So I sit here on a balmy Sunday evening and wonder what is going on in our PPF Forum/Industry... I recall watching a Discovery Channel show on Piranha a while back. During the dry season the rivers retreat from their rainy season levels and leave ponds and pools. Some of the Piranhas are stranded in the ponds and as they dry up they exhaust the food supply. When said food supply is gone, the start eating each other. They do this until either the rainy season brings the main river back and with it more food, or until the pond disappears and all die...

Back to PPF... For our shop, June produced record sales. July set sales records. August, a couple days in the month left and we are again in record territory. Now I do not want to jinx things, but we are very positive on the market! It has been a lot of hard work, in many cases days and days without a real break. But that is what owning a "start-up" is all about. Yes I figure you are still a "start-up" till at least year 3 to 5. From my part of the stream there is plenty of open water, and plenty of food.

I have not been able to post too many times this month, too busy trying to pay bills! But I have read some of the threads and am pretty disappointed. I realize that this is a tough business to make money in, but it has great potential and a great future from my perspective!

All I can assume from the comments in the most disappointing threads is that the people (organizations) making said comments think.

1. Too many film companies (much higher supply than demand)
2. Too many design houses (much higher supply than demand)
3. And to some extent, This is a private forum and consumers never read this


It is apparent that everybody is passionate about his or her product/service to the complete exclusion of every other option. It is also apparent that several people feel that posting here is the best way to deal with personal and business conflict. It is far from it. In most cases more harm has been done than good. Three steps back, and occasionally one forward.

Some are acting like trapped Piranha in an ever-shrinking pool of water. First, the market is GROWING not stagnant or evaporating! Quit focusing all your energy on cannibalization and start looking toward the future (or even the present). Perhaps some have got the taste for cannibalization and do not realize that they are standing in a pasture full of cattle and a nice steak dinner is in order! It is appalling to read some of the posts here and realize that the heads of companies makes them!!! If the threads were places in a fold out section of Car & Driver Magazine would the authors be proud of their statements and how they were made? Would they be proud to have their Logo next to the statement? How does this help anybody? Does it really make you feel better at night?

If you have a personal / professional conflict please find a more professional way of dealing with it.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading. Thanks to all the helpful people I have met in the last few years. Thanks to the customers who have trusted their "babies" to us! Thanks to the film company who has continually provided top quality material. Thanks to the people who trained us, without the training we would have imploded before we had begun! Thanks to the software company/design house for a great tool and great support!!

And a special thanks to TD for allowing us this forum!!! I hope we can all work together to help this industry in its continued growth!!

Thanks and good night

A: You know, sidewinder has made some great points in his Sunday PM post. But then again, so did Mike in his post on the "Too Much Debate on the Forum" topic that he started. Considering that we are all involved in a fledgling industry, it is quite normal for there to be differing opinions regarding film brands, customer service, technical support, hand cuts vs. pre-cuts, design philosophies, software features, warranties, etc. A certain amount of "business conflict" is bound to emerge as a normal course of events, as film manufacturers, distributors and design houses vie for a prominent place in the market. Everyone has a right to their opinions and they should be open to expressing these opinions on the board without fear of appraisal or criticism. The stances that people take, as well as the exceptions to those stances that come from others, shouldn't offend the readers, but instead should stimulate thought, incite reasoning and invite questions. Debate is a very healthy process and we shouldn't be afraid or ashamed to do it.

On the other end of the spectrum, I recognize that there is an occasional and unnecessary amount of name-calling, mud slinging and personal attacks that stem from personal indifferences that are not pertinent or useful to the readers. I am admittedly guilty of participating in this sort of activity in some, but certainly a small minority, of my posts. (I'd like to blame the misbehavior on my German heritage, but certainly some of my ill-thought-of responses are (like sidewinder said) born out of passion).

Regardless of what my personal feelings are on some issues, we as a company do not believe that there are too many film companies, or that there are too many design houses, nor are we naive enough to think that the consuming public does not read the posts here. Instead we believe that the truth always prevails, that the cream will always rise to the top and that support of our customers will continue to be the key to our success. We prove that to our dealers every day.

For those of you that are skeptical because of the seemingly distasteful and sometimes downright ugly exchanges you may have read here, make no mistake, regardless of your impressions, this is a great industry with a bright future and the time has never been better to get involved.

A: Sidewinder great post as usual, I agree with much of what you say, the bald facts are though that as with all industries quality will out, the design houses that produce poor designs will go to the wall (as soon as possible with any luck) the film companies that do not deliver consistent quality products and support the distributors will cease to sell their film, because "we the installers" will stop using it.

We have the view that we will use the film that consistently delivers the maximal price point of quality and performance (at the moment I feel thats 3M) should that change then "we the installers" should and would vote with our feet Our responsibility is to our consumers first and foremost, right now the film companies have the muscle, 3 years from now that will change.

A film company that delivers a great product does not need to be in the design business to featherbed its product, if they have to move product by offering a promotional gimmick to try and get market share that should tell you everything you need to know. A design house that delivers great designs does not need to fear a film company desperate to get market share by trying to "give away" second rate designs.

You are incisive as ever when it comes to the market penetration arguement if you really stand behind your product go mainstream with advertising and build brand awareness of the product, so far few if any of them have done this. Why not is the key question.

You are also right about some of the personal stuff that has crept in, however it is tame compared to what is going on out there in "real space", fortunately most people have kept this off the board in any detail, but your analogies of Pirhanas and Cannibals are right on the button, (I would also add pirates and crooks), all of them appear in emerging markets and one or two may even turn into "our Enrons" this is where boards like this become invaluable and measured debate becomes critical. Truth is it only took me 2 years to find out who the honorable guys were and who the "bad guys" are, hopefully others will get there much quicker. Whatever the opinions are that have been drawn, I have found to the most part that many of the players on here who have declared themselves are decent reasonable companies and I would be Generally proud to be associated with many of them. (not all however).

Best Wishes