by Tom Stortz | Apr 2, 2024 | Trip Report
Dach und Holz 2024 The 2024 Dach und Holz trade show was held in Stuttgart, Germany on March 5th-8th, 2024. It is attended by over 51,000 professionals and has over 500 suppliers/vendors from over 26 countries exhibiting. There are 6+ exhibition halls that range from...
by Tom Stortz | Oct 21, 2022 | Trip Report
National Slate Association Conference ’22 The NSA held its bi-annual conference in Saratoga Springs, NY & the Slate Valley (Granville / Poultney), the first weekend of October which was peak leaf changing season. This conference brings together the...
by Tom Stortz | Nov 9, 2021 | Trip Report
I visited the slate quarry area of New York/Vermont 2 weeks ago and feel it’s important to give a perspective of the slate industry. It’s a 5 hour drive from Philadelphia, PA and the last hour is through small towns, population 2,000, like Argyle and...
by Tom Stortz | Feb 25, 2020 | Trip Report
The Dach und Holz takes place every 2 years in Germany. It alternates between Cologne and Stuttgart. This year was in Stuttgart which is the 6th largest city in Germany and home to the headquarters of Porsche and Mercedez-Benz. In a 4 day span, over 52,000...
by Tom Stortz | Nov 19, 2019 | Trip Report
Back in 1853, slate rippers were heated in coal fires and forged at our facility in Philadelphia. Today they are forged and milled to specifications so that every ripper falls between the same tolerance range. Watching the hard work that goes into every ripper will...
by Tom Stortz | Oct 28, 2019 | Trip Report
Metalcon 2019 – Pittsburgh, PA Metalcon is the largest international exhibition in the metal construction industry. Metalcon boasts: Over 250 leading manufacturers and service providerDaily complimentary keynotes and panel discussionsHigh level networking...
by Tom Stortz | May 14, 2018 | Trip Report
What is Roll Forming? Roll forming is a process that utilizes sets of rolls in “stages” to achieve desired profiles in continuous strips of sheet metal. Roll forming can offer companies the following benefits: No expensive shipping & crating of long panels – you...
by Tom Stortz | Mar 4, 2018 | Trip Report
The Dach & Holz (Roof and Wood) is a premier roofing show in the world. It is held every 2 years and this year it took place in Cologne, Germany. There are over 576 exhibitors from over 35 countries that expand into 4 full show halls. Day tickets cost $19 euro....
by Tom Stortz | Feb 9, 2018 | Trip Report
The IRE was this past week held in New Orleans, Louisiana. There were about 500 booths that spanned 28 different aisles. Here are a few pictures of some of the booths that were being presented who we do business with, are associated with, or have an interest to our...
by Tom Stortz | Oct 24, 2017 | Trip Report
The girls were like “we’ll take the picture for tips.” I was thinking a few bucks, whatever. They take the picture and then say, “people usually give us $20”. I gave the one girl $10 and the other was like “what about...
by Tom Stortz | Oct 5, 2017 | Trip Report
Last week was the National Slate Conference in Ithaca, New York. The conference dates, 9/28-10/1, included: A Walking Tour of Cornell University Presentations by Ron Williams of OSHA, John Chan of Durable Slate, Gary Traver from the state of NY, Jeffrey Chusid, James...
by Tom Stortz | Jan 26, 2017 | Trip Report
This past week I had the opportunity to visit the facilities of PF Freund in Wuppertal, Germany. Freund specializes in the production and distribution of hand tools for roofers of the slate and sheet metal variety along with many others. The company was started well...
by Tom Stortz | Oct 12, 2016 | Trip Report
I visited New England Slate in Poultney, Vermont because they were hosting a training course for new roofers who had an interest in developing their slate roofing skills. Jens Lehman from Rathscheck was the lead instructor and a group of 15 roofers took the course. It...
by Tom Stortz | Mar 9, 2016 | Trip Report
The National Slate Association hosted the Penn Big Bed Convention this past weekend. The NSA is an organization consisting of members associated with slate quarries, roofing contractors, architects, educators, and distributors. Once a year, the group gets together at...
by Tom Stortz | Feb 10, 2016 | Trip Report
From February 2nd to the 5th was one of the biggest global roofing shows called the Dach und Holz held in Stuttgart, Germany. The show starts at 9am and goes all the way until 6pm for 4 straight days which is a bit longer than American trade shows. There were 5 main...
by Tom Stortz | Sep 29, 2015 | Trip Report
This past weekend, the Slate Roofer’s Contractors Association met at Joseph Jenkins in Grove City, PA. The conference marked the 10 year anniversary of the SRCA. Members came from as far as Spain or Brazil to attend. It’s a memorable experience to all...
by Tom Stortz | Jul 23, 2015 | Trip Report
Franklin Field is the home of the Penn Relays and is the University of Pennsylvania’s stadium for football and lacrosse. It is a 50,000 person capacity stadium and located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the eastern edge of Penn’s campus. It was built...
by Tom Stortz | Apr 21, 2015 | Trip Report
The National Slate Association is a group of 115 members whose mission statement reads “The establishment of material and installation standards and promotion of natural roofing slate in North America.” This past weekend was a semi annual conference in...
by Tom Stortz | Mar 2, 2015 | Trip Report
The International Roofing Expo was held in New Orleans on February 24-26th. The show draws about 9,000 visitors and has 450 exhibitors throughout a 3 day period. This is THE roofing show. The IRE is a great place to see new products and stay current with the...
by Tom Stortz | Nov 26, 2014 | Trip Report
The 2014 National Slate Association Conference was held in Quebec City this year from October 24th-26th. A variety of organization members attended including roofing consultants, quarry owners, slate contractors, and others in the industry. The conference events...
by Tom Stortz | Oct 30, 2014 | Trip Report
The majority of roofing slate in the United States is quarried in the Northeast region. In Canada, the Glendyne quarry is the largest producing slate quarry. In this post we will recap recent visits to various quarries in places such as Pennsylvania, Vermont, and...
by Tom Stortz | May 12, 2014 | Trip Report
Heading to Germany In late February 2014, a trade show called the Dach und Holz was held in Cologne, Germany. It is a show held every two years that pertains to roofs, walls, sealing, timber constructions, interior works, and energy efficient retrofitting. More than...
