Articles by Natalie Forster

During the roundtable, participants covered everything from supply chain and labor concerns to working with the next generation customer and warehouse technology. One thing is for certain, the distribution game has changed.

Heading into 2023, experts remain optimistic about the health of the PHCP-PVF market despite a few impending factors: a possible recession, inflation, ongoing labor concerns, price increases and supply chain disruption.

So will 2023 still be a sellers’ market, or can we expect things to level out? According to Danielle Hale, Realtor.com chief economist, next year could be more of a “nobody’s market.”

In this weekly feature, Plumbing Group Chief Editors Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster highlight the industry’s latest news stories.

In this weekly feature, Plumbing Group Chief Editors Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster highlight the industry’s latest news stories.

The National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) had a monumental year in 2022. It kicked off with the first in-person Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) event since 2020. Additionally, in October, NKBA moved from Hackettstown, New Jersey to its brand new headquarters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 

In this weekly feature, Plumbing Group Chief Editors Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster highlight the industry’s latest news stories.

Writing this column I am just getting home from my first-ever trip to Chicago. While I was there — on Thursday, Nov. 10 — the city recorded a record high temperature for that time of year at 76° F. This was great news for a born and bred North Carolinian who doesn’t fare well in temps below about 50°. Now, the culprit behind these record-setting temps — global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions — isn’t such great news, but it is one our industry is actively working to address (check out the story on geothermal trends and decarbonization in this issue for more information there).

There is an old wives tale that bumblebees should not be able to fly. According to aerodynamics, their wings are much too small in relation to their body size to move them through the air. Bees, ignorant to these laws of science, manage to defy the odds and fly every single day.

In this weekly feature, Plumbing Group Chief Editors Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster highlight the industry’s latest news stories.