Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/446918
C o n s t r u c t i o n M a r k e t p l a c e 4 1 Tu e s d a y, J a n u a r y 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 products do you make? RH: We manufacture premium wood and clad windows and doors for the U.S. res- idential and commercial market, includ- ing sliding doors, folding doors and tim- ber curtain wall. We offer unique prod- ucts and options at a quality that is unri- valed in the marketplace. CM: Why do you describe yourselves as a "30-year-old start-up"? RH: In 1984, my father, John Higman, became a distributor in southern California for a major national window brand. At that time, he also started Pacific Architectural Millwork as a DBA to handle custom residential prod- ucts and commercial millwork. About five years ago, my dad sold the distrib- utorship and spun off Pacific as a sepa- rate corporate entity, so we would no longer be limited as to what kind of product we can make or where we can sell it. We have recently introduced our own line of premium doors and win- dows to the market, and now we get to spread the word to custom architects and builders across the country. As the second-generation owner, my goal is to continue my dad's legacy and grow the company into the largest high-end man- ufacturer in the U.S. CM: What sets your products apart from the competition? RH: We build our windows and doors using the best European techniques and technology, but with an eye towards the U.S. market. For example, our stiles and rails are manufactured using triple-ply, cross-grain solid wood construction, and Pacific Architectural (Cont'd. from p. 1) we attach our heavy-gauge aluminum cladding with a European clip system that allows the materials to breathe and expand. However, unlike European imports, we are manufactured locally and we make certain popular features stan- dard, such as custom Kynar finish, Low- E tempered insulated glass, and integrat- ed metal nailing fins, which make installing and maintaining our products far easier. We have also developed unique and patented systems like our Slide & Seal™ door system, which is a quantum leap improvement over existing sliding door technology, and our Zero Window, which is the only operable wood window with zero interior sight- lines. CM: What do you look forward to in 2015? RH: We are excited to take advantage of the upswing in the construction mar- ket and expand our business into new regions across the country. We have invested millions of dollars in new equipment and expanded manufacturing capacity that is coming on-line this year, so we will be able to produce a superior product with much greater effi- ciency. We also see continued growth in our timber curtain wall product, which has been an extremely popular alterna- tive to aluminum and steel systems in residential and commercial applica- tions. We are increasing our marketing efforts to get the word out about our company. In all, we expect to double our volume this year, and beyond that, the sky is the limit. For more information on Pacific Architectural Millwork, visit www.pacmillwork.com, call 562.905.3200 or stop by booth #C1856. ML: We provide masonry veneer to the building materials market. This includes hand made crafted veneers, as well as natu- ral stone veneer. We don't really refer to our- selves as a stone veneer company, because some of our crafted veneers go beyond being just a recreation of stone. We supply a full suite of masonry veneer products. CM: As a new company, what has been the response to your products? ML: It's been great. We've only been in the marketplace for about a year and a half, but people are happy to see and wel- come a refreshed look. We provide very high-quality products, both aesthetically and technically; but also from an innova- tion point of view, we have come up with some great new products in both the tra- ditional and contemporary styles. CM: What kinds of innovations has your company made? ML: On the aesthetic side, we took a blank canvas type of approach to our product development, and looked for new shapes, new ways of crafting the stone in a way that would provide more uniqueness to our products, and also committed heavily to the art side of the business, meaning that we've made a huge commitment to our coloration and coloring techniques, to raise the bar to the next level of realism, of authenticity. We have also created some new and exciting products on the contemporary side. One that is getting a lot of attention is Board form, which picks up the texture of wood in concrete. It's a very cool look that we offer in five different colors. We also have several new products that provide for a more rectilinear, very contemporary look, offering many different textures and colors. CM: Compare your products and their technology to other products out there. Creative Mines (Cont'd. from p. 1) ML: On the crafted side of the business, we have a very high-quality resource of aggregates. It's one of the finest pumice deposits in the world, from Idaho. This high-density, clean pumice is very light in contaminants. We use it in an aggre- gate size, where when you break our stone in half, it has a uniform appearance. With some of our competitors' products, when you break them in half you see a lot of different shapes and sizes of aggre- gate. This is important when the installers are fitting stones together and need to break one to make it fit. The visu- al sight of a bunch of aggregate is a dead giveaway the stone is not real. The color uniformity found inside Creative Mines products is very unique in the industry. Another innovation, or actually more of a rediscovery, is that we use a natural pozzolanic material in our con- crete-based products, unlike our competi- tors, who use fly ash, which consists of smokestack byproducts. Both of these improve the quality of concrete, but the natural pozzolanic material provides the best and highest performance attributes. This is the same natural pozzolan materi- al that was used to build the Parthenon and other structures, which are going strong today more than 2,000 years after construction. CM: How does your company fit into the marketplace? ML: Some luxury home builders are offering products that may have been good 20 years ago, but they really don't stand up to today's standards of what's available. The more sophisticated home buyers and customers are going to recog- nize the difference in the quality between what we provide to the market and some of the stuff that's out there. For more information, visit www .creativemines.us, call 800.453.7040, email create@creativemines.us, or stop by booth #S1875. LG SMART HOME APPLIANCES LG Electronics has announced that new products set to debut in the United States during the first half of the year – from appliances to air solutions to home enter- tainment devices – will allow consumers to communicate, control, monitor and share content via the popular "LINE" mobile messenger platform and the unique LG HomeChat service. LG will unveil its latest generation of smart inno- vations that use LG HomeChat's Natural Language Processing technology this month. Via HomeChat, LG's virtual assis- tant, users can control and operate their LG products through text and voice mes- sages from the LINE messenger app on their mobile devices. With 350 million users worldwide, LINE is available on most major smartphone platforms, including Android and iOS. HomeChat also offers customized recommendations for each user based on usage history, pat- terns, personal preferences and more. With HomeChat, users can now use three main smart functions for everyday situations: Vacation, Leaving Home, and Coming Home modes. The Vacation and Leaving Home modes allow users to ensure the products are using minimal energy with LG's Smart Saving technol- ogy, or are powered off while away from the home for an extended period of time. The Coming Home mode can help users prepare the home for their arrival by turn- ing on the Smart Air Conditioner remote- ly, for example, or by requesting recipe suggestions from the Smart Oven. "We find that consumers always look for an easier way to manage their busy households, and HomeChat helps simplify the process of communicating with appliances. Now, users can 'speak' naturally with their appliances through text without having to input special com- puter commands," said T.J. Lee, senior vice president, home appliances, LG Electronics USA. "We will continue to lead the industry with our smart home technologies and advance its availability in the U.S. market." Smart Refrigerator Thanks to the messaging capabilities of HomeChat, new LG smart refrigerators can provide users with real-time status updates anywhere, at any time, proving most helpful when grocery shopping (users can see what's currently in the fridge from its interior camera). Meanwhile, the Smart Saving function allows the refrigerator to consume mini- mal energy when users are outside the home. Family members can even upload photos to the refrigerator from their smartphones via LINE, which can then be displayed on the appliance's exterior display panel. Smart Laundry Using HomeChat, users can quickly and simply monitor laundry progress, seeing how much time is left in a cycle and even remotely stopping cycles altogether in their smart washer or dryer, if needed. Users can also download new cycles such as Wool, Baby Care and Cold Wash that suit the user's needs and to always keep the washer updated. Smart Oven The Recipe Search function, along with HomeChat allow users to communicate directly with their smart oven, collecting recipe recommendations and discovering exactly which ingredients are needed. Conveniently, the oven will then auto- select the appropriate setting, which helps users avoid the hassle of having to manu- ally set the cooking mode, as well as pro- vide alerts when recipe updates become available. Another convenience feature allows users to remotely monitor the sta- tus of the oven, keeping a close eye on the cooking time of those tasty treats. Smart Air Conditioner Users can also interact with LG's smart air conditioner systems via HomeChat to receive up-to-the-minute status updates, including details on current and desired temperatures, power mode, fan speed and more. This allows consumers to more conveniently monitor the air condition- er's energy usage, which can ultimately help lead to enhanced energy efficiency and cost savings. Smart Multi-Room Audio Systems LG's Music Flow Wi-Fi portable speak- ers allow consumers to build a custom home audio system that can be controlled using LG's Music Flow mobile app, and are compatible with Android and iOS devices. Through HomeChat, users can communicate directly with the speakers with simple text commands such as "play songs for party" or "turn off music after one hour." The speakers can also act as a personal assistant, setting alarms and alerting users of upcoming events on command.