Schlosser Signs’ New Machine Speeds Manufacturing Process
Posted on | September 12, 2011 | No Comments
Schlosser Signs Acquires New Channel Letter Machine
Accu-Bend improves sign manufacture speed, efficiency, safety
Loveland, Colo.— Schlosser Signs (www.schlossersigns.com), a leader in the design, manufacture and installation of signage in northernColorado and beyond, has announced the acquisition of a new piece of equipment, an Accu-Bend Lite machine from Computerized Cutters, Inc., ofPlano,Texas. The computer-controlled machine automatically manufactures aluminum channel letters, reducing by up to 75 percent the time required to fabricate letters by hand.
“This machine lets us keep our skilled craftsmen focused on other priorities,” notes Carla Schlosser, CEO of Schlosser Signs. “And the improved efficiency and reduced waste will allow us to be more competitive, both for small orders and larger contracts, as well.”
The company will have a video of the machine in action at this year’s BIXPO event, where Schlosser Signs has booth #99 on September 15th at the Embassy Suites, 4705 Clydesdale Parkwayin Loveland. Schlosser notes that they are now the only retail sign company north of Denverto have a machine with this capability. “Channel letters” are the custom-made sides, exterior or frame of standard three-dimensional exterior signage commonly used by businesses and other organizations. The video will also be posted at www.schlossersigns.com by September 14th.
Once the machine has been programmed using a standard sign design software interface, the Accu-Bend machine takes raw stock aluminum fed from a coil on a motorized material feed table, sends it through the machine to be notched, flanged, bent, and cut, and places the finished product on a stainless steel offload table. Other companies have used the machine to increase their output of channel letters by 400 to 500 percent, while producing a more consistent, accurate product.
The company also plans to make use of the new machine to offer more options to its contract sign installation customers. Schlosser has long been a trusted sub-contract installation partner for national sign manufacturers, receiving signs shipped from around the country for installation acrossColorado,WyomingandNebraska. Now, it’s possible for computer design files to be emailed to Schlosser so the company can manufacture the channel letters.
The Accu-Bend was the world’s first machine created to automatically notch, flange and bend complete channel letters. It handles .063-gauge aluminum material at a feed rate up to one foot per second, and produces single-piece letters, shapes and logos up to 15 feet tall.
About Schlosser Signs
Schlosser Signs opened inLoveland,Coloradoin 1999. Our experienced team designs, manufactures, and installs a vast range of interior and exterior corporate signage — including monument signs, LED displays and electronic message centers, channel letters, awnings, and much more. Our goal is to create a top-quality, great-looking sign that will maintain the integrity of your brand while helping to promote your company to your guests and the general public.
Schlosser takes care of every aspect of each project for you, so you don’t have to worry about the details. From property surveys and visibility studies to permit acquisition, and maintenance long after the project is complete — we do it all, on a local, regional, and national scale.
For more information about all our products and services, call (970) 593-1334, email Carla@schlossersigns.com, or visit us online at www.schlossersigns.com.
Tags: automation > bixpo > business > capital > capital expenditure > efficiency > expansion > finance > machinery > northern Colorado > northern colorado business report > sign manufacture > signs
Looking back on the Twin Towers in 1993
Posted on | September 11, 2011 | No Comments
In May of 1993, I was the managing editor of a trade publication devoted to, of all things, industrial pumping. In February of 1993, the original terrorist attack on the World Trade Center happened, via truck bomb. Repairing the buildings was a large undertaking at the time, and we learned of a pump vendor that provided a key component. I interviewed them and wrote a story about the project for the May 1993 issue of Pumps and Systems magazine. This is the text from that article. I’ll look to scan the original in and make a PDF available, as well, as there were a couple of photos that accompanied the article, along with a table of pump specs.
Section: Pumps in the News
Title: World Trade Center — Unique pumping solution speeds World Trade Center’s return to operation
On February 26th the New York World Trade Towers were heavily damaged by a bomb detonated in the center’s basement parking garage. The blast blew a crater approximately 150 feet in diameter from the second level of the garage (B-1) down to B-6. Tons of rubble created by the explosion came down on the core of the building services and cooling systems.
Among the emergency systems needed to reopen the towers was a cooling system to control the temperature in the 110-story twin towers’ elevator engine rooms. Without this system to prevent the machine rooms from heating up, the rising temperatures would stress the engines. “If room temperatures rise above 140 degrees F/40 C, problems would occur and the engines would cook,” said Rich Cullen of Hugh J. Cullen Associates, Neptune, NJ. “Once cooked, the engines would be there for life, as there is no way to remove them.” Of special concern was the possibility that April temperatures in New York City could rise above 70 degrees F, as they did in 1990 and 1991.
Contracts were awarded to supply and install a temporary system for climate control in the buildings, but it could not be up and running until the first week of May. Meanwhile, the New York Port Authority needed a system to get the center’s 260 elevators running safely on a “pre-temporary” basis so that the buildings’ 200+ tenants that had already moved back in could get back to business. Six different ideas were proposed by World Trade Center engineers for using existing mechanical and heating/ventilating/air conditioning systems to feed cool air to the rooms that house the 260 electro-mechanical elevator motors.
Gene Geyer, a sales representative for Cullen Associates Inc., noted “they expected to have several choices, but found they couldn’t tap into the domestic water supply lines. Those pipes couldn’t handle the extra capacity. So the only option the World Trade Center really had became available when the New York City Fire Department approved using the current fire protection standby pipe system.”
The standby system supplies water for fighting fires on the building’s upper levels. The presence of this system allowed for a parallel piped-in water cooling system with locking and interlocking valves that required little additional piping. The plan called for pumping water up the fire risers and tapping them off into the machine rooms, on floors B-6, 7, 41, 75 and 108. The fire pumps are manual pumps, and the new system is electronically interlocked with the fire system, so if the water is needed to fight a fire, the interlock automatically locks out the parallel system to give the fire department the water they need.
After settling on this plan, the Port Authority then requested bids for equipment on March 30, specifying a 10-day requirement for delivery. Cullen Associates was able to supply 650 hp worth of pumps and an automatic on-demand control system from Canariis Corp. within seven days. Details on the three-pump system, which is in place in both towers, are given in Table 1.
The temporary system scheduled to take over in May includes 10,000 tons worth of cooling towers and 35 chilled-water pumps capable of moving more than 100,000 gpm. This system was provided and installed by NuTemp Inc. of Chicago.
Emergency system start-up was scheduled for April 19. The emergency pumps, tied into the existing fire pumps, will remain as back-ups once the temporary chilled-water system is complete. On a long-term basis, the system will remain in place as a back-up to the fire pumping system.
Tags: 9/11 memorial > al qaeda > anniversary > Cullen Associates > editing > FDNY > magazine writing > managing editor > NYPD > Osama Bin Laden > pumps > rebuild > repair > terrorism > terrorists > trade magazine > world trade center
An amazing day in Steamboat Springs
Posted on | August 26, 2011 | No Comments
Wow, hitting the hay after an amazing day in Steamboat Springs, Colorado for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Saw lots of stuff, including an incredible pack sprint finish to Stage 4 of the race. Met a bunch of great people, both locals and folks from the Front Range also up for the race. Even saw some old friends.
As a last-minute volunteer, I was initially put on bike corral/bike parking duty, but it turned out they asked for additional help in the media room, where a friend was already assigned to work.
I got to spend the day setting up for the post-race press conference, got to witness it (have some video I’ll post later), and learned a lot along the way.
Came away impressed with some of the racers, especially the Italian winner and a Russian top performer on the day, who, even while not speaking their native language, came across as engaging, funny, excited for the race and, of course happy to give a nod to their sponsors whenever possible.
Also met a CSU professor involved in a biotech startup, and a local young woman with a cool food product. Always liked Steamboat as a town with a ski area, rather than a ski town, but impressed with the show
How young is too young to be sexy?
Posted on | August 24, 2011 | No Comments
They’re at it again. And this was not intended to be a specific cause and pet peeve of mine, but not long ago I posted on Sketchers’ poor taste in marketing its toning shoes to girls as young as 8 years old.
That was bad enough. This is much, much worse:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/08/19/french-line-offers-lingerie-for-girls-as-young-as-four/
In what has become a bit of a global story, a French company has introduced a line of lingerie — or lingerie-like — clothing for very young girls.
Again, in an age where boys and girls are reaching sexual maturity at earlier ages than ever, why the rush in some circles to turn little girls into sex objects in the name of apparel marketing?
MovementU Offers “Performance Basics for Wounded Warriors” DVD
Posted on | August 22, 2011 | No Comments
MovementU Offers “Performance Basics for Wounded Warriors” DVD
Training advice is designed to motivate and guide wounded veterans to achieve peak performance
Boulder, CO – Jessi Stensland, elite multisport athlete and performance specialist, announces a newly released MovementU DVD focusing on mental and physical reconditioning strategies for wounded warriors.
Inspired by the warrior athletes training for the Warrior Games, Performance Basics for Wounded Warriors is the only comprehensive educational resource geared directly toward reconditioning the warrior athlete. The DVD features insight from eight wounded service men and women who have returned to excellence through their respective sports. It provides smart strategies for training the body and mind for maximum performance in life and sport by integrating mindset, nutrition, movement and recovery techniques in a conversational style that makes the content easy to follow and implement.
“From motivation to get off the couch to strategies for jump starting a healthy lifestyle, starting a training program, or reaching peak performance, Performance Basics for Wounded Warriors has something for everyone,” says Stensland.
The first chapter focuses on motivation as service men and women share their personal strategies to get off the couch and get going again. Then the connection between the mind and body is explored. Finally, sections on nutrition and proper training techniques for mobility, stability, strength, power and recovery help guide viewers on training and performing at their best.
Stensland works closely with experts to provide information to help athletes reach their personal performance goals. Former Navy SEAL and head of military education for TRX, Dr. Joe Martin, discusses the integrated relationship between mental and physical reconditioning in his “Triangle Concept.” Sports performance specialist and physical therapist Darcy Norman offers strategies to kick start or supplement training programs for many body types and challenges, with references to limb loss, paralysis and more. Renowned nutritionist Jill Whisler provides simple solutions to increase energy levels and physical capacity through a basic understanding of a healthy diet. Two special sections are included that feature TRX Suspension Training and Trigger Point Performance Therapy.
Although Performance Basics for Wounded Warriors’ focus is on injured service men and women, conditioning techniques can be applied to all athletes striving to reach their full performance potential in their specific sport. The DVD is available on MovementU’s website for $29.95, and part of the proceeds will be donated to various wounded warrior organizations to support the work being done to help our nation’s heroes pursue an active lifestyle after their service.
About MovementU and Jessi Stensland
MovementU is provides performance education through interactive training and experiences designed to enhance the understanding of how to increase injury resistance and power through body awareness and efficient movement. Offering workshops, an online information resource, and now the Wounded Warriors DVD, MovementU aims to bridge the gap between those who are committed to achieving their best performance and the solutions available to help them do so.
Jessi Stensland, a former NCAA Div I swimmer and professional triathlete, now elite multisport athlete and performance specialist, has competed in a variety of endurance events for the past 15 years. Jessi’s experiences throughout her athletic career and her training by the team at Athletes’ Performance led her to help educate and empower others to understand their body better and realize their true performance potential.
Contact Jessi Stensland at jessi.stensland@gmail.com or visit http://www.gojessi.com and http://www.movementu.com for more information.
From Dream to Draft – Case study/success story for SBDC and Pateros Creek Brewery
Posted on | August 15, 2011 | No Comments
From Dream to Draft
When Steve Jones of Pateros Creek Brewery began the journey to turn his passion for brewing beer into a business, he may not have predicted just how long that trip might take. Much like a raft trip down Pateros Creek – an early name for the Cache la Poudre River – the route from concept to selling beer had a few obstacles in store.
After trade marking a business name and announcing it, another local business expressed concern about possible confusion with a similar, long-used and unprotected name. Out of respect, Jones held a contest asking supporters for naming suggestions. A local craft beer drinker, Josh Ritter, submitted Pateros Creek
Jones drafted a business plan and took that to the SBDC. “They really opened my eyes – it was not what it needed to be” Jones notes. “It needed a lot more substance, especially when it came to my financial projections.”
Under the guidance of an SBDC counselor and the business plan writing class, Jones’ plan went from four pages to 24 through several rounds of revisions. “Our counselor really asked the tough questions. If you believe in your idea, he expects you to back it up. That really helped in creating the plan, and it was great preparation for talking to investors. I’m still amazed at how many businesses start without a plan.”
Despite the preparation and advice, raising the first round of capital was challenging. Jones found it hard to convince prospects that the numbers of beer lovers in northern Colorado would generate the demand needed to support the brewery; but as word got out about what he was up to, financing fell into place.
With the business plan complete, a new name in place, and investors on board, Jones purchased brewing equipment and leased space from another craft brewer and set up a contract brewing agreement. Initial efforts focused on the basics – creating great beer, selling kegs, building cash flow, and purchasing ingredients for the next batch to be brewed.
Meanwhile, Jones, his wife, Cathy, and dad, Bob, were scouting locations to open their own brewing facility and tasting room. They found a spot in Old Town Fort Collins in late 2010 that needed some TLC, and worked for six months to prepare the space for their June opening. “Our location, along College Avenue and near Old Town Square, is great. We really benefit from all the existing foot traffic in the area.”
Pateros Creek is seeing better than projected financial results, and is now ramping up its brewing volume. The Jones family, along with friends and investors, are selling kegs, growlers and pints of five different brews. They’re waiting on additional fermenting tanks to arrive, and looking forward to hiring full-time employees next year, expanding, and starting to can their beer. Pateros Creek beers can be found on 12 taps at nine area bars and restaurants, which also draws people to the tasting room.
“We just wanted to create a great place to go, hang out, and drink quality beer, and the SBDC helped us bring our vision to life.”
This Larimer County small business success story comes from SBDC volunteers Brad Shannon, Shannon Marketing Communications, writer; and Coby Hughey, photographer.
Tags: case study > case study writing > craft beer > craft brewing > editing > interviewing > writing
It’s a bad sign when . . .
Posted on | July 25, 2011 | No Comments
This is an admittedly bad cell-phone photo from our local arena, the Budweiser Events Center at the Larimer County Fairgrounds (aka “The Ranch”) from a few weeks ago.
However, I took it because, as timekeeper at a local minor-league indoor football game (our local team is “The Ice”), from the 50-yard line in the front row, with good vision (thanks to Lasik a few years ago), I could not read most of the signs displayed over the north end zone. I believe I took a count at the game, and about a quarter to a third of the signs displayed could be read from where I was.
That, to me, is an awful example of serving your advertisers if you are the BEC or the Ice, or if you are the person or business responsible for selling or creating this signage for this event. It may be just part of the overall poor Ice marketing effort, as the team has done a fairly spotty job packaging and promoting their product.
If one of your prime functions in a job is to sell sponsorship signage, or design such signs, the most basic service you can provide is to ensure that the audience will be able to view and clearly see what each sign says. Likewise, if you are a business considering purchasing such signs, it should be your obligation to ask questions and learn about just exactly what you are purchasing, and to have a clear idea in mind what you are trying to do when you spend these marketing dollars.
First in your mind as an advertiser, I would hope, is to ensure that your message is actually readable from all corners of the arena.
Clearly, this is a marketing failure for the majority of these signs, from beginning to end of the process.
I write, on a contract basis, some newsletters — including one for an LED sign company that does a great job of educating its customers and prospects on the intricacies of their sign technology. They cover factors like local sign ordinances, correct sizing, how big characters displayed need to be, how long a message should be displayed, and more — it is clear they care about their customers, and want to educate them to make the right purchase, be successful, and see a return on investment for what they spend on a sign.
In this case, it is clear that the no one in this process really cared about whether these northern Colorado merchants got any return for what they spent on these particular signs, and that’s sad, especially in this economic climate.
The customer of my customer is annoying
Posted on | July 14, 2011 | No Comments
This is my first blog post, an overdue one, using my new hosting service. Why did I switch? Funny you should ask.
I’m all about supporting local businesses, and some time ago, I have a friend who is a very good, and quite successful graphic designer create the identity for SMC. He set me up with hosting, he was re-selling hosting from a local provider, ZingServe. Times have changed, of course, but at the time it was not all that inexpensive; but it was easy, I appreciated the work he did for me, and so . . . .
For a long time, there were few problems with the service. Then, though, email went down on June 28th, just a couple of weeks ago. It went out later in the evening, and then it was not up the next morning. I can live without the other stuff, but email down for that long just does not work.
I tried to call them – and it was pretty much next to impossible to find a phone number. They provide a PO Box on their website, and a trouble ticket system. I did manage to dig up a phone number, and called to be automatically dumped into a voice mail saying they knew and were working on the problem, but with no indication when it might be resolved. I submitted a trouble ticket. I took them nearly three hours to respond with a bit of explanation, after the service had been down for quite some time. No indication at all when things would be fixed.
The next morning, 12 hours later, they sent another update. Still no timeline.
They finally did get things back up and running, after more than 30 hours down.
I made plans to move to a new hosting system – as did the folks I was getting service from who were resellers. They had a number of clients on the server that went down — big, important clients. But of course, you know, you forget – it was on the list, but not a top priority. Until there was another problem.
Late the night of July 12, email stopped working. Messages to me were bouncing, with a “mailbox full” warning. But it wasn’t full – I had no limit on my email usage. I logged onto the control panel, it showed all should be fine, but I got an error when trying to access web mail.
I called the gent who originally set me up on the server. He noted that when the server that went bad was fixed/replaced, all the numbers/quotas on the sites and email accounts that were on it were reset to some lower default number. He made a switch and I was back up – for a few minutes.
I left to teach a class, and returned, after business hours, to no email. I had submitted a trouble ticket to ZingServe, which again too nearly three hours to respond. They told me I was over my limit on email, and I needed to contact my reseller for direct support. I told them I was not, but for their mis-handling of the server blow-up and restore. I used the word “blunder” (gasp!).
“Mark,” the customer support “admin” — according to his email sig (no last name) — then replied that “actually, you are not even our customer” — then followed up with “At this point we will no longer interact with you directly for any support issues due to your abusive manner.”
Humbly, I would suggest that if you don’t want to deal with people, and you don’t want to provide customer service, then don’t provide a service that people rely on. I took steps, with new urgency, to leave ZingServe behind as quickly as possible.
I replied to him that his was a classic response – and that he had not provided any “support” – and noted that I guess if I have a Verizon iphone, apple doesn’t consider me a customer. It seemed to me that putting businesses that “aren’t your customers” out of business for 30+ hours, then failing to communicate that other issues are likely to come up and cause further problems days/weeks later is more abusive than (charitably ) describing his little incident as a blunder.
But wait, there’s more! Mark then responded that I was free and encouraged to move to another provider ASAP, noting that “We will no longer provide support to you in any format an I’m now blocking you from submitting support requests to our help desk. Any further abuse will result in immediate termination of your account.” Guess we still have a bit of a different view of “abuse.”
My final input on the matter – I suggested that if he responded with helpful information as quickly as he does with indigation, he’d probably have a lot more and a lot happier customers.
Maybe I should send him that article I found about how introverts can be good networkers.
I’m now set up, after some stressful moments, with web hosting service thanks to Nick Armstrong, who provides an affordable package and gives much of the proceeds to the Larimer County Food Bank. He also helped me set up email through Google Docs, and integrate it with my website – still some tweaks to be done there, and I have some learning to do, but it looks promising.
Have you had a bad experience with a web hosting service, or other business? Have you experienced customer contempt, rather than customer service? Tell me about it, please.
Tags: bad customer service > bad web hosting > Colorado web hosting > customer contempt > local business > ZingServe
How about a quieter patriotism?
Posted on | July 5, 2011 | No Comments
I write this slightly groggy from a bit of sleep deprivation. Our oldest and biggest dog, Sampson, does not deal well with thunder or fireworks. So, as a result, despite being fairly patriotic (my childhood bedroom was red, white and blue) and a lover of three-day weekends, I’m not a big fan of fireworks these days, either. Especially those my neighbors insist on lighting for weeks leading up to the fourth, and far into the night of the 4th and early hours of the fifth.
I might also mention that what they are doing is illegal, as Colorado has a statewide ban on fireworks that explode or leave the ground (which I think pretty much includes all fireworks that might be worth buying, lighting or watching). And also, note that there are more fires on the 4th of July than any other day of the year – including a vacant home in Fort Collins, CO and another in Greeley (two dogs were killed, house was destroyed), and part of Invesco Field in Denver. And while I’m not a fan because of the danger involved, I had to laugh at a piece on an environmental radio show that hinted that there were environmental issues with shooting off fireworks.
So I was an interested observer of the fireworks stands on pretty much every corner of our town, and I’m particularly intrigued by those just across the Wyoming border where, I understand, you go to get the “good stuff.”
I do know that if you buy stuff that explodes or leaves the ground in Colorado, you sign a form that says you will leave the state to use it. A nice way to facilitate those sales, and foist the liability onto the purchaser for what by every other measure is an illegal product. Maybe I can buy hash, is I promise to take it to the Netherlands to use it? Some states limit sales to their own residents (PA) but if you are from out of state, anything goes, as long as you are leaving the state after your purchase. Maybe we can buy cocaine in WY if we promise to use it in Colorado? PA is very popular for fireworks runs by NY and NY residents, which have bans on fireworks in place.
I was amused to see, in the same issue of the Denver Post, a post-it-sticker advertisement/coupon offering a discount on fireworks, but in a different section of the paper a story on the rules various jurisdictions have when it comes to fireworks. Denver, Arvada and Aurora have actually made it illegal to sell, possess or use any fireworks.
Then I saw some stories that confirmed that, as usual, it comes down to money – $952 million in fireworks sales, or, rather, the taxes those sales generate. The New York Times reported that sales number for 2010, 2/3 of it to consumers, in an article that notes that revenue generation often trumps safety concerns (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/business/03fireworks.html?_r=1). One Tennessee county did away with a 65-year ban.
The truth is that fireworks sales are rife with hypocrisy, including in Florida, which restricts sales to special use purposes, including signaling trains or scaring off birds, while allowing fireworks stores to proliferate.
As I said, I’m fairly patriotic, love the 4th, my country, and the occasional firework. I’d just like, on behalf of poor Sampson and my brain and body, if the yahoos in my area would mind their manners, respect their neighbors, and limit their explosive celebrations to before 10 or 10:20 p.m. on the 4th, and cut out the weeks of lead-up, as well as the temptation to go well into the night of the 5th (especially when the 4th is a Monday).
Then, if you really want to be patriotic, buy fireworks and use them on the 4th, and early – and buy American when possible, pay your taxes, and vote.
Tags: 4th > ethics > fireworks > fourth > hypocrisy > july > recession > revenue > sleep > tax
DirecTV Joplin fiasco – a dark side of social media
Posted on | June 2, 2011 | 4 Comments
Last night while attending the New Zealand-Mexico soccer match in Denver, I posted some updates to Facebook about the game. I also noticed a friend had posted an update/rant about DirecTV’s treatment of customers in Joplin, Missouri, in the aftermath of the tornadoes that ravaged the town:
“This is ridiculous and Direct TV should be ashamed!
As Joplin victims call Direct TV to cancel their service due to homes completely wiped off the map, they are being told to send in a box or remote control or pay a fine of $500+ to cancel service. DirectTV should be boycotted. Tell their employees to go to these former HOMES and find their remote controls… REPOST!”
I was immediately suspicious – it seems no one could be unaware of the devastation Joplin suffered, after all the heartbreaking pictures and video of practically the entire town ground to splinters. I posted a response to her, in jest, that it sounded like a nasty rumor started by Dish or Comcast. I thought about the possibility that some thick-headed customer service rep may have blindly stuck to the standard disconnect script. I also figured that somewhere along the line – via homeowners insurance, or insurance coverage DirecTV has for this type of situation – some insurance would cover any lost/damaged/destroyed equipment. But the story, at face value, just did not make sense to me on any level.
This morning, I tried to learn more. There was nothing online when doing a search for stories, it seemed. I searched Twitter, and found some folks calling out DirecTV, then went to DirecTV’s Twitter page (http://twitter.com/#!/DIRECTV), where they were posting responses that this was an incorrect rumor. I also found a Facebook protest page, “Boycott Direct TV (sic) for Charging Joplin Customers $500” where the page members are now saying it seems that DirecTV is not doing this. Whether some misguided individual customer service rep bumbled into this mess and an understandably pissed off customer ran with it, or someone just assumed the company would blindly stick to its policy, is unclear.
The situation, though, points to a dark side to social media. No matter what the power of this tool to garner attention and help create change, from keeping companies honest to toppling dictators, the opportunity exists for wildly inaccurate information to quickly spread but outraged but mis-informed, albeit well-intentioned, people.
What do you think? How many examples like this exist for every example of social media driving positive change? What are some of your favorites?