vehicular body building business. Gregory Fisher, CEO and chairman of Fisher Coachworks LLC, a company formed earlier this year to become a manufacturer of electric-drive buses outfitted with ultra-light (polymer) body-parts, is the grandson of Alfred J. Fisher, one of the original Fisher brothers who on July 22, 1908, formed the Fisher Body Company. Fisher has not yet determined a location for their manufacturing facility, though they still have roots in Michigan and reportedly are also considering Tennessee and California.

Brain Games:
Rocket Science
"T-minus 10, 9, 8....."

According to Environment & Energy News, buildings in the United States account for more than 40% of our nation's energy use. Thus by going 'carbon neutral' and applying specific strategies to new construction and rehab projects, that 40% could be cut to 8%.

This 80% reduction in energy consumption will add roughly $1 to $2 per square foot of new construction costs, however this investment will pay itself back redundantly over the years. Strategies to accomplish such savings start with the site plan layout, look at where the building should be optimally located, its shape and geographic orientation. Even with existing structures, much can be accomplished with landscaping, shading and applied colors to enhance natural ventilation, lighting, heating and cooling systems systems, passive solar and other operations such as new roofing systems that produce electricity.

The biggest challenge it seems is getting people to believe that an 80% reduction in energy consumption is possible without sacrificing overall quality or modern convenience. Yet according the the experts all the technology to actualize these measurable savings is on the shelf right now and ready to deliver benefits.

INDUSTRY NEWS: July 2008

NANOBOTICS

Remember nanobots from Star Trek? Introduced to mere mortals by the Borg – the ‘killer bees’ of the universe whose hive mentality (‘resistance is futile’) drove their swarms to ‘assimilate’ every living being they encountered. "Seven of Nine" (pictured at right), according to the TV script, was fully human before she was assimilated into the Borg robotic collective by an injection of nanobots.

No longer the exclusive property of science fiction, nanorobotics is steadily becoming a beneficial and useful fact. Nanorobots, nanobots, nanoids or nanites as they are variously called, are engineered with ‘wheels’ and ‘gears’ and ‘switches’ the size of molecules.

For the most part still a hypothetical concept, progress toward actualizing useful nanobots is amazing. One example: a tiny chemical "brain" which could one day act as a remote control for swarms of nano-machines has been developed and was able to control eight microscopic machines simultaneously in a test.

To put these itty-bitty contraptions in scale, consider that a human hair is roughly 84,000 nanometers wide. Now consider that a new nano-sized sensor with a ‘switch’ approximately 1.5 nanometers wide is capable to count specific molecules in a chemical sample.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), on the other hand, are distinct from and yet intricately related to nanobot technology. These molecular, straw-shaped structures – which look like cylinders of rolled-up chicken wire, are also only a few nanometers wide but are several millimeters long and are rapidly becoming an industry staple, especially in the enhancement of polymers.

Said to have the strength equivalent of diamonds, unique electrical properties and other novel attributes, CNTs are useful in electronics, optics, arcology and architecture. Used as fibers to strengthen polymer composites, the Easton EC70 DH featherweight handlebar created with nanotube technology for mountain bikes has, for example, won awards for its incredible strength.

An envisioned use is to produce high-tensile CNT cables that could tether a synchronously orbiting ‘space platform’ to earth and enable access with a ‘space elevator’.

More down to earth, in 2007 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers infused paper with aligned carbon nanotubes and created a new type of battery, engineered to function as both a lithium-ion battery and a supercapacitor. The ‘paper battery’ can provide long, steady power output comparable to a conventional battery, as well as a supercapacitor’s quick burst of high energy.

Though commercial application is currently cost-prohibitive, it is conceivable that a ‘paper battery’ the size of a sheet of newspaper could power a car.

Further leveraging nanostructure advances, Nanosolar has developed a proprietary ink that makes it possible to simply ‘print’ high-performance solar cells. Much simpler and much more cost-effective than conventional vacuum deposition techniques, the Nanosolar process delivers thin-film solar cells which more affordable and generate more energy than their traditional counterparts.

~~~

Handling Combustible Solids & Particulates

In 2005, Carolyn Merritt, Chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), declared that chemical dust explosions in the United States are a "serious industrial safety problem." But according to a recent report on 60 Minutes, this threat to the common worker is still little understood and thus not given sufficient respect.

Research attests that nearly 200 dust fires and explosions have occurred in U.S. industrial facilities over the past 25 years, resulting in approximately 100 fatalities and 600 injuries. And while everyone wants to assure that their plant is safe, little is understood about how to evaluate safety conditions in plants that, as a manufacturing side-effect, produce what are known as 'combustible particulate solids'.

Routinely known as 'dust', it must be noted that even sugar, plastic and aluminum dust particles can explode like a bomb given sufficient accumulation and a spark. Safe housekeeping methods to clean air ducts, crawl spaces and other hidden or exposed surfaces are a must to ensure safety. A dust layer only 1/32" thick is sufficient to cause a tragedy and should require immediate cleaning. For more info, visit the Chemical Safety Board online at www.csb.gov.

Metalogic/UniPul 12th Annual FishFry

On Friday, June 27, friends, family members and employees of Metalogic and UniPul were treated to an Ozark-style fish fry buffet with all the fixin's, hosted by Kevin Jensen and Keith Jensen, owners of the two manufacturing facilities.

Kevin Jensen and his dad manned the deep fryers, serving up a bevy of delicious fried okra, taters, and catfish. Homemade coleslaw, lots of condiments and an array of tantalizing desserts had everyone happily complaining that they'd eaten way too much. Click here for more pics from the event.

~~~

COMPOSITE SHIMS

When installing an FRP doorframe or window system, to gain full advantage of the non-corrosive/rot-immune properties, make sure to use a composite shim in the installation rather than relying on the old standard, wood.

Wood shims can and do rot in high moisture environments. This causes doorframes to shift in their openings, degrading the alignment of the door in the frame and contributing to other detrimental factors.

The simple solution is to use a composite shim such as those manufactured by Nelson Wood Shims of Cohasset, Minnesota, which we find to be an excellent solution to this hidden problem that may go unnoticed until it is too late.

~~~

WASTEWATER TOPIC OF INFORMATION PROGRAM

Susan Poe, Wastewater Trainer/Technician with the Arkansas Rural Water Association (ARWA), is the featured speaker July 24 at an informational seminar hosted by Universal Pultrusions LLC in Marshall, Arkansas.

“Clean potable water is the lifeblood of a healthy community,” said Poe, noting that it takes more than just detecting leaks and inspecting tanks or pumping systems to have a healthy water system. “The way we handle our wastewater has a lot to do with it.”

Poe will overview the training programs and technical support services provided by ARWA to rural communities in a continuing effort to ensure a high-quality water supply at the lowest possible cost.

“We conduct educational programs throughout Arkansas,” said Poe. “Our purpose is to assist water systems with day-to-day operational and management problems. We have on our staff, experienced and licensed operators who are familiar with all aspects of water systems’ operations and management and are ready to work with any rural community at any time.”

Water quality management has become an increasingly complex job as regulatory awareness of critical demands requires highly-skilled professionals whose salaries are often beyond the budget of rural utility operations. ARWA works to bridge this gap with no-cost consulting services and low-cost training & certification programs, some of which qualify for tuition subsidy via scholarships and grants.

The ARWA is a non-profit organization which delivers up-to-date information to the operators and management personnel of local water utilities by striving to meet the needs of each individual water system. The ARWA is a member of the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) which links-together over 24,500 rural and small utilities nationwide.

“We are very pleased to host this program as part of our continuing education effort,” said Keith Jensen, president and technical director of the UniPul manufacturing facility. “In addition to having a vested interest as a local resident in the quality of our community’s water system, our company is a service provider to the water and wastewater treatment industry as we manufacture industrial doors that are specifically designed for extra durability to hold up in the chronically moist and chemically corrosive environment of wastewater treatment facilities.”

~~~

INDUSTRY NEWS: June 2008

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." ~Albert Einstein

Einstein understood that imagination is the most potent cognitive tool of the universe. Ignoring status quo assumptions, creative imagination enables us to conceptualize possibilities.

Choosing to adopt this outreaching attitude -- which is really our 'default' mind-set -- allows us to see common circumstances in profoundly different ways and to form entirely new perspectives.

Einstein, for example, in his quest to understand the workings of light, matter and energy, would imagine himself riding on top of a beam of light and then asking himself questions about the imaginary experience.

Einstein willfully empowered his imagination, giving whimsy free reign in his own thought process to rid himself of 'common knowledge' givens and limitations.

Einstein's natural curiosity coupled with his voracious exercise of imagination radically transformed scientific theory and revolutionized how we think about our universe today. Einstein challenged assumptions.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." ~George Bernard Shaw

Challenging Assumptions

Ocean Renewable Power Company was founded in 2004 for the purpose of generating reliable, cost-effective, emission-free electricity from the virtually unlimited energy resources of the oceans. The company's proprietary modular OCGen™ technology promises both environmental and economic friendliness by harvesting the perpetual motion of ocean currents.

Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies removes phosphorus and other nutrients from wastewater and recycles them into environmentally safe commercial fertilizer. The company’s first commercial-scale plant began operation in Edmonton, Alberta in 2007. The proprietary technology helps wastewater treatment systems handle sewage sludge liquids in a way that
1) reduces operating costs, 2) increases overall plant capacity, 3) complies with environmental regulations and 4) produces revenue from byproduct: Crystal Green™ fertilizer which provides turf growers (parks and golf courses), commercial nurseries and specialty agricultural markets with a unique fertilizer that is 1) slow release and proven effective, 2) produced without greenhouse gas emissions, and 3) does not leach into and pollute the water table.

Daphne Utilities provides water, sewer and natural gas to the community of Daphne, Alabama and has received many awards for keeping the environment clean while keeping operating costs low. Paramount among Daphne's innovations is it's oil-recycling program which produces bio-diesel fuel and glycerin soap from the wastestream grease that too often winds up in the community's sewer system.

Open Source Initiative (OSI) is an outgrowth of the techies who initially conceptualized and developed the Internet and the World Wide Web. Advocates of the virtual-bridge-building power of free information exchange, members of the OSI community strive to create a nexus of trust around which developers, end users, corporations and governments can effectively organize information thru open-source cooperation.

Pultrusion: In 1994 there were only about 100 commercial pultruders in North America. Now, just fourteen years later, a Google search for 'pultrusion' delivers over 290,000 results. Once treated as a step-child of the FRP industry, pultrusion is today one of the fastest growing sectors of composites processing, commonly used in the manufacture of I-beams, sewer pipes, grates, fences, handrails and doorframes.

"Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." ~Thomas Edison

Boost your virtual image!!! Create a FREE website & blog without learning HTML, FTP, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, etc.

INDUSTRY NEWS: May 2008
UniPul Factory Tour & Product Knowledge Seminar

<<< Keith Jensen (second from left), President & Technical Director of Universal Pultrusions LLC, with graduates of the UniPul Factory Tour and Product Knowledge Seminar (l/r): Gary L. Kay of GLK Sales, Thomas Barrett of the Barrett Group, Ransom Crenshaw of Crenshaw Sales, James McMaster of McMaster Sales, Mary Barrett of the Barrett Group. The photo was taken in front of the company's pultruded FRP 'super door' and frame, subsequent to an installation demonstration which concluded the morning segment of the 1-day product mastery college.

Five Sales Reps, home-based out of Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee, attended a Factory Tour & Product Knowledge Seminar hosted by Universal Pultrusions LLC (UniPul) on April 24, 2008, in Marshall, Arkansas.

During the morning session, UniPul President Keith Jensen explained the significant differences between conventional FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) manufacturing processes and the pultrusion process, emphasizing that while the fundamental ingredients (glass fiber, resin and catalyst) are much the same the proprietary fabrication technology employed by his company delivers a product which is vastly superior to other FRP products in both finished quality and long-term durability.

"Pultrusion is a machine process that mechanically pulls a continuous fabric of glass or other fiber reinforcement through a catalyzed resin bath or injector in front of a heated steel die," Jensen elaborated. "With our unique technology, a solid cured door panel emerges from the die, is cut to length and custom prepped for each particular installation."

This, Jensen said, is very different from how mold-formed FRP door panels are manufactured. The pultrusion technology minimizes and eliminates the general tendency for conventional FRP products to delaminate, warp and degrade when installed in environmentally harsh, chronically wet or chemically caustic environments.

Jensen followed-up his comments with a tour of the UniPul manufacturing facility which included a demonstration of installing the company's complete door and frame system.

Lunch was served in the private meeting room of Marshall’s Los Aztecas restaurant, after which Margaret Ratchford, UniPul Marketing/Sales Director, elaborated on the durability of pultruded doors during the afternoon session. "Our doors are industrial quality," she emphasized. "Ideally suited for such demanding installations as wastewater treatment plants, pharmaceutical houses and food processing facilities."

Ratchford also noted that certain segments of the industrial sector such as wastewater treatment are actually experiencing continued growth even in today's slowed economy and encouraged reps to consider this fact when researching prospective clients.

Concluding the day's agenda, Christine Beems, UniPul Marketing/Information Director, examined effective marketing strategy. "Trends strongly indicate that the next 2 to 3 years will see 50% to 60% of all commercial and industrial purchasing originating from online contacts and research," she said, extrapolating that this makes it more important than ever for the purveyors of products and their representatives to maintain a credible and informative presence on the Internet.

Universal Pultrusions LLC is headed by Keith Jensen and co-owned by Kevin Jensen, Keith’s brother, who attended the April 24th program. The Jensen brothers also co-own Metalogic Inc., a specialty stainless steel fabricating company based in Flippin, Arkansas.

Keith and Kevin, who have a combined total of 51 years of fabricating and engineering experience between them, founded Metalogic in 1990 and took on the pultrusion business in 2004 with the objective to manufacture the finest quality products with conformity to the highest standards and most complete attention to detail achievable. For more info, visit www.unipulllc.com or www.metalogicinc.com ~~~

RESEARCH ONLINE
The National Academies Press website offers more than 3,700 scientific publications to read online FREE! click here

"3 Questions" research survey,
re: problem doors:
click here

FRAUDULENT GRAND JURY SUMMONS CONTAINS MALWARE: According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the IC3 is warning consumers to be on the lookout for nefarious email containing a fraudulent subpoena which purports to notify recipients that they are "commanded to appear and testify" before a Grand Jury.

The email attempts to appear authentic by containing a court case number, federal code, name and address of a California (or other) federal court, court room number, issuing officers’ names, and a court seal.

Recipients are directed to click the link provided in the email in order to download and print associated information for their records. If the recipient clicks the link, malicious code is downloaded onto their computer.

The email also contains language threatening recipients with contempt of court charges if they fail to appear and they are told that the subpoena will remain in effect until the court grants a release.

As with most spam, the content contains multiple spelling errors however this has not prevented people from falling prey to the hoax.

Be advised that government agencies and financial institutions NEVER initiate contact with an individual about a serious matter by email. Thus if you receive this type of notification always question its authenticity: Contact the alleged issuing agency by phone, after you look up the number yourself, for validation.

Whenever you receive an email with attachments or links to click, do not open it and do not click any embedded links no matter if the sender is known to you or not. Email addresses are easily forged by high-tech crooks to make it appear that an email is being sent to you by a known and trusted source when in fact it has been sent by someone completely unknown to you with no good purpose in mind.

If you received an email similar to the fraudulent 'grand jury' scam described here, the FBI requests that you report it at www.ic3.gov

SOLAR TENT: Ideally suited to disaster recovery, emergency medial care, computer outposts or other applications where secure power and shelter are needed but not readily available, the Solar Tent manufactured by SolarIntegrated supplies electric power and shelter at the same time. ~~~

INDUSTRY NEWS: April 2008

THE TEST OF A LEADER
Condensed from Where Have All the Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca

There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I’ve figured out nine points—not ten (I don’t want people accusing me of thinking I’m Moses). I call them the “Nine Cs of Leadership.” They’re not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have:

A leader has to SHOW CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place. If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care.

A leader has to BE CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know, think outside the box. Leadership is all about managing change -- whether you're leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative. You adapt.

A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I'm not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I'm talking about facing reality and telling the truth even when it's painful.

A leader has to BE A PERSON OF CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you want to test a man's character, give him power."

A leader must HAVE COURAGE. I'm talking about balls. (That even goes for female leaders.) Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk -- you know, My gun is bigger than your gun. -- isn't courage. Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't mean posturing and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk.

To be a leader you've got to HAVE CONVICTION -- a fire in your belly. You've got to have passion. You've got to really want to get something done and then do it!

A leader should HAVE CHARISMA. I'm not talking about being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire. People follow a leader they trust.

A leader has to BE COMPETENT. That seems obvious, doesn't it? You've got to know what you're doing. More important than that, you've got to surround yourself with people who know what they're doing.

You can't be a leader if you don't HAVE COMMON SENSE. My boss when I first started in the car business was a guy named Charlie Beacham, a big Southerner, with a warm drawl, a huge smile, and a core of steel. Charlie used to tell me, "Remember, Lee, the only thing you've got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. If you don't know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'll never make it."

Put another way, former President Bill Clinton once said, "I grew up in an alcoholic home. I spent half my childhood trying to get into the reality-based world -- and I like it here."

Leadership is forged in times of CRISIS. Leaders are made, not born. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory or send someone else off to solve critical problems when you have no idea how to solve it yourself. It's another thing to be a competent leader and take action, personally accountable to the ramifications of the outcome when a crisis looms. ~~~

"3 Questions" research survey,
re: 'problem doors:
click here

Who is answering YOUR phone?
Seth Godin looks at how the lowest-paid, least-respected, highest-turnover jobs in the workforce now do the most important marketing work.
click here

The Net Generation

According to Peter Cheese (BusinessWeek March 13, 2008), today's prize recruits and top young performers are bright young people who grew up with techno-gadgetry.

Digital Natives or Millenials or Generation Y or The Net Generation as they are variously labeled, their newest tongue-in-cheek moniker is Scuppie (click image above for a details).

Born circa-1980, as this renegade breed integrates the mainstream workforce, employers are finding that attracting and retaining them can be quite a challenge.

The 'problem' is that these upstarts (as they have also been called by the 'older' generation) like to network and collaborate which -- contrary to all the academic emphasis put on the value of such habits -- has not factually been 'the way things are done around here' in the vast majority of companies... Fortune 500 or not.

Rather than questing for a singular career path that leads to lifetime job security and dependable retirement benefits, those of the Net Generation crave free-flowing environments which enable them to continue to learn and grow.

They expect rapid career advancement and 'balance' between work, play, social obligations and family responsibilities. And as their numbers increasingly influence the policies and practices of the workforce and the marketplace, industry leaders must be prepared to adopt new managerial approaches and policy mindsets as Net Generation workers are engaged.

For example, according to various surveys and marketing studies, in 2006 roughly 23% of all 'technical buyers' (ie: engineers, executives, white collar professionals, etc.) said they no longer relied exclusively on trade publications, professional journals, print ads or conventions for researching components, comparing product specifications and finding suppliers, but increasingly conducted these activities on the Internet.

These same studies now report that the ongoing migration from traditional information sources to Internet-based virtual exploration increased by 8% in just one year and correlate this to the roughly 1,200,000 Net Generation grads now entering the workforce annually, replacing annually about 5% of the approximately 29,550,000 knowledge workers & decision makers who currently call the shots.

In this light it is self-evident that major changes in 'the way we do things around here' are eminent.

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INDUSTRY NEWS: March 2008

What’s your SSGQ?

Smart growth, sustainable development and green infrastructure 'quotient' (SSGQ): Even after regulatory compliance and design criteria are met, satisfying long-term SSGQ objectives takes forethought and planning, factoring-in from day one both the financial and environmental costs for ongoing maintenance and replacement of key components. The common door is a good example.

Typically, when a facility is designed or retrofitted, great attention is placed on filling needs with products that meet a variety of installation specs within a predetermined construction budget while little or no attention is given to analyzing the life-cycle of various components relative to recurring maintenance costs. Yet these un-factored costs accrue over time and can be substantial.

Ecological impacts accrue, damaging the environment in ways not routinely considered by regulators. Ongoing maintenance & retrofit costs also add-up to major expenses seldom envisioned when plans are on the drawing board.

For example, a hollow-core metal door purchased new for $700 and installed in a highly corrosive environment will, over a 10 year period, require about 2 hours of labor for maintenance each year.

An FPR door installed in that same corrosive environment will, over that same decade, require virtually no maintenance whatsoever.

Factors such as this must be considered in order to accurately calculate the overall life-cycle costs of every construction component or retrofit installation in order to ensure long-term economic feasibility. Often the initial purchase of a slightly higher priced 'state of the art' or 'industry standard' product saves goodly dollars over the long haul. ~~~

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Switching from metals to plastics
Primer by Zan Smith, Charles McChesney and Ken Fletcher, Ticona LLC

According to Wikipedia: Embodied Energy refers to the quantity of energy required to manufacture, and supply to the point of use, a product, material or service. (As an analog of embodied water, embodied energy might also be called "virtual energy", "embedded energy" or "hidden energy").

Traditionally considered, embodied energy is an accounting methodology which aims to find the sum total of the energy necessary - from the raw material extraction, to transport, manufacturing, assembly, installation as well as the capital and other costs of a specific material - to produce a service or product and finally its disassembly, deconstruction and/or decomposition.

Different methodologies produce different understandings of the scale and scope of application and the type of energy embodied. Some methodologies are interested in accounting for the energy embodied in terms of oil that supports economic processes.

Other types of methodologies endeavor to account for the energy embodied in terms of the sunlight that supports ecological processes.

Still others, like systems ecology, look at the ecological-economic process as a whole.

Embodied energy as a concept used in systems ecology seeks to measure the "true" energy cost of an item, and has extended this to the concept of "true" value. Methodologies such as emergy have also sought to link embodied energy with fundamental concepts, such as capacitance for example, in physical, electronic and chemical sciences.

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