Masonry Magazine December 1997 Page. 7
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Masonry
Pornography
Donald Grant
President Mason Contractors
Association of America
It's like the Indian rope trick, it goes up and nobody knows why. Why does the Masonry Industry work with statements like these?
1.) The Masonry Industry is too fragmented to even give a serious challenge to other competitive products (ie.: precast, tilt-up, glass, metal studs, etc.)!!
2.) The Masonry Industry does not have enough money dedicated to research for development of new products and equipment!!
3.) The Masonry Industry has too many old fashioned work rules and bad habits (which curtail production) to compete with other modern delivery systems!!
4.) Engineering a masonry wall is too cumbersome and difficult to design!!
5.) Masonry work can not be erected in freezing temperatures!!
6.) There are too many variables and conflicting information regarding design, installation and corrective matters!!
7.) There are not enough skilled masons and quality oriented mason contractors which the end product requires!!
8.) Correction of problems is a nightmare. There is no single source responsibility or accountability!!
9.) Vendors promote only positive attributes of their products. They have little or no knowledge of other masonry products or how multiple components perform!!
These are a few of the statements we hear from Architects, Engineers, General Contractors, Design-Build Teams, Competitive Material MFRS, our own manufacturers, and even Mason Contractors, which preconceive an image of our industry.
If true, can any of the above statements be a reason for our continued loss of market share? How long can this loss of market be tolerated?
Surely we have smart, intelligent people in our industry. To compete with competitive systems we must outsmart our competition.
For years, we may have outsmarted ourselves by each industry organization doing its own thing. The coordination and cooperation among industry associations has come a long way since the formation of the Council for Masonry Research (CMR) and the Masonry Expo. However, this is not near enough to do the things needed to have a "Unified Masonry Message." The Masonry Industry needs "ONE MESSAGE-ONE CHAIN-NO WEAK LINKS."
Conflict and turmoil only bring out the worst of us. New direction, sense of purpose, and an upbeat environment could bring out the best.
I witnessed the best of our industry at work this past November 6, 1997 when for the fourth time all the major players of our Industry attended a meeting in Chicago to discuss these very problems.
Present were representatives from the National Lime Association
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