Episode 6 - "Electrifying the Future": Inside TLD with Jeff Barrett

Matthew Weitzel: 0:16

This episode of the GSE podcast is brought to you by Xcēd ground support equipment leasing your trusted partner for GSE solutions. We specialize in tailors operating leases for ground handlers and airlines, offering top notch equipment and flexible terms to suit your needs. Partner for the industry leaders like TLD we're committed to bringing you new equipment offerings that keep your operations running smoothly and efficiently. Choose exceed our competitive rates and exceptional customer service. Visit exceed gsc.com today, and soar to new heights with exceed ground support equipment leasing. All right, well, welcome to the GSE Podcast. I'm in Windsor, Connecticut at TLDs, North American headquarters with Jeff Barrett. How's it going, Jeff?

Jeff Barrett: 1:15

Great. Good to see you, Matt. Thanks for joining us.

Matthew Weitzel: 1:18

Yeah, not a problem. Man had an easy flight up on frontier today from Orlando in here for the day and just got a tour of the facility. Very nice.

Jeff Barrett: 1:27

Thank you. Yeah, it's great. We're, we're pretty proud of facility and pretty proud of the things we do here for sure.

Matthew Weitzel: 1:33

Yeah, it's a little bit spread out. And it's like in a neighborhood. We've,

Jeff Barrett: 1:37

we've grown along with the community I would get, I guess, I would say,

Matthew Weitzel: 1:41

yeah, it's a beautiful drive in here. You kind of go to this, you know, like I said, like this little neighborhood and then all of a sudden there's TLD, one of the the well, the largest GSE manufacturer.

Jeff Barrett: 1:51

Yeah, that's That's very true. So welcome to New England, right. Yeah. I mean, it's beautiful, beautiful state.

Matthew Weitzel: 1:56

Yeah, you're gonna take me out for crabcakes later. Yeah. You never know. Okay, I don't need that thing up here. Or is that not Connecticut? Oh, well,

Jeff Barrett: 2:03

I mean, we're on the shoreline, right. The weather's Rhode Island or, or New York, you're close enough to get some good, good fresh seafood. So

Matthew Weitzel: 2:09

yeah, good. Well, we'll have to get something for lunch. But so how did you make your way to ground support equipment and to TLD? So great

Jeff Barrett: 2:19

question. I joined a little over five years ago, so been in the industry with TLD for five and a half years. Prior to that it's been 18 years with Textron, one of our peers in the industry. And in those 18 years with Textron, I started in Michigan, in the industrial space with them doing automation for the automotive industry, it was was handpicked to go through some training at what they call their corporate kind of initiatives around advancement in in leadership, and was able to get partnered up

Matthew Weitzel: 2:56

with a new talent, which is what happened. That's what you wanted to say, talent and they wanted to get in there.

Unknown: 3:04

Yeah. Well, if you say so. Okay. All right, good. But no, it was great. Because being able to grow with the company and in leadership, I would say they put me on the right plan to get to where I am today. And so I went through that leadership program got partnered with some folks from EZGO. So I had three options. I think at the time, it was Bell Helicopter, Textron Cautex, which does gas engine systems, and fuel tank systems. And then it was easy go and I'm like, I know, golf. I think I can I could do this, right. Yeah, golfer I paired, of course. Yeah. You do. But I got partnered up with a great group. We did our week long Ohio State program and did some project work. And, at the end, got recruited out of the automotive automotive side of the Textron business into the golf side and spent 12 years with EZGO down in Florida, in varying degrees of sales roles started in a local region in the Orlando Central Florida territory, worked up to national accounts at one point and then ran the southeast sales division for them, which happens to be one of their largest. Yeah, I

Matthew Weitzel: 4:16

bet there's some golf carts in Florida here.

Jeff Barrett: 4:19

There are quite a few. There are a few issues. So it's a good place to be. Yeah, that

Matthew Weitzel: 4:24

was so so then, then you got recruited by TLD. At that point, yeah. So

Jeff Barrett: 4:29

I spent those 12 years, loved every bit of it have a lot of great friends at Textron, including the the GSE side of the business, just you know, we kind of infiltrated varying degrees of aviation and GSE and happen to have recruiter that came knocking on the door and he was kind of coy about the location. He said, you know, somewhere between New York and Boston, I'm like, well, that's not very big, but it is kind of big, be aware, and he's like, Well, it's just outside of West Hartford and you know, And then I quickly picked up on it because at that time Textron was getting into the GSC space. Oh, okay. They made some acquisitions and kind of dip their toe in the water. But I would tell you that, you know, we moved the family up here and have a look back, man, we've been super happy, great transition for the boys. You know, the the oldest time was a sophomore in high school. So not an easy time for a teenager. But he adapted pretty well with a good friend group. And

Matthew Weitzel: 5:29

so this is more like the Michigan weather that you had growing up growing up in Michigan. Right. So you're kind of used to this.

Jeff Barrett: 5:35

Yeah, well, exactly. I mean, I think when I tell people I moved from Florida, they're like, you know, what are you thinking? You know, I'm like, You got to remember where I came from Michigan. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Some harsh weather. Oh, for sure.

Matthew Weitzel: 5:45

And then you'll be back. Yeah, go back to Florida. Listen, it's always there. Right? Yeah, it's always there. And as you get older, you're gonna be like, I'm done with this cold. And you're gonna do what I did and moved to Florida?

Jeff Barrett: 5:56

That's right. Yeah. It's not a bad flow state. It's a beautiful state. Yeah. So

Matthew Weitzel: 6:00

normally, at this time, during the podcast, what we do is we ask for a story. So do you have a good GSE story that you're willing to share? That is more of the PG rated?

Unknown: 6:10

Yeah, so I mean, I'm trying to think, yeah, a story. So I would tell you, I came into, you know, TLD, you know, knowing a lot about sales, you know, management, right? Yeah. And not a lot about aviation. And so I was, I was pretty naive to what I was getting into. Well, I liked aircraft and watching, you know, things about planes, and, you know, on TV, etc. I didn't know much about GSE. And, you know, when I started, we were in some conversations with pretty big cargo company. And, you know, at the time, it was in the infancy it was Amazon, and the fact that at that time, they were just selling online. And, you know, everybody was doing their thing from what they started as, you know, the little book company, you know, and what they evolved to today selling everything under the sun. And, you know, they had these these broad visions, and, you know, they were thinking big as one of their their standbys are in, they basically said, you know, we're gonna build this airline, and I'm like, Whoa, these guys are gonna come out of the, out of the blue, and they're gonna build their own airline, like, alright, so maybe we were flying, you know, Amazon air at some point, it's alright, you know, it didn't put two and two together until, you know, a few months later, when I realized, okay, they're going to, they're going to do their own transportation and the cargo and handle that, you know, as it evolves and get to the, to the front, front doorstep. So I say that, because it was certainly eye opening for me as a, you know, new guy coming into the industry. And I got the exposure to see from the start of the infancy of Amazon air all the way through today, you know, five and a half years later, where, you know, they're basically number three, number four, now they're big. In just cargo space. Yeah. The

Matthew Weitzel: 8:00

big company. Yeah, maybe

Jeff Barrett: 8:01

biggest in the world, I think. Yeah, no,

Matthew Weitzel: 8:03

man, that's crazy. So. So you came in and got Amazon right away, huh. Which is the reason you're still employed, I guess? Well, sure. Certainly not hurt,

Jeff Barrett: 8:13

it did not hurt. And that's great. It was a good, good win for TLD. We fought hard, you know, obviously, some good competitors out there. But we had a good suite of products that fit the profile of what they're looking for. And, you know, here we are today.

Matthew Weitzel: 8:27

I mean, I would say you have a large suite of products. We do. We made the the most vast range of GSE products of any manufacturer, some would say,

Unknown: 8:36

Yeah, I think I think that's pretty safe to assume. Yes, point. So yeah, we cover the full gamut from baggage tractors, the cargo loaders, belt loaders, everything, except for deicers in the motorized GSE space. So

Matthew Weitzel: 8:49

yeah, well, you know, I think what we should start talking about now, and thanks for sharing that story is electric. That's where the industry is headed. That's what people are mostly interested in. So I've heard a lot of good things from a lot of different people that TLD has some really great electric options. People are really excited about it. So let's hear about let's hear about the electric bag tractors that the JET-16

Unknown: 9:15

The JET-16 Is, is our forward cab electric baggage tractor. So something that's more similar I think until recently in Europe, but now in the US is becoming more of a standard. I will tell you for the electric evolution for baggage tractor, so jet sixteenths are produced in three of our factories around the world. So we have a factory in Sherbrooke that manufactures it up in Canada and Quebec. We have a facility in France and Sandlin France in central France. And then we have another factory in Shanghai, China that manufactures as well. So redundant factories building for the local local area, but you know, the electrification you know, it started a long time ago for TLD so we we got a long you know, his screen that world started out with lead acid. Of course, you know, lithium wasn't a thing. Fast forward to today. And we're doing lithium phosphate batteries in a solution that's like a Lego, so to speak, that is called our IBS system. And so every one of our pieces of equipment, whether it's a towbarless, tractor, or a belt, loader, passenger stairs, they're all based around the design of the IBS battery. And that lithium battery pack gives our engineering team the freedom to design and develop, you know, advanced equipment without having to go to a secondary source. And so it's nice to have that bandwidth and brain trust within the to the world to be able to provide a single solution to the customer.

Matthew Weitzel: 10:43

Yeah, and then you would think that a customer would like that as well, just because they can buy a couple battery packs have laying around just in case of something happening. And they can choose the configuration that they need to fit. Right. So that makes a lot of sense for a customer as well.

Unknown: 10:58

And you know, the one thing that you know, is still in evolution with lithium batteries is the sustainability. What do you do with the product? How do you recycle it lead acid batteries have been around forever, right? Yeah, we all know how to break down lead acid and recycle it. For lithium, it's a little bit more just kind of happened in real time, we're not really sure where it's going to go. But what TLD feels very strongly about is at least within the profile of the GSE space, it's almost like a piece of gold, you're buying ahead, and you can reuse that and it has a value in the long term because you can start in baggage tractor, you can then go to more of a moderate intermittent use, like a belt loader, and then maybe it can go to a passenger car where it's very intermittently used and doesn't get the runtime that a baggage tractor would. So it gives a good sustainability story. Yeah, that is nice for the lithium batteries.

Matthew Weitzel: 11:54

That's crazy. Yeah, that's a it's a really good idea. And it's nice that that, you know, somebody can just make an order from you guys and only have to order from you all and not have to go to some third party battery provider, which is, which is makes it simpler for everybody. I

Unknown: 12:07

would think there's only I mean, if you think about it in terms of even a diesel GPU or a gas bag tractor, I mean, you still have a secondary source of that engine. And with this, you really only have one one person that you can point two for any questions or concerns that you might have. So it's it is a unique position to be in. That's for sure.

Matthew Weitzel: 12:29

So there's the jet 16. And then what's your you have another baggage fracture though?

Jeff Barrett: 12:34

We do? So the rear cab design, if you will, like Yeah, it's the jst and that comes in diesel Gas and Electric as well. Okay. So, but like I said, you know, I think you know, covering the gamut. It's up to the customer to tell us what they prefer certain customers like rear cabs, certain customers like forward cabs. So we've got both options based on what, what the customer really wants.

Matthew Weitzel: 12:59

And then you got electric belt loader. Yep. Do both electric and

Jeff Barrett: 13:04

gas and diesel belt loaders in multiple factories. We do main deck and lower deck cargo loaders in our TX cell line. That was a long term acquisition out of California, the company by the name of Lantus that came on board and now is produced primarily up in Sherbrooke, but also in another factory in China in Wushi, and then we get into, oh, geez, you can test my

Matthew Weitzel: 13:29

Well, I mean, I think we should dive into the cargo loaders real quick and kind of talk about how you can get different configurations. So I get to visit the Sherbrooke facility, as well as this facility this year. So I've been to both of them, which is great. And then, but you all were showing me the cargo loader, and how you can have different configurations based on the customer's needs. So whether that be a hybrid, or an electric fully electric or a hybrid, or just you know, your your traditional diesel engine, however, but all those can be converted to eventually become electric. Is that correct? That's correct.

Unknown: 14:05

So at the Paris show for the GSE Expo last year at Laborde j, we came out and made a bold statement that we're going to go all electric drive lines by 2024. So it might be the end of 2024 but we're pushing like crazy to put a stake in the ground and say we're gonna go all electric Now, what that means is everything past the the engine from the profile of the design is all on the electric platform. So from a cargo loader standpoint, we don't have infrastructure in a lot of cargo areas in the airport, they may not have the charger infrastructure yet, but if you're buying a four or$500,000 piece of equipment, and you're gonna buy it for a 15 to 20 year lifecycle, you know, at some point more than likely, you're probably going to want to go electric. So what the hybrid solution allows you to do is to make it plug and play so it's already designed around Electric, like I mentioned, but then you can put in a little genset that basically will charge the batteries in the operation, when you run from, let's say, the storage facility out to the ramp location to do the work that's running on that little genset. And then once it gets there, it runs on all electric on the batteries. And then let's say you get infrastructure from the airport authority in 10 years, and you're able to go all electric, you just pull that little genset out, and you put another battery pack in and you're, you're basically all electric, so you're already buying for a future state that is ready to go, instead of trying to preemptively buy a diesel today, to solve this problem. And then in the future, you got, you know, a diesel that may or may not be a value, because who knows where we're gonna go with, with diesel engines in the future? But, you know, I think, you know, you have to, again, back to my comment, you got to provide solutions to every customer, right? Yeah. And, you know, we have certain customers that are slowly evolving towards electric, but they're just getting started. So they're still going to kind of wait and see what happens. And you know, that's fine. You know, I mean, we understand that's just part of the evolution. So we want to be able to bridge that gap for a lot of people.

Matthew Weitzel: 16:11

Gotcha. Yeah. And then. So it looks like that you guys are going to go electric GPU as well. Yeah, something that we're looking at. I think I saw one. Yeah, you were going through the facility. Just

Unknown: 16:24

yeah. So we've had an electric GPU, we're going through what I would call the mark two, redesign, just kind of making it not the inside, you know, product development side is not changing more the outside exterior, kind of some of the aesthetics and some of the designs of it. But yeah, electric air starts are coming. So you'll see at the show coming up here in Vegas, in a few weeks, that will have an electric AirStart. So more of a concept around how we can do certain things with the electric lithium batteries that we just talked about, will also have an electric maintenance tow towbarless, high speed tow. So that's a unique animal, being able to do position toes for aircraft or maintenance toes back to the hangar with electric. Today, it's not as easy. So we'll have a tractor there at the show that will allow people to see that. Yeah, it's, it's really available. And so

Matthew Weitzel: 17:22

so you got a electric GPU, you got an electric air start, you have an electric towbarless you're gonna bring to the show or those who made it three units you're bringing

Jeff Barrett: 17:30

and then we've got an electric push back. 350 UTM x 350. Oh, okay. We'll have there as well. That'll be nice. Yeah. And we'll have one of the hybrid belt loaders there as well. So Oh, wow. So we'll be able to show kind of the different gamut. Yeah, to me a lot of equipment is a lot of equipment. Not much room to walk around. Yeah, yeah, you're gonna have stuff in the demo area. We won't so Okay, we're gonna be right, kind of on the corner when you walk in. So you'll, you can't miss us. So yeah, typical fashion to the market. That's awesome. Market the brand pretty well, yeah,

Matthew Weitzel: 18:01

we're looking forward to the show, I think it's going to be a really good show, always, always, always a good show, telemetry, does that come on your units like out the door?

Jeff Barrett: 18:11

It does. For certain products, I would tell you for complex machinery. So we own a partnership with a company called X apps. And so the X UPS brand, for TLD is a link product is what we call. And so the link is a standard for any complex machinery. So it's an air start or cargo loader or something like that, it comes for a two year under the warranty coverage that allows people to see what that looks like on the dashboard. You know, if you're putting a baggage tractor fleet into operation, you could buy that that's non complex machinery, but we could we could add that as an option. Okay. But we see it as you know, in time, you know, telemetry not only helps our customers, run their operations and be more efficient, but it also helps our service team. And so from a service perspective, you know, being proactive, instead of reactive is certainly a change in the dynamic, you know, and today, you know, it's much more the phone rings and with email comes in, and you know, we try and get people out there, take care of it. But if you can be kind of ahead of the curve and know, hey, you got that fault code that popped up, and we know that's tied to that sensor. And you know, that's a weak link in the design, we need to go get a new sensor and release the service bullets and, hey, we can maybe do it ahead of time and get that part ordered and have it coming to you you know, before we even get the notification that it's it's out of warranty.

Matthew Weitzel: 19:35

Yeah, yeah, that's another thing I wanted to cover was your warranty system. So is the telemetry kind of tied in with your warranty system as well.

Jeff Barrett: 19:42

It's the the idea is it's tied to the serial number. So the the equipment record once the unit gets green tag with TLD. Then it has its own DNA speak. So we turn on the telemetry. It's tied together. And yeah, anything Communicating with that unit is always back to the dashboard for the service team or for the

Matthew Weitzel: 20:05

sofa. And the moment that it's assigned a serial number on the shop floor to be in there on the production floor to be built. Everything is documented from every part that goes on to that unit, make me know that everything has been done, specifically the way you know the TLD way that you all assemble, correct, yeah. And then And then throughout its lifetime. So if I order new brake pads from you guys, like it'll, it'll be in the system as this serial number got new brake pads, or whatever.

Unknown: 20:37

Yeah, it goes back to what you just said, right on the production floor. So we have a system that's been internally developed with our team that's focused around being quality first, right on the factory floor. And so they can see a roadmap of how to assemble all those products, you know, all the bolt patterns, all the electrical wiring harnesses, everything tied to the equipment, and that's, that's at every TLD factory around the world, all 10 of them. And then, after you get screen tagged and produced and shipped to the customer, it then becomes, you know, a platform that just just pulls data in. So if you open a ticket for a service perspective, and like you said, you needed a brake, pedal or brake, drum or something like that, that was an issue, you know, we could tie that back to that serial number, and we do and that becomes a history and time, that then becomes researchable. So over a 10, 15, 20 year timeframe, we can look back at every which way, you know, we've used the break pattern in the system. And then if we've identified a supplier issue are a component issue, and we need to go make a retroactive change down the line, we can do that immediately with that the PIO system that you saw on the shop floor. Yeah, as well as a service bulletin campaign for the folks that have it out in the field. It's very user friendly for our team, from our engineering perspective, our service guys.

Matthew Weitzel: 22:08

Yeah, but the service guys love, they love it. And they can be out in the field and see exactly what's happened to that unit ever since. Ever since the customer. The end user got it.

Jeff Barrett: 22:17

Exactly. And it's, I would, dare I say, a pretty unique differentiator for TLD. And the customers, I would say,

Matthew Weitzel: 22:24

yeah, it's the most advanced system that I've seen so far. You know, as far as being able to track warranty claims and just, you know, being able to see everything that's ever been done to a serial numbers, just crazy. You know, the you all pulled it up. We're Sherbrooke. Yeah, to kind of show us one of our units, and you can see where it was and everything that ever been done to it. It's, it's pretty nuts. Yeah,

Jeff Barrett: 22:47

it is. It's a good, good tool to have. And I give credit to, you know, the founders of this organization. You know, we've got a lot of great bright minds on the team here with TLD and a lot of engineers that you have some some super Brainiac ideas that bring bring it to real life, it's it's pretty impressive.

Matthew Weitzel: 23:07

I mean, so yeah, it seems like you all own a lot of your own. You know, the you're not using third parties for batteries or telemetry, those are all kind of those are all, you know, companies that either like you all have acquired, or you've developed the technology yourself,

Jeff Barrett: 23:22

we want to have a lot more control over it. And we feel like we've with our capability and our drive for innovation, it gives us that next step forward a lot quicker than if we're relying on other third parties.

Matthew Weitzel: 23:34

So yeah, so remind me what is your telemetry system called?

Unknown: 23:38

It's called link for D. And then they they also have now you know, external X Ops version that they sell as well, if you wanted to go like full blown fleet.

Matthew Weitzel: 23:48

That's what I was gonna ask you. So that is possible. So I love I love my link so much. Right. I wanted on, you know, another unit. say that's not a TLD. Correct. I can put I can have you guys put that on there.

Jeff Barrett: 24:01

That's right. And then that would not be through the TLD. World. That would be xometry. Yeah, exactly. The X apps guys do that.

Matthew Weitzel: 24:08

Okay, so that is a possibility. It is a possibility. All right. I just wanted to make sure. Yeah, there's clear things up here. Absolutely. Let's talk about the taxi bot. I thought that was pretty cool. We got to see that in Sherbrooke is a big unit huge unit. I decided not to drive that when they were like you want to drive it? And I'm like, No, there's no way I'm driving this thing. Especially I'm not trying to parallel park that thing. It's a big unit. But why don't you explain what that is? Just for people who haven't heard about it. It's a it's a pretty cool concept. Yeah.

Unknown: 24:39

So just being a part of the Alvest group. And you know, I think we're very focused on being leaner and greener in the industry and helping the GSE space and the aviation world be more sustainable. And so you can do that in a lot of different ways, you know, mobile GPUs plugging in at the gate with a mobile aircon keeping the APU off helps, right? You know, you wouldn't think running a diesel would help but you're you're you're burning less jet fuel by not having that APU run. And so a lot of our airline partners, you know, always keep a close eye on that APU time, right about the pilots love it because they can flip a switch and keep everybody cool and the avionics Iran and etc. But we want to be smart about it. And you know, one of the concepts that we've come up with is the taxi bot, like you said, and that's within our smart airport systems group when the Elvis family and the taxi bot basically is a, for lack of a better word, a large toolbar towbarless like tractor that connects to landing gear, much like a towbarless does has a little cradle in there. And it's got redundant systems. So it's actually FAA certified. So you got dual engines, dual hydraulic systems, etc. And it tethers directly to the cockpit, allowing the pilot to then operate just like you would normally as he taxis out from the gate to the taxiway. With his controls in the cockpit, normal, he'll never feel the difference even though it's connected to an aircraft, but his engines aren't running. So the beauty of that is its engine off, just like APU off it's not running the engine, it's not running the fuel, jet fuel. And it's saving that, you know, for sustainability reasons for our customers, as they taxi out to the runway, and the disconnects got a cab in the front of the the tractor, the guy sits in the tractor. The only reason he's there is basically to drive it back after the disconnect, to go get another aircraft and take it back to the next time. Next taxiway.

Matthew Weitzel: 26:44

Wow, that's incredible technology. It is. So where is do we do we have one in the world? Yeah.

Jeff Barrett: 26:51

Oh, really? Yeah, there's a bunch in Schipol is probably at Schiphol I guess is how you pronounce it. I'm from Michigan State.

Matthew Weitzel: 26:57

That's all right. No, it's okay. Yeah, that's alright. That's the way I would have pronounced it coming from Kentucky. Alright, so go ahead.

Jeff Barrett: 27:04

No, yeah, we see an evolution coming. It's all driven by, you know, the cost of fuel. And so we had cheap fuel for a lot of years. And it wasn't a major issue. But now, you know, fuel is creeping up again. And it's becoming a lot more popular. So we do see a timeline where this will be in the US and, and we've we've got several active projects that we're working on that as well. So in time, you know that that product will become electric. So back to back to that sustainability standpoint, it runs on these two diesel engines right now. But if you can do that with electric, wow, now you've taken not only the jet engines and turn them off, but you've taken the diesel engines and turned them off. Right. Yeah. And so having that capability to do it with the lithium battery packs. And, you know, the engineering team, at our factory in Germany, France is pretty special.

Matthew Weitzel: 27:56

Yeah, so that product is manufactured in France exclusively the voice. Yes. Yep. Nice. And then, from what I understand, so you're Can you kind of explain like how the factories are kind of separate from each other? I think that's pretty interesting and unique. That is something that TLD has,

Jeff Barrett: 28:11

yeah, it isn't. unique system. I mean, yeah, as I mentioned earlier, I come from a manufacturing background. So I've got a lot of experience with with different factories, if you will, in the way that TLD is designed our production is trying to be smart on the local support at the point of usage. And so if you think about it in terms of, I think I referenced the let's go belt loader this time. So belt, blue belt loader, right? Yeah, there's a lot of belt loaders around the world that are used. It's pretty standard, you know, part of our gate sets. And that belt loader is manufactured in Sherbrooke, Quebec, is manufactured in in France, and it's manufactured in China. And we do that with redundant factories for a lot of products around the world. And allows us to be not only smart about the local support, but also from a sustainability standpoint. So you're not producing product in Sherbrooke, that's being shipped all over the world and having to, you know, put it in a cargo container and put it on a freighter and ship it over to you know, China. Yeah, that wouldn't make sense, right. And so the fact that we have the locally controlled production in the local region, makes very nice. And, you know, honestly, with the rebound we've seen in the GSE space, it's, it's also unique from a production standpoint, right? So if we have one factory that's full with orders, and we can pivot to another factory that might have some capacity. That's, that's pretty unique and allows us to be pretty nimble and how we operate to support our customers.

Matthew Weitzel: 29:44

Nice. Yeah, that's I was really cool. Being able to see you know, like I said a bit about them this year. See in Sherbrooke, and what they build there. They have a lot of big units coming out of that facility, whereas this is GPUs air starts air conditioners. And oh, and you changed your your name and the design of your air conditioner. We haven't gone over that yet. You're right. So we went from an ACU 302. Yep. to Now we're a cool 10

Jeff Barrett: 30:11

Cool 10 And a cool 15. So we're building a profile product profile that is based around the cool design. It is cool, by the way, yeah, I

Matthew Weitzel: 30:21

know, it sounds.

Jeff Barrett: 30:24

But, you know, we acquired lib rune airconditioners ran around 2019, I guess right before the pandemic. And with that acquisition brought some evolution in our engineering design. And you know, TLD here in Windsor, which was historically called ACE is the product. Okay, that's been a steady product that was manufactured for many, many years. But LeBron had a different way of developing and designing their hair conditioners. And so we took some of the benefits of our Windsor product and some of the benefits of our lab room product. And designed co designed together with an engineering team out of Belgium, in here in Windsor to come up with the cool 10 And the cool 15, which are replacing the 302 that had been historically around for quite a few years, we'll still build the 302 for military applications, and certain things that just are required. But for the most part, the evolution gets a better product, more fuel efficient, much better cooling temperature, and you know, you're putting more people on the plane than ever today, you know, and those planes need to stay cool when you're down in Houston, or Myrtle Beach, or wherever it might be.

Matthew Weitzel: 31:33

So this is going to be a step up, this product is gonna be a step up as far as engineering maintenance, I think I think I remember them saying that maintenance is going to be a lot easier on this unit as well. Much easier to

Jeff Barrett: 31:45

troubleshoot. And, you know, at the end of the day, you know, you're not going to develop and design a new product that that doesn't bring more value to exactly and so you're gonna get a colder air temperature coming out much more efficient design. It's it's on demand, you know, cooling and heat for that matter if you if you

Matthew Weitzel: 32:03

know, yeah, you gotta have that you gotta have Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's the way we order Emily's. Yeah. And then 70 years, 70 year, you know, that's, that's, I've seen that around the industry on LinkedIn posts. I've seen it in magazines. So I meant to started the podcast that way, which is, congratulations on the 70 years. Looks like you all are y'all are doing great. And yeah, celebrating 70 years TLD

Jeff Barrett: 32:29

it's, it's pretty cool to have, I think, that historical knowledge in the group, you know, when I talked about the group, the TLD group or the Elvis group, there's a lot of of tenured folks that have helped get us to where we are today. But to celebrate seven years in look back at some of the pictures of some of the stuff that we designed a long time ago to, to help develop the the jet engine here with Pratt and Whitney and in Hartford. Boy,

Matthew Weitzel: 32:55

we've come a long way. The GSE pictures from back in the day are hilarious. They are I mean, it's I mean, there's still some of that running around on the airfield. Right? And that's the reason that you're still in business. And and so are we, because people are still trying to replace this stuff. But it's amazing. You know, how far how far you know, TLDs come in the industry has come as far as designing and make this stuff look look a lot nicer. And yeah, in more full fuel efficient and electric. We got it all going. I've always

Jeff Barrett: 33:25

said that, you know, we're not the sexiest industry in the world, but you can't run an airline without us. Right. Yeah,

Matthew Weitzel: 33:30

that's That's true. Yeah. But I mean, you know, you do have some sleek lines on your GPU. Yeah, I mean, it's like, you know, I mean, maybe I got a brochure I can give you Yeah, it looks nice, you know, put a picture up in my house or something of the well, at least me the cool 10 There you go. That's a good looking unit. Pretty, pretty cool. Yeah, that'd be awesome. So all right. What else do we have here? We have autonomous. Talk to me about autonomous. Yeah. So it's, it's mania that's coming? Yeah,

Unknown: 34:01

I think it's common, right. But I think also, maybe not in our generation. I don't know you. But you know, I think in time, it will be here in a lot around how we're designing stuff is to get there. And yeah, in the future state of, you know, what started out as ASD, when you approach an aircraft and you know, the touch point of a builder, right, making sure that that's, that's in place, and then go to an ASD plus that kind of takes the controls away from the operator so that it then automates that approach system, to maybe an autonomous cargo loader that you know, is run by a joystick that basically says, Hey, I'm going to take a video camera of the actual door frame of the cargo and be able to identify height and location of steering to get it properly aligned. And, you know, I think that's just steps in the grand scheme of things to get us to the capability to do automation and in time You know, at some point, there will be a control room at JFK, or one of these airports that takes a leap of faith that says, you know, what, we're having difficulty getting operators, we're having difficulty, you know, with with room on the ramp, and we're gonna go autonomous, and we're gonna have the capability to basically orchestrate how the GSE is on the ramp, supporting those airlines. And it's not far fetched. I mean, when you think about it, when you've been on a ramp, and you know how crazy it is out there and chaotic, you know, that automation, you know, technology wise, is there is just getting over the hurdle of the design and development to kind of get there. But we've got an autonomous back extractor today that is running, and you know, something that, you know, is giving us a lot of engineering development around how we go forward. A step in that direction is, we're going to a two man turn. So we're remote control towbarless. So you can basically have to man, you know, instead of having to on the wing to wing walkers and one pushing the, the push back, you can have one with a remote control, we Walker and when on the other side. So it eliminates that and you're controlling the pushback with remote control. So we're trying to be forward thinking and really more advanced because labor shortages is not going away anytime soon. And it's definitely something that if we can be mindful of you can control your safety, you can control your, your usage, you know, all the certain things that customers worry about, you know, you got a lot better controls of so yeah.

Matthew Weitzel: 36:37

And then speaking of labor shortage, you were kind of telling me about this academy, that you all decided to do kind of post pandemic or during, during the pandemic that I thought was really interesting that you kind of talked about if you wanted to, yeah, no, that's

Jeff Barrett: 36:51

great. You know, I getting people in, in the trades world, whether it's doing assembly or even people out, you know, doing maintenance for our, our service team. It's not easy, and I think everybody would share in that opinion. But the manufacturing academy that we developed at both this facility and up in Sherbrooke was based around bringing talent into the industry that didn't have any experience. So you could be a bartender, late night at a bar, you could be a hotel, person that just didn't like working, you know, the hours that they were working, it will bring him in, we'll teach them about what wrote righty tighty means and what lefty loosey means and, and how to read a schematic and young how to pull wires and all the stuff that you need to do on the shop floor to build our equipment. And you know, our retention rate, consequently, has been much higher. So we've had a very good retention rate on those folks that have come through the manufacturing Academy, to the point where at first it was kind of a bolt on ancillary thing that, you know, we just brought certain people that were inexperienced in Yeah, that now 100% of our new hires go through the manufacturing Academy. Oh, that's great. And even, you know, our spare parts team. So the folks that are on the calls, you know, answering customers request for spare parts, you know, they don't know what a widget or doodad is. But if I can get them through the manufacturing Academy for a couple of weeks and get them exposed to what goes into those products, it helps their evolution, it makes them smarter, you know, more confident, you know, when they're talking to the customer. So it's been a very good win for us.

Matthew Weitzel: 38:26

Yeah, that's awesome. It was really good is a really great story to hear. And I just thought we'd share it. Yeah. How's it going with supply chain? Are you seeing it get it's getting better?

Jeff Barrett: 38:34

Yeah, good question is stabilized, I guess is probably the word I would use, you know, not say we're out of the woods, on every product, there's always going to be hiccups that happen, you know, from time to time, but it's definitely more manageable today than it has been. So now, I would tell you that the backlog that we've gained, it's very fortunate to have, you know, one of the healthiest backlogs that we've ever seen in our history with DOD. And the fact that, you know, we've got such a healthy backlog is, you know, we got to produce as much as we possibly can and get it out the door to bring those lead times down and be be more reactive to the marketplace. But you know, it's a good story. And, you know, I think I think we're past the worst of it, I guess, is what I would say so,

Matthew Weitzel: 39:21

so are you going for longest drive or closest to the whole at the GSE Expo golfing?

Jeff Barrett: 39:28

Man? I don't know. I'm just out there to have a little fun. I do enjoy my round of golf every once awhile though.

Matthew Weitzel: 39:33

Okay. So not so closest to the pin on a par three or longest. Okay, you're gonna you're gonna meet Oh, yeah,

Jeff Barrett: 39:40

I mean, come on.

Matthew Weitzel: 39:41

Okay. All right.

Jeff Barrett: 39:42

Why stop with one?

Matthew Weitzel: 39:43

Yeah, why not? I mean, listen, I was just I just wasn't, I was curious more on like, you know which one you felt like you had a better opportunity to win. But it sounds like you're pretty confident that maybe I don't know you win both. You never know. You never know. Okay, well, let's just put that out there. Everybody's gonna want to hear that. I like that. Any other plans for Vegas for the GSE Expo that you haven't kind of covered that TLD is going to be? You're going to be outside yet. We'll be outside. You have tons of equipment. Yeah, there's there's gonna have like anything cool in the booth that people can come by and see or is it Jimmy Lou? I mean, well, honestly, let's go. Right. Yeah, exactly. Jeff, so now's Kyle is going to be there. Right? Yeah, you got plenty of plenty of stuff to come and see,

Unknown: 40:26

ya know, I think, you know, for us, this is a very important Expo, you know, we saw I happen to be fortunate enough to sit on the IML. Board, we several other peers, members, and thank you for being a member, not a problem, man. It's it's a good story. You know, the fact that our industry controls our two biggest shows is pretty special. Because now that we have control of the European show, and the show here in the North American market, you know, we're trying to make those two biggest pillars for all of our industry. So yeah, doing these shows is expensive. And, you know, I mean, just your bottom line, you know, to spend dollars on marketing and all the things that you have to do from travel and entertainment, and everything that comes with those shows, it hits everybody in the industry. Want to be smart. I

Matthew Weitzel: 41:16

got a lot of steaks, and I'm out there. It's awful. Jeff, please. Thank you for bringing all that up. Yeah. It's it's something I have to deal with. It's a tough life. Tough life

Unknown: 41:25

to be entertained. Yeah. But no, it's, you know, it's a pretty special thing to say that we own those shows. And, you know, for TLD, you know, we're one of the founding members, I email. And so we think, you know, we're always pushing as, as one of the original, you know, founders to help help push that along. Because it's an important part of our industry.

Matthew Weitzel: 41:46

Yeah. Yeah. No, it's It's great. So yeah, we've been I think we've been, I think it's our fourth or fifth year. Okay. Then party by humans. So yeah, yeah, it's good. And I think it's definitely a worthwhile thing. And, and we're excited. I think we're going to try to go to Portugal, Portugal.

Unknown: 42:05

Yeah. Come see us and Lisbon. Yeah,

Matthew Weitzel: 42:07

yeah, exactly. So are you going to be at the GHI annual event? So we in Lisbon,

Unknown: 42:14

somebody from our team will be there. Certainly.

Matthew Weitzel: 42:16

So Jeff will not be the Jeff will not be.

Unknown: 42:19

I make an appearance. Ah, I Americas.

Matthew Weitzel: 42:21

Okay. Yeah, you did? Yeah. Saw you down there and Punta Cana, we had a good time. Yeah.

Unknown: 42:25

Always, always good to get connected with all of our peers. Yeah.

Matthew Weitzel: 42:29

So recently, I've been asking people because this is going to come out before before we go to the yeah, in Vegas. And I asked everybody, you know, what's a hidden gem of a restaurant that I should try to go to? So? So what do you recommend?

Unknown: 42:45

I try and stay as far away from Vegas as possible. I definitely go every other year to the GC Expo for for good reasons. But my favorite restaurant is typically the one that I see at the airport on the way home.

Matthew Weitzel: 42:56

So you're more of a Michigan guy than a than a Vegas. Yeah, just you know,

Unknown: 43:01

you can only take so much Vegas, but yeah,

Matthew Weitzel: 43:03

I agree. I remember. So I've got a good story. So I was first, you know, GSE Expo, I don't think it was called that when, when I first went back in like 2007, or whatever it was. But I was at the Mandalay Bay. And so I go to check in at the Mandalay Bay. And I say, you know, last name Weitzel. And, and she goes, Okay, I see you. And she stops and she's like, she goes, you're here for for seven days? And I'm like, yeah, and I'd never been to Vegas before. And she goes, good luck. And I thought, What in the world is this woman talking about? Good luck. And then after two days, I was like, Oh, I think I know what she was talking about. So yeah, that was my first experience of Vegas was her you know, saying good luck to me. And she couldn't have been more right. Seven days. There is a lifetime. It is it is it is seriously a lifetime, but it'll be fun. It's always a good time. But it's yeah, I'd say after day two, everybody's kind of everybody's kind of worn out. That Thursday starts getting a little bit dicey. So anyways, but it'll be a great time. It will be Yeah, so anything else? I think,

Jeff Barrett: 44:14

I think you know, for me, I just like to thank the exceed team for putting this together. I think it's a great space for us to share best practices and just you know, talk about the industry. You know, I was told a long time ago when I started you know that GSE gets in your blood and it's hard to get it out of your blood and yet nobody leaves this industry they always right they always make their way back eventually if they do but you know, it's we're we're pretty special breed and you know, a lot of very good quality people and I'm very privileged to work with you, Matt. Appreciate that. See team you guys you know coming to visit us at the two factories this year has been phenomenal. We really love hosting customers. So anytime, you know our doors are open. You want to come to France or China.

Matthew Weitzel: 44:54

Yeah, that you know that. That was one thing I was going to bring up is when I'm when am I going to be invited to France.

Jeff Barrett: 44:59

Let's go Well, I mean, I mean, come on, anytime. It's always a fun trip to go over there and drink red wine. And yes, I can do that has some good crepes. And there's always been I mean, come on, man. Now you're

Matthew Weitzel: 45:13

talking. Alright, so that's my next thing. Well, I appreciate you saying that. Obviously, we we value the partnership with TLD. We we have a ton of your equipment that we offer out to our customers. And it's a great partnership and I and we really appreciate it.

Jeff Barrett: 45:27

Agreed. Same on our side, we

Matthew Weitzel: 45:29

really appreciate the friendship. Awesome, man. Well, thank you so much, Jeff. I really appreciate the time and thanks to TLD. And that'll be it for Matt and Jeff, the GSE podcast. Thanks, cheers. All right. That's a wrap for this episode

Unknown: 45:40

Thank you. Thank you. at the GSE podcast. A big thank you to Jeff for sharing his invaluable insights with us today. If you're as passionate about the ground support equipment industry as we are, please hit that subscribe button and share this episode with fellow GSE enthusiast. Your support means the world to us and helps us bring more of these enlightening discussions to you. Now, for those of you attending the GSE Expo from September 26 to the 28th. Here's an opportunity you won't want to miss. Visit Xcēd at booth 617 and take the mic. That's right, you can record an intro or an outro for the GSE podcast. Who knows? You might just hear your own voice in one of our upcoming episodes. Thanks for tuning in and see you on the next episode.