Matthew Weitzel: 0:07

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Unknown: 0:56

this is Laura McGrath, this is Jennifer Madison. This is Sophie Skinner Jones and you are listening to the GSE podcast, all right. Well, welcome to a special edition of the GSE podcast.

Matthew Weitzel: 1:07

I am Matt Weitzel, and I am here with Joe Griffith from Mallaghan, and guys, I got a call, got a call yesterday from Joe, and he wanted to do a special podcast. I have no idea what we're about to what we're about to see and what we're about to find out about, but I imagine has something to do with the GSE Europe Expo. So Joe, what is the purpose of this immediate podcast recording that you requested?

Joe Griffith: 1:38

Well, yeah, Matt, I appreciate you taking my call on a bright and early on a Monday morning with my brilliant idea of the week. So no, look, I appreciate you. You making this work. So obviously, we're coming up to the expo. By the time everybody hears this, this will, this will probably be the morning of the expo. And we just wanted to go on here and announce the launch of our new products that'll come online at the expo and have a conversation about it. So,

Matthew Weitzel: 2:10

yeah, alright. Well, let's, Oh, wow. We got, we have some graphics here, alright. So what am I saying here? Yeah, yeah.

Joe Griffith: 2:17

So the headline will be the launch of our new malahan, fully electric aircraft lavatory and water service product line. It's pictured right there on the on the far right for me, second, second to the left there. And that's built on our Malayan modular chassis, which utilizes a 80 volt drive system. So that's that's our headline launch, and that'll go live Tuesday at 11am at the expo in Lisbon. Okay? And then on the far left there is the fully electric, refrigerated, wide body catering truck, first of its kind in North America, built on the international EMV chassis. Wow, that's,

Matthew Weitzel: 3:10

that's a lot, man. This is, this is a big launch. It

Joe Griffith: 3:14

is, it is, yeah. So, you know, we, we kind of came to the GSE Europe Expo in 2022 and launched the world's first fully electric refrigerated catering truck on the on the Volvo chassis. And we've worked for the past two years to to do the same thing now on a North American chassis. So we partnered with Delta on the development of that product, and after the expo, it'll launch into service in North America with Delta, one of their hubs, and as part of the development partnership with with them, we have the opportunity to showcase that to the market.

Matthew Weitzel: 3:55

That's incredible. And with all the ESG goals that everyone has in the industry, this is a fantastic launch, and it's really going to be, obviously, I think, well received, right? I mean, these are units that nobody else is electrified yet.

Joe Griffith: 4:09

Yeah. I mean, there's the, especially on the catering truck, the toilet truck. There's been, there's been development and push towards that for the past couple years now, where we tried to come in, we talked about this, you know, with with all of our product development as we try to come into it with an eye to new spin or an innovation on it. So this, the fully electric lavatory service truck, or water truck, is powered by 80 volt DC system so it can utilize standard airport charging infrastructure versus having to have a special high voltage charge system to bring the machine back up to 100% and it's got, currently, the machine that'll they view in Lisbon has you. Uh, two flux lithium ion batteries on it, and it'll go into trials in North America after the show. And the whole aim of that machine was to try and make it more easily accessible, or easier point of entry for our customer base, without having to change their charge infrastructure. And that machine's fully winterized. It has a cab heating cab, AC. It's got heater for the tank system. The machine that you'll see in Lisbon is a vacuum truck, so it has all the benefits of the fully vacuum system, and then it also can be configured in a gravity system. So,

Matthew Weitzel: 5:43

yeah, well, that's huge. Because, as you know, I think, you know, people would love to get to the point where we're doing high voltage charging. However, we're not there yet, right, infrastructure wise, and and obviously there's a push for that, but having this unit not be the high voltage and being able just to plug into their standard charger

Joe Griffith: 6:02

is huge. Yeah, I mean, that was it is, you know, high voltage is got a future in the industry. It will go there eventually, especially as technologies evolve and develop. But we can't, we can't realistically sit down and say that all the hundreds of millions of dollars investment to this point, by and large, been with 80 volt systems. So our aim was to try and bring, bring this, this product, to the market using using 80 volt technology. And really the the Advent and the advancement of the lithium ion packages have made it possible. It's a pretty energy intense application, especially between driving with, you know, 3000 liters of of fluid on board, potentially, and then also a vacuum system. But with the with the advancements in the lithium solutions, it really allows us to effectively come to market with a product that can service the vast majority of our partners needs and bring a bring a product that can easily be integrated into their operation without massive infrastructure investment.

Matthew Weitzel: 7:17

Yeah, that's like, again, huge. Thank you so much for you know, choosing me to launch this new product with, and then, obviously, I can't wait to see you in Lisbon so. And then behind us, is that going to be what your booth is going to look like? Yeah.

Joe Griffith: 7:33

So our marketing coordinator and corporate communication coordinator, Laura McGraw, who's featured in one of your intros for the GSE podcast with the famous Irish accent. So she's worked really hard on bringing bringing our vision for the expo to life. You know, Mala hens, as much about the equipment innovation as it is the relationships and the gathering and the space. And, you know, our I tell people all the time, our commodities as much the relationship as it is the product. So she's worked really hard to build out the booth. We'll have our Irish hospitality. We'll have we're bringing our three piece Irish band over. We'll have Guinness on tap and no way, beautiful. Yeah, no, it's, we're bringing, bringing the dual tap this time we can, we can increase our output to full Okay, but, yeah, so, so bringing plenty of Guinness to the show, and then she's done a wonderful job with the show coordinators and the producers of the show to design this, this booth here, so it's very open. It's got a lot of open areas for kind of impromptu or informal meetings, but it's also got a couple formal meeting rooms for us to sit down and talk with our partners and talk strategy, talk about these new products and outside, you know. And really the the only thing that's not shown here, it's, not so much a new product, but a new new configuration is we'll have the European specification, or the European configuration of the Malayan sky belt, electric belt load around the booth as well. So those are the three products that so when the show opens on Tuesday, when everybody's hopefully hearing this and getting ready to go out to the show, those will be the three products they see, and then, as well as the the mall and booth, yeah. So we're really excited. Can

Matthew Weitzel: 9:27

we talk a little bit about the belt loader just real quick? Because I don't think we ever got to connect on on the new belt loader launch, and I know that it's already in service. So I think this is a great time. Let's go ahead and dive into that just real quick, to give people kind of an overview of that product.

Joe Griffith: 9:43

Yeah, so no, you're correct. We talked about as one of those. We talked about wanting to do it, but no, so we launched the Malayan sky belt a couple as two years ago now, and we partnered again with Delta, kind of. Got into, got into a product that we had historically not done conventional belt loaders up to that point. In several of the publications, when we launched the product, we talked about there were a lot of options in the market, and we had kind of said that we really only will get into a space if we can really innovate it, or bring, bring an innovation to it. So delta went to the market. So these are the problems we want to solve. For it was, it was interesting for us. It was an engineering project. It was a challenge for us to solve. And when they went out to the larger market, I mean, there's, there's quite a few people that looked at it, but the big thing for them was controlled approach technology to to mitigate and eliminate aircraft damages. So we designed the system, the controlled approach system, we utilized the latest and greatest in radar technology to really create a safety envelope electrical control, electric control of the belt loader, create the safety safety envelope with this technology, and then mechanically, you know, we, we designed a very innovative new lifting and arm system for the conveyor bed and patented that and most belt loaders in the market, once you get the front raised up to the aircraft, when you go to raise the rear the geometry of the belt loader, the belt belt traverses forward, potentially towards the aircraft and create a contact point. So we created what we call a semi scissor, or fixed pivot position, where once you get the front of the belt loader position to the aircraft, it doesn't matter what you do with the rear, the rear of it, it won't, it won't contact the aircraft. So we really well those two kind of key pieces of technology created very safe belt loader system. And then, you know, as part of this, we talk about the electrification and push towards green, you know, we we designed it solely to be electric from the ground up, so that that product for us is was really exciting. And we've built over 200 of them now, and they're in service all throughout North America, launching into Europe now with with some of our key partners over there, and we're just going to keep taking that as kind of a basis, a platform for belt technology. So it's a modular design. So, you know, it can have a conventional belt, it can have can different different configurations of extendable belts. It's It's really exciting for us. And it was a exciting project. It was, you know, took a couple years to see it to market and to fruition. But it really showcases what, what you can do when you've got some good partners and, you know, clear, clear challenges to try and solve. So, no, it's been a, it's been a good success for us.

Matthew Weitzel: 13:04

Yeah, so the sky belt. People can see that at the GSE Expo Europe, then,

Joe Griffith: 13:09

yeah, yep. So like I said, that that's a sky belt, European configuration. Oh, the sky belt. What I said? Yeah, yeah, you're right. You said sky Oh, good, okay, all right, yeah, Sky belt. It's just the European configuration. So a lot of the, you know, North American specific things, there's, there's CE requirements that that requires, like, modification. So that machine will be there, I believe it'll have a Colibri lithium battery in it. So options for Europe. So, yeah, we're really excited to see that product now grow onto into the European market and beyond.

Matthew Weitzel: 13:47

Now, do we have some videos that people are going to be able to watch? Is that right?

Joe Griffith: 13:52

Yeah, so we're going to get Laura to send that through, and you can edit it and post production, yeah,

Matthew Weitzel: 14:00

we'll edit those videos in here so everybody can kind of check that out. So we will put those now and then. We will come back and I have one More thing to discuss with you. You go up all right, so I am only walking the show now. I've had many offers to, obviously, you know, hang out in people's booths, because I don't really, you know, have a place. To be but nobody has offered beer on tap yet. So the question is, is I, am I allowed to hang out in your booth? Because I'm thinking that you're kind of winning right now, that's a Do I have the invite? That's what I need you now you have it you, you and you in

Joe Griffith: 15:21

the industry have an invite, as always. You know, maligns. Hospitality is renowned. So we welcome, we welcome partners, friends, colleagues, competitors. You know, this is really just about bringing the industry together. And yeah, you know, we're very proud of kind of the culture and bring in some of that, the Irish flare to it, like I said, with the with the with the band and the Guinness on tap, and just great, great conversation. And to quote, the Irish, the crack, you know, the good conversations, the fulfilling, wholesome opportunity to connect with people. So we're really excited for that. But yes, it's always an you always have an invite. And then it's a, it's an open invite for the industry. So that'll be every day from noon onwards. And then, rather than doing one dedicated night, what we're doing is on the booth after hours, we'll have catering, and the ban will continue. And a less, less formal, okay, more, more, more celebratory Customer Appreciation Event, both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Oh, man,

Matthew Weitzel: 16:29

okay. Well, that's incredible. All right. Well, I can't wait. Thanks for the invite. I'm sad that everybody else is invited, and it's not just me, but I'll get over that. That's okay. I you know, I think it makes business sense for you to invite everybody so I'll get over it. Is there anything else? Is there anything else we want to cover? Or have we? Have we, you know, fulfilled this obligation that I have to to call you and go over all these new, cool innovations that you have going on at malahan, yeah, no. Look, I

Joe Griffith: 16:59

think we covered the majority of it. You know, what I would say is, please come join us at the GSE Expo in Europe at ex 10. But probably the only other thing to touch on is something that yourself and exceed are very key integral sponsors for is the Malayan shamrock classic golf tournament this October. So you know, we've talked about it on several podcasts. Talked about, I think when John and I sat down with you, and we're really excited to do that again this year, it's, it's, it's shaping up to be larger than last year. And last year we had, we had raised over$20,000 for suicide awareness. And, you know, this year our targets to exceed that significantly. So we'll use exceed and bring that bring that sponsorship to to good, good good support, or good good effort in the community to support local charities, local suicide awareness and mental health programs around us. So that's going to be october 17. Is the is the Thursday evening, which is the reception. You guys are the presenting sponsor for that we are, and the golf tournament is on the 18th, and that's presented by delta waters, truck and tractor and avarst so the tournaments on the Friday. But no, we welcome every to come in on the Thursday. Our entire executive leadership team, both malahan Brothers, will be there. You can meet everybody, see the factory, tour the factory, and then that evening, the the reception Happy Hour is going to be hosted at fairway socials, fairway social in Fayetteville, Georgia, and the trilith community, trilith development, which is just this great kind of live work play area, and lots of fairway social is like a top golf but it's got multiple different sports. Different sports and stuff in it, and a lot of lot of good neighborhood bars and restaurants in the area. So bring, bring the industry together again about a month after the show and and do it again for, for the golf tournament, for a good cause, to raise, raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention,

Matthew Weitzel: 19:23

yeah, yeah. And I, I'm very excited about it. I think it's going to be a great, great event. I'll be there exceed again. You know, sponsor sponsors that we've done for the last few years, right? So, yep, so doing it again. And I can't wait to see everybody there, and thanks for bringing that up, because I can't wait. I've already, I've already got my hotel booked. We're all good to go. Very excited about it, yeah, well, thank you. I mean, really, it wouldn't be possible without the support of exceeding thank you for your your sponsorship and support. And you know, we really, it's a great event. And lot of fun, a lot of good memories from it, some, some a little bit more blurry than others, but nonetheless, they're it's a great they're there. They're there. Sometimes it takes a little while to clear them up, but they're there, yeah. Well, hopefully we have some of those memories of the GSE Expo Europe as well. So I can't wait to see you over there. It's going to be an amazing show. I've heard from a lot of people. Everybody's coming. It's going to be very well attended and and this is going to be really exciting. Have some some great product launches there as well. And not just your your standard issue, malahan equipment. We want new electric equipment, and that's what we

Joe Griffith: 20:39

got. We got the mandate, Matt, we listened exactly what you said, and we're gonna deliver on

Matthew Weitzel: 20:43

it, and I appreciate it. So yeah, this has been, I think we're good, right? We're all set. Thanks, covered everything. So this has been Matt Weitzel and Joe Griffith, and we will see you in Lisbon. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the GSE podcast. We hope you found it informative and engaging. If this episode resonated with you, please share it with your colleagues and peers in the ground support equipment community, your support is invaluable to us. We'd appreciate it if you could take a moment to rate and review our podcast. Your feedback not only encourages us, but also helps expand our reach within the GSE community. Keep an eye out for more episodes as we continue to explore the dynamic world of ground operations, bringing you the latest trends, insights and stories from the industry. Thank you for listening to the GSE podcast until we meet again. Stay grounded and keep pushing forward. You.