by tradesmeninsights | Aug 19, 2015 | Events/Trade Shows
Right now we’re in the middle of our annual Tool Drive supporting the Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity. Since our efforts started in 2010, we’ve found amazing support from our clients, partners, friends and community members.
We talked with Kevin Kelly with the Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity’s new ReStore location to find out more about him, Habitat for Humanity and their Restores.
Here’s the conversation:
Q. What is your position at Habitat for Humanity?
A. Store Manager at our new Eastside location (4601 Northfield Rd, North Randall).
Q. What is the Habitat for Humanity Restore?
A. Habitat for Humanity Restores are non-profit home improvement stores and donation centers that sell new and gently used appliances, furniture, building materials and house ware items. We sell to the public at a lower cost than retail.
Q. How long have you been with Habitat for Humanity?
A. More than three years. I first started as a volunteer for Habitat.
Q. What are your responsibilities at the Eastside Restore?
A. I manage all aspects of the store including personnel, donations, pricing and sales.
Q. Most memorable moment working for Habitat for Humanity?
A. The most memorable moment was a home dedication. Actually seeing a family get their home for the first time that I helped build. Also working with the many volunteers and companies.
Q. What’s the most unusual donation you’ve receives?
A. The most unusual donation was an X-ray of someone’s broken leg.
Q. Most common donations?
A. The most common donations are household items, appliances, furniture, knickknacks and building materials.
Q. What’s on the Restore donation wish list?
A. Anything and everything.
Q. What’s best about working for Habitat for Humanity?
A. Being able to affect the community in a positive manner.
Q. The Sonnhalter tagline is “Not Afraid to Get Our Hands Dirty.” What is your favorite way to get your hands dirty at Habitat for Humanity?
A. We recently opened the new store and I helped put the store together. This was very rewarding and dirty.
Q. What’s your favorite way to get your hands dirty outside of work?
A. I like working on homes. My son recently purchased a foreclosed home and we fixed many aspects of the home. It was a lot of fun working with him on the project and purchasing many of the items from the Habitat ReStore.
Q. Anything else to add?
A. We are grateful to Sonnhalter for the annual collection and donation of tools. We truly understand the work involved and appreciate their time and generosity toward the Habitat mission.
If you’re interested in participating in the Sonnhalter Tool Drive, visit sonnhalter.com/tooldrive or contact us to find out more.
by tradesmeninsights | Aug 13, 2015 | Events/Trade Shows
Rachel Kerstetter, PR Architect at Sonnhalter
National Manufacturing Day, or MFG Day, is October 2nd, which may feel like a long way off from right now, but you should start planning today.
If you’re a manufacturer, you should plan an event. Not sure what type of an event to plan? There are a variety of options for hosting an event, ranging from full day tours and sessions to half day learning seminars, or even 1-hour presentations.
If you’re not a manufacturer, you should attend an event. You can find Manufacturing Day events in your area using this interactive map.
If you’re planning to host an event for MFG Day in October, here are a few tips to make it successful:
- Set goals for your event. Do you want to improve your company’s image in the community? Do you need to recruit new talent? Do you want to contribute to changing the image of manufacturing? Figure out what you want to accomplish with your event and then create your plan.
- Identify your target audience(s). Based on the needs of your organization, some potential audiences to invite include local technical school and high school administration, faculty and students; local and regional politicians; local and trade media; family and friends of your employees and/or the local community as a whole.
- Put together a simple agenda. Include time to introduce your company and tailor your event to the audience that you’re inviting.
- Plan informative and interactive activities. Facility tours, brief presentations on different roles and Q&A sessions are easy to arrange and are effective.
- Promote your event. Be sure to list your event with mfgday.com, use your network to promote, and personally invite your target audience and promote your event through your existing channels including on your website and social media.
Not available on October 2nd? No problem! Pick a day that works for you and invite the people you want to reach to an event.
The manufacturing sector still faces a myriad of misconceptions. Initiatives like MFG Day provide a great opportunity to dispel myths and shed some light on what the industry is really like.
Will you be hosting or attending an event for MFG Day?
by tradesmeninsights | Apr 21, 2015 | Events/Trade Shows, Traditional Marketing
Source – Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Pietro Sutera
By Matt Sonnhalter, Vision Architect
I recently attended the ISH Show, a biennial show, which took place in Frankfurt, Germany in March. This was the first time I was able to attend this show and it sure did not disappoint. I guess the one word I would use to describe this show would be overwhelming!
Here are some of the amazing statistics from the show:
- Over 850,000 square feet of exhibit space – sprawled out over 11 buildings, most with multiple levels
- Almost 2,500 exhibitors – representing over 50 countries; and this number is not nearly as impressive as the individual sizes of their booths; 61% of these exhibitors came from outside of Germany
- Nearly 200,000 visitors – from plumbing and HVAC professional tradesman (accounting for around a third of the total), architects and engineers, to distributors, service providers, public authorities and more; 37% of these visitors came from outside Germany
Source – Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Pietro Sutera
This is by far the world’s leading show for the combination of water and energy topics. Everything one could possibly imagine for these industries was covered under the following five product groups:
- The Bathroom Experience – think of KBIS on steroids…Grohe and Hans Grohe even had their own buildings
- Building and Energy Technology – everything from boiler and burners, to heat pumps and components for heating equipment
- Efficient Systems and Renewable Energies – all the alternative energies were represented from solar, rain water, biomass and geothermal, plus there was even an entire floor dedicated to stoves, pellet burners and fireplaces
- Air-Conditioning, Cooling and Ventilation Technology – this section was comparable to the entire AHR Expo in U.S.
- World of Installation Technology – covering plumbing techniques, tools and systems for surface mounting, pipes, fittings and fasteners
Source – Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Jens Liebchen
The overall theme for ISH 2015 was “Comfort meets Technology” where the world’s leading companies covered future-oriented issues such as resource conservation and renewable energies. Here are some of the other broad themes covered during the show:
- ISH Water: Interior + Technology – Design and Function in Harmony. Topics covered included: the multi-generational bathroom; bathroom architecture in the light of demographic change; hygiene requirements for drinking water and efficient use of water as a resource
- ISH Energy: Energy Efficiency Plus. Topics covered included: energy efficiency in the heating market; hybrid systems; using a single room fireplace to provide comfortable warmth and holistic sustainability
- Future Buildings: Topics covered included technology, comfort and energy efficiency in harmony; integrating automation of interior spaces and energy efficiency and smart living – the networked home becomes an everyday reality
Amazingly, this show is really equivalent in size to 4 or 5 of our major U.S. professional tradesman shows. The show was five days in length and you needed almost all of it to walk the entire show. And the booth traffic was tremendous, and not just on the first day of the show like most U.S. trade shows, seeming to build each and every day.
If you’ve never been to the ISH Show and you are involved in any part of the Water and Energy fields, it’s definitely worth attending. Just make sure to book your travel accommodations early and wear comfortable walking shoes!
Want to keep reading about ISH? Check out these links:
Holy cow! ISH Show continues to amaze
6 plumbing trends from ISH
The show that is del-ISH
ISH Frankfurt 2015 Recap from Eric Aune
ISH 2015 — Day 1
ISH 2015 — Day 2
ISH 2015 — Day 3
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 18, 2014 | Events/Trade Shows, Uncategorized
The Sonnhalter team will be taking some time off over the holidays. We hope that you enjoy this holiday season and time with your family and friends!
We’ll see you in January!
by tradesmeninsights | Nov 20, 2014 | Events/Trade Shows
Rachel Kerstetter, PR Engineer, Sonnhalter
I had the opportunity to attend the Fabtech Expo in Atlanta last week. It was my second year at the show and I am continually impressed by the immensity of this industry. The expo brought together more than 27,000 attendees and 1,400 exhibitors covering more than 500,000 square feet of the Georgia World Congress Center.
Fabtech kicked off on Veterans Day and it couldn’t have been more fitting since Workshops for Warriors was selected as the recipient of the Fabtech Cares campaign. Workshops for Warriors is a wonderful organization that I had the pleasure of writing about last year in Production Machining magazine. Workshops for Warriors, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to training, certifying, and placing veterans in manufacturing careers.
It’s no secret that manufacturers are looking for new sources of talent. At the same time, many former members of our armed forces are looking for work. Workshops for Warriors combines these efforts, giving American veterans and wounded warriors the skills U.S. manufacturing employers need. Veterans who are transitioning back to civilian life provide a vastly untapped talent pool of hardworking and disciplined talent for the manufacturing industry. Fabtech hosted a panel on the first day of the show on bridging the skills gap with veterans. You can see the progress of the fundraiser (and donate) here.
Reshoring of manufacturing was definitely another popular topic. The Day One keynote actually came from Cindi Marsilgio, the VP for U.S. Manufacturing at Wal-Mart. The company has pledged to buy $250 billion of products made in the USA over ten years to encourage the creation of U.S. jobs. (You can read more about the keynote and Day One highlights on Fabtech’s blog.) When walking the show and helping out in various booths, I heard the question, “Where are your products made?” Many purchasing professionals in attendance were seeking domestically produced products to us in their own operations.
Day Two of Fabtech kicked off with four-time Super Bowl champion and Vietnam War veteran, Ricky Bleier, presenting on how attendees can be the best that they can be. Later in the day a panel was held on the industry’s outlook. You can see video and other highlights from Day Two on Fabtech’s blog.
Although I headed back to chilly Cleveland at the end of Day Two, the final day of the show was also packed with a presentation from Google for Work’s Head of Manufacturing, Mike Walton on transforming manufacturing for the digital age. This is a very popular topic, especially with the rise of 3D printing, robotics and digital design capabilities. You can check out some video from the presentation here.
Did you attend Fabtech? What did you think of the show?
by tradesmeninsights | Nov 12, 2014 | Events/Trade Shows
I just returned from the STAFDA show which was held in Charlotte, NC. It was the biggest one in some years.
The show, for the most part, was upbeat, and the economic forecast for the next few years looks promising for the construction market.
I talked to several manufacturers and they seemed happy, for the most part, on the turnout for the trade show. The last day didn’t set any records, but most trade shows don’t.
In talking with several distributors and a few buying groups that were there, they confirmed that they were having great growth in 2014 and expect it to continue into 2015.
It was nice to go to a distributor/manufacturer meeting where both sides were positive. Hopefully the crystal ball will be right.
