Stepping into the world of advanced battery technology, this episode takes us to Kokomo, Indiana—the global headquarters of Green Cubes Technology. Here, we explore how lithium batteries are revolutionizing ground support equipment operations at airports worldwide.
Jerry Crump and Darren Kiefer walk us through Green Cubes' fascinating journey from their 1986 beginnings in small power electronics to becoming leaders in lithium battery technology for material handling and GSE applications. Their transition makes perfect sense—both industries require batteries that serve dual purposes as power sources and equipment ballast, though the adoption curves have differed significantly between the two sectors.
What truly distinguishes Green Cubes in the crowded battery market is their commitment to flexibility and customization. Rather than forcing customers to adapt to standardized products, they design solutions tailored to specific operational requirements. Their GSE SafeFlux battery system incorporates sophisticated protection mechanisms that prevent operation in potentially damaging conditions, such as charging when cells are below freezing or automatically throttling performance when temperatures rise too high.
Perhaps most refreshing is their approach to data sharing. While many manufacturers lock customers into proprietary systems, Green Cubes makes battery data freely available to any telematics platform a customer might prefer. This open architecture eliminates the frustration of managing multiple dashboards and logins while empowering operators to make data-driven decisions about their fleets.
With over 13,000 high-power systems deployed globally, their experience translates into batteries that perform reliably whether they're operating in the freezing temperatures of Minneapolis or the scorching heat of Phoenix. For airport operations seeking sustainable alternatives to conventional power sources, Green Cubes offers not just a battery, but a comprehensive power solution designed for the unique challenges of ground support equipment.
Looking to electrify your GSE fleet or upgrade your existing battery systems? Discover how Green Cubes' approach to lithium technology could transform your ground operations' reliability, sustainability, and performance.
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.
Matt Weitzel (00:18):
We'll see you next time.
Xcēd adapts to your uniqueoperational needs.
Whether you're ramping up forpeak season or planning for
long-term growth, we provide theright equipment to keep your
operations running smoothly.
This anniversary, we renew ourdedication to empowering your
ground operations withefficiency and innovation.
With Xcēd, you're equipped forsuccess today and prepared for
(00:42):
the challenges of tomorrow.
Xcēd driving excellence on theground year after year.
Explore more at Xcēd.
Darin Kiefer (00:56):
This is Jon Pfister.
I'm Brian Yoder.
This is Mathias Mouillenier.
This is Willy Martinez and youare listening to GSE Podcast.
Matt Weitzel (01:05):
All right.
Well, welcome to the GSEPodcast.
I'm Matt Weitzel and I am herewith Jerry Crump and Darren
Kiefer, and we are here at theGreen Cubes headquarters in
North America.
Is that correct?
Jerry Crump (01:20):
Global.
Global headquarters Yep KokomoIndiana.
Matt Weitzel (01:23):
In Kokomo, indiana , and I was unprepared.
Today.
I didn't come with a jacket,and now we got flurries.
It stopped.
It did stop.
I don't think that it's.
I think it's still going to bepretty cold out there, though,
and I probably should have comeprepared.
Of course, I live in Florida.
I came in my golf attirethinking that it would be enough
(01:44):
.
It's not enough, oh.
Jerry Crump (01:46):
We'll take you to Meyers and get you a car heart.
Matt Weitzel (01:48):
Oh, that would be nice.
You know I haven't been to aMeyers in a really long time.
Great place.
Do you all have those down inDallas?
Jerry Crump (01:55):
No, no, just the Super Bowl.
Matt Weitzel (01:58):
That's a Midwest thing.
I think we got Buc-ee's.
I have Buc-ee's.
You got a lot of jerky Dude.
That place is awesome.
It is the best.
Have you been to a Buc-ee'sbefore, darren?
Darin Kiefer (02:07):
I have not been to a.
Matt Weitzel (02:08):
Buc-ee's.
Oh wow, Nope.
Yeah, we're hoping they'regoing to sponsor the podcast
soon.
We've been in talks.
Jerry Crump (02:14):
Yeah, we'll just keep saying their name over and
over and hope.
Matt Weitzel (02:20):
No, I like it.
So yeah, so we're here inKokomo, indiana.
We just got a chance to touryour facility.
Really appreciate you taking methrough all that Sounds like
you all have some amazingtechnology.
We're going to try to dive intothat today and kind of get a
little bit better of a view ofwhat Green Cubes has to offer.
I know you all kind of are biginto the material handling space
(02:41):
, but, darren, would you mindkind of running me through how
Green Cube started, how long youall have been in business and
how you got into ground supportequipment, batteries.
Darin Kiefer (02:52):
Sure, First of all , thanks for having us, matt,
and thanks for coming up andtouring our facility.
We appreciate you taking thetime.
So Green Cube started 1986, andthat was more power electronics
, smaller wall wart power supply, 12-volt supplies, 9-volt
supplies, things of this nature.
And then we moved into smallerbackup systems for cars.
(03:13):
It was kind of an auxiliarypower for automotive.
And then eventually thattranspired into swappable,
smaller swappable systems,thinking fulfillment carts or
medical carts, with thecomputers systems.
And we actually still have thatdivision of our business.
It's quite large, mobile.
(03:35):
That's where we really got intobatteries and understanding
batteries, lead acid intolithium.
And then that turned into themotive for the bigger, higher
power batteries and highervoltage systems.
And it wasn't too big of a leapfrom going from forklift to the
(03:55):
GSE space because they're verysimilar in the way the batteries
are designed and the purpose ofthe battery and the equipment,
because the battery is alsoconsidered a counterweight or a
ballast for traction or liftingloading.
So ironically we did sometesting early on with GSE
(04:17):
equipment, kind of even beforemotive really, or the material
handling aspect of it took off.
And then a couple of yearsafter material handling really
taking off, we started GSE andthat's grown over the last five
years substantially, where we'vedefinitely went in.
We were quick to market andthere was a lot of lessons
(04:39):
learned over those five years.
But I think we've applied themto our latest GSE line and
developed a pretty substantialproduct in the market space and
addresses a lot of the issuesend users face.
Matt Weitzel (04:53):
So was material handling using lithium well
before GSE.
Jerry Crump (04:59):
Much faster adopter .
Yeah, because in GSE we thinkwe're running the equipment all
the time but we're not comparedto a forklift operation.
So the forklifts will run 24-7in these warehouses and having
something that will accept ahigh rate of charge really is
(05:19):
advantageous for thoseoperations, just like it is for
GSE, but more so, you know, withthe forklifts running the high
pace that they run.
Yeah.
Matt Weitzel (05:30):
So they were using lead acid obviously as well,
right prior to the adoption oflithium.
And then did you all ever?
Were you all ever into leadacid?
Or did you start as a purelithium battery supplier?
It was lithium from thebeginning.
Okay, yep, all right, Wow, thewhole way back in in 86?
.
Darin Kiefer (05:48):
Well, no for the motive division.
Okay, the motive division.
Matt Weitzel (05:51):
Gotcha Okay, Nice.
And then have you always beenin Kokomo Indiana or somewhere
in Indiana.
Darin Kiefer (05:58):
It, yeah, somewhere in Indiana.
It kind of bounced around alittle bit before it became what
it is now and then ultimatelywe landed here because of Kokomo
is a really good, has a reallygood base of engineers.
There's a lot of, because youhave the automotive industry
here.
Okay, so it's a really goodlocation and it's kind of north
(06:19):
central Indiana, so it workswell for us.
Matt Weitzel (06:23):
Yeah, I guess you can get trucking fairly easily.
Indiana is like a big I meanwell for us.
Yeah, I guess you can gettrucking fairly easily.
Indiana is like a big I meanwhat they call it.
You know, it's like we're allthose, the roads, the crossroads
of America.
Yeah, so I mean it's it's easyto get, to get freight in and
out of here, so I think thatwe're in some kind of did I hear
this right?
A GM or Chevy or somebody wasthis is like one of their
(06:44):
buildings.
Darin Kiefer (06:44):
This right, a GM or Chevy or somebody was.
This is like one of theirbuildings.
Yes, this was a GM building, atooling building.
Matt Weitzel (06:47):
So did GM shut down this facility and then
start just selling off thebuildings, and they're no longer
here or are they still here?
Darin Kiefer (06:54):
So this whole block is GM.
Okay, and this building upfront and to the back here.
Are they still doing any kindof stuff here in the area?
This one is shut down in thefront completely.
But they did open up and retoolthis facility over here during
COVID and they were doingventilators just out back here.
Oh, wow yeah.
It's actually a funny story.
(07:15):
When our VP of sales, tonyCooper he was GM at the time
Looking at this building to rentwas when they were standing
that up over there and VicePresident Pence was visiting the
facility and there was, youknow, secret Service all around
this block and Tony was like Idon't think, I'm going to go out
(07:36):
back.
Jerry Crump (07:38):
That's hilarious.
During COVID, when there was apark shortage, from where our
parking lot ends all the waydown to the end of the road was
stacked full of vehicles waitingfor parts.
Yeah, there, you know probablya couple hundred Silverados
sitting in the parking lot outthere during that time.
Darin Kiefer (07:56):
Yeah, so they were trucking them from Fort Wayne,
which I'm sure you're familiarwith, the GM plant on the south
side there and they were storingthem here.
So GM planned on the south sidethere and they were storing
them here.
They were drivable but theywere missing like a window
controller or smaller level ICsto fully function.
So they would stage them here.
Matt Weitzel (08:12):
Yeah, that was during the time where they're
missing all these parts, right,yep, and they could just.
They would just need one chipor whatever to complete the rest
of the car, but they didn'thave it Right, there's like a
short supply or whatever.
So, yeah, that's interesting,all right.
So then, jerry, when did youstart with Green Cubes?
Jerry Crump (08:28):
Oh, I started with Green Cubes in 21.
And took a little hiatus andwent over to Wallard for about
19 months and then came back toGreen Cubes and it's been great
being back.
Matt Weitzel (08:44):
Yeah, so you started in 21.
What were you doing prior?
I mean, you've had a long, youknow historic, very historic run
in GSE.
Can we say?
Jerry Crump (08:55):
Yeah, it's been a long road since the Marine Corps
, you know, started out as a GSEmechanic in the Marines, went
to school to get away from GSEof all things and when I got
hired by Swissport I was aresource planner for them.
And I'm out in San Franciscoand I saw a Waller pushback go
(09:17):
rolling by on the ramp and oh, Iused to work on those.
And next thing you know JerryMcCauley's pulling me in his
office to talk about gettingback into GSE.
And then I ended up at JFK andthen director of purchasing for
Swissport.
The Americas Took a little leftthere, went over to Somerset
(09:38):
Capital and then no pun intendedbut I had a blast at Virgin
Galactic setting up you know,their GSE program over there and
I mean that was a great run.
Really cool things happened.
There's nothing like taking abreak from your work day to go
watch a rocket motor kickoff.
That is pretty cool, right,yeah, so that was a lot of fun.
(10:00):
And then I left there for Posiicharge, did the sales, gc sales
for posi charge and then fromthere to here.
So yeah, I've had a few movesin the industry but it you know,
been doing these green projectsand stuff since uh 09 at
swissport and it and it'samazing how much has changed
(10:25):
since then.
Lots of new things andimprovements.
Still some of the same oldproblems, but lots of
interesting things.
Matt Weitzel (10:35):
Well, it definitely seems like electric
GSE is really taking off.
Obviously there's a bunch ofmandates and then everybody has
their ESG goals, so they'rethey're looking to heavily
invest into electric GSE.
Batteries is a huge part ofthat.
You know which battery are theygoing to choose?
Infrastructure is a wholedifferent story that we have
kind of covered over and overand over on this podcast.
(10:57):
But you know, I've never talkedto a battery supplier.
That's the reason I'm heretoday, flyer.
That's the reason I'm heretoday.
I wanted to start with you guysand kind of talk to you all
about you know what makes yourbatteries different than all the
other batteries out in themarketplace today, and just kind
of dive into where you thinkthe market is headed, what
technology advancements youthink that you're going to see
(11:19):
within lithium, and then kind offuture, you know how do you see
it, kind of coming fullevolution.
So, jerry, what are yourthoughts on kind of where we're
at now and then what Green Cubesis doing to kind of stay on top
of lithium?
Jerry Crump (11:38):
Well, I mean, we're kind of at this weird or what I
thought was going to be a weirdcrossroad, right, with the zero
emission ramps starting to puthigh voltage EV charging
infrastructure out there, wethought we would start to see
more high voltage changeover.
In the GSE industry we buildbatteries from 24 to 96 volt.
(12:00):
So you know, that's not amarket that we're in today but
it's something we're keeping aneye on.
Then, you know, the other day Ihear you know somebody's coming
back to 80 volts, right.
So I think the age old problemis the infrastructure still
right is kind of dictating wherethe technology is going to go
(12:21):
or what's going to limit it.
Just like we were talkingearlier during your visit, folks
were getting really creativetrying to manage the energy.
When lead acid was theavailable technology and now,
with lithium characteristics,the 1C discharge and the 1C
(12:43):
recharge.
And having the ability to flowenergy in and out of the battery
without damaging it at a highrate really reduces some of that
creativity that was needed tomake the larger equipment work
in this sector.
But you know, I think as we goyou're maybe going to see a new
(13:07):
chemistry or something thatcomes out down the road, and
that's always things we keep oureye on.
Or you may see bettercomponents with better wear life
or something that justincreases the uptime of the
product that's out there.
We're constantly doingcontinual improvement to our
product line based off of whatwe see in the product, that's in
(13:29):
the field, and what we do inthe lab.
Matt Weitzel (13:32):
So yeah, and it's interesting, I said that we
weren't going to talk aboutinfrastructure, but I think kind
of a couple of years ago I wasdoing an interview and we were
kind of talking about highvoltage charging and how we
thought that, you know, theindustry would eventually move
towards that, and I think thatstill may be true, but I
definitely think at that pointwe thought it was going to be
sooner than later and after kindof talking to a lot of people,
(13:56):
it doesn't seem like we haveenough infrastructure as it is
right now, let alone to supporthigh voltage.
Would you agree with that atthis point?
Jerry Crump (14:06):
Yeah, I mean there was a common theme a few weeks
ago when we were all up in NewYork and we participated in the
panel up there, and that was thelimitation of the electricity
that's available at the airports, right?
So you've now got airports thatare starting to get creative
with how to add to theiravailable supply of energy
(14:30):
whether that is through sometype of solar farm or they're
putting microgrids out there orbattery backup you know things
like that to enhance theirability to then feed the grid
more, because you're gridlimited in a lot of these
applications.
Matt Weitzel (14:48):
and, and maybe that's what's kind of stalling
some of the high voltage stuff,because that's just another
piece that's eating into thatavailable grid that's available
and that is something that Iagree with you, because we were
both at that, uh, thatconference in new york and that
we kept hearing that over andover which is basically there's
not enough.
You know, there's not enoughgrid to support that at the
(15:11):
moment.
So I really do think that we'removing further and further away
from that instead of closer toit.
I think, obviously, eventuallywe'll get there, but at this
moment in time, it definitelyseems like, you know, the 80
volt solution, which is whaty'all are currently providing.
Is that correct?
Yes, yeah, it is is what peopleare going to be moving forward
with.
Darin Kiefer (15:31):
So I think there's there's a second aspect, that
too, from a people perspective,because your technician level
changes at that voltage classtoo, because you're going from
from 80, from, you know youdon't need the most specialized
technician to work on 80 voltequipment.
It's, it's more of a.
It is considered high voltagebut it's not three 400 where
(15:56):
you're talking serious injury todeath, you know.
So your technician base, whichis always, always a problem on
the service side, when you thinkafter sales, you know you have
to be able to manage the productand keep it up.
Matt Weitzel (16:10):
Yeah, I was just talking to Billy Ash, which I'm
sure Jerry knows.
He's a service technician forTextron that's been in the
business for 35 years 39,something like this some insane
amount of years and he wassaying the same thing.
When he's trying to help people, you know, remote diagnose
things.
Once he finds out if it's highvoltage, he's like, hey, just
(16:31):
stop, I'll come and do thatBecause, to your point, not
everybody is specialized in up.
I really appreciate that, Jerry.
What makes the GreenCubesbattery better or different than
your competitors time and timeagain, with the knowledge that
we built up on the materialhandling side?
Jerry Crump (17:08):
working in the cold freezer environment, right?
That translates well intoworking on a cold ramp in Denver
or Chicago or Minneapolis,right?
Taking that knowledge and thenrefining it to the application
with our customers to make surethat we're delivering a
(17:29):
bulletproof solution.
One thing that I really likeabout GreenCube is we are always
looking to fine tune theproduct, and the continuous
improvement that I've seen since21, when I got over here, has
been leaps and bounds, andthat's all in the positive
(17:49):
direction, right?
Being open with working withother folks in the industry,
like the telemetry companies,letting them have our data and
not being stingy about that andtrying to, you know, shake
somebody down for a nickel Ithink that's a feather in our
hat as well, right?
So we're seeing more and moreof the owners of these large
(18:14):
fleets wanting data and makingdata-driven decisions.
Instead of go out there andmeasure once and then go back
and take a snapshot in fiveyears and see if it still works,
right, they're wanting to seedaily, weekly, hourly what's
going on with their fleets andmanaging that, because, at the
(18:35):
end of the day, gse is anexpense to the airline that they
have to manage, right?
Yeah, for sure.
I don't know an airline thatgenerates revenue off of GSE.
Matt Weitzel (18:45):
None, I don't think Right Nothing anywhere.
Jerry Crump (18:47):
yeah know an airline that generates revenue
off of GSE?
None, I don't think.
Not that I'm aware.
Yeah, you may have a groundhandler, make some money
spraying de-icing fluid orrunning fuel trucks, but
generally GSE is cost and if youmanage your cost you manage
your profit margins.
Matt Weitzel (19:01):
So a couple of things.
So I brought Javier up herewith me, so I flew into
Indianapolis and Xcēd has afacility in Indianapolis where
he has all of our equipmentrefurbished and repair and then
send out to our customers.
And Javier is our operationsmanager operations director now,
sorry, I didn't don't want toleave that out and so I brought
(19:23):
him up here with me and I guessthat you know he's been talking
to you guys for a couple ofyears and he was saying how much
the product has improved justin the last year and a half
since, I guess, the last timethat he's spoken with you guys,
and he was very impressed.
So what are some of thoseimprovements that he was so
impressed by?
If you don't mind me asking,Well, we did a couple things.
Darin Kiefer (20:12):
Well, we did a couple things, actually items.
So by doing that then youdecrease your downtime because
it's much easier to change outcomponents and if you don't have
a certified technician at thatlocation, you can actually
remove the whole system and shipit in and just put a new one on
and get your unit back out inservice.
So that was a big redesign.
(20:33):
We wanted to have a form fitfor all of our whole GSE line,
so it was a common componentacross everything, which also
gives you ease of your sparingneeds as well.
And then kind of a biggerproject that took on over a year
was addressing some of theshortcomings we had in our
(20:55):
controller and that was justinterfacing with equipment, some
of our various algorithms.
So we spent, we started thatproject in 23 and kind of slow
rolled them out through 24.
Now it's a common productacross our whole line going out
of the factory.
But one of the requirements ofthat was backwards compatibility
(21:17):
.
So if you have an existingfleet that you want to upgrade
to the latest controller, it'skind of a plug and play solution
for them and that addressed, Iwould say, 99.9% of our issues.
The other ones are a littlemore difficult of the human
nature.
I can't make a controller thatmakes a technician plug in or
(21:39):
makes an operator plug into acharger, which is one of the
biggest issues that everybodyfaces.
Matt Weitzel (21:46):
Yeah, let's talk about that really quickly.
So from my understanding youknow you don't want to get
lithium below what.
What's the threshold like 20percent, where you start seeing
degradation of the battery?
Is that correct?
Am I wrong about that?
It's OK if I'm wrong.
Darin Kiefer (22:03):
Yeah, you can go below that.
You actually have a pretty bigrange with lithium and we
control it.
We have layered protection.
Matt Weitzel (22:12):
Well, that's where I'm going with this question,
or?
Darin Kiefer (22:14):
safe range.
So we want to shut downcompletely and when you hit that
level with our solution itrequires technician to intervene
(22:35):
with the battery to keep itfrom going lower.
Matt Weitzel (22:36):
So you put in safeguards so that an operator
really can't screw up thebattery too badly.
Is that correct?
Exactly yes.
Jerry Crump (22:42):
Yeah, we help our customers protect their asset.
Matt Weitzel (22:45):
Yeah.
Right, okay so you don't let itget to dangerous levels.
Jerry Crump (22:48):
Nope, and LFP is the chemistry we use.
Other chemistries have otherproperties, but with LFP that's
how we're treating that solution.
Matt Weitzel (22:59):
Okay, and then do you all help customers do things
Like I think Javier was talkingto you guys about having the
unit slow down to the pointwhere an operator really
wouldn't want to use it or theycan't use it.
All they can do is just then,at that point, drive it to go
get it charged.
Do you all help out with that,or is that more on the customer
side?
Jerry Crump (23:18):
So we'll help interface with the controllers
that are on the vehicles.
You know, based on what thecontroller has available to it.
Yes, we'll help it go into limpmode.
We what the controller hasavailable to it, yes, we'll help
it go into limp mode.
We can send signals that dothings.
We can, you know, help with theproblem of driveways right, so
(23:48):
we can allow the battery, if itsenses that it's charging, to
not discharge, so that it won't.
The operator can't just jump on.
And next thing you know theylook behind them and here's this
20 foot cable chasing them downthe ramp like a snake.
Setups and things like that, orproc switches on charge doors.
You know in the past where wecan pull some of that complexity
(24:12):
out and do it through software.
Matt Weitzel (24:15):
Okay, and then on the software side, I think you
were mentioning how you don'tmind providing information to
these telematics companies.
Is that correct?
Like you're pretty, you canwork with any telematics
provider.
Jerry Crump (24:30):
So I'll let Darren answer that one.
He's been involved in a lot ofthe testing that we've been
doing with these folks.
Darin Kiefer (24:36):
Yeah, so we've worked with a couple different
companies and we've actually setup a profile with one, but
we're very open.
We try to make whatever datapoint we're collecting available
on the bus, so you can kind ofbuild out whatever you want.
Fortunately for us, we own ourcontroller, is hardware wise, is
(24:57):
our design, we manufacture itand so is the software, so we
have full flexibility ofwhatever that need may be.
If it's a custom solution, wecan look at it and usually we
can turn software very, veryquickly internally and it makes
more sense in this.
You know, iot is a huge thing,not only in the professional
(25:19):
world but the consumer world.
Everybody wants connectivity toevery device, so we try to work
with as many third-partycompanies that do it well as we
can, because it makes it easierfor the end user to go to one
location to get all theirinformation, instead of going to
a dashboard for the charger, adashboard for the battery, a
dashboard for the equipment andwhatever else is within that
(25:43):
system and going to all thesedifferent.
We would rather aggregate thatthrough one dashboard dashboard
and they can see the overallview and it makes it easier for
the end user to really get whatthey're looking for in that data
, whether that be from aproduction standpoint or a
service standpoint.
You can build out thesedashboards to support whatever
(26:05):
vertical is wanting that data orviewing that data.
So we try to keep it as open aspossible.
Matt Weitzel (26:10):
That's awesome.
Yeah, I've got a big problem.
You know where.
I can never remember any of mypasswords or anything like that.
When I go to Pizza Hut you knowwhat I mean and I'm ready to
order my pizza and I can'tremember my login.
That's a problem, you know.
Can you imagine having likeeight different systems that all
your data is on and you got tolog into each one of those and
see it?
I mean, being able to provide acustomer with just with all
(26:31):
their data so they can put itinto the system that they've
decided to use is fantastic.
That's really great to you guys.
Jerry Crump (26:39):
And it allows them to make that decision for which
third party system works bestfor them, right.
Matt Weitzel (26:44):
Yeah.
Jerry Crump (26:44):
There are really good systems out there, but not
everybody's looking for the samething.
Matt Weitzel (26:50):
Correct yeah, not everybody's going to have the
same telematics solution.
Correct yeah, some are going toor data management, or whatever
.
Jerry Crump (26:56):
Yeah, some are going to want to do it this way
and some are going to want to doit another way, and the other
part of that, too, is it doesn'tget us wrapped up in having to
figure out how to transmit thatdata, which is an issue with the
telematics, right?
I mean, you just did.
You had Matthias on your lastpodcast, right?
Matt Weitzel (27:16):
I did yeah.
Jerry Crump (27:17):
And you know he talked about how they're putting
their own SIM card solution in,because they found that using
others' Wi-Fi just wasn't areliable option for them to do
it.
So you know, work with thosethat do it well, as Darren said.
Matt Weitzel (27:32):
Exactly, that's it , exactly.
So talk to me about batterytemperature and how that can
affect, like, the longevity of alithium battery, and then how
your solution really helps.
You know, helps provide aconsistent temperature and all
that kind of stuff.
Jerry Crump (27:50):
GSE is, and I'll let Darren step in any time he
wants here, but we don't work inan air-conditioned box.
Matt Weitzel (27:59):
No, we don't.
We're not as lucky as thematerial handling folks right.
Well, you know, and even then,I guess Some of those warehouses
are pretty brutal.
Yeah, oh, that's true.
Jerry Crump (28:08):
But it's interesting because if you go
into the bag room, the bag roommight be heated right, and then
you go outside and it's 20 below, and you know.
So we're always working inthese varying climates and all
of that.
But GSE are such long lifeassets, you never know where
that asset's going to end up.
It used to be, you know, thenewer stuff would kind of start
(28:33):
in the harsher environmentbecause you needed more
reliability in that equipmentand then it would matriculate
down to you know, maybe down toFlorida or Texas or someplace
where it was a little easier tokeep up that equipment that was
maybe a little more worn thanthe stuff right off the line.
So when we build these GSEbatteries, we have to build them
(28:56):
to operate whether it's hot outor whether it's cold out, and
that swing could be 115 inPhoenix and it could be, you
know, 40 below in North Dakotaor something right.
So I mean it's GSE is.
It can be brutal.
(29:16):
I mean working the ramp is notalways fun.
So when we there are certainsafeties that we put into the
battery.
Right, because you can't chargea lithium battery when it's the
battery.
Right, because you can't chargea lithium battery when it's
below freezing, right.
So we put set points in thereso that the customer, even if
(29:36):
they plug in and if the cellsare too cold, we're helping
again protect that asset, right.
If the cells get too warm, wewill degrade the performance to
protect that asset, right.
So there are things that we do.
Again, it's all around puttingsafety into our customer's asset
(30:00):
so that they get a long life.
Matt Weitzel (30:22):
Right, Yep, he agreed its return.
You were saying that you couldcome down after something comes
off of lease maybe it's a sixmonth, one year to kind of check
it out.
What does service look likefrom you guys?
What would you do if you camedown to look at a battery and
see how it's been used?
Is there anything you can do torecondition the batteries?
(30:42):
Like, how does all that work?
Jerry Crump (30:45):
So a lot of what we do through the service team is
remote these days Becausethere's the ability to pull data
off.
We can do through a remotedesktop quite a bit of work on
the service team.
We can look at the state of thehealth, check how the cells are
doing, how it's balancing.
(31:06):
If there's a customer that hasa good charging routine, the
battery is going to lookdifferent after a period of time
than someone that doesn'tnecessarily have a good charging
routine with their batteryright.
So there are things as you as aleasing company, that we can do
to help.
(31:27):
There are things as you as aleasing company, that we can do
to help.
If you do get a battery back,say you know we remote into the
battery for you and look at it,we can help you then get that
battery condition back to whereit really should be If you've
got a customer thatunfortunately didn't treat it
with all the love and care thatwe would expect a customer to do
with something that got onlease Right.
(31:49):
So it's just kind of a broadoverview.
They'll just look at thebalance, the love and care that
we would expect a customer to dowith something that got on
lease right.
Darin Kiefer (31:50):
So it's just kind of a broad overview.
They'll just look at thebalance, they'll look at the
wear items, they'll checkfunctions and then, depending on
where you're at, how long thisis pushed out.
If there's been advancements,maybe there's software, maybe
there's some tool that you wantto upgrade to, so we have all
that.
We would have that optionavailable at that point too.
Jerry Crump (32:11):
Okay, and I think Darren touched on something
earlier and we try to make mostof our our improvements
backwards compatible.
That's important, it really.
It is because as we advance theproduct from things that we
learn even through from ourother divisions right, and we
bring that technology in, ifit's backwards compatible, then
(32:33):
you know we can offer thatupgrade to our customer down the
road to make sure that they'vegot the latest and greatest or
as close as we can rev it to.
Yeah.
Matt Weitzel (32:44):
Take care of your current customers by providing
them the latest and greatest.
Yep, yeah, that makes a lot ofsense.
So what does recycling looklike?
I know we kind of we were kindof talking about that earlier
and when I have spoken to otherpeople about battery recycling,
it doesn't seem like it's theeasiest topic, mostly because we
(33:06):
really haven't necessarily evengotten to the point where we've
had batteries lithium batteriesin GSE to the point where
they're at the end of life yetright, or if they are, there's
not a massive amount of those.
So is that what you all arekind of rubbing up against or
bumping up against?
Or do you all have a solutionfor customers that are looking
(33:30):
for a recycling program oncethese batteries have reached end
of life?
Jerry Crump (33:36):
you know it's.
It's one of those things.
We've got a three-hour processwhich is, you know, reuse,
recycle, relife.
We have had that as gosh sinceI've been here.
Darin Kiefer (33:48):
Yeah, it's been since I've been here.
Yeah.
Jerry Crump (33:51):
So it is a little more difficult because they want
volume on these and, as youjust said, we haven't really
seen a volume of cells come back, because even if we get to that
3000 cycle're, you're stillgoing to have a portion of that
(34:12):
battery that that's usable,right?
So yeah, depending on what theapplication is and and where it
is when we take a look at it,when it technically comes to the
, the cycle life or whateverthat the cell manufacturer says,
we may be be able to actuallyput that right back out there
with a little bit of work on thebattery and put it right back
(34:33):
into use or use it in asecondary life application,
right, which is less demanding,and then who knows how much more
life that gets us, because wehaven't had this technology out
there long enough to really getthose data points yet, right.
But we also are talking withfolks for that complete end of
(34:56):
life, and how do we get therewhen it's time, right?
So we're not just disposing ofcells in an improper way.
Matt Weitzel (35:07):
Yeah, yeah.
So if a customer decides theywant to get a GreenCube's
battery, can they just talk to?
Do you all have relationshipswith the GSE manufacturers to
the point where you can justsell the GSE manufacturer the
GreenCube's battery to fulfillthe customer's want?
Jerry Crump (35:26):
So we do with quite a few and others we've been
asked to look at filling thoseapplications right.
Electric GSE has been around avery long time you wouldn't
think it, but it really has.
Matt Weitzel (35:41):
It has yeah.
Jerry Crump (35:42):
Right.
I mean, we've seen so manyevolutions and sometimes it just
it doesn't make sense for thatupgrade to happen, right, so
we'll?
We'll have a customer come tous with something and I'm like,
oh wow, you still have one ofthose.
Yeah, um, and can you build abattery for it?
Matt Weitzel (35:57):
yeah, like an mx4 or something crazy, yeah,
something right.
Jerry Crump (36:03):
So you're like, uh, sure, I can build you a battery
, but are you going to be ableto support the rest of the parts
that you need for that thing tokeep it going, and does it make
sense?
Or should you be looking at anew asset, right?
And then we see folks that arecoming out with retrofit kits
(36:23):
right, where they're maybeturning something that's IC into
electric now, or they aregutting out the old chassis and
putting in new components.
So you know there's there's alot of neat things that go on in
GSE that not everybody sees dayto day, right day to day, right
(36:50):
.
Matt Weitzel (36:50):
Yeah, there is a lot of that going on and it's
going to be interesting to seehow many people decide to
repower the old GSE, because GSEis just a bunch of steel at the
end of the day, right, and itcan be reused.
So, yeah, whether there's abreak even there and stuff like
that.
So it is something that you seeand you wonder about.
But yeah, I was just kind ofcurious, if you know, if I
ordered manufacturer X productand I was like, hey, I want a
(37:12):
green cubes battery in there,how that would work.
I imagine that that that youknow the manufacturer is going
to make it work because you'rebuying their piece of equipment.
Jerry Crump (37:21):
Yeah, and some have gone through full testing with
us and some are still working toget some testing done with them
.
It really is the choice of thecustomer a lot of times that
drives these things.
We do have some manufacturersthat we've built specific
batteries just for them andwe're the only one that truly
(37:44):
fits in that form.
There is a little bit of that,but a lot of OEMs try to be
agnostic on their battery supplyif they can.
Matt Weitzel (37:54):
Yeah, for sure.
And then I have anotherquestion here.
So do you all like let's saythat I'm a brand new GreenCubes
customer Would you all kind ofwalk me through you know, if I
requested it the best way tomaintain your battery
specifically and do like a classor whatever, so that way I can
kind of cascade that down to myteam on how to best maintain the
(38:17):
battery.
Jerry Crump (38:18):
Yeah, so actually what we do, matt, is we will go
out on site.
If you know, there's a new sitewhere one of our customers will
go out and do on-site trainingwith them.
You may have seen it in thetour today there are a bunch of
people in our other conferenceroom going through a training
class here at the factory,getting factory trained on
(38:41):
maintaining the batteries.
That's something that we offeras well.
The more educated our customeris about the product, the better
it is for them and us.
Matt Weitzel (38:51):
Yeah, that's what I would think.
Yeah, right, Uh-huh.
Jerry Crump (38:54):
You know even simple things is just
understanding that if you let itsit there for three days in the
middle of a blizzard it's notgoing to charge right.
And getting that informationout to the customer base helps,
so that everybody's on the samepage.
Uptime is there, reliability isthere and it just helps
(39:15):
everybody involved.
Matt Weitzel (39:17):
Well, no, that's great.
I really appreciate you tellingme about that.
I think it's time for a GSEstory, because we haven't done
one of those yet and Jerry Crumphas the best GSE stories.
Darren looks at me like hedoesn't know what's going on.
He's obviously not a listenerto the podcast.
So, Darren, this is the GSEpodcast, and on the GSE podcast
we tell GSE stories, don't weJerry?
Jerry Crump (39:40):
Yeah.
Matt Weitzel (39:41):
And because you're not like a true, true GSE
person.
Yet you haven't gotten in theclub.
Have you gotten your letter?
No, oh, so he hasn't gotten hisletter yet.
He's still a couple of yearsaway.
No, I'm not even playing JVball.
Darin Kiefer (39:54):
I'm like a freshman.
Matt Weitzel (39:55):
Yeah, yeah, you haven't lettered yet, or
anything.
Jerry Crump (39:59):
I've dragged him around enough airports, he's
getting there.
Matt Weitzel (40:01):
He's getting there right, but he's not there yet.
So he doesn't have any GSEstories.
Darin Kiefer (40:05):
So have any GSE stories so Jerry, unfortunately
you're on the spot for this onebecause I have the enthusiasm.
Though you do have enthusiasm,I do, All right.
Matt Weitzel (40:12):
And listen.
If he's drug you to an airportand you've got a crazy story to
tell, then by all means, hop,hop in on on the fun.
However, let's hear from Jerryand see what he's, what he's got
for us today.
Jerry Crump (40:25):
Gosh, it's hard to tell a GSE story because most of
them involve things that wecan't talk about on the podcast.
I know that's what everybodysays yeah.
Matt Weitzel (40:34):
Do you know how many of these I've had to edit
out?
Jerry Crump (40:36):
I've actually listened to one.
Oh, okay, yeah, I've listenedto that one.
I was in the room when it gotrecorded.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I thinkthe, the, probably the.
I never knew what GSC was whenI first got assigned it in the
Marine Corps it was.
It was kind of funny becausethey give you an, an, an MOS
(41:00):
number, and then you got to golook up what that number is
Right.
So mine was a 6072 and thenjust said ground support
equipment, hydraulic and diesel.
What the heck is that right?
Yeah, so I walk over to my, mystaff sergeant that I was one of
my drill instructors, that Iknew was in the air wing, and
I'm like so, uh, what is groundsupport equipment?
(41:22):
He just starts laughing.
Okay, did I say something funny?
You know I, this is like rightafter I could actually start
calling him staff sergeantinstead of, you know, uh, having
him look at me and scream in myface and you know, cause.
I earned my EGA at this point.
But um, he goes.
Man, you're, you're the blacksheep of the family and I'm like
(41:43):
, oh, this, this does not bodewell.
I've got, you know know, fouryears nine months to go of being
the black sheep of the family.
But what?
What I really found out aboutgse was it's such a dynamic
group that I think everybodyelse is just jealous I.
You know what I think you'reright because you know I mean,
(42:04):
if you're narrowing or if you'rean airframe guy, you're out
there, you know you're fixingdeposits or you're fixing metal,
right that's no fun.
But you're not working onturbine engines, hydraulic
systems, electrical systems andall these different systems,
right that we all had to learn.
And now we have all thiselectronic stuff.
We have to learn.
And so I really I think theywere jealous.
But now, my first day at JFK,that was memorable.
(42:26):
I'm going around to theterminal to see the operation
for the first time and I drivemy truck around and I watch this
guy come out of the back roomand do a neutral drop and when
the MA-50 came down, the sideskirts on the engine came off.
He slammed that thing so hardand I'm like, oh, this is knew
(42:51):
jfk was going to be rough.
When I saw that, yeah, I bet.
Yeah, I think that guy wasemployed for like 20 minutes
past that.
Matt Weitzel (42:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's uh yeah, gsc is an
interesting one.
Um, I remember I got my job ingsc and, uh, you know, you got
to tell your family and yourfriends you know, I got this new
job and they're like, oh, whatare you doing?
And I'm like, well, I'm in theground support.
And they just you just getthese blank stares.
They have no idea what you'retalking about.
(43:19):
And, even worse than that was.
So for about a year and a halfI worked at another company,
different industry, and we soldborescopes.
Okay, now, the reason that Idid the B like that is because I
would tell people well, youknow, I have a history in ground
support and borescopes andthey'd go ground support, I
don't know what that is, and yousold horoscopes.
(43:42):
So it was.
It was great, you know.
I mean, people are like thisguy really.
You know he knows what's goingon here.
Jerry Crump (43:50):
I'm sure you know what a borescope is Did you go
by Father Weitzel or somethingwhen you were selling your
horoscopes?
You know it's like Mother Cleo.
Matt Weitzel (43:58):
I do have a.
I have a theology degree, so Icould maybe be Father.
Jerry Crump (44:02):
You can call me Father, I don't know, I'm going
to go that way, okay, yeah.
But you know, the other thingthat I think is really funny is
when I started here at GreenCubes, I don't think any of
these guys ever looked out thewindow of the airplane or looked
out the window at the gate tosee what was moving around.
And now I get like pictures asthese guys travel the airport.
(44:27):
Sometimes I'll get a picture ofhey, what's this out there, and
cause they're all looking outthe window Like I do, right,
like I think planes are great,but I'm always staring out to
see what everybody's using andhow they're doing it.
Matt Weitzel (44:39):
The same here and I swear to God, I bet my friends
and family are now on airplanesand they're like nudging the
person next to them and they'relike you see that stuff out
there?
I know a guy who does that.
Yeah, you know they get allexcited.
It was like it never existedbefore.
But the moment they know aboutit, they get all excited about
it and it's because they'rejealous, just like I'm going to
bring it full circle here.
I think you're right, it'sjealousy.
(45:01):
No, that was a great story, Ithink GSE.
Darin Kiefer (45:03):
The interesting part about GSE to me is probably
one of the first ramps thatJerry took me on is GSE has so
many facets to it.
It's a water truck, or it's afood or pushback or belt loader
and then when you get out therenot in a plane, on the actual
ramp it's like a whole city,Like the things that have to
(45:26):
move on in time together to geta plane out of the gate as
quickly as they do.
It's just, I think it'sabsolutely incredible.
It's.
It's really interesting towatch and fascinating to me.
Jerry Crump (45:38):
We used to say there's no air support without
ground support.
Matt Weitzel (45:41):
I like that one.
Jerry Crump (45:43):
Yeah.
Matt Weitzel (45:43):
Man, I should like include that into my outro.
You know what I mean.
Like slip that in, I thinkthat's good, I like that.
No air support like includethat into my outro.
You know what I mean.
Like slip that in, I thinkthat's good, I like that.
No ears for without grounds forSee Jerry's teaching me things.
He's still.
He's still teaching me.
Jerry Crump (45:54):
Yeah, Well, Matt, I really appreciate the visit
today bud.
Matt Weitzel (46:05):
Yeah, yeah, man, we're at 49 minutes.
I usually wrap up in 45 to 50,but I do like to ask this
question Is there anything Imissed?
Is there anything that youwould really want a potential
customer to know aboutGreenCubes that I have not asked
you about today?
That you're just like oh, matt,totally, totally missed the
mark on this, and I need to.
I need to get this out into theatmosphere.
Jerry Crump (46:21):
I think our GSE SafeFlux battery is pretty
bulletproof.
We're a very flexible solutionprovider and I think that's one
thing that sets us apart fromour competition is a lot of
people build the same thing andmake you fit around them.
We'll build something to helpyou be successful.
Matt Weitzel (46:44):
I like it, darren, any parting last words of
wisdom from your end.
Darin Kiefer (46:48):
Maybe one thing I didn't address is the time that
we've spent in this worldlearning and applying those
lessons learned is over a decadeof experience, and with that we
have over 12,000 solutions thatare out there in the field
running, you know, sincepre-2016.
Jerry Crump (47:09):
I heard it was 13,000 as of this week.
It's probably 13,000 solutionsthat are out there in the field
running, you know, sincepre-2016.
I heard it was 13,000 as ofthis week it's probably 13,000
of a second.
Darin Kiefer (47:13):
I know it's north of 1,200 or 12,000.
So you all have the experiencefor sure.
These are big systems too.
These aren't like smallerswappable.
I'm talking 20 kilowatt hourplus systems.
Yeah, yeah.
Matt Weitzel (47:27):
So green cubes, though they're new in, gse, is
definitely not new to thebattery game.
Darin Kiefer (47:32):
Yeah, we understand power.
You know the high powerapplications.
Matt Weitzel (47:36):
Yeah, awesome.
Well, thank you all so much forlunch, for the tour, for
sitting down with me today andtalking batteries, my favorite
topic now.
Jerry Crump (47:45):
Thanks for letting us crack some jokes that you
didn't record.
Oh wait, you did have the micoff on those.
Matt Weitzel (47:52):
Yeah, I did Okay.
Yeah, yeah, no, we're good sowell.
Thank you all so much.
This has been Matt, jerry andDarren for the GSE podcast.
Thanks, guys, thank you.
Thank you for tuning in to thisepisode of the GSE podcast.
We hope you found itinformative and engaging.
If this episode resonated withyou, please share it with your
(48:14):
colleagues and peers in theground support equipment
community.
Your support is invaluable tous.
We'd appreciate it if you couldtake a moment to rate and
review our podcast.
Your feedback not onlyencourages us, but also helps
expand our reach within the GSEcommunity.
Keep an eye out for moreepisodes as we continue to
explore the dynamic world ofground operations, bringing you
(48:35):
the latest trends, insights andstories from the industry.
Thank you for listening to theGSE Podcast.
Until we meet again, staygrounded and keep pushing
forward.
We'll see you next time.
Xcēd adapts to your uniqueoperational needs.
Whether you're ramping up forpeak season or planning for
long-term growth, we provide theright equipment to keep your
operations running smoothly.
This anniversary, we renew ourdedication to empowering your
ground operations withefficiency and innovation.
With Xcēd, you're equipped forsuccess today and prepared for
(00:42):
the challenges of tomorrow.
Xcēd driving excellence on theground year after year.
Explore more at Xcēd.
Darin Kiefer (00:56):
This is Jon Pfister.
I'm Brian Yoder.
This is Mathias Mouillenier.
This is Willy Martinez and youare listening to GSE Podcast.
Matt Weitzel (01:05):
All right.
Well, welcome to the GSEPodcast.
I'm Matt Weitzel and I am herewith Jerry Crump and Darren
Kiefer, and we are here at theGreen Cubes headquarters in
North America.
Is that correct?
Jerry Crump (01:20):
Global.
Global headquarters Yep KokomoIndiana.
Matt Weitzel (01:23):
In Kokomo, indiana , and I was unprepared.
Today.
I didn't come with a jacket,and now we got flurries.
It stopped.
It did stop.
I don't think that it's.
I think it's still going to bepretty cold out there, though,
and I probably should have comeprepared.
Of course, I live in Florida.
I came in my golf attirethinking that it would be enough
(01:44):
.
It's not enough, oh.
Jerry Crump (01:46):
We'll take you to Meyers and get you a car heart.
Matt Weitzel (01:48):
Oh, that would be nice.
You know I haven't been to aMeyers in a really long time.
Great place.
Do you all have those down inDallas?
Jerry Crump (01:55):
No, no, just the Super Bowl.
Matt Weitzel (01:58):
That's a Midwest thing.
I think we got Buc-ee's.
I have Buc-ee's.
You got a lot of jerky Dude.
That place is awesome.
It is the best.
Have you been to a Buc-ee'sbefore, darren?
Darin Kiefer (02:07):
I have not been to a.
Matt Weitzel (02:08):
Buc-ee's.
Oh wow, Nope.
Yeah, we're hoping they'regoing to sponsor the podcast
soon.
We've been in talks.
Jerry Crump (02:14):
Yeah, we'll just keep saying their name over and
over and hope.
Matt Weitzel (02:20):
No, I like it.
So yeah, so we're here inKokomo, indiana.
We just got a chance to touryour facility.
Really appreciate you taking methrough all that Sounds like
you all have some amazingtechnology.
We're going to try to dive intothat today and kind of get a
little bit better of a view ofwhat Green Cubes has to offer.
I know you all kind of are biginto the material handling space
(02:41):
, but, darren, would you mindkind of running me through how
Green Cube started, how long youall have been in business and
how you got into ground supportequipment, batteries.
Darin Kiefer (02:52):
Sure, First of all , thanks for having us, matt,
and thanks for coming up andtouring our facility.
We appreciate you taking thetime.
So Green Cube started 1986, andthat was more power electronics
, smaller wall wart power supply, 12-volt supplies, 9-volt
supplies, things of this nature.
And then we moved into smallerbackup systems for cars.
(03:13):
It was kind of an auxiliarypower for automotive.
And then eventually thattranspired into swappable,
smaller swappable systems,thinking fulfillment carts or
medical carts, with thecomputers systems.
And we actually still have thatdivision of our business.
It's quite large, mobile.
(03:35):
That's where we really got intobatteries and understanding
batteries, lead acid intolithium.
And then that turned into themotive for the bigger, higher
power batteries and highervoltage systems.
And it wasn't too big of a leapfrom going from forklift to the
(03:55):
GSE space because they're verysimilar in the way the batteries
are designed and the purpose ofthe battery and the equipment,
because the battery is alsoconsidered a counterweight or a
ballast for traction or liftingloading.
So ironically we did sometesting early on with GSE
(04:17):
equipment, kind of even beforemotive really, or the material
handling aspect of it took off.
And then a couple of yearsafter material handling really
taking off, we started GSE andthat's grown over the last five
years substantially, where we'vedefinitely went in.
We were quick to market andthere was a lot of lessons
(04:39):
learned over those five years.
But I think we've applied themto our latest GSE line and
developed a pretty substantialproduct in the market space and
addresses a lot of the issuesend users face.
Matt Weitzel (04:53):
So was material handling using lithium well
before GSE.
Jerry Crump (04:59):
Much faster adopter .
Yeah, because in GSE we thinkwe're running the equipment all
the time but we're not comparedto a forklift operation.
So the forklifts will run 24-7in these warehouses and having
something that will accept ahigh rate of charge really is
(05:19):
advantageous for thoseoperations, just like it is for
GSE, but more so, you know, withthe forklifts running the high
pace that they run.
Yeah.
Matt Weitzel (05:30):
So they were using lead acid obviously as well,
right prior to the adoption oflithium.
And then did you all ever?
Were you all ever into leadacid?
Or did you start as a purelithium battery supplier?
It was lithium from thebeginning.
Okay, yep, all right, Wow, thewhole way back in in 86?
.
Darin Kiefer (05:48):
Well, no for the motive division.
Okay, the motive division.
Matt Weitzel (05:51):
Gotcha Okay, Nice.
And then have you always beenin Kokomo Indiana or somewhere
in Indiana.
Darin Kiefer (05:58):
It, yeah, somewhere in Indiana.
It kind of bounced around alittle bit before it became what
it is now and then ultimatelywe landed here because of Kokomo
is a really good, has a reallygood base of engineers.
There's a lot of, because youhave the automotive industry
here.
Okay, so it's a really goodlocation and it's kind of north
(06:19):
central Indiana, so it workswell for us.
Matt Weitzel (06:23):
Yeah, I guess you can get trucking fairly easily.
Indiana is like a big I meanwell for us.
Yeah, I guess you can gettrucking fairly easily.
Indiana is like a big I meanwhat they call it.
You know, it's like we're allthose, the roads, the crossroads
of America.
Yeah, so I mean it's it's easyto get, to get freight in and
out of here, so I think thatwe're in some kind of did I hear
this right?
A GM or Chevy or somebody wasthis is like one of their
(06:44):
buildings.
Darin Kiefer (06:44):
This right, a GM or Chevy or somebody was.
This is like one of theirbuildings.
Yes, this was a GM building, atooling building.
Matt Weitzel (06:47):
So did GM shut down this facility and then
start just selling off thebuildings, and they're no longer
here or are they still here?
Darin Kiefer (06:54):
So this whole block is GM.
Okay, and this building upfront and to the back here.
Are they still doing any kindof stuff here in the area?
This one is shut down in thefront completely.
But they did open up and retoolthis facility over here during
COVID and they were doingventilators just out back here.
Oh, wow yeah.
It's actually a funny story.
(07:15):
When our VP of sales, tonyCooper he was GM at the time
Looking at this building to rentwas when they were standing
that up over there and VicePresident Pence was visiting the
facility and there was, youknow, secret Service all around
this block and Tony was like Idon't think, I'm going to go out
(07:36):
back.
Jerry Crump (07:38):
That's hilarious.
During COVID, when there was apark shortage, from where our
parking lot ends all the waydown to the end of the road was
stacked full of vehicles waitingfor parts.
Yeah, there, you know probablya couple hundred Silverados
sitting in the parking lot outthere during that time.
Darin Kiefer (07:56):
Yeah, so they were trucking them from Fort Wayne,
which I'm sure you're familiarwith, the GM plant on the south
side there and they were storingthem here.
So GM planned on the south sidethere and they were storing
them here.
They were drivable but theywere missing like a window
controller or smaller level ICsto fully function.
So they would stage them here.
Matt Weitzel (08:12):
Yeah, that was during the time where they're
missing all these parts, right,yep, and they could just.
They would just need one chipor whatever to complete the rest
of the car, but they didn'thave it Right, there's like a
short supply or whatever.
So, yeah, that's interesting,all right.
So then, jerry, when did youstart with Green Cubes?
Jerry Crump (08:28):
Oh, I started with Green Cubes in 21.
And took a little hiatus andwent over to Wallard for about
19 months and then came back toGreen Cubes and it's been great
being back.
Matt Weitzel (08:44):
Yeah, so you started in 21.
What were you doing prior?
I mean, you've had a long, youknow historic, very historic run
in GSE.
Can we say?
Jerry Crump (08:55):
Yeah, it's been a long road since the Marine Corps
, you know, started out as a GSEmechanic in the Marines, went
to school to get away from GSEof all things and when I got
hired by Swissport I was aresource planner for them.
And I'm out in San Franciscoand I saw a Waller pushback go
(09:17):
rolling by on the ramp and oh, Iused to work on those.
And next thing you know JerryMcCauley's pulling me in his
office to talk about gettingback into GSE.
And then I ended up at JFK andthen director of purchasing for
Swissport.
The Americas Took a little leftthere, went over to Somerset
(09:38):
Capital and then no pun intendedbut I had a blast at Virgin
Galactic setting up you know,their GSE program over there and
I mean that was a great run.
Really cool things happened.
There's nothing like taking abreak from your work day to go
watch a rocket motor kickoff.
That is pretty cool, right,yeah, so that was a lot of fun.
(10:00):
And then I left there for Posiicharge, did the sales, gc sales
for posi charge and then fromthere to here.
So yeah, I've had a few movesin the industry but it you know,
been doing these green projectsand stuff since uh 09 at
swissport and it and it'samazing how much has changed
(10:25):
since then.
Lots of new things andimprovements.
Still some of the same oldproblems, but lots of
interesting things.
Matt Weitzel (10:35):
Well, it definitely seems like electric
GSE is really taking off.
Obviously there's a bunch ofmandates and then everybody has
their ESG goals, so they'rethey're looking to heavily
invest into electric GSE.
Batteries is a huge part ofthat.
You know which battery are theygoing to choose?
Infrastructure is a wholedifferent story that we have
kind of covered over and overand over on this podcast.
(10:57):
But you know, I've never talkedto a battery supplier.
That's the reason I'm heretoday, flyer.
That's the reason I'm heretoday.
I wanted to start with you guysand kind of talk to you all
about you know what makes yourbatteries different than all the
other batteries out in themarketplace today, and just kind
of dive into where you thinkthe market is headed, what
technology advancements youthink that you're going to see
(11:19):
within lithium, and then kind offuture, you know how do you see
it, kind of coming fullevolution.
So, jerry, what are yourthoughts on kind of where we're
at now and then what Green Cubesis doing to kind of stay on top
of lithium?
Jerry Crump (11:38):
Well, I mean, we're kind of at this weird or what I
thought was going to be a weirdcrossroad, right, with the zero
emission ramps starting to puthigh voltage EV charging
infrastructure out there, wethought we would start to see
more high voltage changeover.
In the GSE industry we buildbatteries from 24 to 96 volt.
(12:00):
So you know, that's not amarket that we're in today but
it's something we're keeping aneye on.
Then, you know, the other day Ihear you know somebody's coming
back to 80 volts, right.
So I think the age old problemis the infrastructure still
right is kind of dictating wherethe technology is going to go
(12:21):
or what's going to limit it.
Just like we were talkingearlier during your visit, folks
were getting really creativetrying to manage the energy.
When lead acid was theavailable technology and now,
with lithium characteristics,the 1C discharge and the 1C
(12:43):
recharge.
And having the ability to flowenergy in and out of the battery
without damaging it at a highrate really reduces some of that
creativity that was needed tomake the larger equipment work
in this sector.
But you know, I think as we goyou're maybe going to see a new
(13:07):
chemistry or something thatcomes out down the road, and
that's always things we keep oureye on.
Or you may see bettercomponents with better wear life
or something that justincreases the uptime of the
product that's out there.
We're constantly doingcontinual improvement to our
product line based off of whatwe see in the product, that's in
(13:29):
the field, and what we do inthe lab.
Matt Weitzel (13:32):
So yeah, and it's interesting, I said that we
weren't going to talk aboutinfrastructure, but I think kind
of a couple of years ago I wasdoing an interview and we were
kind of talking about highvoltage charging and how we
thought that, you know, theindustry would eventually move
towards that, and I think thatstill may be true, but I
definitely think at that pointwe thought it was going to be
sooner than later and after kindof talking to a lot of people,
(13:56):
it doesn't seem like we haveenough infrastructure as it is
right now, let alone to supporthigh voltage.
Would you agree with that atthis point?
Jerry Crump (14:06):
Yeah, I mean there was a common theme a few weeks
ago when we were all up in NewYork and we participated in the
panel up there, and that was thelimitation of the electricity
that's available at the airports, right?
So you've now got airports thatare starting to get creative
with how to add to theiravailable supply of energy
(14:30):
whether that is through sometype of solar farm or they're
putting microgrids out there orbattery backup you know things
like that to enhance theirability to then feed the grid
more, because you're gridlimited in a lot of these
applications.
Matt Weitzel (14:48):
and, and maybe that's what's kind of stalling
some of the high voltage stuff,because that's just another
piece that's eating into thatavailable grid that's available
and that is something that Iagree with you, because we were
both at that, uh, thatconference in new york and that
we kept hearing that over andover which is basically there's
not enough.
You know, there's not enoughgrid to support that at the
(15:11):
moment.
So I really do think that we'removing further and further away
from that instead of closer toit.
I think, obviously, eventuallywe'll get there, but at this
moment in time, it definitelyseems like, you know, the 80
volt solution, which is whaty'all are currently providing.
Is that correct?
Yes, yeah, it is is what peopleare going to be moving forward
with.
Darin Kiefer (15:31):
So I think there's there's a second aspect, that
too, from a people perspective,because your technician level
changes at that voltage classtoo, because you're going from
from 80, from, you know youdon't need the most specialized
technician to work on 80 voltequipment.
It's, it's more of a.
It is considered high voltagebut it's not three 400 where
(15:56):
you're talking serious injury todeath, you know.
So your technician base, whichis always, always a problem on
the service side, when you thinkafter sales, you know you have
to be able to manage the productand keep it up.
Matt Weitzel (16:10):
Yeah, I was just talking to Billy Ash, which I'm
sure Jerry knows.
He's a service technician forTextron that's been in the
business for 35 years 39,something like this some insane
amount of years and he wassaying the same thing.
When he's trying to help people, you know, remote diagnose
things.
Once he finds out if it's highvoltage, he's like, hey, just
(16:31):
stop, I'll come and do thatBecause, to your point, not
everybody is specialized in up.
I really appreciate that, Jerry.
What makes the GreenCubesbattery better or different than
your competitors time and timeagain, with the knowledge that
we built up on the materialhandling side?
Jerry Crump (17:08):
working in the cold freezer environment, right?
That translates well intoworking on a cold ramp in Denver
or Chicago or Minneapolis,right?
Taking that knowledge and thenrefining it to the application
with our customers to make surethat we're delivering a
(17:29):
bulletproof solution.
One thing that I really likeabout GreenCube is we are always
looking to fine tune theproduct, and the continuous
improvement that I've seen since21, when I got over here, has
been leaps and bounds, andthat's all in the positive
(17:49):
direction, right?
Being open with working withother folks in the industry,
like the telemetry companies,letting them have our data and
not being stingy about that andtrying to, you know, shake
somebody down for a nickel Ithink that's a feather in our
hat as well, right?
So we're seeing more and moreof the owners of these large
(18:14):
fleets wanting data and makingdata-driven decisions.
Instead of go out there andmeasure once and then go back
and take a snapshot in fiveyears and see if it still works,
right, they're wanting to seedaily, weekly, hourly what's
going on with their fleets andmanaging that, because, at the
(18:35):
end of the day, gse is anexpense to the airline that they
have to manage, right?
Yeah, for sure.
I don't know an airline thatgenerates revenue off of GSE.
Matt Weitzel (18:45):
None, I don't think Right Nothing anywhere.
Jerry Crump (18:47):
yeah know an airline that generates revenue
off of GSE?
None, I don't think.
Not that I'm aware.
Yeah, you may have a groundhandler, make some money
spraying de-icing fluid orrunning fuel trucks, but
generally GSE is cost and if youmanage your cost you manage
your profit margins.
Matt Weitzel (19:01):
So a couple of things.
So I brought Javier up herewith me, so I flew into
Indianapolis and Xcēd has afacility in Indianapolis where
he has all of our equipmentrefurbished and repair and then
send out to our customers.
And Javier is our operationsmanager operations director now,
sorry, I didn't don't want toleave that out and so I brought
(19:23):
him up here with me and I guessthat you know he's been talking
to you guys for a couple ofyears and he was saying how much
the product has improved justin the last year and a half
since, I guess, the last timethat he's spoken with you guys,
and he was very impressed.
So what are some of thoseimprovements that he was so
impressed by?
If you don't mind me asking,Well, we did a couple things.
Darin Kiefer (20:12):
Well, we did a couple things, actually items.
So by doing that then youdecrease your downtime because
it's much easier to change outcomponents and if you don't have
a certified technician at thatlocation, you can actually
remove the whole system and shipit in and just put a new one on
and get your unit back out inservice.
So that was a big redesign.
(20:33):
We wanted to have a form fitfor all of our whole GSE line,
so it was a common componentacross everything, which also
gives you ease of your sparingneeds as well.
And then kind of a biggerproject that took on over a year
was addressing some of theshortcomings we had in our
(20:55):
controller and that was justinterfacing with equipment, some
of our various algorithms.
So we spent, we started thatproject in 23 and kind of slow
rolled them out through 24.
Now it's a common productacross our whole line going out
of the factory.
But one of the requirements ofthat was backwards compatibility
(21:17):
.
So if you have an existingfleet that you want to upgrade
to the latest controller, it'skind of a plug and play solution
for them and that addressed, Iwould say, 99.9% of our issues.
The other ones are a littlemore difficult of the human
nature.
I can't make a controller thatmakes a technician plug in or
(21:39):
makes an operator plug into acharger, which is one of the
biggest issues that everybodyfaces.
Matt Weitzel (21:46):
Yeah, let's talk about that really quickly.
So from my understanding youknow you don't want to get
lithium below what.
What's the threshold like 20percent, where you start seeing
degradation of the battery?
Is that correct?
Am I wrong about that?
It's OK if I'm wrong.
Darin Kiefer (22:03):
Yeah, you can go below that.
You actually have a pretty bigrange with lithium and we
control it.
We have layered protection.
Matt Weitzel (22:12):
Well, that's where I'm going with this question,
or?
Darin Kiefer (22:14):
safe range.
So we want to shut downcompletely and when you hit that
level with our solution itrequires technician to intervene
(22:35):
with the battery to keep itfrom going lower.
Matt Weitzel (22:36):
So you put in safeguards so that an operator
really can't screw up thebattery too badly.
Is that correct?
Exactly yes.
Jerry Crump (22:42):
Yeah, we help our customers protect their asset.
Matt Weitzel (22:45):
Yeah.
Right, okay so you don't let itget to dangerous levels.
Jerry Crump (22:48):
Nope, and LFP is the chemistry we use.
Other chemistries have otherproperties, but with LFP that's
how we're treating that solution.
Matt Weitzel (22:59):
Okay, and then do you all help customers do things
Like I think Javier was talkingto you guys about having the
unit slow down to the pointwhere an operator really
wouldn't want to use it or theycan't use it.
All they can do is just then,at that point, drive it to go
get it charged.
Do you all help out with that,or is that more on the customer
side?
Jerry Crump (23:18):
So we'll help interface with the controllers
that are on the vehicles.
You know, based on what thecontroller has available to it.
Yes, we'll help it go into limpmode.
We what the controller hasavailable to it, yes, we'll help
it go into limp mode.
We can send signals that dothings.
We can, you know, help with theproblem of driveways right, so
(23:48):
we can allow the battery, if itsenses that it's charging, to
not discharge, so that it won't.
The operator can't just jump on.
And next thing you know theylook behind them and here's this
20 foot cable chasing them downthe ramp like a snake.
Setups and things like that, orproc switches on charge doors.
You know in the past where wecan pull some of that complexity
(24:12):
out and do it through software.
Matt Weitzel (24:15):
Okay, and then on the software side, I think you
were mentioning how you don'tmind providing information to
these telematics companies.
Is that correct?
Like you're pretty, you canwork with any telematics
provider.
Jerry Crump (24:30):
So I'll let Darren answer that one.
He's been involved in a lot ofthe testing that we've been
doing with these folks.
Darin Kiefer (24:36):
Yeah, so we've worked with a couple different
companies and we've actually setup a profile with one, but
we're very open.
We try to make whatever datapoint we're collecting available
on the bus, so you can kind ofbuild out whatever you want.
Fortunately for us, we own ourcontroller, is hardware wise, is
(24:57):
our design, we manufacture itand so is the software, so we
have full flexibility ofwhatever that need may be.
If it's a custom solution, wecan look at it and usually we
can turn software very, veryquickly internally and it makes
more sense in this.
You know, iot is a huge thing,not only in the professional
(25:19):
world but the consumer world.
Everybody wants connectivity toevery device, so we try to work
with as many third-partycompanies that do it well as we
can, because it makes it easierfor the end user to go to one
location to get all theirinformation, instead of going to
a dashboard for the charger, adashboard for the battery, a
dashboard for the equipment andwhatever else is within that
(25:43):
system and going to all thesedifferent.
We would rather aggregate thatthrough one dashboard dashboard
and they can see the overallview and it makes it easier for
the end user to really get whatthey're looking for in that data
, whether that be from aproduction standpoint or a
service standpoint.
You can build out thesedashboards to support whatever
(26:05):
vertical is wanting that data orviewing that data.
So we try to keep it as open aspossible.
Matt Weitzel (26:10):
That's awesome.
Yeah, I've got a big problem.
You know where.
I can never remember any of mypasswords or anything like that.
When I go to Pizza Hut you knowwhat I mean and I'm ready to
order my pizza and I can'tremember my login.
That's a problem, you know.
Can you imagine having likeeight different systems that all
your data is on and you got tolog into each one of those and
see it?
I mean, being able to provide acustomer with just with all
(26:31):
their data so they can put itinto the system that they've
decided to use is fantastic.
That's really great to you guys.
Jerry Crump (26:39):
And it allows them to make that decision for which
third party system works bestfor them, right.
Matt Weitzel (26:44):
Yeah.
Jerry Crump (26:44):
There are really good systems out there, but not
everybody's looking for the samething.
Matt Weitzel (26:50):
Correct yeah, not everybody's going to have the
same telematics solution.
Correct yeah, some are going toor data management, or whatever
.
Jerry Crump (26:56):
Yeah, some are going to want to do it this way
and some are going to want to doit another way, and the other
part of that, too, is it doesn'tget us wrapped up in having to
figure out how to transmit thatdata, which is an issue with the
telematics, right?
I mean, you just did.
You had Matthias on your lastpodcast, right?
Matt Weitzel (27:16):
I did yeah.
Jerry Crump (27:17):
And you know he talked about how they're putting
their own SIM card solution in,because they found that using
others' Wi-Fi just wasn't areliable option for them to do
it.
So you know, work with thosethat do it well, as Darren said.
Matt Weitzel (27:32):
Exactly, that's it , exactly.
So talk to me about batterytemperature and how that can
affect, like, the longevity of alithium battery, and then how
your solution really helps.
You know, helps provide aconsistent temperature and all
that kind of stuff.
Jerry Crump (27:50):
GSE is, and I'll let Darren step in any time he
wants here, but we don't work inan air-conditioned box.
Matt Weitzel (27:59):
No, we don't.
We're not as lucky as thematerial handling folks right.
Well, you know, and even then,I guess Some of those warehouses
are pretty brutal.
Yeah, oh, that's true.
Jerry Crump (28:08):
But it's interesting because if you go
into the bag room, the bag roommight be heated right, and then
you go outside and it's 20 below, and you know.
So we're always working inthese varying climates and all
of that.
But GSE are such long lifeassets, you never know where
that asset's going to end up.
It used to be, you know, thenewer stuff would kind of start
(28:33):
in the harsher environmentbecause you needed more
reliability in that equipmentand then it would matriculate
down to you know, maybe down toFlorida or Texas or someplace
where it was a little easier tokeep up that equipment that was
maybe a little more worn thanthe stuff right off the line.
So when we build these GSEbatteries, we have to build them
(28:56):
to operate whether it's hot outor whether it's cold out, and
that swing could be 115 inPhoenix and it could be, you
know, 40 below in North Dakotaor something right.
So I mean it's GSE is.
It can be brutal.
(29:16):
I mean working the ramp is notalways fun.
So when we there are certainsafeties that we put into the
battery.
Right, because you can't chargea lithium battery when it's the
battery.
Right, because you can't chargea lithium battery when it's
below freezing, right.
So we put set points in thereso that the customer, even if
(29:36):
they plug in and if the cellsare too cold, we're helping
again protect that asset, right.
If the cells get too warm, wewill degrade the performance to
protect that asset, right.
So there are things that we do.
Again, it's all around puttingsafety into our customer's asset
(30:00):
so that they get a long life.
Matt Weitzel (30:22):
Right, Yep, he agreed its return.
You were saying that you couldcome down after something comes
off of lease maybe it's a sixmonth, one year to kind of check
it out.
What does service look likefrom you guys?
What would you do if you camedown to look at a battery and
see how it's been used?
Is there anything you can do torecondition the batteries?
(30:42):
Like, how does all that work?
Jerry Crump (30:45):
So a lot of what we do through the service team is
remote these days Becausethere's the ability to pull data
off.
We can do through a remotedesktop quite a bit of work on
the service team.
We can look at the state of thehealth, check how the cells are
doing, how it's balancing.
(31:06):
If there's a customer that hasa good charging routine, the
battery is going to lookdifferent after a period of time
than someone that doesn'tnecessarily have a good charging
routine with their batteryright.
So there are things as you as aleasing company, that we can do
to help.
(31:27):
There are things as you as aleasing company, that we can do
to help.
If you do get a battery back,say you know we remote into the
battery for you and look at it,we can help you then get that
battery condition back to whereit really should be If you've
got a customer thatunfortunately didn't treat it
with all the love and care thatwe would expect a customer to do
with something that got onlease Right.
(31:49):
So it's just kind of a broadoverview.
They'll just look at thebalance, the love and care that
we would expect a customer to dowith something that got on
lease right.
Darin Kiefer (31:50):
So it's just kind of a broad overview.
They'll just look at thebalance, they'll look at the
wear items, they'll checkfunctions and then, depending on
where you're at, how long thisis pushed out.
If there's been advancements,maybe there's software, maybe
there's some tool that you wantto upgrade to, so we have all
that.
We would have that optionavailable at that point too.
Jerry Crump (32:11):
Okay, and I think Darren touched on something
earlier and we try to make mostof our our improvements
backwards compatible.
That's important, it really.
It is because as we advance theproduct from things that we
learn even through from ourother divisions right, and we
bring that technology in, ifit's backwards compatible, then
(32:33):
you know we can offer thatupgrade to our customer down the
road to make sure that they'vegot the latest and greatest or
as close as we can rev it to.
Yeah.
Matt Weitzel (32:44):
Take care of your current customers by providing
them the latest and greatest.
Yep, yeah, that makes a lot ofsense.
So what does recycling looklike?
I know we kind of we were kindof talking about that earlier
and when I have spoken to otherpeople about battery recycling,
it doesn't seem like it's theeasiest topic, mostly because we
(33:06):
really haven't necessarily evengotten to the point where we've
had batteries lithium batteriesin GSE to the point where
they're at the end of life yetright, or if they are, there's
not a massive amount of those.
So is that what you all arekind of rubbing up against or
bumping up against?
Or do you all have a solutionfor customers that are looking
(33:30):
for a recycling program oncethese batteries have reached end
of life?
Jerry Crump (33:36):
you know it's.
It's one of those things.
We've got a three-hour processwhich is, you know, reuse,
recycle, relife.
We have had that as gosh sinceI've been here.
Darin Kiefer (33:48):
Yeah, it's been since I've been here.
Yeah.
Jerry Crump (33:51):
So it is a little more difficult because they want
volume on these and, as youjust said, we haven't really
seen a volume of cells come back, because even if we get to that
3000 cycle're, you're stillgoing to have a portion of that
(34:12):
battery that that's usable,right?
So yeah, depending on what theapplication is and and where it
is when we take a look at it,when it technically comes to the
, the cycle life or whateverthat the cell manufacturer says,
we may be be able to actuallyput that right back out there
with a little bit of work on thebattery and put it right back
(34:33):
into use or use it in asecondary life application,
right, which is less demanding,and then who knows how much more
life that gets us, because wehaven't had this technology out
there long enough to really getthose data points yet, right.
But we also are talking withfolks for that complete end of
(34:56):
life, and how do we get therewhen it's time, right?
So we're not just disposing ofcells in an improper way.
Matt Weitzel (35:07):
Yeah, yeah.
So if a customer decides theywant to get a GreenCube's
battery, can they just talk to?
Do you all have relationshipswith the GSE manufacturers to
the point where you can justsell the GSE manufacturer the
GreenCube's battery to fulfillthe customer's want?
Jerry Crump (35:26):
So we do with quite a few and others we've been
asked to look at filling thoseapplications right.
Electric GSE has been around avery long time you wouldn't
think it, but it really has.
Matt Weitzel (35:41):
It has yeah.
Jerry Crump (35:42):
Right.
I mean, we've seen so manyevolutions and sometimes it just
it doesn't make sense for thatupgrade to happen, right, so
we'll?
We'll have a customer come tous with something and I'm like,
oh wow, you still have one ofthose.
Yeah, um, and can you build abattery for it?
Matt Weitzel (35:57):
yeah, like an mx4 or something crazy, yeah,
something right.
Jerry Crump (36:03):
So you're like, uh, sure, I can build you a battery
, but are you going to be ableto support the rest of the parts
that you need for that thing tokeep it going, and does it make
sense?
Or should you be looking at anew asset, right?
And then we see folks that arecoming out with retrofit kits
(36:23):
right, where they're maybeturning something that's IC into
electric now, or they aregutting out the old chassis and
putting in new components.
So you know there's there's alot of neat things that go on in
GSE that not everybody sees dayto day, right day to day, right
(36:50):
.
Matt Weitzel (36:50):
Yeah, there is a lot of that going on and it's
going to be interesting to seehow many people decide to
repower the old GSE, because GSEis just a bunch of steel at the
end of the day, right, and itcan be reused.
So, yeah, whether there's abreak even there and stuff like
that.
So it is something that you seeand you wonder about.
But yeah, I was just kind ofcurious, if you know, if I
ordered manufacturer X productand I was like, hey, I want a
(37:12):
green cubes battery in there,how that would work.
I imagine that that that youknow the manufacturer is going
to make it work because you'rebuying their piece of equipment.
Jerry Crump (37:21):
Yeah, and some have gone through full testing with
us and some are still working toget some testing done with them
.
It really is the choice of thecustomer a lot of times that
drives these things.
We do have some manufacturersthat we've built specific
batteries just for them andwe're the only one that truly
(37:44):
fits in that form.
There is a little bit of that,but a lot of OEMs try to be
agnostic on their battery supplyif they can.
Matt Weitzel (37:54):
Yeah, for sure.
And then I have anotherquestion here.
So do you all like let's saythat I'm a brand new GreenCubes
customer Would you all kind ofwalk me through you know, if I
requested it the best way tomaintain your battery
specifically and do like a classor whatever, so that way I can
kind of cascade that down to myteam on how to best maintain the
(38:17):
battery.
Jerry Crump (38:18):
Yeah, so actually what we do, matt, is we will go
out on site.
If you know, there's a new sitewhere one of our customers will
go out and do on-site trainingwith them.
You may have seen it in thetour today there are a bunch of
people in our other conferenceroom going through a training
class here at the factory,getting factory trained on
(38:41):
maintaining the batteries.
That's something that we offeras well.
The more educated our customeris about the product, the better
it is for them and us.
Matt Weitzel (38:51):
Yeah, that's what I would think.
Yeah, right, Uh-huh.
Jerry Crump (38:54):
You know even simple things is just
understanding that if you let itsit there for three days in the
middle of a blizzard it's notgoing to charge right.
And getting that informationout to the customer base helps,
so that everybody's on the samepage.
Uptime is there, reliability isthere and it just helps
(39:15):
everybody involved.
Matt Weitzel (39:17):
Well, no, that's great.
I really appreciate you tellingme about that.
I think it's time for a GSEstory, because we haven't done
one of those yet and Jerry Crumphas the best GSE stories.
Darren looks at me like hedoesn't know what's going on.
He's obviously not a listenerto the podcast.
So, Darren, this is the GSEpodcast, and on the GSE podcast
we tell GSE stories, don't weJerry?
Jerry Crump (39:40):
Yeah.
Matt Weitzel (39:41):
And because you're not like a true, true GSE
person.
Yet you haven't gotten in theclub.
Have you gotten your letter?
No, oh, so he hasn't gotten hisletter yet.
He's still a couple of yearsaway.
No, I'm not even playing JVball.
Darin Kiefer (39:54):
I'm like a freshman.
Matt Weitzel (39:55):
Yeah, yeah, you haven't lettered yet, or
anything.
Jerry Crump (39:59):
I've dragged him around enough airports, he's
getting there.
Matt Weitzel (40:01):
He's getting there right, but he's not there yet.
So he doesn't have any GSEstories.
Darin Kiefer (40:05):
So have any GSE stories so Jerry, unfortunately
you're on the spot for this onebecause I have the enthusiasm.
Though you do have enthusiasm,I do, All right.
Matt Weitzel (40:12):
And listen.
If he's drug you to an airportand you've got a crazy story to
tell, then by all means, hop,hop in on on the fun.
However, let's hear from Jerryand see what he's, what he's got
for us today.
Jerry Crump (40:25):
Gosh, it's hard to tell a GSE story because most of
them involve things that wecan't talk about on the podcast.
I know that's what everybodysays yeah.
Matt Weitzel (40:34):
Do you know how many of these I've had to edit
out?
Jerry Crump (40:36):
I've actually listened to one.
Oh, okay, yeah, I've listenedto that one.
I was in the room when it gotrecorded.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I thinkthe, the, probably the.
I never knew what GSC was whenI first got assigned it in the
Marine Corps it was.
It was kind of funny becausethey give you an, an, an MOS
(41:00):
number, and then you got to golook up what that number is
Right.
So mine was a 6072 and thenjust said ground support
equipment, hydraulic and diesel.
What the heck is that right?
Yeah, so I walk over to my, mystaff sergeant that I was one of
my drill instructors, that Iknew was in the air wing, and
I'm like so, uh, what is groundsupport equipment?
(41:22):
He just starts laughing.
Okay, did I say something funny?
You know I, this is like rightafter I could actually start
calling him staff sergeantinstead of, you know, uh, having
him look at me and scream in myface and you know, cause.
I earned my EGA at this point.
But um, he goes.
Man, you're, you're the blacksheep of the family and I'm like
(41:43):
, oh, this, this does not bodewell.
I've got, you know know, fouryears nine months to go of being
the black sheep of the family.
But what?
What I really found out aboutgse was it's such a dynamic
group that I think everybodyelse is just jealous I.
You know what I think you'reright because you know I mean,
(42:04):
if you're narrowing or if you'rean airframe guy, you're out
there, you know you're fixingdeposits or you're fixing metal,
right that's no fun.
But you're not working onturbine engines, hydraulic
systems, electrical systems andall these different systems,
right that we all had to learn.
And now we have all thiselectronic stuff.
We have to learn.
And so I really I think theywere jealous.
But now, my first day at JFK,that was memorable.
(42:26):
I'm going around to theterminal to see the operation
for the first time and I drivemy truck around and I watch this
guy come out of the back roomand do a neutral drop and when
the MA-50 came down, the sideskirts on the engine came off.
He slammed that thing so hardand I'm like, oh, this is knew
(42:51):
jfk was going to be rough.
When I saw that, yeah, I bet.
Yeah, I think that guy wasemployed for like 20 minutes
past that.
Matt Weitzel (42:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's uh yeah, gsc is an
interesting one.
Um, I remember I got my job ingsc and, uh, you know, you got
to tell your family and yourfriends you know, I got this new
job and they're like, oh, whatare you doing?
And I'm like, well, I'm in theground support.
And they just you just getthese blank stares.
They have no idea what you'retalking about.
(43:19):
And, even worse than that was.
So for about a year and a halfI worked at another company,
different industry, and we soldborescopes.
Okay, now, the reason that Idid the B like that is because I
would tell people well, youknow, I have a history in ground
support and borescopes andthey'd go ground support, I
don't know what that is, and yousold horoscopes.
(43:42):
So it was.
It was great, you know.
I mean, people are like thisguy really.
You know he knows what's goingon here.
Jerry Crump (43:50):
I'm sure you know what a borescope is Did you go
by Father Weitzel or somethingwhen you were selling your
horoscopes?
You know it's like Mother Cleo.
Matt Weitzel (43:58):
I do have a.
I have a theology degree, so Icould maybe be Father.
Jerry Crump (44:02):
You can call me Father, I don't know, I'm going
to go that way, okay, yeah.
But you know, the other thingthat I think is really funny is
when I started here at GreenCubes, I don't think any of
these guys ever looked out thewindow of the airplane or looked
out the window at the gate tosee what was moving around.
And now I get like pictures asthese guys travel the airport.
(44:27):
Sometimes I'll get a picture ofhey, what's this out there, and
cause they're all looking outthe window Like I do, right,
like I think planes are great,but I'm always staring out to
see what everybody's using andhow they're doing it.
Matt Weitzel (44:39):
The same here and I swear to God, I bet my friends
and family are now on airplanesand they're like nudging the
person next to them and they'relike you see that stuff out
there?
I know a guy who does that.
Yeah, you know they get allexcited.
It was like it never existedbefore.
But the moment they know aboutit, they get all excited about
it and it's because they'rejealous, just like I'm going to
bring it full circle here.
I think you're right, it'sjealousy.
(45:01):
No, that was a great story, Ithink GSE.
Darin Kiefer (45:03):
The interesting part about GSE to me is probably
one of the first ramps thatJerry took me on is GSE has so
many facets to it.
It's a water truck, or it's afood or pushback or belt loader
and then when you get out therenot in a plane, on the actual
ramp it's like a whole city,Like the things that have to
(45:26):
move on in time together to geta plane out of the gate as
quickly as they do.
It's just, I think it'sabsolutely incredible.
It's.
It's really interesting towatch and fascinating to me.
Jerry Crump (45:38):
We used to say there's no air support without
ground support.
Matt Weitzel (45:41):
I like that one.
Jerry Crump (45:43):
Yeah.
Matt Weitzel (45:43):
Man, I should like include that into my outro.
You know what I mean.
Like slip that in, I thinkthat's good, I like that.
No air support like includethat into my outro.
You know what I mean.
Like slip that in, I thinkthat's good, I like that.
No ears for without grounds forSee Jerry's teaching me things.
He's still.
He's still teaching me.
Jerry Crump (45:54):
Yeah, Well, Matt, I really appreciate the visit
today bud.
Matt Weitzel (46:05):
Yeah, yeah, man, we're at 49 minutes.
I usually wrap up in 45 to 50,but I do like to ask this
question Is there anything Imissed?
Is there anything that youwould really want a potential
customer to know aboutGreenCubes that I have not asked
you about today?
That you're just like oh, matt,totally, totally missed the
mark on this, and I need to.
I need to get this out into theatmosphere.
Jerry Crump (46:21):
I think our GSE SafeFlux battery is pretty
bulletproof.
We're a very flexible solutionprovider and I think that's one
thing that sets us apart fromour competition is a lot of
people build the same thing andmake you fit around them.
We'll build something to helpyou be successful.
Matt Weitzel (46:44):
I like it, darren, any parting last words of
wisdom from your end.
Darin Kiefer (46:48):
Maybe one thing I didn't address is the time that
we've spent in this worldlearning and applying those
lessons learned is over a decadeof experience, and with that we
have over 12,000 solutions thatare out there in the field
running, you know, sincepre-2016.
Jerry Crump (47:09):
I heard it was 13,000 as of this week.
It's probably 13,000 solutionsthat are out there in the field
running, you know, sincepre-2016.
I heard it was 13,000 as ofthis week it's probably 13,000
of a second.
Darin Kiefer (47:13):
I know it's north of 1,200 or 12,000.
So you all have the experiencefor sure.
These are big systems too.
These aren't like smallerswappable.
I'm talking 20 kilowatt hourplus systems.
Yeah, yeah.
Matt Weitzel (47:27):
So green cubes, though they're new in, gse, is
definitely not new to thebattery game.
Darin Kiefer (47:32):
Yeah, we understand power.
You know the high powerapplications.
Matt Weitzel (47:36):
Yeah, awesome.
Well, thank you all so much forlunch, for the tour, for
sitting down with me today andtalking batteries, my favorite
topic now.
Jerry Crump (47:45):
Thanks for letting us crack some jokes that you
didn't record.
Oh wait, you did have the micoff on those.
Matt Weitzel (47:52):
Yeah, I did Okay.
Yeah, yeah, no, we're good sowell.
Thank you all so much.
This has been Matt, jerry andDarren for the GSE podcast.
Thanks, guys, thank you.
Thank you for tuning in to thisepisode of the GSE podcast.
We hope you found itinformative and engaging.
If this episode resonated withyou, please share it with your
(48:14):
colleagues and peers in theground support equipment
community.
Your support is invaluable tous.
We'd appreciate it if you couldtake a moment to rate and
review our podcast.
Your feedback not onlyencourages us, but also helps
expand our reach within the GSEcommunity.
Keep an eye out for moreepisodes as we continue to
explore the dynamic world ofground operations, bringing you
(48:35):
the latest trends, insights andstories from the industry.
Thank you for listening to theGSE Podcast.
Until we meet again, staygrounded and keep pushing
forward.
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