From the President

From the Desk of Steve Mast, ISFA President

Changing Strategies for the Changing Times

This year, ISFA’s Annual Conference was like no other. When we’d usually be talking shop by a pool in Mexico, we instead had to create a collaborative environment online. COVID-19 has made one thing certain: We all have had to get creative with problem solving.

While no one would ever choose to live through a pandemic, there have been some silver linings. In our own shop, we have implemented positive changes that will continue to serve us long after the pandemic has passed. Another specific silver lining COVID-19 brought was our annual meeting had a large attendance. Because no one had to travel and commit more time to meeting up miles from home, we had more attendees, which always makes for more enriching conversation.

It was surprising to me how successful our annual meeting was given the fact that seeing each other face to face is typically ideal. However, whether we are in person or online, what we all really need is the opportunity to collaborate and learn from our fellow fabricators, material manufacturers and equipment suppliers. In my 25 years of being in this business, the best things seem to surface when all three of these groups brainstorm together.

A perfect example of this synergy was the recent two-day seminar facilitated by ISFA on the fabrication of compact surfaces, porcelain and sintered stone. Fabricating compact surfaces comes with a set of challenges that we have to collectively solve. ISFA industry partners Park Industries and LPI sponsored the event and provided helpful tips and information, and fabricators gave feedback and best practices. ISFA’s job is to create a professional platform to facilitate and guide these conversations. But the members have a more important job … participate. It is well worth the effort. All sides of the triangle have to be equal, and I am asking all members to jump in and be part of these conversations. There are three easy ways to get more involved:

Join a Committee

Committees can be up to a one-year commitment and consist of people from throughout the industry and across the country. Typically you’ll meet online about once a month with other industry professionals to take actions or report on a topic. These range from compact surface fabrication, annual meeting planning, marketing and social media, or membership. This is a minimal time commitment, and it will be exciting to be part of the discovery and help to guide the direction of our industry.

Attend a Virtual Roundtable

We have had some wonderful feedback on our roundtable forums. If you have ever had the chance to attend one, you know that you always learn something new to take back to your businesses and implement for improvement. Dynamic speakers have covered everything from new fabrication techniques or ways to increase profitability to better utilizing social media; and even OSHA consultants review safety improvements. This is also a great space to ask questions of our knowledgeable partners in the materials and equipment segments of the industry.

Attend and/or Host a Virtual Shop Tour

The time you invest in attending a shop tour will be worth every minute. There will almost always will be a key takeaway that you can apply to your business immediately. Seeing other ways fellow fabricators are solving common industry problems is probably one of the best 45 minutes you can spend. If you have never attended one, be sure not to miss our upcoming tour that ASST is hosting on Wednesday, January 6. The company performs custom and highly specialized commercial work throughout the country. They hosted an in-person shop tour last year, and we sent our production manager to learn about what ASST was doing. He said its level of sophistication and the things the company was able to fabricate were mind blowing. Being from Portland, it’s been historically difficult to attend all the tours, but now that they are virtual, there’s no excuse to not hop on and participate. Sign up is easy and free. Just go to the ISFA website at www.ISFAnow.org and under the “Events” dropdown you will see the “Shop Tours” tab.

Although I have just beun my tenure as president, I will continue to drive home this one goal: participation. You may think you don’t have time or much to share, but I can wholeheartedly promise you that you will get back more than you give. Not only will you become better at running your business, but you will enjoy the journey much more with the friends you’ve made along the way.

Steve Mast, ISFA President

steve.m@precisioncountertops.com

ISFA Member since 1998