LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear SPIDA Members,

I hope this newsletter finds everyone doing well and enjoying the dog days of summer. It's typically the busiest time of the year for our industry. Every job, every question, and every answer seems to come at the eleventh hour and we then scramble to take that information and keep our customers (internal and external) happy with our delivery of solutions and products. Fortunately, the same is not true of our SPIDA members and the committees that work to ensure our continued success.

As soon as we returned from the annual meeting in Minneapolis, each committee started working on plans for the January ASHRAE meeting, the 2018 annual meeting, our technical projects, membership, and publications. The work never stops, but when shared by many hands, it makes lighter work for each volunteer.

I was thinking in writing this column, I'll have just a few more times to write as President of SPIDA. I am a huge fan of SPIDA and the work that has been accomplished through the years, and the work that is going on now and will continue. So in thinking about what I would like to say in this newsletter, I wanted to address three topics while I still have "the mic".

Lapsed Members - In years past, we have had some great companies be a part of SPIDA that are currently not members. This may have been due to changes in ownership or management. It may be that during a period of time, funds were tight. Perhaps these companies did not see the value or progress being made in their area of expertise. Let me encourage you to reach out to those companies that you may know of who were once members or you believe would be a good member and ask them to "Rediscover SPIDA". Coming from you, it will make a difference.

Engaging Members - For 30 some years, the companies that I have been associated with have been members of SPIDA. I've attended SPIDA meetings. I've heard the speakers, worked in the booth during ASHRAE, sat in on round table discussions, and even went deep sea fishing as a team player in this organization. However, I can tell you that I have grown more professionally and have been able to bring back good ideas to our company by having served on committees. This is where your knowledge base grows. This is where your relationships grow. If your company is just sending in yearly dues, and you only attend the meetings (as good as they are), you are missing the greatest opportunity by not volunteering on a committee. We are also trying to say thanks, and make you more aware of these volunteers as you've seen the last few newsletters of our SPIDA Stars. I'm certain we have a place where your input would be valuable on a committee!

Sponsors - We currently have an excellent program committee who over the last few years have brought together excellent venues, informative speakers, and fun social events. These level of events cannot happen through our yearly membership dues alone. It takes sponsors. Much like the volunteer appreciation I mentioned above, we are doing even more to highlight, focus, and bring attention to those companies that provide the funds to supplement our meeting cost. If you were in Minneapolis you saw it, and you heard it both from the sponsors with their moment at the mic, and you heard it from myself and other board of directors on our appreciation for their contribution. If you heard through social media the interview with SNIPs magazine, you heard those names and the appreciation again. Lastly, in emails you will also see and hear these companies mentioned several times this year. By the January meeting at ASHRAE, all the details for our Annual meeting in New Orleans will be confirmed. Let me encourage you now to start considering sponsoring a portion of that meeting. I believe your ROI will be sooner than you would imagine.

Have a great summer!

Robin M Stegall
SPIDA President
Sales Manager, Hamlin Sheet Metal Co., Inc.
2017 SPIDA SPRING MEETING
The 2017 SPIDA Spring meeting was held May 4th through 6th in Minneapolis. The conference kicked off Thursday evening with a member and spouses dinner at Buca di Beppo. Friday meetings began with Robin Stegall, Hamlin Companies and SPIDA president, welcoming the members and thanking our sponsors. There was a special recognition for our local host, Sheet Metal Connectors and fellow Gold Sponsor, Stamped Fittings.
The presentation portion of conference opened with Sarah Sladek, CEO of XYZ University. Sarah focused on the differences between Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials and how to bridge the divide between the groups through communication and understanding. She also discussed the shift from an industrial economy to a technology driven economy. As a group we discussed strategies to foster a culture of collaboration, productivity and employee retention.
Each of the committee chairs gave a brief rundown of SPIDA business:
Scott Witherow, Design Polymerics, informed the membership that SPIDA's By Association article will appear in next months' SNIPS magazine. He encouraged the members to send ideas for articles to the publication committee for inclusion in the next Pipeline Newsletter, LinkedIn and/or the website. Scott also asked the attendees to reach out to suppliers and
spiral manufacturers to join the organization on behalf of the membership committee.

Bill Busch, Northeastern Sheet Metal, encouraged the membership to explore opportunities volunteering on the membership, program, publications and technical committees.
Pat Brooks, Eastern Sheet Metal, updated the conference on flat oval reinforcement. SMACNA will be sending out the reinforcement charts before the end of the year with a goal of publishing in the next HVAC Duct Construction Standards manual. The membership voted in real-time via texting to pursue a study of friction and acoustical insertion losses for various forms of internally insulated spiral duct as the next project for the technical committee.

John Newland, Hercules Industries, encouraged members to contact with him with potential speakers for future programs. Attendees voted in real-time via texting on next year's venue. New Orleans slightly beat out Nashville and Charleston.
See you in the Big Easy in 2018!

SPIDA welcomed a presentation by Viking Materials Executive Vice President, Bill Stenard. Mr. Stenard discussed historical trends of galvanized steel pricing and how these trends have accelerated over the past few years. He discussed the effect of imports, the car industry, demand and other factors that affect steel cost. Mr. Stenard forecasted a stable market in the near future, but warned that tariff and trade issues could cause the steel market to spike. 

The presentation portion of the meetings concluded with Shawn Ostheimer, President of The Answer Company, discussing the benefits of CRM (customer relationship management) systems.
 
The highlight of every SPIDA conference has been the round table discussions, which proved true again in 2017. Round table discussions consist of groups of spiral manufacturers and suppliers that discuss membership issues of interest or concern. This year's round table discussions were: Developing New Talent, Elastomeric Liners, CAD/CAM integration into production, and Spiral Duct Trends and New Opportunities. Attend next year's conference and benefit from group discussions with some of the most experienced manufacturers and suppliers in the industry.
The Friday portion of the conference ended with vendor displays in a casual setting with cocktails and appetizers. Sheet Metal Connectors, Stamped Fittings, East Coast CAD/CAM, Quotesoft, Spiral Pipe of Texas, Tradesman Manufacturing, Design Polymerics and Elgen Manufacturing sponsored the event with tabletop displays.
The Annual Membership meeting concluded Saturday afternoon with a trip to Target Field in downtown Minneapolis to watch afternoon baseball as the Twins took on the Boston Red Sox. Again, SPIDA would like to offer a special thanks to our hosts Jim Myers and Ryan Barnes for arranging suites at the ballgame.
Tony Plantz - Ductmate Industries, Robin Stegall - Hamlin Companies and SPIDA President, David Derocher - East Coast CAD_CAM, Ryan Barnes - Sheet Metal Connectors 
Madeleine Crouch - SPIDA Director, Patrick Boon - Northeastern Sheet Metal, Jacob Dorfler - Metu-Streimer
SPIDA would like to thank the sponsors of our
2017 Annual Membership Meeting:
 
Gold Level
Sheet Metal Connectors - Local host and Baseball Game sponsor
Stamped Fitting - Welcome Reception sponsor
 
Bronze Level
Quotesoft - Friday morning break sponsor
SPOT - Friday afternoon break sponsor
 
Friends Level
Tradesman Manufacturing
Design Polymerics
Elgen Manufacturing
We look forward to seeing you in January 2018 in Chicago in conjunction with ASHRAE and May 2018 for our annual meeting in New Orleans!
SPIDA STARS
PAT BROOKS
 
SPIDA Stars is a section in each issue of the Pipeline where we can acknowledge SPIDA members who have consistently gone out of their way to add value to SPIDA and to each membership. In this issue, we would like to present Pat Brooks.
 
Pat Brooks, General Manager at Eastern Sheet Metal, has been on the Board of Directors of SPIDA for the past two years. Pat, and his 30+ years of spiral experience, joined SPIDA and the technical committee his first day of work at Eastern Sheet Metal. His leadership on the Technical Committee and his assistance in other areas, such as the search to find a replacement for Toni Sylvester, has been greatly appreciated. Most importantly, SPIDA wishes in this issue, to acknowledge and thank Pat for his work in taking charge of the flat oval duct testing project, and for bringing it to a successful conclusion. Thanks to Pat and his team, these test results have been presented for inclusion in the next SMACNA HVAC Duct Construction Standards due to be published later this year. Pat spent countless hours with Dr. Stephen Idem of Tennessee Technological University deciphering and bringing to order the original flat oval deflection test data. Without Pat Brooks' time and effort, it would have been another 10 years before the next SMACNA manual is scheduled to be published.
 
The next project Pat and the technical committee have started on is a comparison study for both friction loss and noise level, between the double wall acoustic insulation method and the duct board method, of insulating round and oval pipe.
SAVE THE DATE!
SPIDA announces that our annual spring meeting will be held on Thursday April 19 - Saturday April 21, 2018 in New Orleans. James Nicholson at Madeleine Crouch and Associates was able to secure us rooms at the International House (  www.ihhotel.com ). This classic hotel is located in the historic business district and just two blocks from the French Quarter. We look forward to seeing you in the Big Easy!
JOIN SPIDA IN CHICAGO!
Membership Meeting January 21, 2018

Look for further details in the upcoming Fall 2017 Pipeline.
Member News
SPIDA encourages its members to contribute or submit any news that is either related to their own business or the industry in general.
Some examples of topics to submit are:
  • Acquisitions
  • Company anniversaries
  • New facilities
  • Changes in personnel

Please submit to marketing@spida.org .
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