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Manufacturers' sales agents are paid by commission, and these rates are often seen as indicative of conditions within specific industries.

Every other year, the Manufacturers' Agents National Assn. (NAMA) surveys its members to determine the rates that are paid in the major business classifications. Results of the current survey show that commissions in some key fields are up from those paid in 1990. And, of course, some rates are down from previous figures.

However, considering the state of the economy, the increases are signs of healthy activity in diverse segments of the American marketplace.

Fields in which significant positive changes have been seen include automotive OEM, castings and forgings, maintenance chemicals, office supplies and equipment, retail consumer products, and safety and emergency products.

On the other hand, sectors that have experienced a decline in commission rates include arts and crafts, audio-visual products, import-export, machining equipment and services, photographic supplies, and toys, gifts and novelties.

It's especially important to note that these variations are, for the most part, rather small. Over the years, MANA has noted from its survey results that commission rates are always in a state of flux. The variations reflect not only overall national trends, but the effect of individual companies entering a market and attempting to build sales quickly with manufacturers' agents.

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Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport Earned Top Honors in Orlando Business Journal's 2012 Best Places to Work, Adding to Hyatt's Growing Workplace Accolades

CHICAGO -- Recognized for its commitment to its associates, Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport earned the top spot in the category for companies with 300-1,000 employees in the 2012 Best Places to Work awards by Orlando Business Journal.

The Orlando Business Journal received 88 nominations for its 2012 Best Places to Work awards, and winners were determined by an anonymous online employee engagement survey with 37 questions on topics such as trust, feeling valued and recognition in their work environment.

"We know happy associates who love what they do and where they work provide the most welcoming experience for our guests," said Doug Patrick, senior vice president - human resources, Hyatt. "At the heart of Hyatt's culture is a deep respect for our associates who deliver our brands to guests each and every day."

Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport joins Hyatt's growing list of honors and recognition. This year alone:

* Hyatt Regency McCormick Place was selected by Crain's Chicago Business through a survey of associates as a top ten "Best Places to Work" and the No. 3 "Top Workplace for Women" in Chicago in 2012.

* Hyatt Regency Dallas was featured in the midsize companies category in the Dallas Business Journal's Best Places to Work 2012 list.



* Grand Hyatt San Antonio and Hyatt Regency San Antonio were co-winners in the large category in the San Antonio Business Journal's "Best Place to Work 2012" list.

* Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch won the No. 1 spot in the medium category on the St. Louis Business Journal's 2012 Best Places to Work list.

* Hyatt Regency Austin placed first in the large category for the Austin Business Journal's "Top Ten Places to Work."

* Hyatt Regency Santa Clara and Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport were selected in 2012 by vote of associates as a "Top Workplace for the Bay Area" by the Bay Area News Group.

* Grand Hyatt San Francisco was recognized as one of the "Best Places to Work in the Bay Area 2012" by the San Francisco Business Times.

* Hyatt Regency Chicago won the 2012 Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics from the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago & Northern Illinois for Category II (1,000 - 7,499 associates).

Pat Engfer, general manager of Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport, shared her approach to employee relations.

"We're proud of our commitment to our associates and their families," Engfer said. "We make sure to recognize our associates for their hard work and give back to them and their families."

In an interview with the Orlando Business Journal, Holy Pate, senior business and leisure travel sales manager at Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport, said the team puts in the extra mile every day. Pate, who has been with the company for 28 years told the newspaper, "Themanagers take turns greeting guests in the lobby and we help the front desk when they need it. We really are one team."

Pate landed the job after graduating from college and was first impressed by the family environment. As Pate told the newspaper, when she underwent treatment for breast cancer, the company was "so amazing through the whole ordeal. They were mentally and physically supportive, letting me cut back my work hours so I had quality of life. They were with me the whole way."

In addition to property accolades, Hyatt Hotels Corporation received company recognition for creating an inclusive and engaged workplace environment for its associates from a variety of third party organizations this year, including the 2012 Gallup Great Workplace Award. Hyatt is also continually recognized as a leader in promoting and nurturing a diverse workforce.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation 

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a proud heritage of making guests feel more than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family strive to make a difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by providing authentic hospitality. The Company's subsidiaries manage, franchise, own and develop hotels and resorts under the Hyatt[R], Park Hyatt[R], Andaz[R], Grand Hyatt[R], Hyatt Regency[R], Hyatt Place[R] and Hyatt House (TM ). Hyatt House is changing its brand identity from Hyatt Summerfield Suites[R] . Hyatt Residential Group, Inc., a Hyatt Hotels Corporation subsidiary, develops, operates, markets or licenses Hyatt Residences (TM )and Hyatt Residence Club (TM ). As of June 30, 2012, the Company's worldwide portfolio consisted of 492 properties in 45 countries

Everyone has unique capabilities and needs, as does each community. One person may build up a successful business and then sell it to a new owner, who is unable to continue its success. A person who dropped out of high school may be successful at a business due to a combination of creativity, industriousness, adaptability and persistence, while another person with an MBA degree from a well-respected university may fail.

Products or services must fit the personalities and lifestyles of individuals as well as the marketplace. Often people who go into a business just to make money fail, while ventures which grow out of a talent, special interest or hobby do well, sometimes growing into large businesses. Sometimes simple luck is involved, along with recognizing the opportunity. What might be profitable at a given moment may nor be later due to an increase in input costs or changing market. Much of the success of an enterprise may depend on natural personal salesmanship or personality.

Some of these potential opportunities in this series may appeal to you instantly, while others may have little initial appeal. Some may be used as a springboard to other ideas. Some can be worked entirely from home, while others may require renting space elsewhere, going door-to-door or visiting prospective clients or customers. Some may require commuting to a city or one of its suburbs.

Some may only be viable if you live off of a well-traveled thoroughfare on the outskirts of a metropolitan area. Some require significant capital to get started, while others require virtually none. Some may be a significant source of income, while others may just bring in pocket morley. Some require training before they can be provided. Some which are seasonal in nature might be combined to provide year-round extra income opportunities. Almost all can be worked on a part-time basis, but they might become a full-time income source for a spouse or other member of the fatuity.

What might be successful in your area? 

Small business experts generally say it is essential to first find an unsatisfied need or market and then fill it as your skills and resources permit, rather than creating a product or service and then trying to find a market for it. (Bear in mind some 80 percent of new products fail within the first year, and an additional 10 percent don't last for five years.)

Larger bookstores carry or can order books on starting and running a small business or providing a service. Some large book stores either have Books in Print on CD on a personal computer or have access to it through one of the Internet carriers. Using its query capability on key words will allow you to locate books on just about any subject. You should also find the Encyclopedia of Associations, available in the reference section of most large libraries, to be of great assistance in finding sources of additional information. Also don't overlook the assistance your local librarian can provide. It is amazing what information these dedicated professionals can find for you. You can also do a Google search for the current address of relevant associations and there are the Internet book sellers such Amazon.com and half.com.

The prices, books, associations and addresses cited in this series were those in effect at the time they were recorded. A bit of Internet searching may turn up current ones.

If you intend to retail directly to the public, and don't have prior experience, it is strongly recommended you take courses in marketing, economics, public speaking and salesmanship.

Add extra value to products or services: 

"... don't just sell strawberries, sell strawberry jam. Don't just sell honey, sell honey lip balm. Don't just sell buckwheat, sell buckwheat flour. Add value to your raw products by thinking, 'Now what would my customer do with this?' Then you do it, and charge your customer a premium for the added value." (From Dynamic Farmers" Marketing by J. Ishee.)

Sometimes adding extra value to your products can increase net profits or goodwill significantly.

Some places which offer takeout meals open early for parents to pick up prepaid sack lunches for school children. The added value of this service is the lunch can be far more varied than home-prepared ones and might include something like a sandwich cut into the shape of an animal, carrots cut into wavy sticks using a garnishing knife, a cored apple with the center stuffed with a mix of peanut butter and raisins or nuts or a small zip-lock bag of trail mix. To expand business, such a service might include dropping the lunches off at schools just before the lunch period.



One Southwestern Ohio poultry raiser who direct markets them adds extra value to his free-range birds by not removing the feet and then giving out recipes for soups and sauces which can be made from them.

If you trap for pelts, instead of selling them to a wholesaler, consider having them made into retail products for either direct sales (e.g., crafts shows, classified advertising in buckskinning magazines or on eBay), wholesaling to shops or placing them in consignment shops. One company which processes pelts into end products is Gorlic's Trading Company, PO Box 50, Warwick, NY 10990-0050, ph. 914-986-8484. If you can find a market, having them processed into an end product may be significantly more profitable than simply selling the pelts to a wholesaler.

Locally, shell corn at the feed mill sells for seven cents per pound, yet the local Wal-Mart sells 6.5 pound plastic bags of shell corn, for squirrel feed, for about 50 cents per pound. If you have the capability to provide or produce dried ear corn, is there an outlet for it in your area as squirrel feed? That 50 cents per pound works out to over $20 per bushel. This seems a nice opportunity for someone who already sells at retail--perhaps just selling the ears by the pound from a barrel. Then there is also the potential for selling dried ears, say at $1 per dozen, to horse owners as horse or rabbit treats.

Volume 21, Number 3 of Farm Show (800-834-9665) included an article on a Cimmaron, Kansas, wheat farm which adds additional value to some of the grain they produce by incorporating it into a number of tasty snack foods and sweet treats. Sales are mostly through mail order. Their most popular product is a trail mix containing mostly wheat-based items. (Although eBay may also now be a viable sales outlet.)

The December 1996 issue of The Stockman Grass Farmer (800-748-9808) included an article on one Umbarger, Texas, family who sells almost all of the poultry, pork and beef they produce through an on-the-farm small retail store. To add value to their products, they give the customers what they want. Customers wanted boned chicken breasts so they give that option, but at a higher price. The rest of the chicken is cut up into pieces and sold separately, again at a higher price than a whole bird. They also offer halved chickens and packages of thighs, drumsticks or wings; produce a cooked chicken product which tastes like barbecued beef brisket, and have their hogs processed into sausages and hams. The article noted birds which go into a cooked product net, not gross but net, close to $6 per bird. The article further noted that adding additional value does not necessarily increase cost, but can result in a significant return on the time invested. (While not mentioned in the article, I'm sure a home-grown approach also makes customers willing to pay a premium over supermarket prices.)

A satisfied customer builds what is generally called "goodwill." What is the value of that goodwill? Automobile manufacturers can count on bringing in $140,000 over a satisfied buyer's lifetime, appliance makers can expect $2,800 over 20 years and supermarkets get $22,000 from a family of four over a five-year period. For many businesses 80 percent of profits come from 20 percent of repeat customers.

(An old saying is to the effect--a satisfied customer will tell one other person of their experience while a dissatisfied one will tell 10.)

According to an article in the December 30, 1996 issue of The Tennessean, in less than 10 years one bike shop in New Haven, Connecticut went from being just another hole-in-the-wall store to being one of the largest independent bike dealers in the state, primarily by providing a free lifetime guarantee on everything they sell. They also provide free lifetime service, such as gear and spoke adjustments.

Long-term guarantees are a way to add additional value to a product. For further information see Extraordinary Guarantees by Christopher Hart, AMACOM, PO Box 12169, Sarawac Lake, NY 12983-0169.

What if your product is fairly routine? Say you have a customer who buys a dozen farm-fresh eggs on a regular basis. During the gardening season also periodically give them a small bag of garden-fresh vegetables just because you appreciate their repeat business. If they request a dozen extra eggs because company is coming, perhaps just charge them half price, if at all. Not only are you adding value to your service, you are building that all-important customer loyalty or goodwill. 

SEO Automation Platform has been choosen by the Search Engines MD to supply pre- and post-search campaign insights to its car dealership clients nationwide. Rio SEO is the leader in SEO automation and a SS-based provider of enterprise search, local SEO, mobile search and social media marketing tools. Search Engines MD is a Minneapolis-based Internet marketing agency.

The Rio SEO Automation Platform consisted of a suite of software tools for SEO analysis, reporting and implementation. It also has a priority-based workflow system, which alleviates marketers identify the largest search marketing opportunities, the best keywords and phrases for search engine optimization, link-building recommendations, and the patented Rio SEO Audit Score .

The platform is utilized by the Search Engines MD to conduct SEO audits both in advance of customer engagements and at several stages across the execution of client search marketing campaigns to track results and evaluate ROI.

The agency is also using the Rio SEO platform's change management system to supervise customer SEO technical changes, react to them rapidly and make immediate recommendations to enhance their clients' SEO programs.

According to Michael Donovan, chief executive of Search Engines MD,

 "The Rio SEO platform is giving us and our clients a competitive edge. We're already deploying the platform for ad-hoc audits so we can provide real-time advice and make quick adjustments to our clients' SEO programs to improve their search engine results. Plus, we're tracking our clients' SEO audit scores extremely closely and driving real accountability."

1. INTRODUCTION 

After the discovery of infrared radiation by William Herschel in 1800 and the discovery of the thermoelectric effect by Thomas Johann Seebeck in 1821, scientists have tried to measure this long wave radiation with the help of thermocouples and thermophiles. The military has been particularly interested in this invisible, warm radiation, and after World War II the armed forces invested significant amounts of money into research in this field. Consequently, great progress in the development of infrared detectors took place in the last third of the 20th century and elegant cameras to measure radiation and hence temperature were built. With the help of new systems the spectrum of civil applications grew as well: from construction thermography to its use in electrotechnology, environment engineering, civil engineering and medicine. It can be applied everywhere where processes inside of an object lead to the change of temperature of its surface. Bearing in mind the current discussion on climatic changes, construction thermography gains importance, because it quickly discovers heat losses of building envelopes. It is in compliance with the Thermal Insulation Ordinance. Thermography is the determination of surface temperatures of objects and bodies with the help of infrared photography [1-3]. A special-purpose camera captures what the human eye cannot see [4-6]. The camera consists of an infrared-permeable lens, a transmission line and a sensitive detector. The detector converts radiation into electric signals. After processing they are transformed into pixels so that the thermogram appears on the screen.

2. THEORETICAL BASIS 

The theory of infrared thermography is based on three well-known radiation laws [2,6]:

--the law about the relation between emission and absorption found by Kirchhoff,

--Planck's law of radiation,

--the Stefan-Boltzmann law.

Kirchhoff 's law means that a body that absorbs much also emits much. When a "grey" body stands opposite a "black" body, absorption and emission are equal in the thermal balance. Thermography is based on the emission of objects. Therefore it uses the emission coefficient [epsilon] as the ratio of emissivity E of a real body to the emissivity [E.sub.s] of the black body under the same temperature

[epsilon] = E/[E.sub.s]. (1)

Thus the emission coefficient [epsilon] is nondimensional; it lies between 0 and 1 and depends on the wavelength, on the temperature and the surface texture of the body. The Planck radiation law describes the specific spectral radiation M emanating from the idealized black body:

[MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (2)

where [lambda] is wavelength, T is the absolute temperature, h is the Planck constant and c is the speed of light. If the specific spectral radiation M is plotted over the wavelength [lambda] as a function of temperature, typical Planck curves will result. In them it can be seen that the maximum of the curves shifts with growing temperature towards a smaller wavelength according to the Wien displacement

[[lambda].sub.max] = 2898/T. (3)

Stefan and Boltzmann looked at the emission of a surface over all wavelengths, integrated the Planck law and discovered that the radiant power I in W [m.sup.-2] grows with the fourth power of the temperature:

I = [sigma][T.sup.4], (4)

where [sigma] = 5.67 x [10.sup.-8], W [m.sup.-2] [K.sup.-4].

In the thermographic camera the detector determines the traceable range of wavelengths. It is important to stay within the area of atmospheric windows. Only in these windows is the atmosphere's transmissivity high enough for infrared radiation. That is why most cameras operate in the area of 3 to 5 or 8 to 12 [micro]m. Another window exists in the near infrared between 0.78 and 3.0 [micro]m.

The emission coefficient is generally determined experimentally [3,4]. There are two possibilities for that. According to the effect of Seebeck, a thermocouple can be used to measure the temperature of the surface that is to be examined. Then the emission coefficient in the camera is changed until the camera shows the same temperature as the thermocouple does. The second method uses a commercial emission sticker. Its emission coefficient [epsilon] is known. The thin paste-on label is stuck to the surface. After the infrared exposure the temperature of the sticker is compared to the surface next to it in the thermogram.



An even easier way is the use of a calibrated black spray. In the meantime many extensive tables and charts with emission coefficients have become available [2-4]. But one has to consider that not every surface texture can be covered with a spray. As for metals, their different oxidation coverage may exclude application of sprays.

3. CONSTRUCTION THERMOGRAPHY 

The main application of infrared thermography in the civil sector lies in construction thermography. Fortunately, most materials used in the building industry have emission coefficients between 0.90 and 0.96 (Table 1) [1,4,6]. Therefore good assessment of thermal properties of a building can be made with only one exposure with the same [epsilon].

Post-processing of the thermograms for zinc or copper clad components can then still be done with the computer.

A basic condition for using thermography on buildings is a difference of 20 K between the inside and the outside temperatures. In the literature 10 K are sometimes considered enough. It means that examinations of buildings are reasonable only during the winter when the surrounding temperature lies around the zero-point. Inside exposures are of greater significance because atmospheric conditions such as wind, rain, snow or sun as well as conditions of the building itself like ventilated facades have an effect on the results of the exposure. While heat bridges can be seen from outside, there are cold bridges observable inside. Cold areas clearly stand out on walls, loft conversions, corners on the floor or window frames. But heated floors and heaters on walls can also be made visible. Their position and length can be exactly determined. Furthermore, it is possible to find leaking or plugged heating systems, badly done insulation or hidden timbered framework, which has been plastered over. Pictures, taken with thermographic cameras, are admitted in court because they provide unambiguous proof of botched construction works. Construction firms benefit from them as well since they can photograph critical areas in order to design targeted constructional measures before reconstructing old buildings. Infrared exposures can be filed together with regular photographs of the same object and tables with thermographic results for later analysis.

4. SELECTED EXAMPLES 

As examples, town halls of the four big Hanseatic cities of Rostock, Stralsund, Wismar and Greifswald were photographed. They all lie on the coast of the Baltic Sea of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Together with every thermographic exposure a regular visual photograph was taken. In addition, data about the surrounding temperature, humidity, distance of the exposure from the object as well as of the emission coefficient were collected. The coefficient was tuned in consistently as 0.95. All city halls had been reconstructed and renovated. The aim of the thermographic pictures was to find out whether there are "climate sinners" among municipal administration buildings. During the reconstruction it had been very difficult to rebuild the premises according to thermal insulation standards as well as to the preservation requirements of historic monuments. This is not always easy, but it was mostly successful thanks to the thick outer walls that were commonly used in former times for reasons of construction engineering rather than because of thermal insulation. Some window installations were to be reduced [5].

Built in the 13th century, the town hall of Rostock (Fig. 1) has had a baroque front since the middle of the 18th century. In 1995 it was completely reconstructed and renovated. The old, thick walls insulate the building excellently. The Thermal Insulation Ordinance [7] was not observed with the windows on the upper floors. The town hall of Stralsund (Fig. 2) received a gothic facade in 1340. Reconstruction was finished in 2004. In the upper part of the gable there are no windows, but apertures that prevent the facade from collapsing under stormy weather conditions.

The town hall of Wismar (Fig. 3) was constructed between 1817 and 1819 in the classical style. After a fire in the roof it was reopened in 1992. Single red-white windows show that the rooms behind them are heated more than the remaining rooms.

In comparison to the others, the town hall of Greifswald (Fig. 4) is the worst insulated. After the reconstruction of 2000, many heat bridges remained. The building, dating from late gothic times, was erected around in 1400. After two fires in the 18th century it was rebuilt as a baroque edifice.

A different example is localization of cold spots inside a new detached house (Fig. 5). The infrared photograph provides evidence of the deficient insulation and shows that heat bridges lead to inadmissibly low surface temperature. This causes growth of mold as soon as the measured temperature falls below the dew point. With a room temperature of 21 [degrees]C and a high relative air humidity of 70%, the dew point lies at approximately 15.3 [degrees]C.

An application area of thermography is also detection of the position of heating tubes in floors and walls (Figs. 6 and 7). When, for example, a supplementary chimney is to be built in the living room or a tie is to be placed in an outer wall, it is important to know exact location of the pipes. In the same way any leakage can be detected in heating systems because a leak produces a wide heat spot in the thermogram. Another application of thermography is measurement of moisture in building materials [8].

5. CONCLUSIONS 

Infrared construction thermography is a modern contactless measurement procedure for diagnostics and analysis of buildings [2,9]. Pre-conditions are scientific expert knowledge concerning physical fundamentals as well as a minimum of constructional and technical understanding. With the help of construction thermography, compiling evidence for heat losses is possible. One can locate heat and water leakages or make extensive analysis of the actual condition of edifices.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 5 OMITTED]

Thermograms and visual photographs are taken from a fixed position and are analysed side by side in the laboratory. On and in the building there must be stationary conditions. Outside exposures must be taken before sunrise, otherwise solar radiation will hit the lens through reflections. Thus the measurement would be adulterated. Ideal conditions for the use of infrared thermography are outside temperatures around 0 [degrees]C, no wind or rain and inside temperatures around 20 [degrees]C. Then a temperature resolution up to 0.2 K can be reached. The temperature measurement error is about 2%.

[FIGURE 6 OMITTED]

Efficiency of the method is illustrated by thermograms of four town halls and for three particular cases of building inspection.

[FIGURE 7 OMITTED]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author wants to thank Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Ernst Langnau (thermography) and Sabrina Wolf (photography) for their support with the pictures taken of the town halls.

Received 17 July 2007

REFERENCES 

[1.] Gluckert, U. Erfassung und Messung von Warmestrahlung. Francis-Verlag, Munchen, 1992.

[2.] Maldague, X. P. V. Theory and Practice of Infrared Technology for Nondestructive Testing. J. Wiley, New York, 2001.

[3.] Schuster, N. and Kolobrodov, V. G. Infrarotthermographie. WILEY-VCH Verlag, Weinheim, 2004.

[4.] Breuckmann, B. Bildverarbeitung und optische Messtechnik in der industriellen Praxis, Kap. 1.2. Francis-Verlag, Munchen, 1993.

[5.] Meyer, A. Infrarot-Kamera sucht nach Klimasundern. Ostsee-Zeitung, Rostock, 11.04.2007, S. 3.

[6.] Karstadt, D, Mollman, K.-P., Pinno, F. and Vollmer, M. Sehen im Infrarot--Grundlagen und Anwendungen der Thermographie. Physik in unserer Zeit, 1998, 29, H. 1, 6-15, WILEYVCH Verlag, Weinheim.

[7.] Cammerer, W. F. Warme- und Kalteschutz im Bauwesen und in der Industrie. Springer, Tutzing, 1995.

[8.] Wild, W., Buscher, K. A. and Wiggenhauser, H. Amplitude sensitive modulation-thermography to measure moisture in building materials. In Proc. SPIE (Thermosense XX, Orlando), 1998, 3361, 156-162.

[9.] EN 13178 European Standard "Thermal performance of buildings. Qualitative detection of thermal irregularities in building envelopes". CEN Brussels, 1998.

Walter Wild

Faculty for Mechanical Engineering and Marine Techniques, University Rostock, Albert-EinsteinStrasse 2, 18051 Rostock, Germany; walter.wild@uni-rostock.de
Table 1. Emission coefficients of construction materials

Material         [epsilon]
Concrete           0.94
Sand               0.93
Brick            0.93-0.94
Limestone          0.96
Render/plaster   0.90-0.96
Glass            0.93-0.96
Wood               0.96
Roofing felt       0.93
Gypsum             0.90
Paint            0.90-0.95
Clay               0.95
Brickearth         0.93