LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
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As fall turns into winter I hope that this letter finds you all well. I am greeting you all for the first time as SPIDA President and would like to thank you all for this honor. However, this is not my term but that of our Past President Weldon Weeks. Weldon moved on from the duct manufacturing business a few months ago and he will be missed. He is a great leader, mentor, and friend and I would like to thank him for years of service to our industry and to SPIDA. I hope to carry out Weldon’s agenda for SPIDA as I finish his term — expanding SPIDA’s reach in the industry, engaging and educating our membership, and carrying out research that increases efficiency and profitability.
With those goals in mind SPIDA hosted its first ever webinar in late April featuring Michael Cowden of Steel Market Update. Michael spoke to us regarding limiting risk in a volatile steel market and shared his projections for the coming year. This proved to be a rather timely event as steel pricing and demand continued to soar over the summer. The video of this webinar is located in the member’s only section of the SPIDA website. Our board hopes to host more webinars for members moving forward. This year may not be business as usual yet but in January, we hope to inch closer.
The 2022 AHR Expo will be held in Las Vegas, NV from January 31 – February 2 in conjunction with the annual ASHRAE Conference. Prior to that, SPIDA will hold our 2022 General Membership Meeting in person at the Las Vegas Convention Center. If you are in town for the expo or the conference, please join us for lunch and an afternoon discussion on cybersecurity. We will also review SPIDA’s pending research project and committee statuses. Please reserve your spot today.
SPIDA’s 2022 Annual Meeting appears it will finally happen after two years of pandemic delay. I am extremely excited about the agenda our board members have assembled for this event. A few highlights of our conference include: our welcome reception and vendor show, Hops on the Harbor dinner cruise, and an optional visit to Omni-Duct. We have great educational content from George Hedley, renowned business coach and Dr. Jesse Payne will speak on mental health and resilience. I am looking forward to seeing all of you in beautiful San Diego, CA.
On a personal note, the past 18 months have been the most challenging of my career and I am sure many of you are feeling similarly. The ongoing pandemic, material scarcity, escalating costs, and worker shortages have added more stress to an already intense industry. However, I have also found it to be the most rewarding time of my career. My teams have stepped up in ways that I could not imagine, leaders have emerged, trust has been earned, and people proved their worth time, and time again. Our industry will continue to be challenged but if we put our faith and resources in our people, we will endure.
Have a great what remains of fall and I look forward to seeing you all again soon!
Ryan Barnes, SPIDA President
National Sales Manager, Sheet Metal Connectors, Inc.
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San Diego 2022 Annual Meeting |
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SPIDA recently sponsored a webinar featuring Michael Cowden, senior editor of Steel Market Update. His “How to Limit Risk in a Volatile Steel Market” presentation is both informative and timely.
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W.E. Bowers
W.E. Bowers was founded in 1984 by Wayne Bowers its current CEO. Bowers is a privately held, full service mechanical contractor headquartered in Beltsville, MD, between Baltimore and Washington DC. They serve the mechanical construction, service, repair and fabrication needs of clients throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C metro area.
Bowers currently employs over 1,400 people with approximately 500 people in their Sheet Metal Division. W.E. Bowers has 100,000 total square feet of space dedicated to sheet metal fabrication and sub assembly at it shops located in Beltsville, Maryland and Sterling Virginia.
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Board of Directors Meeting |
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The SPIDA board of directors met virtually and in-person in Dallas, TX. Plans for the upcoming January membership meeting in Las Vegas in association with the AHR Expo were discussed. The[JSW1] board also finalized details on the general membership meeting April 28th – 30th in San Diego. Future webinar presentations, speakers/presenters and technical project were also on the slate.
The SPIDA Board and Technical Committee voted to move forward with the next technical project during the Fall board meeting. The project scope is to determine the maximum negative operating and collapse pressure of spiral duct with and without corrugations.
Corrugating spiral lock seam duct should increase the strength of the spiral duct so that the operating and collapse pressures are higher (more negative) than non-corrugated duct of the same gauge. By testing the standard positive pressure gauges of spiral duct under negative pressure, SPIDA will be able to generate a table of negative pressure capacity for these standard gauges. The table will define the maximum operating negative and collapse pressure for these standard gages. All spiral duct testing will be completed using only commonly stocked spiral duct that is manufactured and stocked by both fabricators and distributors. The technical committee is excited to get this project started and is hoping to have results completed by the 2022 San Diego meeting.
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In-person SPIDA Board of Directors meeting attendees were able to take in a Rangers game at the new Globe Life Ballpark in Arlington, TX.
Front Row: Brennan Hall, Ryan Barnes, Kyle Brumleu
Second Row: Former SPIDA president Weldon Weeks, Robin Stegall – Hamlin Sheet Metal, John Newland – Hercules Industries, James Nicholson – association headquarters
Back Row: Pat Brooks - SMACNA, Reid Boydstun – Spiral Duct of Texas (with daughter Bliss and wife Blair)
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SPIDA announces our newest member to the board of directors, Kyle Brumleu. Kyle is the recently named CEO of OmniDuct which is headquartered in Buena Park, CA. OmniDuct manufacturers spiral duct, rectangular duct and accessories from four locations in Arizona, Southern California, Northern California and Washington. Kyle’s career began at OmniDuct in the IT department and expanded into estimating, programming, customer service, production, shipping, outside sales, plant general manager and for the last three years, Vice President of Operations. His wealth of experience over 15 years in the industry is a welcomed addition to the SPIDA board of directors.
Kyle, his wife and their three children are avid fans of Disneyland and look forward to returning in the near future. The Brumleu’s also enjoy spending weekends outdoors at Lake Mead.
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SPIDA board member Brennan Hall has recently made a role transition from one SPIDA member to another. For the last six years, Brennan was the Senior HVAC Product Manager with Johns Manville. He recently changed jobs in August and has taken on a new role with Conklin Metal Industries, based out of Atlanta, GA, as the Director of Duct Fab Supplies and Air Distribution Products.
His family recently moved from Colorado to Alabama to a small town just outside of Birmingham, near where Conklin Metal Industries metal processing facility is located. Brennan and his wife Anna, have three children - Banks (6), Abigail (4), and Landry (1). Brennan is excited retain his seat as a SPIDA board member throughout this transition and the Hall family is happy to be back home in the South.
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If you are attending the 2022 AHR Expo in Las Vegas, please plan on visiting SPIDA. Our general membership meeting will be at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 30th and we will have a booth at the tradeshow January 31st – February 2nd. Follow us for more details.
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Please send photographs of spiral duct projects of stadiums, arenas, high profile project, etc. along with any details you would like to share (name, location, size of project in pounds, feet, etc.) to [email protected] and [email protected] for upcoming Pipeline publications. |
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