June 8, 2023 • 44 mins
In our inaugural episode of "The GSE Podcast," join your host, Matt Weitzel, as he reconnects with long-time colleague and friend Brad Compton from Textron GSE. With a shared history spanning over 15 years in the industry, Matt and Brad delve into their treasure trove of experiences, reminiscing about the past while discussing the shifting landscape of Ground Support Equipment (GSE).
Their conversation traverses through time and innovation, from the early days of their careers at Textron GSE to the present, bringing fascinating insights and personal anecdotes to the forefront. The duo explores the transformative changes in the industry, examining how advancements in technology and increasing environmental consciousness have reshaped GSE.
A highlight of the episode is an exclusive deep dive into Textron GSE's latest breakthrough – the Endurance, their newest electric tractor. Brad provides an inside look at this cutting-edge product, discussing its unique features, capabilities, and the exciting potential it holds for the future of sustainable GSE.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the evolution of GSE and the exciting innovations paving the way for a greener and more efficient industry. You can tune in for an engaging mix of industry nostalgia, expert insights, and a glimpse into the future of GSE.
"The GSE Podcast" is sponsored by Xcēd GSE, a leading ground support equipment lessor offering operating leases. Discover more about Xcēd GSE's services and their latest inventory at xcedgse.com. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts for an immersive journey into the world of GSE!
Looking for reliable and flexible ground support equipment leasing solutions? Look no further than Xcēd! As your trusted partner, Xcēd specializes in tailored operating leases for ground handlers and airlines, offering top-notch equipment and flexible terms to suit your needs. Whether you're seeking the latest electric GSE or traditional equipment, Xcēd has you covered with competitive rates and exceptional customer service. Keep your operations running smoothly and efficiently with Xcēd. Visit xcedgse.com today and soar to new heights with Xcēd Ground Support Equipment Leasing!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:16):
All right. Welcome to the inaugural podcast. I have
with me, Brad Compton, VicePresident of Global Sales for
texture on GSC. Is that right?
Yeah, Global's key. Thanks,Matt. Is this called an episode
that these things calledepisodes? The off this is this
is an episode. It's kind oflike, Okay, think about a
sitcom. Perfect, right? Theyhave episodes. I don't know if
(00:39):
we're gonna have seasons, but wedefinitely have episodes. Do we
have a name? We have a name forthe podcast. You ready for it?
I'm ready. The GSC podcast.
That's epic. Yeah, I'm ready,man. Thank you. It's awesome to
be the little call the numberone guest, because you're the
first guest on the podcast,which is super exciting. That's
(01:00):
great. Thanks for coming down.
Brad traveled the hallway fromAtlanta, just to come down here
to Orlando to record thispodcast. And this is going to be
great. Man. I really appreciateyou joining me. And I think we
should start out with a storyfrom Brad Compton. So now
listen, I'm gonna tease this.
And I think that do you know theanswer already? Or do you have
(01:22):
one that you want to know?
Because I want the listener tokeep keep listening. And what
I'm going to do is I'm going totell you something that I'm
going to say later on in thepodcast, right. So my story is
going to be the catchup story.
Oh, boy. Yeah, I remember thatone. Okay, so they don't get to
hear it unless they stay tuned.
So I remember that one. It's agreat story, right? One of the
best. So do you have a storylike that? Man, I should have
(01:44):
done my homework. So yeah, I'vegotten many stories. And I think
now what's one that's like,peih. Gee, that you can tell.
That's a funny story. That'strue. Because if you start with
when I was in Vegas, that's notgoing to end well. It's not
going to end well. Yeah. So sofolks that may be listening to
this, and folks that that know,all throughout the industry,
there's many stories, and it'ssuch a great community, we have
(02:04):
so much fun from supplier tocustomer. And again, I'll use
the word globally, as we traveleverywhere. Golly, there's so
many stories I can I can talkthrough. I you know,
I'm a sales guy. And I think onestory that comes to mind, it was
probably 98. So I'm still prettygreen. And I'm working to close
(02:28):
a deal. Not a large customer.
But I always say that, you know,any new customers great to put
on the list. Right? And so it'scalled mayor. No, that's a great
story, though. I've done a lotto that one later. No, this is
what signature flight support,okay. And I got to know Andy
Reyes, and he is a he's a greatguy. And I just saw him at a
conference in Amsterdam. It wasgood to catch up with him. I
(02:50):
don't think you'd mind metelling the story. But, man, I
just thought of this. We werewalking through our factory in
Kennesaw Georgia, small factory,but we put out a lot of
equipment. And we werenegotiating he needed some Ma's
will bring up a Mexican. Yeah.
And he was buying quite a few ofamaze for me, you know, sell a
couple was fantastic. And wewere trying I was working hard
(03:13):
to get this deal done before heleft so I could go back to TIG
Backstrom siliq. Look, lookthis. We walked past the break
room. And there's a ping pongtable.
And he said, I'll play pingpong. If you beat me, I'll give
you the PIO.
So that was that was good. I'llhave to say that I lost the
(03:33):
order. So pretty tame story. ButI've gotten many of them. I
think you should classifystories
in their own little area, andthen projects probably in a
different area. But many, manystories met so many good friends
in this industry. Again, from asupplier standpoint and customer
standpoint, I think we all justgroup administrations now. Yeah,
(03:54):
for sure. It's a great industry.
And I have a lot more stories inmy back pocket. Just not sure
how deep you want to go at thispoint. Yeah. So do you think
that so as AMD premier ping pongplayer, or I would say you're
just that and I was I wasprobably a little nervous. I
tell you, I probably wasnervous. But yeah. And he was a
great dude. And I think at theend of the day, we got that
(04:16):
order.
Yeah, I mean, hold on a second.
So the question is, do you letthe customer win? Because he
told you if you want that, you'dget the PIO. I slipped in at the
same time. You're like, Well, Imean, he's high customer. You
want to make him feel good. Youfigure you're gonna get the PIO
anyway. If you make him feelgood, right, so I wanted to pick
up. You did want to beat him?
(04:37):
Yes. So yeah, that was Yeah.
Ping pong. That's where it allstarted. There was a ping pong
table in the breaker McKenna sawthere was yeah, they put it in
there. That's interesting. Idon't think Yeah, I think it was
gone by the time that I wasprobably there's it's probably
the corner put up a little bit.
But yeah, yeah. So it breaksdown. He saw people playing he
looked over me said I'll youknow, I'll play I'll play for
(04:59):
the PIO. ISo this is this is fantastic.
Can I ask you a question though?
Well, yeah, people know what theendurance is? Of course they do.
Yes. That's the most importantquestion of the days. And was
that the endurance? Was thatyour brainchild? Or was that
Marco? No, they would let mename it on. Did you try to name
and I didn't know they were notgonna let me do it. Can I tell
(05:20):
you a story? Yeah, they let mehelp name the M Z, which was a
huge success. Oh, really? Oh,just it was just it was beyond
it. Actually. Success is like, Imean, what depends on how you
define success, right? Yeah, Ithink people don't. I mean,
we've been out of the space fora little while, but we're
excited to get back in it. Butwe've we've been involved in
(05:42):
electric tractors for so long. Ithink the M, Z was number six.
Yes. Did you start with the Mthree? Was that the first
probably when you jumped intoit, but Oh, was there one before
the M three? No, you're right.
The M three. Yeah, I was notthere with in three. I mean, I'm
just I just know my tonguehistory. So we started doing
electric bag tugs. Mid 90s. WhenI came on the scene, there was a
(06:02):
battery in the front, which wasan industrial vehicle. Then they
had the battery in the back,which was the in three, yeah,
the M three. So we're now intothe eighth generation. Textron
does a phenomenal job with withthe product, the innovation, and
they continue to do that. And sonow yeah, we're now we're into
the endurance we got, we gotgood names. The Endurance
launched. So yeah, that's great.
(06:27):
So you, you named the the MC Iwould have? Yeah. So Matt was
actually I can talk to speak inthird person.
That was the project manager forthe MC. Yeah, working with Brian
Yoder on that thing. It was,yeah, quite the quiet, I think.
But now I think the endurance isa is a much better electric
vehicle than the MC was, yeah,we took our time doing it, which
(06:50):
is the right thing to do. Andyou want to talk about stories
and projects, I've done many,many mistakes too. And in
sometimes you you got to move atthe pace of the customer. That's
kind of what I continue to leanon is, you know, make sure
you're running as fast as theyare and helping them out. But
you got to slow down a littlebit when they asked for, for
product. And especially whenyou're launching a new product,
(07:11):
you got to make sure you takeyour time and launch it
correctly. I think a lot ofsuppliers manufacturers have
made that mistake. And soTextron has been disciplined,
and we're doing all the rightthings, and we've launched it,
and it's gonna do good. Thanks.
We're excited about it. So youall being owned by Textron
specialized vehicles. Right.
Yeah. And EasyGO is a part ofthat was was that kind of like
(07:33):
an easy goal was obviously Ithink almost everyone knows that
they have electric golf carts.
Correct. Right. That's kind oftheir their deal. Was that a
help from an engineeringstandpoint? Yeah. Yeah. So you
know, it's the people. It's theproduct, and it's the process,
and Textron nailed that, I mean,if you talk about Textron, from
Cessna, Beechcraft, thehelicopters at Bell, there's so
(07:55):
many good things going on fromhow they innovate product. And
that cascades right down intowhere we grew up into, which is
TSP, like you said, texture,especially vehicles. So we gain
a lot of resources from the golfsegment, the Cushman segment,
the Jake segment, which isJacobson lon wars, you see it
these large golf courses. Soyeah, I mean, so but now it's
(08:19):
all about lithium. And solithium is, is the go to for
golf. And lithium is now the goto for us. I think lithium is
now the go to for GSC, which isit's taken off so fast. I think
you've talked to others in theindustry, that's that no one's
gonna say we're going allelectric. And so yeah, to have
the resources at Textron isphenomenal. And they do a great
(08:39):
job at launching product, theyknow how to do it. They know how
to hire the right people to doit. So I'm excited because we've
done it the wrong way. I've doneit the right way. And this is
another great way to do it.
Yeah, it's gonna be a huge help,you know, leverage, like their
engineering staff that's alreadybeen doing this for years.
Right? Electric This is notanything new to them. So that's,
(08:59):
that's really great. So the beltloader, the 660, which is you
know, how we're saying there wasprobably a made every airport in
America. There's definitely a660 running around at every
major airport. Yeah. In the US.
So is that electric as well? Iknow you have a 660 or you've
you know, in the past had sixsix yeas, it was first dc,
(09:21):
right? And then we went to an ACman, you're talking like an
engineer? Yeah. Yeah. So whereare we at now? It's like on the
endurance style is so the beltloaders a little bit easier, but
the belt loader man that thatthing is a phenomenal product
and it just keeps chuggingalong. Everyone I've worked with
it at Target now Textron GSCthat that that is still an
(09:43):
unbiased is one of the best beltloaders out there. It holds its
value. Yeah, it's probably theeasiest product to go electric.
And it was back when we wentelectric. And now it's an easy
transformation into lithium.
Yeah, there's a lot of lithiumbad
He's out there. There's a lot ofpeople out there peddling
lithium batteries. So we willwork with the customer on what
(10:05):
works best for their operation.
But it's got to be careful inhow many different variations
there are. Yeah, we're going allin lithium, we still offer the
lead acid. But yeah, thatbattery has been sorry that
Bella has transformed intoprobably over 50%, if not more
of our belt loaders that webuild now down a manufacturing
line or electric relay versusinternal combustion. Oh, wow. I
(10:25):
don't know, short, chargingdress. We Yeah, you got to do
the charts, especially whenyou're global, when they're
listening to charts and graphsare out because our bar pie
chart is gone crazy for electricmotors. The users aren't afraid
to ride them anymore, thatmaintenance guys aren't afraid
to work on them anymore. So it'sreally picked up. So I have a
question for you. Is the GT 35sticking around like as far as
(10:48):
the name because I know you'vekind of gone to an Alpha series,
you've chained to the of thealpha for alpha three, alpha
one, alpha one, right? So and Iknow that GT 35 is kind of, you
know, I would consider it kindof like the MA The 660. Right,
it is a staple of the industry.
This as far as that name goes.
So is that something that youall are going to keep is GT 35?
Or is the GT 35 going to bereplaced by an Alpha series push
(11:12):
back. So the we had to refresh?
So we had Textron acquired tugin 2014. Okay, fantastic. Yeah,
breath of fresh air, coming outof a couple bad years. Again,
the resources, the people bigcommitments. And then we worked
(11:32):
quickly to continue to grow GSCwithin Textron and the
acquisition of Douglas camearound. Douglas is a very well
known brand, based in the UK,Cheltenham, England. And we had
conflicting product.
And so when the tir engines inthe compliance caught up to
(11:53):
these products, we had to comeup with a refresh. So we decided
to go global. And we refreshboth product lines, Douglas in
the GTS into an alpha. So longstory short, when we get to the
GT 35, that's our offering for adiesel package now, and we Okay,
alpha one, alpha is lithium, andgas. And we believe truly that
(12:20):
the industry is going toconvert, I would call it 99.9%
into lithium, okay, across theboard. Once that happens, we
will sunset the GT 35. Sophenomenal product still sells
very well. And we build maybe,you know, a dozen a month right
now, along with the Alpha. Butwe feel strong, and we're gonna
(12:44):
go forward, knowing that theindustry is gonna go fully
electric. So we're gonna go intothe Alpha product. Okay. But,
like the Alpha four, which isyour equivalent to like a GT 110
was is the just think of it as anew model car. So you go from
the GT 110 into the Alpha four,so
that unlike the GT 35, like, Ican get that into diesel still.
(13:08):
You care for the GT? 35? Yes,no, I'm saying the Alpha four.
Yes, sorry. Yeah, you can getthe alpha for diesel. Right. And
it's, it's, it's a specified forthe globe. So okay, you could go
across the world, see, seecertified, it's ready to go.
Okay. And thentowbarless? Correct. So the
Douglas brand still is very,very strong. Okay. And I'm gonna
(13:30):
go back a little bit, becausewe, again, we're doing the right
thing by being tactical and whatwe launch and when we launch it.
So we came into the agreementthat we got to make sure we have
the Douglass conventional pushbacks in the tug conventional
push backs kind of marriedtogether, and we gave birth to
the alpha, we're going to do thesame for the towbarless. Douglas
(13:50):
is an extremely well knownbrand, globally, very well known
in Europe, we have to refreshthat brand. We during COVID had
to consolidate as well, and thisis again, Textron believed in
us, they backed us during thevery difficult times of COVID.
And I think when would you gothrough hard times i COVID.
(14:13):
That's the best time toinnovate, and come up with new
products. And I'll classify thenew factories that consolidation
of factories as innovation froma Textron standpoint. So long
story short, that is on theroadmap is to electrify the
Douglas brand refresh thatbrand, that's going to happen
probably very soon. Wow. Butagain, I don't want the
(14:36):
customers to think we've runaway from that we we we service,
we, we supply parts, we takecare of those products and we
have stock at Douglas brand aswe speak. So the Douglas frame
will live on. That's probablywhen I should have said that is
that's awesome news is live on.
Yeah, it's a great product.
(14:56):
Very good group. Thatis the hurt
Douglas and we have a factorythat that
Textron has that's in the UK,it's in Ipswich. It's part of
Jacobsen. That's where we houseour parts. That's where we
collaborate on the Douglasbrand. We also shifted parts
over the North America. So yes,we're not running away from that
it lives on. And we look forwardto what's coming next. That's
(15:20):
great. So let's, let'stransition into Premiere.
Because before I left, I'd say,I don't know. But a year before
I left, I thinkTextron GSC acquired premiere.
And at that, at that time, theywere they're up in Wisconsin.
Yes. Now, is, I think they'veall transition now. Right? So
(15:41):
you're not you're not buildinganything in Wisconsin any longer
this is all been moved to yournew location. Is that correct?
So I mean, we all talk about theCOVID. But man, it was so
abrupt, and it was just such astop globally, right. I mean,
we've had other events thatslowed us down and stopped us,
but some weren't. So we'respecific to a territory. But
(16:01):
this was global. And the wholeindustry, just as you know, and
as our listeners know, just justabruptly stopped. So we made we
came together. So this is thetime to consolidate. And again,
Textron believed in thisindustry believed in and what
GSC can do, and it was the timeto consolidate. So in Kennesaw,
Georgia,we had two factories, we
(16:23):
consolidated those into the newone in Cartersville. And then we
close down Marinette, Wisconsin,brought that to Cartersville.
It's never easy, but we did it,it was the right thing to do is
the right time to do it. So nowwe manufacture that product in
Cartersville. Georgia. Okay, soas as you mentioned by Douglas
premiere still lives on it'sit's doing well, for so what was
(16:44):
the biggest change between like,your kinosol facility in the new
Cartersville? Facility? Likewhat were you able to do to
like, make it so that way youcould handle all you know,
bringing from here down andstuff like that, and then to to
make it so there wasefficiencies in building the
units? Can you produce more outof that Cartersville facility
than you're able to out of thekinosol facility heads, it's all
(17:06):
about output, tell aboutcapacity, the flow lines, which
are familiar with a console, wedid the flow lines. Yeah. And
it's about momentum, you gottaget those full lines going. And,
you know, I do say internally tomy folks a lot is, you know,
maybe it's time for a biggerboat. And we got a bigger boat.
And again, 100% Shout out toTextron, for doing that and tsp
(17:30):
for believing us and it now it'sthe light switch turned on, man,
it's it's 100 miles an hourright now. And we're, we're
pumping them out. It's a lot ofwork. I mean, it's it's a, I
think GSE I think the secretsauce would be forecasting. And
I think the secret sauce ismaking sure you give production
teams, quality teams, the ice,ISC teams enough time to get
(17:55):
organized, and get those unitson line and get them flowing.
And once they get all theconsistency, they can start
pumping them out. And I thinkfrom a tug from a Textron
standpoint, that's what we dobest. We can pump out a lot of
fire. Yeah, for sure. And asmall amount of time now, you
know, we work with the customersclosely, we want to make sure we
get the right product for fortheir operation. And sometimes
(18:16):
the more options you throw intoengineering kind of slows it
down. But we understand that andthe factory
has set us up to succeed. And sowe're excited about next year
too, as we work through allthese supply chain bumps in
2023. There we go, man. Well, Ithink we are going to take a
break and hear from the sponsorof this podcast and we will be
(18:38):
back.
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(19:01):
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Alright, we're back. That was aspectacular commercial break.
(19:48):
And I've got some more questionsfor Brad Compton. Hey, Matt,
thanks for having me. This isthis is fun, and I think it's
great. This is great for theindustry and I thanks Exede for
doing thisis a great idea. No problem.
I've, you know, I kind of feltlike we're in a unique position
to the point where, you know, wework with all the manufacturers.
And obviously, you're a risermanufacturer. So there is
(20:10):
actually in you, but you are mynumber one choice. Okay. Right.
To have other podcasts. That'sthe reason you're the first
episode. And thanks for helpingme kick this thing off. How are
we doing on the language? Weknow so far? I think we're good.
I don't know. Okay. I don'tremember dropping any
expletives. So I think we'regood. So I guess my first
(20:31):
question for you just kind ofgetting back on track here is,
you've been in the industry fora long time. You know, before
this, you're selling copiers.
Oh, great. That's a story Ishould have brought up. Yes. And
yes, but you're not sellingcopiers anymore? No, right.
You're selling. You're sellingendurance tractors? I mean, you
got you got a whole whole lineuphere. Right. I got kicked out of
(20:53):
a lot of buildings. And, and sowhen did you start like 1990?
Something I mentioned NickBaxter. I thought Arthur
mentioned the interview. It was9095 95. Yes, yes. So it's in
the bloodline My dad worked forFMC and Orlando. Okay, so I grew
up in Calif now for those whodon't know, which I would
(21:15):
imagine almost everybody who'slistening to this would know,
but let's go ahead and miss youand fill them in. Right? Maybe
they don't know. Who's FMC. FMCis now called JBT. Okay, and
kudos for them. That's not easyto change then midstream. Right.
Good guys. Good company. Iremember when they used to make
fire trucks. Yeah, well, yeah, Iwas in high school when they did
(21:36):
make fire trucks. There you go.
I just wish I held on to allthis business card. My dad laid
on the counter table after thoselate nights. Yeah. So So we
picked up from California and wemoved to Orlando, which is where
we are now. In 82. Synchronicitywas killing it on the charts,
which probably could be a goodjuicy band. I think the police
would be a good juicy man. Yeah,for sure. The place staying? I
(21:58):
don't know. We feel too soft.
Okay. So yeah, well, then wemove to Orlando. Yeah, so what
dad was was doing sales and FMC,which is now JBT. And from
there, I went to college atGeorgia Southern had no idea
about Southern Georgiawhatsoever, but had a blast at
(22:19):
Georgia Southern. A good fiveyears really, really excelled
there in my fifth year like VanWilder. Yeah, yeah. So we did
good. So everyone packs up. Hemoved to Atlanta trying to find
a gig. And I was peddlingcopiers. I was Xerox. No. Oh,
your Xerox GameShark. Oh, sharp,sharp. Yeah. Yeah. I thought if
I could hold on to this for ayear, you can do anything,
(22:41):
right. My dad's introduced me toa couple guys a little bit older
than me, man. I was green, hadbreakfast with those guys. And
then I got introduced to tug.
interviewed with Nick Baxter.
And thank God, he saw somethingnice. So yeah, 28 years later,
I'm still peddling tractors. Butthere you go. No.
(23:02):
I think really, if we go back totarget, and I've been so
fortunate, so lucky that I'veworked with really good leaders,
even to this day. And that I'vebeen fortunate because I think
at all you take on thepersonality of your leader, you
take on the personality of ifit's a CEO, or GM, and I've been
lucky. So from tog, to all thechanges that tractor has gone
(23:23):
through, I talked about tug, tonow fortunate to have good
leadership now and in thedirection of Textron. So yeah,
it's been a wild ride lot upsand downs. It's been a long
time. Yeah, I think that havinggood leadership is very
valuable. I was lucky enough tohave a good leader in you for
such a long time. And yeah, Ireally appreciate your
(23:45):
leadership. And I've continuedto have such great leadership
even going into Exede. So Iguess my question is, you know,
you have been in industry for areally long time, how's the
industry changed? The industryhas changed in I think it was,
it's been the same for so longin the early years for my
career. And that's just thebuying cycles, and you can start
understanding. It's repeatbusiness, as you know, right.
(24:07):
And it's relationship based. AndI think salespeople in different
industries will say it's uniqueto them, or it's, it's all about
their relationships. But I trulythink and, again, I've been in
this industry for a while Ihaven't seen the other side of
the fence, it is really aboutrelationships. But that only
goes so far, because you've gotto be able to make sure that
(24:27):
second sale is going to happen.
And the only way to do that isto make sure you take care of
the customer and theiroperation. But how has the
industry changed? I think if youlook at today versus 1995.
There's so many different waysto support that industry. And I
think exceeds is doing aphenomenal job in that and it's
the forecasting, forecasting,forecasting and the improvements
(24:48):
in forecasting is still got along way to go just because of
the industry. I think it withinthe airlines within the cargo
within the ground handily.
Forecasting is hard and we haveto undo
Stan that I work with ourcustomers to be able to get
through that forecasting,because there's so many
different angles with that, andI think is changing in the fact
there's different approaches topurchasing equipment, acquiring
(25:12):
equipment, handling theoperation,
working towards that betterramp. And again, I think exceeds
strategy around that, from agrant handler standpoint, and
now in the cargo and maybe intothe airlines is to help with
that forecasting, because it's arough patch, if we can't
manufacture because our leadtimes are lower based on supply,
(25:32):
or based on sheer volume, we'renot gonna be able to help that
grant handler if they needequipment in four weeks. Yeah,
that's kind of where Exede comesin, right? Where we equipment
and we have it ready to go onsite for when they need it.
Yeah, again, I'll go back toforecasting. And it's not so
much our customers fault,because they these airlines show
(25:53):
up, it's all about marketing forthem to if an airline opens a
gate, or a cargo company decidesto go into an airport, or ground
handler puts out a bid for acertain airport. I think the
last thing sometimes they thinkabout is below the link. They
got everything set, you know,they could sell a ticket, they
could take a ticket, they gotthe marketing, they got the
everything's set up on theticketing and the gate. And
(26:16):
they're like, oh, wait a minute,we need some assets below the
way. So I think below the wingis kind of a different world. I
think axes understands that andworking with us. It's a great
partnership. So I think, I don'tknow if I've answered the
question, but changing thedynamics of how you purchase
from a you know, they look atthe maintenance, they look at
the purchaser, purchase yourcustomer, PIO, we manufacture
(26:37):
it, we send it they pay us,hopefully within 30 days, if not
sooner, yeah. And then now it'sa different approach. You can go
into turnkey at a station whereyou where you you pay by the
hour, or you pay by the turn,you group your pool, you pull
the equipment. I think that'scoming along with all this
electrification talk, I thinkthere's a lot of opportunity for
(26:59):
for things to happen to wherethe future is really bright in
terms of how they approach GSCYeah, so you know, I remember
when I started, I remembertelling people that they call up
for an MA or, or 660. They wouldsay, what's your lead time,
like? And I'd say, oh, six,eight weeks? All right,
beautiful. Remember those days?
Oh, yeah. Okay. So, you know,back then we could handle when a
(27:21):
when a handler recall. Andthey'd say, hey, we have a start
up and six, eight weeks, becausewe're able to give those lead
times. Yeah, those lead timesdon't exist anymore. Right? Not
now. No, no, there were like,six, eight months, sometimes you
get lucky. But right now, again,it's it's that supply chain,
it's just, it's how I changedcompletely, there is a complete
different animal now. And that'sinto your point. That's where
(27:42):
Exede comes in. Because, youknow, we do order ahead, and we
have inventory at our location,and we can we can lease and rent
that equipment out to thoseground handlers. So it kind of
bridges that gap. And that way,you don't have to have that that
crystal ball right on, on whatyou're gonna get.
(28:03):
What what bid you're gonna get,and you know, you have to have
that equipment for that. So Ithink that that's, I think it's
a great point. So what do yousee about the, you know, future
trends in the industry? Wetalked earlier about
electrification, I think inthat's happened, and then that's
going to continue to happen. Butlike I said, just a little while
ago, I think the pooling, youknow, getting those assets
(28:24):
together and being able to,again, I said earlier, work as
fast as your customer, having itavailable at the time they need
it is key, but you know, futuretrend,
without electric? So I think,where do you see charging going?
So I know that a lot ofdifferent, you know, there's
manufacturers kind of like seethis differently, right? I think
(28:46):
that you'll have a differentapproach, like what what is what
is Textron GSEs approach to?
What kind of batteries andcharging capabilities that your
your lecture equipment? Yes,that's a great question. I think
I think Electric has been aroundfor a while. And it's been
around since since I starteddifferent way of doing it. I
think now the future of the rampis going to entail the larger
(29:07):
vehicles. So we mentioned JBT,you got container loaders,
you've got catering trucks,you've got trucks themselves,
all of those are going to behigh capacity,
type charging systems. And thatis is our road ahead is high
(29:28):
capacity. And so that's whywe've worked with GM to
introduce the endurance, whichis our seventh, sorry, eighth
generation electric tractor. Sowe know the ramp is going to get
there. We know it may not bethere right now, but we know
it's gonna get there prettyfast. So infrastructure,
infrastructure, infrastructureis always going to be talked
about. It holds people up alittle bit on their operations.
(29:51):
You got to work closely with theairport. Not to make sure it's
set in time it right to when thevehicles come in. But I think
that's the future of the ramp isa high couple
acity type charging system witha vehicle that is sup that and
we already there for opportunitycharging. So I don't think with
what we see and what with withwe are innovating and we are
producing that you're going tohave any type of downtime in
(30:13):
terms of that question of howlong does it take me to charge
this up? It's not eight hoursanymore. You can do this during
smoke break, you can get itdone, if you have the right
chargers within 15 to 20minutes. That's incredible. So
that's the technology. That'swhere you think it's heading.
And yeah, I think the I thinkthe airlines and the ground
handlers cargo are going to haveto it seems like they're going
(30:37):
to have to move in thatdirection. I think you know,
that's where cars are right now.
Is that correct? Yes, LA, thatthey're using the high capacity
chargers? Alright, so what isthe what's the most challenging
part of your job? I'll sayforecasting, again, forecast
forecasting, but I'll take thisto limitless. Let's just talk
(31:00):
about sales one on one. Let melet me talk about oh, wow, it's
all I know. Yeah, the Brad conesis sales. And I've learned from
the best, we already talkedabout a few of them. And it's
repetition. And it's listeningto people's listen to your
customers. I really think thehardest part for me is or to
talk through the hardest partis, is the keeping a sense of
(31:23):
balance. And there's only 168hours in a week, and how you
time manage that from a personalstandpoint, and a professional
standpoint, as can either holdyou back or let you continue on.
So just think about like howmany you think about how many
hours are on a day. From a salesstandpoint, that phone never
(31:43):
stops? Yeah.
You're raising the family oryou're you're trying to get
through your daily routine,you're trying to take care of
your customers, I think it allcomes down to balance. It takes
its time management. And thenwhile it's forecasting for you,
you got to forecast. So it's andagain, it's all about people,
(32:04):
right? And it's the people inthe factory that are relying on
these, these these salespeople,and I'll talk for the folks that
compete with is it for you? Yo,you gotta feed that that baby
out there at that's yourfactory. And those guys, those
those guys out there are proudof what they bill? Yeah, and I
thinkthat means the world to me to be
able to just keep letting theseguys be proud of what they build
(32:24):
and ship product worldwide.
Yeah, I think forecasting, youknow, with the part shortages
and lead times that we're upagainst right now. Right, which
is like unprecedented right? iseven more important than it ever
was, right? Yeah, no, I mean,having the right. Yeah, your
(32:46):
inventory is huge. Yeah. Andthat's a challenge that always
will be a challenge. I mean,again, we're in an industry
where each operation isdifferent. Air Canada operates
completely different thanBritish Airways that operates
completely different thanSouthwest, and or UPS, or
Swissport. So they're all goingto have their, what we call
optioned product. And we allknow that. So you got to be able
(33:07):
to make sure that you workagain, as fast as them
understand their business, andbe proud of what you're putting
out. And it's got to be on time.
It's got to be on quality. Andagain, we're not perfect. We all
know we've been late, we holdoff quality, but it's how you
react to that. Do you everenvision a day where every
airline has the same spec? We'regetting closer? I don't know if
(33:31):
it'll happen in my lifetime.
It's gonna be a challenge. Yeah,I've been in a room where Kailyn
was in a room with Northwest inthey were arguing over a beacon
light on an air start. And thatmade me think, Wow, this is this
is a challenge. We understandwhy, but I think we're getting
closer. And I think we're closerthan we ever have been. So yeah,
(33:53):
it's gonna get there. But again,these planes are different.
These operations are different.
And I think a lot in there too.
It's safety. It's a very safetyconscious, we've got to make
sure we support each operation,each customer in terms of
safety. It's like a beehive outthere. And these are moving
(34:14):
products. So we got to be we gotto be supportive of what we can
do to innovate from a safetystandpoint. I say that because
if you come to a standard spec,some airlines need to make sure
that they have what they need tooperate their turn. with safety
in mind. It is safety is not acompetition. It's it needs to
happen.
I think that most people wouldbe very surprised to find out
(34:39):
that there's maybe what 250 To500 options on a 660 Our 6660
option book is pretty thick.
That's $1,000 There's over 1000Yeah, okay. Yeah. And so, but I
mean, it's not for Textron GSE.
I'm sure that's for everyone andthen to get this as an industry
conversation.
(35:00):
You know, my competition dealswith the two and but you have to
be careful, because you've gotto make sure it's documented.
You got to make sureit operates correctly. Because
again, it's it's safety, becausespeed is important in our
industry on the ramp. But again,safety probably is trumping
that,for sure. But you're right.
There's a lot of options on thebelt Hunter, there's a lot of
(35:21):
there's a lot of options onevery piece of equipment. And
it's just, I guess, you know, myfirst job almost out of college
was in ground support equipmentwith to me, I just figured
everyone knew how many optionswere available on any given
piece of equipment. Right,right. But then when you leave
that manufacturer, you go outinto the real world, right? They
(35:42):
don't understand that there's,there's a book the size of the
Bible, right, full of optionsfor each individual piece of
equipment, right. And we tookthat for granted, right? We just
figured everybody knew. Buteverybody has their own spec.
And it's always a little bitdifferent. So I was just curious
on whether you thought that inthe you answered that very well,
(36:05):
I thought that you think we'regetting closer to that. And that
would be an interesting day inGSC. If we ever got even to
airlines to agree to a spec,they're talking and I think it's
it's going to happen within aterritory first. But again, I'll
bring up the word global. Imean, Southeast Asia is
completely different ballgamethan in North America.
(36:26):
completely different ballgamethan the Middle East. Because
it's it's it's what their rampis used to is what the rep
needs. So you have to adapt. Butyeah, there's a lot of options.
And they'll continue to bring upoptions as we evolve into
different products. Yeah. Well,is there. Is there anything else
that you wanted to discuss onthis podcast today, Brett? No, I
(36:46):
mean, I think I think you nailedit. I think I do want to talk
more about the music I did tomake sure I have the right music
that I play lenses. Yeah, yes.
As the first one. I'm kind ofinto, you know, honestly, I'm
kind of into the 70s rock rightnow. That might that that might
have been. That's it. That's Ireally do like, the GSC in a
(37:08):
nutshell would be probably akick off with Tom Petty and then
enroll into it, right? Hotham?
Tom Petty? Yeah, for sure. TomPetty is probably one of my
favorite. That's this is this isfantastic. I could talk forever.
I mean, I've got multiplestories, as do these people I
grew up with in the industry.
Well, I got some good news foryou. And that is, we'll have you
(37:31):
back on the podcast. Okay.
Right. Episode Two, not episodetwo. You're not gonna, you're
not gonna get your only guest.
We could maybe do a bradcompetent part two. Okay. Right.
But it's definitely not gonna bethe second sequel. The sequel?
Ooh, I like that. So we'll haveyou back once you've kind of
crafted some really goodstories.
(37:53):
I'm going to come back Irealized that I didn't, I didn't
have time. Did not have time totell the catch up story.
But I'm sure it'll come in time.
Right. He's gonna come anddance. Yes. And just another
little tidbit for you. For thelistener. Right. Brad Compton
was actually there for the catchup story. And so what I think we
should do, here's what we'regonna do. We're gonna make a
(38:14):
decision right now. We're gonnahold the catch up story.
Until the next time you get thisis your story is my story. You
own it. I own the story. So arethe rules like if someone says
you can never the guests right?
There's this other manufacturersout there? He told me there is
we're gonna have other peoplethere to actually is it fair for
them to tell competent stories?
(38:35):
That's not legal, right? Theycan't talk about? Well, we're
gonna find out because we haveanother one coming on fairly
soon. And it's going to befunny, because the next
two guests that we're going tohave on know you very well, and
it worked with you at one point,that's not fair, because they
could take it to the next level.
I'm the first one. I don't knowthe boundaries. No, you don't
(38:56):
know the boundaries werelooser, and they just can bring
up stories that either that areprobably listening to this right
now. And they're already comingup with stories. Well, I just
Hey, Matt, thank you. I just,I'm in a spot now where I want
to give a shout out to Textronand Textron GSE. I talked about
leadership and and I've beenthankful for the people that
(39:17):
I've worked for and with andwe're in a good spot. I mean,
I'll shoot man and be honestwith you, you know, this COVID
was no fun. And that wascorrupted, challenging, and
we're back and we're almost, Ithink, read the 2019 levels. So
we're in a good spot. We'reexcited about who we're working
with. We're excited about what'scoming up with working with our
(39:41):
customers and within theindustry. We've got a busy year.
We're gonna have a lot ofconferences. We got ghci
multiple spots, GH highAmerica's. We've GSA. So we've
got some NB double A's. It'sgetting crazy out there. And I
think we'd be remiss if wedidn't mention a couple people
Ah, let's do it, Willie. Oh mylord. Yeah, my wing man. Yeah,
(40:05):
yes. I wouldn't be here withoutWillie. Oh my gosh, we're so
lucky to have him. Yeah, he's agreat one. I worked with him for
a couple years. tests. Test ESA.
Oh, yes. Yes. Are you talkingabout
surrounding yourself with withgreat people? I mean, yes, I
have them on my team is is topnotch. They're fantastic. I
(40:27):
would have Justin he wasn'tthere when? You know, I was not
around when he came in. But I'vemet him a couple times. Very
impressed by that guy. Yeah.
Huge shout. Yes. You guysphenomenal and what a great
understanding of business andsales and sales management. So
yeah, I think we feed off eachother. We feed off of each other
fantastically. I've learned alot from Justin. So yeah, he
(40:50):
internally I called the DreamTeam. We do have a great group.
It's all team over there. Idon't know if you're gonna shout
out to the others. But well, thelast one, and we can't miss this
one. Mark DeMaria of the markTabor. Yeah, he's, oh, my gosh,
she's enrolled in that placetogether for you all. You
mentioned Brian Europe it was soOh, well, I know we've already
(41:10):
mentioned that's a reason I so.
Don't get me wrong, Brian Yoder,but we've already talked about
him so much. So I thought MarkDeMaria is the next guy out of
so many jams. That soundedfunny. Right lifesavers? Yeah.
And then Billy asked Amelie ashco he's a legend. Billy ash and
mark you you want to be able toclone those type of guys? Yep.
(41:32):
But I mean, I can't forget totalk with my team. I've got
Patrick Dennison. Oh, oh,Patrick's fantastic. I'm sorry,
I yeah, I missed dimensionpleasure. And so we're going
down this path. I'm I forgivesomebody, but we've got fruit,
right. They're just killing itwith de icing. Was it if we
didn't mention you? This is likean Oscar speech. Right. We're
just coming to coming off. It's.
Yeah, it's a dream team. I mean,I am so lucky that I have these
guys. And I've got again, greatleadership. Matt. Chaffin is
(41:55):
phenomenal. As you mentioned,Stefan verrecchia. I learned a
lot from him. Boy, challengingtimes. But he because we had
some challenging just timeswithin the industry and what
we're up against and God he Ilearned a lot from him. And Dick
Baxter and others. So yeah, so alot of legends in there. So I am
(42:16):
extremely lucky. And I wouldn'tbe here without those folks.
It's kind of like an ostrich gemon its head is like an ostrich,
like leave people out. So youjust want to say thank you.
Yeah, thanks. Right. Yeah. Butanyway, I just want to
appreciate so just so thelisteners know, Brad flew down
here. I think maybe I mentionedthat. But Brad flew down here to
Orlando, we're sitting at thekitchen table. And so thank you
(42:37):
so much for coming down here andprioritizing this podcast, and
thanks for being the firstguest. And you know, Exede very
much appreciates the partnershipthat we have with Textron GSE.
And so, I have very, very goodfriends that are with your team
and exceed. Yeah, and if anybodyhas stories to tell, it's
(43:01):
probably rich Tibesti now, soYeah, that guy, as well. Yes.
Yes. And I've learned a lot fromhim. A lot of good times, but
every good time. We've learnedsomething together. And yeah,
he's he's, he's phenomenal. Soyou got a fantastic T. Oh, we
do. We should have a dodgeballtournament and see who would
come out ahead because now Ilike it. Now. I will. I will
(43:22):
tell you something. I have beentalking to one of the organizers
at the GSC Expo dodgeball, okay.
Well, hold on. There might besome kind of competition coming
to the GSE Expo drinking theball. I don't know. So I'm just
leaving that out there is we'vebeen having discussions. And
don't make it too athletic. Imean, we're kind of plus 50.
Believe me, that was the numberone thing I said is we can't
(43:43):
make this to athletic, you know,as a brand, right? We can't, you
know, yeah, no, I'm justkidding. But it's great. I know,
I miss somebody. But man, I'veworked with phenomenal people
here. I love this industry. Ilove working and seeing
everybody at these conferenceseveryone would deal with and
colleagues and include mycompetitors to some really good
people out there. So Matt,fantastic. Thank you. Hey,
(44:05):
thanks a lot, Brad. Thanks forcoming down. Yes, thank you. All
right. Thanks a lot. All right.
Until next time, this is Mattfor the GSC podcast.
All right. Welcome to the inaugural podcast. I have
with me, Brad Compton, VicePresident of Global Sales for
texture on GSC. Is that right?
Yeah, Global's key. Thanks,Matt. Is this called an episode
that these things calledepisodes? The off this is this
is an episode. It's kind oflike, Okay, think about a
sitcom. Perfect, right? Theyhave episodes. I don't know if
(00:39):
we're gonna have seasons, but wedefinitely have episodes. Do we
have a name? We have a name forthe podcast. You ready for it?
I'm ready. The GSC podcast.
That's epic. Yeah, I'm ready,man. Thank you. It's awesome to
be the little call the numberone guest, because you're the
first guest on the podcast,which is super exciting. That's
(01:00):
great. Thanks for coming down.
Brad traveled the hallway fromAtlanta, just to come down here
to Orlando to record thispodcast. And this is going to be
great. Man. I really appreciateyou joining me. And I think we
should start out with a storyfrom Brad Compton. So now
listen, I'm gonna tease this.
And I think that do you know theanswer already? Or do you have
(01:22):
one that you want to know?
Because I want the listener tokeep keep listening. And what
I'm going to do is I'm going totell you something that I'm
going to say later on in thepodcast, right. So my story is
going to be the catchup story.
Oh, boy. Yeah, I remember thatone. Okay, so they don't get to
hear it unless they stay tuned.
So I remember that one. It's agreat story, right? One of the
best. So do you have a storylike that? Man, I should have
(01:44):
done my homework. So yeah, I'vegotten many stories. And I think
now what's one that's like,peih. Gee, that you can tell.
That's a funny story. That'strue. Because if you start with
when I was in Vegas, that's notgoing to end well. It's not
going to end well. Yeah. So sofolks that may be listening to
this, and folks that that know,all throughout the industry,
there's many stories, and it'ssuch a great community, we have
(02:04):
so much fun from supplier tocustomer. And again, I'll use
the word globally, as we traveleverywhere. Golly, there's so
many stories I can I can talkthrough. I you know,
I'm a sales guy. And I think onestory that comes to mind, it was
probably 98. So I'm still prettygreen. And I'm working to close
(02:28):
a deal. Not a large customer.
But I always say that, you know,any new customers great to put
on the list. Right? And so it'scalled mayor. No, that's a great
story, though. I've done a lotto that one later. No, this is
what signature flight support,okay. And I got to know Andy
Reyes, and he is a he's a greatguy. And I just saw him at a
conference in Amsterdam. It wasgood to catch up with him. I
(02:50):
don't think you'd mind metelling the story. But, man, I
just thought of this. We werewalking through our factory in
Kennesaw Georgia, small factory,but we put out a lot of
equipment. And we werenegotiating he needed some Ma's
will bring up a Mexican. Yeah.
And he was buying quite a few ofamaze for me, you know, sell a
couple was fantastic. And wewere trying I was working hard
(03:13):
to get this deal done before heleft so I could go back to TIG
Backstrom siliq. Look, lookthis. We walked past the break
room. And there's a ping pongtable.
And he said, I'll play pingpong. If you beat me, I'll give
you the PIO.
So that was that was good. I'llhave to say that I lost the
(03:33):
order. So pretty tame story. ButI've gotten many of them. I
think you should classifystories
in their own little area, andthen projects probably in a
different area. But many, manystories met so many good friends
in this industry. Again, from asupplier standpoint and customer
standpoint, I think we all justgroup administrations now. Yeah,
(03:54):
for sure. It's a great industry.
And I have a lot more stories inmy back pocket. Just not sure
how deep you want to go at thispoint. Yeah. So do you think
that so as AMD premier ping pongplayer, or I would say you're
just that and I was I wasprobably a little nervous. I
tell you, I probably wasnervous. But yeah. And he was a
great dude. And I think at theend of the day, we got that
(04:16):
order.
Yeah, I mean, hold on a second.
So the question is, do you letthe customer win? Because he
told you if you want that, you'dget the PIO. I slipped in at the
same time. You're like, Well, Imean, he's high customer. You
want to make him feel good. Youfigure you're gonna get the PIO
anyway. If you make him feelgood, right, so I wanted to pick
up. You did want to beat him?
(04:37):
Yes. So yeah, that was Yeah.
Ping pong. That's where it allstarted. There was a ping pong
table in the breaker McKenna sawthere was yeah, they put it in
there. That's interesting. Idon't think Yeah, I think it was
gone by the time that I wasprobably there's it's probably
the corner put up a little bit.
But yeah, yeah. So it breaksdown. He saw people playing he
looked over me said I'll youknow, I'll play I'll play for
(04:59):
the PIO. ISo this is this is fantastic.
Can I ask you a question though?
Well, yeah, people know what theendurance is? Of course they do.
Yes. That's the most importantquestion of the days. And was
that the endurance? Was thatyour brainchild? Or was that
Marco? No, they would let mename it on. Did you try to name
and I didn't know they were notgonna let me do it. Can I tell
(05:20):
you a story? Yeah, they let mehelp name the M Z, which was a
huge success. Oh, really? Oh,just it was just it was beyond
it. Actually. Success is like, Imean, what depends on how you
define success, right? Yeah, Ithink people don't. I mean,
we've been out of the space fora little while, but we're
excited to get back in it. Butwe've we've been involved in
(05:42):
electric tractors for so long. Ithink the M, Z was number six.
Yes. Did you start with the Mthree? Was that the first
probably when you jumped intoit, but Oh, was there one before
the M three? No, you're right.
The M three. Yeah, I was notthere with in three. I mean, I'm
just I just know my tonguehistory. So we started doing
electric bag tugs. Mid 90s. WhenI came on the scene, there was a
(06:02):
battery in the front, which wasan industrial vehicle. Then they
had the battery in the back,which was the in three, yeah,
the M three. So we're now intothe eighth generation. Textron
does a phenomenal job with withthe product, the innovation, and
they continue to do that. And sonow yeah, we're now we're into
the endurance we got, we gotgood names. The Endurance
launched. So yeah, that's great.
(06:27):
So you, you named the the MC Iwould have? Yeah. So Matt was
actually I can talk to speak inthird person.
That was the project manager forthe MC. Yeah, working with Brian
Yoder on that thing. It was,yeah, quite the quiet, I think.
But now I think the endurance isa is a much better electric
vehicle than the MC was, yeah,we took our time doing it, which
(06:50):
is the right thing to do. Andyou want to talk about stories
and projects, I've done many,many mistakes too. And in
sometimes you you got to move atthe pace of the customer. That's
kind of what I continue to leanon is, you know, make sure
you're running as fast as theyare and helping them out. But
you got to slow down a littlebit when they asked for, for
product. And especially whenyou're launching a new product,
(07:11):
you got to make sure you takeyour time and launch it
correctly. I think a lot ofsuppliers manufacturers have
made that mistake. And soTextron has been disciplined,
and we're doing all the rightthings, and we've launched it,
and it's gonna do good. Thanks.
We're excited about it. So youall being owned by Textron
specialized vehicles. Right.
Yeah. And EasyGO is a part ofthat was was that kind of like
(07:33):
an easy goal was obviously Ithink almost everyone knows that
they have electric golf carts.
Correct. Right. That's kind oftheir their deal. Was that a
help from an engineeringstandpoint? Yeah. Yeah. So you
know, it's the people. It's theproduct, and it's the process,
and Textron nailed that, I mean,if you talk about Textron, from
Cessna, Beechcraft, thehelicopters at Bell, there's so
(07:55):
many good things going on fromhow they innovate product. And
that cascades right down intowhere we grew up into, which is
TSP, like you said, texture,especially vehicles. So we gain
a lot of resources from the golfsegment, the Cushman segment,
the Jake segment, which isJacobson lon wars, you see it
these large golf courses. Soyeah, I mean, so but now it's
(08:19):
all about lithium. And solithium is, is the go to for
golf. And lithium is now the goto for us. I think lithium is
now the go to for GSC, which isit's taken off so fast. I think
you've talked to others in theindustry, that's that no one's
gonna say we're going allelectric. And so yeah, to have
the resources at Textron isphenomenal. And they do a great
(08:39):
job at launching product, theyknow how to do it. They know how
to hire the right people to doit. So I'm excited because we've
done it the wrong way. I've doneit the right way. And this is
another great way to do it.
Yeah, it's gonna be a huge help,you know, leverage, like their
engineering staff that's alreadybeen doing this for years.
Right? Electric This is notanything new to them. So that's,
(08:59):
that's really great. So the beltloader, the 660, which is you
know, how we're saying there wasprobably a made every airport in
America. There's definitely a660 running around at every
major airport. Yeah. In the US.
So is that electric as well? Iknow you have a 660 or you've
you know, in the past had sixsix yeas, it was first dc,
(09:21):
right? And then we went to an ACman, you're talking like an
engineer? Yeah. Yeah. So whereare we at now? It's like on the
endurance style is so the beltloaders a little bit easier, but
the belt loader man that thatthing is a phenomenal product
and it just keeps chuggingalong. Everyone I've worked with
it at Target now Textron GSCthat that that is still an
(09:43):
unbiased is one of the best beltloaders out there. It holds its
value. Yeah, it's probably theeasiest product to go electric.
And it was back when we wentelectric. And now it's an easy
transformation into lithium.
Yeah, there's a lot of lithiumbad
He's out there. There's a lot ofpeople out there peddling
lithium batteries. So we willwork with the customer on what
(10:05):
works best for their operation.
But it's got to be careful inhow many different variations
there are. Yeah, we're going allin lithium, we still offer the
lead acid. But yeah, thatbattery has been sorry that
Bella has transformed intoprobably over 50%, if not more
of our belt loaders that webuild now down a manufacturing
line or electric relay versusinternal combustion. Oh, wow. I
(10:25):
don't know, short, chargingdress. We Yeah, you got to do
the charts, especially whenyou're global, when they're
listening to charts and graphsare out because our bar pie
chart is gone crazy for electricmotors. The users aren't afraid
to ride them anymore, thatmaintenance guys aren't afraid
to work on them anymore. So it'sreally picked up. So I have a
question for you. Is the GT 35sticking around like as far as
(10:48):
the name because I know you'vekind of gone to an Alpha series,
you've chained to the of thealpha for alpha three, alpha
one, alpha one, right? So and Iknow that GT 35 is kind of, you
know, I would consider it kindof like the MA The 660. Right,
it is a staple of the industry.
This as far as that name goes.
So is that something that youall are going to keep is GT 35?
Or is the GT 35 going to bereplaced by an Alpha series push
(11:12):
back. So the we had to refresh?
So we had Textron acquired tugin 2014. Okay, fantastic. Yeah,
breath of fresh air, coming outof a couple bad years. Again,
the resources, the people bigcommitments. And then we worked
(11:32):
quickly to continue to grow GSCwithin Textron and the
acquisition of Douglas camearound. Douglas is a very well
known brand, based in the UK,Cheltenham, England. And we had
conflicting product.
And so when the tir engines inthe compliance caught up to
(11:53):
these products, we had to comeup with a refresh. So we decided
to go global. And we refreshboth product lines, Douglas in
the GTS into an alpha. So longstory short, when we get to the
GT 35, that's our offering for adiesel package now, and we Okay,
alpha one, alpha is lithium, andgas. And we believe truly that
(12:20):
the industry is going toconvert, I would call it 99.9%
into lithium, okay, across theboard. Once that happens, we
will sunset the GT 35. Sophenomenal product still sells
very well. And we build maybe,you know, a dozen a month right
now, along with the Alpha. Butwe feel strong, and we're gonna
(12:44):
go forward, knowing that theindustry is gonna go fully
electric. So we're gonna go intothe Alpha product. Okay. But,
like the Alpha four, which isyour equivalent to like a GT 110
was is the just think of it as anew model car. So you go from
the GT 110 into the Alpha four,so
that unlike the GT 35, like, Ican get that into diesel still.
(13:08):
You care for the GT? 35? Yes,no, I'm saying the Alpha four.
Yes, sorry. Yeah, you can getthe alpha for diesel. Right. And
it's, it's, it's a specified forthe globe. So okay, you could go
across the world, see, seecertified, it's ready to go.
Okay. And thentowbarless? Correct. So the
Douglas brand still is very,very strong. Okay. And I'm gonna
(13:30):
go back a little bit, becausewe, again, we're doing the right
thing by being tactical and whatwe launch and when we launch it.
So we came into the agreementthat we got to make sure we have
the Douglass conventional pushbacks in the tug conventional
push backs kind of marriedtogether, and we gave birth to
the alpha, we're going to do thesame for the towbarless. Douglas
(13:50):
is an extremely well knownbrand, globally, very well known
in Europe, we have to refreshthat brand. We during COVID had
to consolidate as well, and thisis again, Textron believed in
us, they backed us during thevery difficult times of COVID.
And I think when would you gothrough hard times i COVID.
(14:13):
That's the best time toinnovate, and come up with new
products. And I'll classify thenew factories that consolidation
of factories as innovation froma Textron standpoint. So long
story short, that is on theroadmap is to electrify the
Douglas brand refresh thatbrand, that's going to happen
probably very soon. Wow. Butagain, I don't want the
(14:36):
customers to think we've runaway from that we we we service,
we, we supply parts, we takecare of those products and we
have stock at Douglas brand aswe speak. So the Douglas frame
will live on. That's probablywhen I should have said that is
that's awesome news is live on.
Yeah, it's a great product.
(14:56):
Very good group. Thatis the hurt
Douglas and we have a factorythat that
Textron has that's in the UK,it's in Ipswich. It's part of
Jacobsen. That's where we houseour parts. That's where we
collaborate on the Douglasbrand. We also shifted parts
over the North America. So yes,we're not running away from that
it lives on. And we look forwardto what's coming next. That's
(15:20):
great. So let's, let'stransition into Premiere.
Because before I left, I'd say,I don't know. But a year before
I left, I thinkTextron GSC acquired premiere.
And at that, at that time, theywere they're up in Wisconsin.
Yes. Now, is, I think they'veall transition now. Right? So
(15:41):
you're not you're not buildinganything in Wisconsin any longer
this is all been moved to yournew location. Is that correct?
So I mean, we all talk about theCOVID. But man, it was so
abrupt, and it was just such astop globally, right. I mean,
we've had other events thatslowed us down and stopped us,
but some weren't. So we'respecific to a territory. But
(16:01):
this was global. And the wholeindustry, just as you know, and
as our listeners know, just justabruptly stopped. So we made we
came together. So this is thetime to consolidate. And again,
Textron believed in thisindustry believed in and what
GSC can do, and it was the timeto consolidate. So in Kennesaw,
Georgia,we had two factories, we
(16:23):
consolidated those into the newone in Cartersville. And then we
close down Marinette, Wisconsin,brought that to Cartersville.
It's never easy, but we did it,it was the right thing to do is
the right time to do it. So nowwe manufacture that product in
Cartersville. Georgia. Okay, soas as you mentioned by Douglas
premiere still lives on it'sit's doing well, for so what was
(16:44):
the biggest change between like,your kinosol facility in the new
Cartersville? Facility? Likewhat were you able to do to
like, make it so that way youcould handle all you know,
bringing from here down andstuff like that, and then to to
make it so there wasefficiencies in building the
units? Can you produce more outof that Cartersville facility
than you're able to out of thekinosol facility heads, it's all
(17:06):
about output, tell aboutcapacity, the flow lines, which
are familiar with a console, wedid the flow lines. Yeah. And
it's about momentum, you gottaget those full lines going. And,
you know, I do say internally tomy folks a lot is, you know,
maybe it's time for a biggerboat. And we got a bigger boat.
And again, 100% Shout out toTextron, for doing that and tsp
(17:30):
for believing us and it now it'sthe light switch turned on, man,
it's it's 100 miles an hourright now. And we're, we're
pumping them out. It's a lot ofwork. I mean, it's it's a, I
think GSE I think the secretsauce would be forecasting. And
I think the secret sauce ismaking sure you give production
teams, quality teams, the ice,ISC teams enough time to get
(17:55):
organized, and get those unitson line and get them flowing.
And once they get all theconsistency, they can start
pumping them out. And I thinkfrom a tug from a Textron
standpoint, that's what we dobest. We can pump out a lot of
fire. Yeah, for sure. And asmall amount of time now, you
know, we work with the customersclosely, we want to make sure we
get the right product for fortheir operation. And sometimes
(18:16):
the more options you throw intoengineering kind of slows it
down. But we understand that andthe factory
has set us up to succeed. And sowe're excited about next year
too, as we work through allthese supply chain bumps in
2023. There we go, man. Well, Ithink we are going to take a
break and hear from the sponsorof this podcast and we will be
(18:38):
back.
This episode of the GSC podcastis brought to you by Exede
ground support equipment leasingyour trusted partner for GSE
(19:01):
solutions. We specialize intailored operating leases for
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(19:24):
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Alright, we're back. That was aspectacular commercial break.
(19:48):
And I've got some more questionsfor Brad Compton. Hey, Matt,
thanks for having me. This isthis is fun, and I think it's
great. This is great for theindustry and I thanks Exede for
doing thisis a great idea. No problem.
I've, you know, I kind of feltlike we're in a unique position
to the point where, you know, wework with all the manufacturers.
And obviously, you're a risermanufacturer. So there is
(20:10):
actually in you, but you are mynumber one choice. Okay. Right.
To have other podcasts. That'sthe reason you're the first
episode. And thanks for helpingme kick this thing off. How are
we doing on the language? Weknow so far? I think we're good.
I don't know. Okay. I don'tremember dropping any
expletives. So I think we'regood. So I guess my first
(20:31):
question for you just kind ofgetting back on track here is,
you've been in the industry fora long time. You know, before
this, you're selling copiers.
Oh, great. That's a story Ishould have brought up. Yes. And
yes, but you're not sellingcopiers anymore? No, right.
You're selling. You're sellingendurance tractors? I mean, you
got you got a whole whole lineuphere. Right. I got kicked out of
(20:53):
a lot of buildings. And, and sowhen did you start like 1990?
Something I mentioned NickBaxter. I thought Arthur
mentioned the interview. It was9095 95. Yes, yes. So it's in
the bloodline My dad worked forFMC and Orlando. Okay, so I grew
up in Calif now for those whodon't know, which I would
(21:15):
imagine almost everybody who'slistening to this would know,
but let's go ahead and miss youand fill them in. Right? Maybe
they don't know. Who's FMC. FMCis now called JBT. Okay, and
kudos for them. That's not easyto change then midstream. Right.
Good guys. Good company. Iremember when they used to make
fire trucks. Yeah, well, yeah, Iwas in high school when they did
(21:36):
make fire trucks. There you go.
I just wish I held on to allthis business card. My dad laid
on the counter table after thoselate nights. Yeah. So So we
picked up from California and wemoved to Orlando, which is where
we are now. In 82. Synchronicitywas killing it on the charts,
which probably could be a goodjuicy band. I think the police
would be a good juicy man. Yeah,for sure. The place staying? I
(21:58):
don't know. We feel too soft.
Okay. So yeah, well, then wemove to Orlando. Yeah, so what
dad was was doing sales and FMC,which is now JBT. And from
there, I went to college atGeorgia Southern had no idea
about Southern Georgiawhatsoever, but had a blast at
(22:19):
Georgia Southern. A good fiveyears really, really excelled
there in my fifth year like VanWilder. Yeah, yeah. So we did
good. So everyone packs up. Hemoved to Atlanta trying to find
a gig. And I was peddlingcopiers. I was Xerox. No. Oh,
your Xerox GameShark. Oh, sharp,sharp. Yeah. Yeah. I thought if
I could hold on to this for ayear, you can do anything,
(22:41):
right. My dad's introduced me toa couple guys a little bit older
than me, man. I was green, hadbreakfast with those guys. And
then I got introduced to tug.
interviewed with Nick Baxter.
And thank God, he saw somethingnice. So yeah, 28 years later,
I'm still peddling tractors. Butthere you go. No.
(23:02):
I think really, if we go back totarget, and I've been so
fortunate, so lucky that I'veworked with really good leaders,
even to this day. And that I'vebeen fortunate because I think
at all you take on thepersonality of your leader, you
take on the personality of ifit's a CEO, or GM, and I've been
lucky. So from tog, to all thechanges that tractor has gone
(23:23):
through, I talked about tug, tonow fortunate to have good
leadership now and in thedirection of Textron. So yeah,
it's been a wild ride lot upsand downs. It's been a long
time. Yeah, I think that havinggood leadership is very
valuable. I was lucky enough tohave a good leader in you for
such a long time. And yeah, Ireally appreciate your
(23:45):
leadership. And I've continuedto have such great leadership
even going into Exede. So Iguess my question is, you know,
you have been in industry for areally long time, how's the
industry changed? The industryhas changed in I think it was,
it's been the same for so longin the early years for my
career. And that's just thebuying cycles, and you can start
understanding. It's repeatbusiness, as you know, right.
(24:07):
And it's relationship based. AndI think salespeople in different
industries will say it's uniqueto them, or it's, it's all about
their relationships. But I trulythink and, again, I've been in
this industry for a while Ihaven't seen the other side of
the fence, it is really aboutrelationships. But that only
goes so far, because you've gotto be able to make sure that
(24:27):
second sale is going to happen.
And the only way to do that isto make sure you take care of
the customer and theiroperation. But how has the
industry changed? I think if youlook at today versus 1995.
There's so many different waysto support that industry. And I
think exceeds is doing aphenomenal job in that and it's
the forecasting, forecasting,forecasting and the improvements
(24:48):
in forecasting is still got along way to go just because of
the industry. I think it withinthe airlines within the cargo
within the ground handily.
Forecasting is hard and we haveto undo
Stan that I work with ourcustomers to be able to get
through that forecasting,because there's so many
different angles with that, andI think is changing in the fact
there's different approaches topurchasing equipment, acquiring
(25:12):
equipment, handling theoperation,
working towards that betterramp. And again, I think exceeds
strategy around that, from agrant handler standpoint, and
now in the cargo and maybe intothe airlines is to help with
that forecasting, because it's arough patch, if we can't
manufacture because our leadtimes are lower based on supply,
(25:32):
or based on sheer volume, we'renot gonna be able to help that
grant handler if they needequipment in four weeks. Yeah,
that's kind of where Exede comesin, right? Where we equipment
and we have it ready to go onsite for when they need it.
Yeah, again, I'll go back toforecasting. And it's not so
much our customers fault,because they these airlines show
(25:53):
up, it's all about marketing forthem to if an airline opens a
gate, or a cargo company decidesto go into an airport, or ground
handler puts out a bid for acertain airport. I think the
last thing sometimes they thinkabout is below the link. They
got everything set, you know,they could sell a ticket, they
could take a ticket, they gotthe marketing, they got the
everything's set up on theticketing and the gate. And
(26:16):
they're like, oh, wait a minute,we need some assets below the
way. So I think below the wingis kind of a different world. I
think axes understands that andworking with us. It's a great
partnership. So I think, I don'tknow if I've answered the
question, but changing thedynamics of how you purchase
from a you know, they look atthe maintenance, they look at
the purchaser, purchase yourcustomer, PIO, we manufacture
(26:37):
it, we send it they pay us,hopefully within 30 days, if not
sooner, yeah. And then now it'sa different approach. You can go
into turnkey at a station whereyou where you you pay by the
hour, or you pay by the turn,you group your pool, you pull
the equipment. I think that'scoming along with all this
electrification talk, I thinkthere's a lot of opportunity for
(26:59):
for things to happen to wherethe future is really bright in
terms of how they approach GSCYeah, so you know, I remember
when I started, I remembertelling people that they call up
for an MA or, or 660. They wouldsay, what's your lead time,
like? And I'd say, oh, six,eight weeks? All right,
beautiful. Remember those days?
Oh, yeah. Okay. So, you know,back then we could handle when a
(27:21):
when a handler recall. Andthey'd say, hey, we have a start
up and six, eight weeks, becausewe're able to give those lead
times. Yeah, those lead timesdon't exist anymore. Right? Not
now. No, no, there were like,six, eight months, sometimes you
get lucky. But right now, again,it's it's that supply chain,
it's just, it's how I changedcompletely, there is a complete
different animal now. And that'sinto your point. That's where
(27:42):
Exede comes in. Because, youknow, we do order ahead, and we
have inventory at our location,and we can we can lease and rent
that equipment out to thoseground handlers. So it kind of
bridges that gap. And that way,you don't have to have that that
crystal ball right on, on whatyou're gonna get.
(28:03):
What what bid you're gonna get,and you know, you have to have
that equipment for that. So Ithink that that's, I think it's
a great point. So what do yousee about the, you know, future
trends in the industry? Wetalked earlier about
electrification, I think inthat's happened, and then that's
going to continue to happen. Butlike I said, just a little while
ago, I think the pooling, youknow, getting those assets
(28:24):
together and being able to,again, I said earlier, work as
fast as your customer, having itavailable at the time they need
it is key, but you know, futuretrend,
without electric? So I think,where do you see charging going?
So I know that a lot ofdifferent, you know, there's
manufacturers kind of like seethis differently, right? I think
(28:46):
that you'll have a differentapproach, like what what is what
is Textron GSEs approach to?
What kind of batteries andcharging capabilities that your
your lecture equipment? Yes,that's a great question. I think
I think Electric has been aroundfor a while. And it's been
around since since I starteddifferent way of doing it. I
think now the future of the rampis going to entail the larger
(29:07):
vehicles. So we mentioned JBT,you got container loaders,
you've got catering trucks,you've got trucks themselves,
all of those are going to behigh capacity,
type charging systems. And thatis is our road ahead is high
(29:28):
capacity. And so that's whywe've worked with GM to
introduce the endurance, whichis our seventh, sorry, eighth
generation electric tractor. Sowe know the ramp is going to get
there. We know it may not bethere right now, but we know
it's gonna get there prettyfast. So infrastructure,
infrastructure, infrastructureis always going to be talked
about. It holds people up alittle bit on their operations.
(29:51):
You got to work closely with theairport. Not to make sure it's
set in time it right to when thevehicles come in. But I think
that's the future of the ramp isa high couple
acity type charging system witha vehicle that is sup that and
we already there for opportunitycharging. So I don't think with
what we see and what with withwe are innovating and we are
producing that you're going tohave any type of downtime in
(30:13):
terms of that question of howlong does it take me to charge
this up? It's not eight hoursanymore. You can do this during
smoke break, you can get itdone, if you have the right
chargers within 15 to 20minutes. That's incredible. So
that's the technology. That'swhere you think it's heading.
And yeah, I think the I thinkthe airlines and the ground
handlers cargo are going to haveto it seems like they're going
(30:37):
to have to move in thatdirection. I think you know,
that's where cars are right now.
Is that correct? Yes, LA, thatthey're using the high capacity
chargers? Alright, so what isthe what's the most challenging
part of your job? I'll sayforecasting, again, forecast
forecasting, but I'll take thisto limitless. Let's just talk
(31:00):
about sales one on one. Let melet me talk about oh, wow, it's
all I know. Yeah, the Brad conesis sales. And I've learned from
the best, we already talkedabout a few of them. And it's
repetition. And it's listeningto people's listen to your
customers. I really think thehardest part for me is or to
talk through the hardest partis, is the keeping a sense of
(31:23):
balance. And there's only 168hours in a week, and how you
time manage that from a personalstandpoint, and a professional
standpoint, as can either holdyou back or let you continue on.
So just think about like howmany you think about how many
hours are on a day. From a salesstandpoint, that phone never
(31:43):
stops? Yeah.
You're raising the family oryou're you're trying to get
through your daily routine,you're trying to take care of
your customers, I think it allcomes down to balance. It takes
its time management. And thenwhile it's forecasting for you,
you got to forecast. So it's andagain, it's all about people,
(32:04):
right? And it's the people inthe factory that are relying on
these, these these salespeople,and I'll talk for the folks that
compete with is it for you? Yo,you gotta feed that that baby
out there at that's yourfactory. And those guys, those
those guys out there are proudof what they bill? Yeah, and I
thinkthat means the world to me to be
able to just keep letting theseguys be proud of what they build
(32:24):
and ship product worldwide.
Yeah, I think forecasting, youknow, with the part shortages
and lead times that we're upagainst right now. Right, which
is like unprecedented right? iseven more important than it ever
was, right? Yeah, no, I mean,having the right. Yeah, your
(32:46):
inventory is huge. Yeah. Andthat's a challenge that always
will be a challenge. I mean,again, we're in an industry
where each operation isdifferent. Air Canada operates
completely different thanBritish Airways that operates
completely different thanSouthwest, and or UPS, or
Swissport. So they're all goingto have their, what we call
optioned product. And we allknow that. So you got to be able
(33:07):
to make sure that you workagain, as fast as them
understand their business, andbe proud of what you're putting
out. And it's got to be on time.
It's got to be on quality. Andagain, we're not perfect. We all
know we've been late, we holdoff quality, but it's how you
react to that. Do you everenvision a day where every
airline has the same spec? We'regetting closer? I don't know if
(33:31):
it'll happen in my lifetime.
It's gonna be a challenge. Yeah,I've been in a room where Kailyn
was in a room with Northwest inthey were arguing over a beacon
light on an air start. And thatmade me think, Wow, this is this
is a challenge. We understandwhy, but I think we're getting
closer. And I think we're closerthan we ever have been. So yeah,
(33:53):
it's gonna get there. But again,these planes are different.
These operations are different.
And I think a lot in there too.
It's safety. It's a very safetyconscious, we've got to make
sure we support each operation,each customer in terms of
safety. It's like a beehive outthere. And these are moving
(34:14):
products. So we got to be we gotto be supportive of what we can
do to innovate from a safetystandpoint. I say that because
if you come to a standard spec,some airlines need to make sure
that they have what they need tooperate their turn. with safety
in mind. It is safety is not acompetition. It's it needs to
happen.
I think that most people wouldbe very surprised to find out
(34:39):
that there's maybe what 250 To500 options on a 660 Our 6660
option book is pretty thick.
That's $1,000 There's over 1000Yeah, okay. Yeah. And so, but I
mean, it's not for Textron GSE.
I'm sure that's for everyone andthen to get this as an industry
conversation.
(35:00):
You know, my competition dealswith the two and but you have to
be careful, because you've gotto make sure it's documented.
You got to make sureit operates correctly. Because
again, it's it's safety, becausespeed is important in our
industry on the ramp. But again,safety probably is trumping
that,for sure. But you're right.
There's a lot of options on thebelt Hunter, there's a lot of
(35:21):
there's a lot of options onevery piece of equipment. And
it's just, I guess, you know, myfirst job almost out of college
was in ground support equipmentwith to me, I just figured
everyone knew how many optionswere available on any given
piece of equipment. Right,right. But then when you leave
that manufacturer, you go outinto the real world, right? They
(35:42):
don't understand that there's,there's a book the size of the
Bible, right, full of optionsfor each individual piece of
equipment, right. And we tookthat for granted, right? We just
figured everybody knew. Buteverybody has their own spec.
And it's always a little bitdifferent. So I was just curious
on whether you thought that inthe you answered that very well,
(36:05):
I thought that you think we'regetting closer to that. And that
would be an interesting day inGSC. If we ever got even to
airlines to agree to a spec,they're talking and I think it's
it's going to happen within aterritory first. But again, I'll
bring up the word global. Imean, Southeast Asia is
completely different ballgamethan in North America.
(36:26):
completely different ballgamethan the Middle East. Because
it's it's it's what their rampis used to is what the rep
needs. So you have to adapt. Butyeah, there's a lot of options.
And they'll continue to bring upoptions as we evolve into
different products. Yeah. Well,is there. Is there anything else
that you wanted to discuss onthis podcast today, Brett? No, I
(36:46):
mean, I think I think you nailedit. I think I do want to talk
more about the music I did tomake sure I have the right music
that I play lenses. Yeah, yes.
As the first one. I'm kind ofinto, you know, honestly, I'm
kind of into the 70s rock rightnow. That might that that might
have been. That's it. That's Ireally do like, the GSC in a
(37:08):
nutshell would be probably akick off with Tom Petty and then
enroll into it, right? Hotham?
Tom Petty? Yeah, for sure. TomPetty is probably one of my
favorite. That's this is this isfantastic. I could talk forever.
I mean, I've got multiplestories, as do these people I
grew up with in the industry.
Well, I got some good news foryou. And that is, we'll have you
(37:31):
back on the podcast. Okay.
Right. Episode Two, not episodetwo. You're not gonna, you're
not gonna get your only guest.
We could maybe do a bradcompetent part two. Okay. Right.
But it's definitely not gonna bethe second sequel. The sequel?
Ooh, I like that. So we'll haveyou back once you've kind of
crafted some really goodstories.
(37:53):
I'm going to come back Irealized that I didn't, I didn't
have time. Did not have time totell the catch up story.
But I'm sure it'll come in time.
Right. He's gonna come anddance. Yes. And just another
little tidbit for you. For thelistener. Right. Brad Compton
was actually there for the catchup story. And so what I think we
should do, here's what we'regonna do. We're gonna make a
(38:14):
decision right now. We're gonnahold the catch up story.
Until the next time you get thisis your story is my story. You
own it. I own the story. So arethe rules like if someone says
you can never the guests right?
There's this other manufacturersout there? He told me there is
we're gonna have other peoplethere to actually is it fair for
them to tell competent stories?
(38:35):
That's not legal, right? Theycan't talk about? Well, we're
gonna find out because we haveanother one coming on fairly
soon. And it's going to befunny, because the next
two guests that we're going tohave on know you very well, and
it worked with you at one point,that's not fair, because they
could take it to the next level.
I'm the first one. I don't knowthe boundaries. No, you don't
(38:56):
know the boundaries werelooser, and they just can bring
up stories that either that areprobably listening to this right
now. And they're already comingup with stories. Well, I just
Hey, Matt, thank you. I just,I'm in a spot now where I want
to give a shout out to Textronand Textron GSE. I talked about
leadership and and I've beenthankful for the people that
(39:17):
I've worked for and with andwe're in a good spot. I mean,
I'll shoot man and be honestwith you, you know, this COVID
was no fun. And that wascorrupted, challenging, and
we're back and we're almost, Ithink, read the 2019 levels. So
we're in a good spot. We'reexcited about who we're working
with. We're excited about what'scoming up with working with our
(39:41):
customers and within theindustry. We've got a busy year.
We're gonna have a lot ofconferences. We got ghci
multiple spots, GH highAmerica's. We've GSA. So we've
got some NB double A's. It'sgetting crazy out there. And I
think we'd be remiss if wedidn't mention a couple people
Ah, let's do it, Willie. Oh mylord. Yeah, my wing man. Yeah,
(40:05):
yes. I wouldn't be here withoutWillie. Oh my gosh, we're so
lucky to have him. Yeah, he's agreat one. I worked with him for
a couple years. tests. Test ESA.
Oh, yes. Yes. Are you talkingabout
surrounding yourself with withgreat people? I mean, yes, I
have them on my team is is topnotch. They're fantastic. I
(40:27):
would have Justin he wasn'tthere when? You know, I was not
around when he came in. But I'vemet him a couple times. Very
impressed by that guy. Yeah.
Huge shout. Yes. You guysphenomenal and what a great
understanding of business andsales and sales management. So
yeah, I think we feed off eachother. We feed off of each other
fantastically. I've learned alot from Justin. So yeah, he
(40:50):
internally I called the DreamTeam. We do have a great group.
It's all team over there. Idon't know if you're gonna shout
out to the others. But well, thelast one, and we can't miss this
one. Mark DeMaria of the markTabor. Yeah, he's, oh, my gosh,
she's enrolled in that placetogether for you all. You
mentioned Brian Europe it was soOh, well, I know we've already
(41:10):
mentioned that's a reason I so.
Don't get me wrong, Brian Yoder,but we've already talked about
him so much. So I thought MarkDeMaria is the next guy out of
so many jams. That soundedfunny. Right lifesavers? Yeah.
And then Billy asked Amelie ashco he's a legend. Billy ash and
mark you you want to be able toclone those type of guys? Yep.
(41:32):
But I mean, I can't forget totalk with my team. I've got
Patrick Dennison. Oh, oh,Patrick's fantastic. I'm sorry,
I yeah, I missed dimensionpleasure. And so we're going
down this path. I'm I forgivesomebody, but we've got fruit,
right. They're just killing itwith de icing. Was it if we
didn't mention you? This is likean Oscar speech. Right. We're
just coming to coming off. It's.
Yeah, it's a dream team. I mean,I am so lucky that I have these
guys. And I've got again, greatleadership. Matt. Chaffin is
(41:55):
phenomenal. As you mentioned,Stefan verrecchia. I learned a
lot from him. Boy, challengingtimes. But he because we had
some challenging just timeswithin the industry and what
we're up against and God he Ilearned a lot from him. And Dick
Baxter and others. So yeah, so alot of legends in there. So I am
(42:16):
extremely lucky. And I wouldn'tbe here without those folks.
It's kind of like an ostrich gemon its head is like an ostrich,
like leave people out. So youjust want to say thank you.
Yeah, thanks. Right. Yeah. Butanyway, I just want to
appreciate so just so thelisteners know, Brad flew down
here. I think maybe I mentionedthat. But Brad flew down here to
Orlando, we're sitting at thekitchen table. And so thank you
(42:37):
so much for coming down here andprioritizing this podcast, and
thanks for being the firstguest. And you know, Exede very
much appreciates the partnershipthat we have with Textron GSE.
And so, I have very, very goodfriends that are with your team
and exceed. Yeah, and if anybodyhas stories to tell, it's
(43:01):
probably rich Tibesti now, soYeah, that guy, as well. Yes.
Yes. And I've learned a lot fromhim. A lot of good times, but
every good time. We've learnedsomething together. And yeah,
he's he's, he's phenomenal. Soyou got a fantastic T. Oh, we
do. We should have a dodgeballtournament and see who would
come out ahead because now Ilike it. Now. I will. I will
(43:22):
tell you something. I have beentalking to one of the organizers
at the GSC Expo dodgeball, okay.
Well, hold on. There might besome kind of competition coming
to the GSE Expo drinking theball. I don't know. So I'm just
leaving that out there is we'vebeen having discussions. And
don't make it too athletic. Imean, we're kind of plus 50.
Believe me, that was the numberone thing I said is we can't
(43:43):
make this to athletic, you know,as a brand, right? We can't, you
know, yeah, no, I'm justkidding. But it's great. I know,
I miss somebody. But man, I'veworked with phenomenal people
here. I love this industry. Ilove working and seeing
everybody at these conferenceseveryone would deal with and
colleagues and include mycompetitors to some really good
people out there. So Matt,fantastic. Thank you. Hey,
(44:05):
thanks a lot, Brad. Thanks forcoming down. Yes, thank you. All
right. Thanks a lot. All right.
Until next time, this is Mattfor the GSC podcast.
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