...of AIA Continuing Education Programs. We offer 5 different courses with up to 6 HSW credits available, delivered locally at your office or here at the HSC Campus in North Berwick, ME
I attended Maine's Institute of Family Owned Businesses (IFOB)'s annual awards dinner last night. Over 350 people in Maine came together to celebrate the values of family owned businesses. Hussey Seating Company was a winner of Family Business of the Year several years ago, and I am always pleased to see the richness of what family businesses do for Maine and for our national economy. Of course, we have some large and very successful family-owned businesses in Maine, such as LL Bean, Dead River, and Geiger Brothers.
But there are many more smaller and medium businesses that continue to innovate and create value, and work to create lasting legacies. Winners last night included Hurley Travel (our favorite travel agent), Morong Autos, and a 7th generation ship chandlery based in Eastport. Family businesses really are the backbone of our economy, and I always learn from these business stories; they inspire me to continue our traditions and values into the future as we work to create new legacies.
As more than half our business is centered around K-12 school facilities, the news headlines continue to be grim. Voters aren't approving bond issues, states have no money for new construction, and in fact Dodge / McGraw-Hill shows school construction down 17% in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 2011. And this is is after four straight years of significant declines. The fact is, there are a lot fewer facilities needing new seating.
BUT - we are pretty busy here at Hussey Seating! Our dealers continue to find ways to get new business. There is a lot of replacement and renovation business going on, and our model of full service dealers is the right approach to be positioned right. We are doing more service and renovation work than ever, and many schools are somehow finding money to do incremental improvements when they realize a new school is not going to be built in the near future. Our seats do last a LONG time, but even they have useful lives that end in the 20 to 30 year mark (though I have seen some over 40 years), and there are a lot of seats crying to be replaced.
Biz is holding up also as we believe we are gaining in market share. Our seating is simply the best available in the industry (sorry, not really boasting, just fact!), and we and our dealers focus on giving great service and solutions. And we are able to be competitive in public bid situations due to our high volume and our manufacturing efficiencies.
We are also seeing some good business increases in markets outside K-12. College athletic facilities are spending to make improvements, and we are seeing some good municipal activity as well.
And of course, we have diversified through our purchase of Clarin Seating, which has taken us into new markets, and definitely has our factory out straight.
So, despite still being in recession times for K-12 construction, we really don't have many complaints here at Hussey Seating. I just can't wait for the time when we REALLY start growing again!
I highly recommend this book, by Simon Sinek. It's an easy read, and makes a compelling case on authentic marketing, starting from the "inside", or starting with your core beliefs and values. And it goes beyond marketing, to your own vision and purpose.
"People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it." Think about it. Our best customers, and the ones we really want, are the ones who share our beliefs and values, and care about WHY we do what we do.
This is the opposite of marketing "manipulations" and features and benefits marketing. Instead, it is about being very clear about our vision and our values, and enlisting customers, partners, and employees that share those beliefs and want to find ways, with us, to make them real.
Authenticity and core values are at the heart of who Hussey Seating is. WHY do we do what we do? I am still thinking about the best way to articulate this, but I think we do what we do because we believe a family business with integrity and honesty can serve as a beacon in today's world, and to provide lasting values for customers who love long-term solutions. We believe in people to people selling, in producing quality and innovative solutions for the long run.
This happens to be about spectator seating in our current generation of products. But it's been the same "why" when we produced diving boards, ladders, ski jumps, or plows. It's not WHAT we make, it's why we do it!
According to the 15th Annual School Construction Report, the mean price per sq. ft. of new high school construction currently underway nationwide is $203.13, and the mean size is 250,000 sq. ft. That puts the mean price tag for a new high school at around $51 million.
Most of these schools will include large spaces dedicated to specialized activities, like cafeterias, gymnasiums and auditoriums. Many may include other common areas like multi-purpose rooms as well. Given the generally large footprints and specialized equipment contained within these rooms, these are often some of the most expensive spaces in a new school building. And yet, due to their specialized uses, they can be some of the least utilized.
An interesting trend in school design and construction is the movement towards creating multi-use flexibility in these large common spaces, with the intent of increasing the utilization these dedicated spaces and reducing the overall footprint of the school, thereby decreasing construction costs. Many of our dealers have partnered with architects to find creative solutions to this challenge – here are four of the most common and cost-effective solutions:
Combining a Multi-Purpose Room and Auditorium: The Multi-torium
A terrific example of multi-use space flexibility, Reynoldsburg High School in Reynoldsburg, OH relied on our local expert, Farnham Equipment Company to create a space that could be used for a variety of events, large and small. Using a blend of our MAXAM+ Telecopic Platforms, Metro Chairs and a Hussey Seatway traveling telescopic platform, Farnham created a space that will accommodate everything from cheerleader practice or a small chorus practice to a full scale band concert or drama performance.
Combining a Cafeteria and Auditorium: The Cafetorium
An integrated solution developed for Whitmore Lake, MI High School by our dealer, Architectural Systems Group. A 500-seat cafeteria abuts a 173-fixed Quattro seat performance theatre. A MAXAM+ Reverse Fold telescopic platform with Metro seats creates a wall-to wall divider between the spaces in the closed position, and when deployed it opens into the cafeteria, adding 459 seats to the performance space and creating a 632 seat performing arts theater. The smaller performance venue provides the intimate space preferred for teaching and small performances, while the open cafeteria space space is used daily for everything from lunch to dance classes. And the combined venue is used for large school performances and community events – a truly flexible space that increases use and the cost-effectiveness of the design.
Combining a Classroom and Auditorium: The Exploratorium
When Eckles Architecture designed Eden Hall Upper Elementary School in Gibsonia, PA, they included a large interactive learning space called "The Learning Tree" that was designed as an education auditorium for a wide variety of learning experiences. With a flat floor design and the inclusion of three sections of MAXAM+ Telescopic platform with Metro chairs, the solution developed by our local dealer, C.M Eichenlaub Co., is highly configurable and ADA friendly since no ramps are required. Carpeted decks add desired acousitcal and aesthetic qualities, and the individual seating sections can be configured to acommodate any class size. And when fully deployed, the space becaomes a large performing arts or community event space.
Combining a Gymnasium and Auditorium: The Gymatorium
Lonoke High School in Lonoke, AR had a predicament that’s becoming more and more common these days - they had surpassed the needed seating capacity in their auditorium where all of their plays and performances were held. Unfortunately, due to fiscal constraints expanding or building a new auditorium wasn't an option. Hussey Seating dealer Terry Greene of School & Office Products of Arkansas was already working with Lonoke’s architect on specifying new gymnasium bleachers when he heard about their auditorium problem. Terry proposed that they combine multiple Concertina Stage units to create a large portable performance stage in their gymnasium – a venue that can comfortably seat 3,000+ – and accomplished it at a fraction of the cost of new auditorium space.
These are just a few of the examples of how designing flexible, multi-use space can improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of new school construction. If you're an architect or designer working in the education and would like to learn more, click here to request our AIA CE Lunch n' Learn presentation, "Best Practices in Layout Trends for Seating", or simply contact you local Hussey Seating expert.
I spent yesterday in North Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex talking with Director Matt Brown and Deputy Director Scott Johnson about replacing the 20 year old Hussey Olympiad arena seats that I sold them in 1991.
The Greensboro Coliseum complex is an impressive operation made up of 7 different facilities hosting more than 850 events on an annual basis. So to say Matt and Scott are busy men is an understatement to say the least, and they run an absolutely first rate venue. And as savvy as these IAVM veterans are, they’re always looking to improve their patrons’ experience...
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 10:19AM by ;)
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