BEMA Members Focus on Growth, Future Activities and Design Awards During Annual Meeting

Members of the Bath Enclosure Manufacturers Association (BEMA) came together yesterday in Las Vegas for the group's annual meeting. An opening reception gave everyone a chance to meet and greet, while the meeting that followed gave them all a chance to learn more about BEMA's current activities, design award winners and plans for the future.

Travis Humphreys, winner of the under 3/8-inch category, Mark Rowlett, BEMA president, and Bruce Downs, over 3/8-inch category winner.

Mark Rowlett from Coastal Industries and BEMA's current president, began by welcoming the group to the meeting, and discussed the importance of growing membership and involvement.

"BEMA is at a critical point in its growth," said Rowlett. "And new members are a great source of growth [as they can bring] new innovations and ideas." He encouraged everyone to reach out to companies that are not currently members to try and make them aware of the importance of BEMA.

"BEMA is the only means that the [shower enclosure] industry has which serves as the voice of matters of importance to us," added Rowlett. "The association is at its best when we all do our part."

BEMA is currently involved in a number of projects and activities. The group is starting to work on developing an installation training program, drafting informational bulletins, and is updating its website. It is also planning to develop alliances with other related associations.

Another important project for BEMA has been its standards and codes activity.

"That's our most important work," said Rowlett. "Once it's completed the standard will be more acceptable to ASTM and more likely to be referenced by the codes."

Last year BEMA's standard was accepted by ASTM and the group has since been working to revise it to meet ASTM format requirements. It will soon be sent to BEMA members for review before going back to ASTM.

In addition, BEMA has plans to develop a hardware test method in the next year.

BEMA's design award winners were also recognized. This past year there were two entries in the under 3/8-inch glass category and ten entries in the over 3/8-inch category. Travis Humphreys from A&T Glass and Window was the winner in the under 3/8-inch category. Bruce Downs of CB Shower, who has also been a previous BEMA design award winner, was the recipient of the over 3/8-inch category. (CLICK HERE for related story.)

Finally, BEMA has planned a CEO roundtable meeting that's scheduled for November 5-6 in Orlando, Fla.

"It's important to get back to the basics of what BEMA has meant historically and right now we're not getting the input we need," said Rowlett. "We're going to get the founding fathers of BEMA, or at least representatives from those companies, together to have a discussion about what really affects our industry, because our industry has changed since BEMA began."

In closing, Rowlett also reminded everyone of the importance of association involvement.

"An association is only as good as the people who are involved," he said.

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