Masonry Magazine April 1986 Page. 52
Let us face the fact that no man is an island. You as individual mason contractors are not the masonry industry. Even banded together, as in MCAA, and with a large membership, we are not the masonry industry. We are but a part of it. Likewise, NCMA's members can produce block until they are blue in the face, but they will need someone to lay them in place. They will need good mason contractors. They will need us! Would it not be sad, indeed, for a group like the NCMA to have a very successful campaign to double the sales of concrete masonry units, if our part of the industry did not see that we could handle the the installation? Or perhaps worse, what if all these new concrete masonry units were laid in place by a bunch of shoemakers? Can you imagine the black eye this industry will have if it cannot deliver? How long would it take to come back from that kind of disaster?
Just as the whole is equal to the sum of its parts, the masonry industry is bigger than any of its individual members. Yet masonry is an industry where excessive individualism-by contractors, by manufacturers, and by unions-is rampant. Too much time is spent protecting our little kingdoms, on trying to decide who is the most important.
Like a good card player, MCAA must make good use of its long suits and work to improve its short suits. We must look to our friends, like NCMA, BIA, and, yes, labor organizations like BAC and LIUNA, to find areas where they might fill in the missing cards for our short suits. From the other side of the table, our friends must recognize that we can help them with their short suits. Together we can increase masonry's share of the wall system market.
Perhaps teamwork is the most important key to our future success. We must learn to work together for the common good of this great industry. We have got to start spending at least as much time trying to improve and expand our marketplace as we do beating the daylights out of each other for a share of a reduced, low- profit market-place. We have got to learn lessons, like "one good job is better than two bad jobs," or "one good job is much better than three bad jobs."
We have got to work together, because if we do not we are liable to find out that that band we have been listening to is a marching band, and that it is going to pass us by!
Advertisers Index...
LET THEM KNOW YOU SAW IT IN MASONRY
AA Wire Products Co.
41
Access Engineering USA, Inc..
27
Ahrens Chimney Techniques.
26
American Colloid Co..
48
Automatic Devices, Inc. (Ryd-Up).
Cover II
Fred Beyer & Co.
51
Bil-Jax, Inc.
46
Milton A. Cramer
50
Dur-O-Wal, Inc..
32
Fibermesh, Inc.
4
Genstar Lime Co.
Cover III
Glashaus, Inc. (Weck Glass Blocks)
44
W. R. Grace & Co..
8
Gradall Co.
50
Heckmann Building Products, Inc.
47
Hohmann & Barnard, Inc...
28, 29
Hydrochemical Techniques, Inc.
49
Interactive Management Systems Corp.
30
JCB, Inc.
12, 13
MCAA Industry Tour
16
MCAA Masonry Estimating Manual
24
Masonry & Concrete Consultants, Inc.
42
Mayco Pump Corp.
21
George Mayer Mfg., Inc. (Queen Air).
45
Frank Miller's Sons
51
Motorola Communications & Electronics, Inc. 17, 18
Non Stop Scaffolding
22
Patent Scaffolding Co., Div. of Harsco Corp.
11
Robert H. Peterson Co.
49
Pettibone Corp..
5
Planksaver Lumber Co., Inc.
51
Sellick Equipment Limited
Cover IV
Sterling Handling Equipment, Inc..
50
USG Industries, Inc.
14