Matt Weitzel: 0:18

We'll see you next time. Xcēd adapts to your unique operational needs. Whether you're ramping up for peak season or planning for long-term growth, we provide the right equipment to keep your operations running smoothly. This anniversary, we renew our dedication to empowering your ground operations with efficiency and innovation. With Xcēd, you're equipped for success today and prepared for the challenges of tomorrow. Xcēd driving excellence on the ground year after year. Explore more at xcedgse. com. This is Jon Pfister. I'm Brian Yoder. This is Mathias Mouillenier.

Ken Brown: 1:00

This is Willy Martinez and you are listening to GSE Podcast.

Matt Weitzel: 1:05

All right, well, welcome to the GSE Podcast. I'm Matt Weitzel and I'm here with Justin Brennan, Ken Brown, kb, as everybody calls him and Arlie Wurtzen from PowerStow Americas. Is that right, powerstow Americas? You got it. Is that right, power Stow Americas? You got it, got it. And we are in Norcross, Georgia, at their facility where they put together the booms here right and attached the Power Stow units to the belt loaders and just got a plant tour. It was fantastic. I really appreciate you all taking me around. Arlie had the most information, or at least useful information, I think, which was what I was told would be the case, right, and that ended up becoming true, which is fantastic. Let's go around, and why don't you all introduce yourselves? We'll start with KB.

Ken Brown: 1:54

Yeah, hey, good to visit with you. My name is Ken Brown and, as mentioned, most people refer to me as KB. I'm the president of Power Store Americas here. I've been with the company about nine months. I came over after a long stint at United Airlines and joined the team and been here ever since.

Matt Weitzel: 2:14

Nice.

Justin Brennan: 2:14

All right, justin. I'm Justin Brennan. I've been at PowerStore Americas for about seven months, so I came on just after KB did and do sales activities here at PowerStow. I came from Textron where I spent many years and have a lot of good friends still over there, but very happy to be at PowerStow.

Matt Weitzel: 2:35

That's awesome man. And then Arlie is our veteran. I think yeah.

Arly Würtzen: 2:54

I got more than seven months.

Matt Weitzel: 2:55

So I've been with.

Arly Würtzen: 2:56

PowerStore since the beginning.

Matt Weitzel: 2:57

I don't know when that was, but it's more than 20 years ago, but, arlie. So why don't you tell us a little bit about how the idea, the concept started and then you know how you know, kind of, how it's going today?

Arly Würtzen: 3:10

Yeah, well, back in the day there was a lot of attention on work environment over in Copenhagen airport and the ground handlers over there was limited in how much their employees could lift during a day's work. So the handlers were kind of in a situation where they either had to hire more manpower or get a tool that could solve the situation of lifting the bags when they'd load and offload the planes. So Martin Vestergaard, the owner and founder of PowerStow he came up with this idea that the PowerStow roller track, now with the conical rollers that could extend into the plane. Back when I started with PowerStow, martin and another engineer, jens, who was employee number one in PowerStow, jens Bunte they had made a prototype of a roller track. They had it in a circle on a floor in this little shop. So when I came down and interviewed for my job, it was Jens and Martin and they basically the shop tour, was this thing sitting on the floor and hooked up to two car batteries, and they proudly showed me what they'd done. And this little circle of rollers could handle pallets, geese, suitcases and it wouldn't fall off. So they were dead certain that this was the future.

Arly Würtzen: 4:40

And then I started on and we started basically making the exterior designs. We needed to attach this to a belt loader. Somehow A company back in the day they were called Novia in Copenhagen Airport. They let us borrow one of their belt loaders. So we attached the PowerStore system to this belt loader. First we designed all the brackets and all that stuff, then we put it on a belt loader. First we designed all the brackets and all that stuff, then we put it on a belt loader and kind of like a year after I started we were ready to put this belt loader in service in Copenhagen airport and it worked for like a good three hours or something. Then it broke.

Matt Weitzel: 5:17

Oh wow, Did you fix that, Arlie.

Arly Würtzen: 5:20

Yeah, yeah, we fixed it and we kind of that. Following year we were maybe not daily in the airport, but almost following up making sure everything worked, fixing stuff that broke, making notes, because we all knew that this was not the final product. This was a prototype and we had to kind of figure out all the weak points so we could come up with a good, strong design. So over that first year we saw a lot of things break and a lot of things that didn't work as planned, but we made good notes and after a year we sat down and then we designed PowerStore number two and if you look at a PowerStore number two and PowerStore number 3000, you can't tell the difference. I can tell the difference, but they look the same. And PowerStore number one and PowerStore number two are still in service. They work every day in Copenhagen.

Matt Weitzel: 6:08

Really. Yeah, that's incredible. That's a good selling point right there. So what kind of background did you have, arlie, that made it? So it was a perfect fit for you to come over to PowerStore.

Arly Würtzen: 6:19

So, yeah, I was the perfect fit because I'm a mechanical engineer. My background is work sheet metal at a shipyard, so I was a welder and a sheet metal guy. I took an engineering degree, mechanical engineer. I worked for a chocolate company for a good four years Of course. I designed different machines for chocolate manufacturing. I designed different machines for chocolate manufacturing. I designed the knife that cuts the cracker in the big Kit.

Justin Brennan: 6:50

Kat bar for instance no way, yes way, you didn't know you're going to meet that guy. No, I did not.

Matt Weitzel: 6:54

I didn't see this coming, I got to add this to my resume now, so, and then I got laid off there. Some English guy bought two thirds of the whole world's capacity of cocoa beans.

Arly Würtzen: 6:59

So the whole industry stopped and I got laid off. There Some English guy bought two-thirds of the whole world's capacity of cocoa beans, so the whole industry stopped and I got laid off. And then I started working for Power Store, and then yeah, how did they find? You. They had an ad in the newspaper, I think.

Matt Weitzel: 7:17

Okay, so you found them. Yeah, okay, gotcha.

Arly Würtzen: 7:21

And I went down. We had a nice job interview with Jens and Martin and I remember they had bought two different cakes for the job interview. You've got to remember there was three of us, so two cakes was barely enough and we just sat there, for I think the job interview took more than two hours. We just sat there and talked and ate cake?

Matt Weitzel: 7:40

Did you tell them you knew how to cut it?

Arly Würtzen: 7:43

Yes, and I told them that I was not interested in anything that had to do with management. All I wanted was to sit and design machines.

Matt Weitzel: 7:52

Yeah, and that's what they allowed you to do. Yeah, that's amazing, ken, we're going to go to you because Justin can't follow that up, you know. But you, with your storied history in the GSE industry, I think you know if anybody can compete with the Kit Kat story, I think it's you. How did you get your start in the industry?

Ken Brown: 8:10

I didn't realize it was going to be so educational. Here today I'm hearing things about Arlie I'd never heard before. Yeah, but yeah, I, you know I really started on the airline side of things and found myself. I took a job with United Airlines many, many years ago as a summer temporary loading airplanes and, you know, a year later found myself working full time and sort of one thing led to another. I was always just somebody who was looking to learn something new and do something different and eventually became an aircraft fueler, did wide body food running, just did a lot of different things. That led to a training job eventually, which really was sort of near and dear to my heart, because I also had been a high school football coach that sort of called to me just helping people along from United Airlines and joined the Marine Corps and, to be honest, I didn't know at the time that United Airlines would hold my position and guarantee that position, which was fantastic for that. They would do that. But that was something I sort of needed a box, I needed to check in my life, and so I spent some time in the Marine Corps, returned to United Airlines and was really blessed over the course of a 38-year career to work in hub environments, line station environments, international, domestic.

Ken Brown: 9:30

I spent time at headquarters, some of that time leading ground equipment operations, but I've spent time in fuel efficiency work, a lot of operations leadership work over the years. I actually was the president of their subsidiary ground handling company, united Ground Express, for a few years, before then returning to Denver where I last worked before retiring and joined the PowerStow family. I had the pleasure of meeting the PowerStow group probably 10 or 12 years ago when United first started to consider this RollerTac product and I was one of the point. People on United and so got to know Arlie and Ben Reeves really well, spent a lot of time with them and candidly and rightfully so started as a skeptic of a machine that seemed complicated. But every moment, every bit of skepticism I had got washed away as I learned and put my hands on the machine, flew out to Boston and climbed in an airplane to load fish alongside 20-year ramp employees and they won me over and I ended up becoming a big advocate and played a pretty important role, I think, in sort of United heading down the path with PowerStow. They now own about 580 of the roller track system at United Airlines and then had this fantastic opportunity to go from being a customer and a friend to being a colleague just under a year ago, and so made that decision.

Ken Brown: 11:05

I've been very, very pleased with it. I have gotten to spend a lot of time with other customers. One of the things that I've really loved is validating that my perception as a former customer of PowerStore really matches what I find in our other customers. Powerstore has a great reputation for customer service. Our other customers PowerShell, has a great reputation for customer service. The product is high quality. Its in-service rate is above all others.

Ken Brown: 11:32

But what I hear a lot is what I experienced as a customer and something that I know that this group works really hard, and that's keeping our culture of being highly customer-focused, and so we spend a lot of time interacting with our customers, and showing up Parts is something in the GSC industry you hear a lot about. You know, waiting on parts and things like that we take a lot of pride in. If you call us, if you contact us before noon, we're probably going to have that part shipped out same day. It's very rare that you have to wait more than a day, and so there's just an important handful of things that, I really think, sets PowerStow apart, and I couldn't be more proud to be part of this group.

Matt Weitzel: 12:12

That's awesome, man. Yeah, that's great. So you took over for Ben Reeves. Is that correct, or is Ben still around?

Ken Brown: 12:18

Yeah, that's a really.

Ken Brown: 12:20

You asked that question in a way that yes and yes.

Ken Brown: 12:24

So it's just another thing that I think for me anyway, that I had a lot of appreciation for with PowerStow is I started this conversation with PowerStow about this role and it was sort of in my mind, the ultimate succession planning Ben had sort of said listen, I'm thinking about sort of slowing down a little bit, maybe going a little part-time and participating a little less over a two-year period, and a lot of companies would wait until two weeks before that to start looking for a replacement.

Ken Brown: 12:56

But their mindset is just unique in that way. So they started looking for Ben's replacement early on and that's what led to my hiring here. So I have the unique benefit of spending a year or so with Ben as he sort of steps back into more of a part-time role and consultant really largely to me and then ultimately will continue to serve on the board. So not only is he a good friend, but he's an excellent leader and has done a fantastic job on the sales side here, and so I couldn't be more pleased with PowerStow's sort of vision of looking to replace him far in advance and giving us the benefit of spending a lot of time working together before he steps off, a little more permanent basis.

Matt Weitzel: 13:43

Yeah, two industry giants we got with Ben Reeves and KB. So, man, justin, yep, I hate to do this to you, but you got to follow that up.

Justin Brennan: 13:53

Well, I'll do my best. I definitely wasn't cutting chocolate back before I came here.

Matt Weitzel: 14:01

You weren't doing that in Amsterdam at any point during your career.

Justin Brennan: 14:04

No, no, it's never been an option.

Matt Weitzel: 14:06

Cocoa production nothing, no, okay, all right, go on.

Justin Brennan: 14:09

No. So been at PowerStow for a short while but, like KB, just very happy with the culture that's here and one of the unique things I think one of the biggest draws to PowerStow that anybody would have is the way the family kind of runs the business and really the ultimate focus on the person who's working on the ramp and that is absolutely kind of the North Star, the driving force behind everything that's done, from product development to how the customer is served, and it's just it's been a great fit and really refreshing. And it's just it's it's been a been a great fit and really refreshing.

Justin Brennan: 14:45

But I spent about 20 years with Textron before I came here and had a lot of different roles.

Justin Brennan: 14:54

I spent the last five years in Textron's GSE business where I made a lot of good friends and a lot of great relationships with different customers out there, spent a lot of time in that factory as well.

Justin Brennan: 15:07

But before that I had a lot of sales roles, mostly around our golf cart business that Textron had. So I got to travel the backwoods of Arkansas and Far East Texas and do a lot of different things with the golf cart business at Textron. But my history has really kind of been around sales, whether it was territory sales or, you know, leading salespeople or selling, you know, large ticket items. That's really where I spent most of my career and very fortunate that I've been able to come over to PowerStow and, like KB, take a lot of good lessons from Ben and really get to spend a lot of time with what's made him and what's made PowerStow successful. And you know, the intention is that we continue that tradition here at PowerStow and continue what everybody has come to expect. So just a very exciting time and a lot of really neat things happening here at PowerStow right now.

Matt Weitzel: 16:02

Yeah, for sure. And I also worked for Textron, but prior to well, I worked for Textron at the same time. You worked for Textron, but you weren't the GSE business yet. I left right before you came in. And then I got to meet you once you started and you know I could see that you immediately made all the friendships in GSE. And then once you get in GSE, you never leave. It's not like chocolate, right? No, everybody leaves chocolate, big chocolate. You know you leave, but you never leave GSE. And people try, like Ben tried. You know he tried to leave at some point. He always come back. So we're glad that you stayed with us in GSE. And now that you're a PowerStow, oh yeah, it's very exciting. So well, now that we've kind of got the introductions out of the way, let's talk about the product. So let's talk about the core product and I'll have you start.

Justin Brennan: 16:58

So at Power Stowe we really have kind of four products right now that we're out there marketing and selling and manufacturing. So I think most people are familiar with our Roller Track product so KB talked quite a bit about that and the use with the airlines and the ground handlers in the US, and that's really the product that put PowerStow on the map. And what Arlie started with in Denmark is our Rollertrack track still has, you know, a long way to go and a lot of opportunity in it. But you know, as we've kind of developed and become, you know, a bigger business, we've kind of focused on the other places where we could help the guy or the girl who's on the ramp, who's either throwing bags or loading airplanes or working on the ramp, and really our focus has been around the ergonomics and the safety side of the ramp and primarily the ergonomics side. So we've got a couple of new products that we really showcased the last few years at the GSE Expo. So we've got our, what we call our tail loader, which you saw today, which really bridges the gap between the end of the belt loader and the bag cart on the ramp. And you know what we're trying to do and what we've done is we've taken the ramp agent and taken them away from having to bend and twist to move a bag from the belt loader to the bag cart to really automating that process. And so we're very excited to start getting our demos out and you know the units that are sold in the field and being used, start getting those testimonials back from you know the ramp agents and hearing how that product has helped them.

Justin Brennan: 18:33

And then we also have a new product. That's really kind of, I would say, our first kind of venture outside of the GSE space where we're really kind of in the bag room world a little bit now, and we have a product that we call the transfer belt. And the transfer belt bridges the gap between those induction belts going into the airport and the bag cart. So you know, a lot of folks in GSE, or especially manufacturing of GSE, probably haven't seen, you know a lot what happens. You know underneath the airport when your bag is coming to the carousel, when you pick it up, but there's a gap between that cart and that induction belt where an agent has to reach into the bag cart and grab and twist and throw a bag onto the belt. And we've created a transfer belt that really bridges that gap between those two pieces of equipment at the airport. And as we work with airport authorities and airlines, you know we're really starting to see those benefits for the agents that are out there working every day.

Justin Brennan: 19:34

And then really our fourth product is what we call assisted docking, and so I would say it's the PowerStow take on collision avoidance. You know we're a little bit unique compared to other belt loaders where we actually physically dock onto the aircraft. That's how you get our roller track extended into the belly of the plane. And so that comes with its own unique challenges of kind of guiding the operator into the aircraft and docking the roller track onto the plane. And so through the use of LIDARs and you know Arlie would give you a very technical description of what happens here We've been able to map out the aircraft and really help guide and control how the operator drives up and docks onto the airplane. And really at PowerStow, you know, we've taken what we've learned from the roller track and the things that have been helpful to the ramp agent and tried to put that knowledge in other places as well. And you know, very excited for what the future holds for us.

Matt Weitzel: 20:32

Yeah, the roller track system. You know, when you're just at an airport anywhere across the US, you see it. I mean it's everywhere. It's at, almost, I would say, every single airport and it's a fantastic system it's been out for. So when did it actually come to the US? Like, when did you all start?

Arly Würtzen: 20:49

We opened up in December 2013. Okay, since 2013.

Matt Weitzel: 20:55

Yeah, because when I was working at Tug, we were building the special chassis for the 660s that the RollerTrac system could fit onto. So do you all have the capability to attach to any belt loader?

Arly Würtzen: 21:11

And, arlie, I'll let you speak to this In theory, yes, but we have high expectations from the actual belt loader that we're attaching stuff to. So we're not going to attach our stuff to something that we know is going to break fatigue cracks or which can't hold the load or so that we're attaching stuff to. So we're not going to attach our stuff to something that we know is going to break fatigue cracks or which can't hold the load or so. Our product is a very stable, solid built product so we can't put it on a piece of junk that doesn't work or breaks down every other day. So when you start to work with us, we have some requirements, but we can. For now we put PowerStow on a roller track on Chuck belt loaders, tld belt loaders. We got Mulock belt loaders, tips Malahans oh, there's one over in England somewhere, I can't remember the name.

Matt Weitzel: 21:59

So I would say most of the major GSE manufacturers that offer belt loaders in their fleet. You all pretty much work with them, and would they then build the chassis and then send it here, I would imagine, for you all to?

Justin Brennan: 22:13

attach it. What Arlie said is you know, we've got some requirements that are specific to you know, being able to attach a roller track and being able to use a roller track. But at the end of the day, we kind of have this list of folks who you know. We say, hey, we can work with these, and then it's really up to the customer. We have no preference on the chassis that somebody would pick. We want our customers to be very happy with what they have, and so we really kind of give them that decision. And so you know they'll have their own requirements and reasons for why they pick a chassis. But at the end of the day it's really up to whoever the end user is. And then you know it's our job to make sure that we secure a high quality chassis to match the roller track or the tail loader or, you know, our assisted docking the roller track or the tail loader or assisted docking.

Matt Weitzel: 23:10

No-transcript.

Arly Würtzen: 23:11

It's changed, Like the motor technology that we use. All the electric motors we use they are now all brushless. In the beginning they were just DC brush motors that would wear out over time. Different designs, because over time we start seeing fatigue, cracks and things wear out. There's always a weak point. So we always have something to work on and make better. So we constantly strive to do that. Our challenge is whatever we make has to be retrofittable to all the way back to PowerStore number one, basically.

Matt Weitzel: 23:52

Yeah, for sure.

Arly Würtzen: 23:53

It's a challenge sometimes if you want to update a product.

Matt Weitzel: 23:56

Yeah, I bet, Especially when it's built really well, right, it's finding those common problems right and then trying to fix those. And then what does that look like out in the field? So if a customer calls you, United Airlines, and says, hey, we have this issue out in the field, do you all send somebody out Like, how does that work?

Ken Brown: 24:15

Yeah, I mean I'll jump in here and you generally can add color to that. But, as I mentioned earlier, you know, I think PowerShell has a reputation for being very customer focused and it's nothing for us to deploy somebody, change schedules and be on an airplane the next day, depending on the nature of the call that we get right and that'll dictate in some ways who we send right. Or the call that we get right and that'll dictate in some ways who we send right. If it's a training issue, if it's a more technical issue, that Arlie, of course, is probably going to be there personally or one of his techs, but it's nothing for a member of this team to get on an airplane and be there, you know, within 24 hours on site, pretty much anywhere in the US, to help solve a problem.

Matt Weitzel: 24:52

And then it sounds like parts are readily available. They're here in Norcross. You don't really have to ship a lot overseas because you stock here, correct?

Justin Brennan: 25:01

Yeah, it's nice when you have a limited number of products, so your SKU counts a little bit lower on your parts and it's a lot easier to be able to handle anything that comes up.

Matt Weitzel: 25:13

Yeah, that is really nice. And then so with the tail loader. Did the customers ask you for this? Was this like feedback that you all had gotten about? This was an issue out in the field, or was this just purely innovation that you all came up with?

Justin Brennan: 25:27

I can make something up, but maybe Arlie should answer that question.

Arly Würtzen: 25:32

All that was done over in Europe. But but again there was a problem. Someone was lifting the bags and we saw different products out there that weren't really great, like just a bit of manual rollers that you could fold down, or there were some half automated solutions, but they're not great. They're too slow, the operators don't want to use them, it's too heavy and it can't keep up with the way, the motion range that they need and the speed that they need to make it a good tool that they want to use. So over in Denmark they decided that we could probably do better, and we had an engineer on that for four years or something.

Arly Würtzen: 26:12

He was working on it and yeah, so now the product is getting into the field, and so now we're going to find some weak points and then we have some other stuff to work on.

Matt Weitzel: 26:21

Yeah, that looks like a really interesting product. New product development from you guys is that tail loader and then obviously the assisted docking. So again, same question type of thing. The assisted docking is that something you all were looking at? I know that a bunch of the belt loaders in the industry now have some kind of docking system. What have you on it that you can get like Tug has a smart sense and things like that? So was this something to make sure you all kept up with that kind of like where the technology was heading?

Ken Brown: 26:51

I'll jump in here and some of this applies to your last question as well. But I really think it's a blended approach. I think it's in PowerShell's DNA to seek to be the solution to pain points and problems, particularly on the ramp, and so a combination of just sort of smart people kind of constantly thinking on their own. What's the next opportunity for us to help? Constantly thinking on their own. What's the next opportunity for us to help? But we also never miss an opportunity to engage our customers and ask them what's your pain point? What's a problem for you that we might be able to solve? Talk to us about what's happening in your workspace. And we really try to diversify our contacts with our customers so that we aren't just visiting with the GSC folks, but we are very purposeful about spending time with their safety organizations, with their innovation organizations and even now so with the Transfer Belt, some of the facilities groups. So we're very proactive about seeking their input about what their pain points are and what the opportunities are that we might be able to help solve that. At the same time, we've got a lot of experience internally and so we sit and talk and brainstorm about those ideas. So it's kind of a blended approach.

Ken Brown: 28:03

More specific to your question about the assisted docking, for years and years the number one and number two cause of aircraft damage in industry has been jet bridges and belt loaders, and so it's an obvious opportunity to help mitigate some of that, and so developing some type of collision mitigation was somewhat a no-brainer, and I think that I would also add that sort of rebounding from COVID was a very unique time for especially these major air carriers. So ground handlers have always had a high turnover rate and always had to constantly hire and train folks. But I think some of the more legacy airlines always had the benefit of maybe not having to recruit as hard and always having people who wanted to work. And that pendulum kind of swung in the recovery from COVID and I think they've really found themselves having a hard time, you know, filling that need and then having a much junior workforce where training became so much more important, and so having a product that helps reduce risk. You know your training is still important, but reducing risk of aircraft damage, of injury, became more and more important to these airlines, and so I think that really helped shine a light on the opportunity for something like assisted docking.

Ken Brown: 29:22

Now, much like a lot of our products, this is not an. It might be a fairly new product, but it's not a new idea. You're probably getting a sense. You know, through Arlie and others, that you know we don't develop something and put it out to market pretty quickly. Even at times you have to sort of struggle between you might be missing the opportunity to go to market, but you know credit to our founder and Arlie and others we will not put a product out until it has been tested and tested, and if it can be broken we are going to break it ourselves and fix it. And so the assisted docking is one of those products as well, been underdeveloped for several years. We also know, like a lot of our products, that nothing quite tests a product like being actually in the ramp environment and maybe I would say in the ramp environment in the US, where employees can be really hard on ground equipment. So we anticipate that we're going to learn and improve things and this also goes back to an earlier question you asked.

Ken Brown: 30:18

But one of the things that always impressed me about PowerStow as a former customer and that it's part of my job to make sure we maintain this as part of our DNA is that PowerStow has always been very, very open to user feedback. I've worked with a lot of other manufacturers who were really proud of their product, sometimes so much so that if you offered them some feedback about how they might be able to make it better, they weren't all that interested. But I would say that PowerStow has always been very interested and sought that type of feedback, and when you walk the floor you see the fruits of those conversations, of those conversations they're, you know, like Arlie describes. You know, unit number one versus unit number 3,000 might not look the same to sort of the average person walking by, but there's been a lot of small improvements made over time, largely based on feedback from the customer, and I think that's another thing that makes this company unique.

Matt Weitzel: 31:10

Yeah, that's fantastic. Have you all seen a roller track system? Outlive a belt loader.

Arly Würtzen: 31:17

So PowerStore number one is still on the same chassis. The bed has been replaced, at least once, the engine it's on its fourth engine or something, okay but the bottom frame is still the same. So yes and no, okay.

Matt Weitzel: 31:35

Yeah, I was just more curious. It's a very robust product, right, and I can see that there's a ton of moving parts, but obviously you all have built this thing to last correct, and so you know, as we know, there's a certain amount of time that a belt loader is good for. Well, I mean, they can repower the heck out of them, right.

Justin Brennan: 31:56

I mean KB's been around the ramp. For I mean, these things don't die, you just rebuild them and rebuild them and rebuild them.

Matt Weitzel: 32:00

Yeah, yeah, what does that look like? Can some of those rollers go out and some of those motors, and they're pretty easy to replace, like? Can the customer do that? Do you send somebody out, like how's that work?

Arly Würtzen: 32:09

If you've got 15 minutes, you can replace a roller plays a role.

Matt Weitzel: 32:17

Wow, okay, well, if you're.

Ken Brown: 32:19

Arlie, you only need 15 minutes, that's it. If you're slow, yeah, many of our customers they do their own preventative maintenance and our team provides schematics and training. In fact I've had the benefit of sitting in on some training that Arlie provides and it's fantastic. It's kind of a university sort of a recurrent opportunity for mechanics to spend time reviewing troubleshooting schematics real time, get our hands on an actual roller track system, and I've witnessed that firsthand how valuable that is to these technicians and how much they enjoy it. It also helps us continue to keep our relationship with our customers, even beyond the leadership team right down to the folks that are actually turning the wrenches, and so the formula seems to work really well and as a person who's sat in and participated, I can tell you that the mechanics respond to it very, very well, so they can handle a lot of things.

Ken Brown: 33:10

Every one of our RollerTrak system RollerTrak units has Arlie's cell phone number on it. He's like a one-man call center. The good news is that our product is robust and that minimizes the amount of calls that he receives. But he will pick up the phone pretty much 24 hours a day and a lot of times can talk a technician through something if they've got a little bit of a snag, but if it's something a little more serious, we'll have somebody on an airplane and we'll be there probably within 24 hours to help them through it.

Matt Weitzel: 33:38

Yeah, we've been talking a lot about training on the podcast, and so what does that look like? Arlie, will people come here for the training or do you go on site?

Arly Würtzen: 33:47

We can do whatever. We have people coming here, we do classes here for like 12 mechanics at a time. We can do a one-day class or a two-day class. I just spent the whole day yesterday training MENCIS up in DCA MENCIS and United.

Matt Weitzel: 34:04

Oh, wow, so you actually physically went there yourself. Yeah, yeah.

Arly Würtzen: 34:07

So we go out and do training. If we open up a new station like a place that's never had power stoves before someone goes out either Right now I've only got two guys it's me or Paul.

Matt Weitzel: 34:18

Okay.

Arly Würtzen: 34:19

We go out. We spent like four or five hours with the GSE mechanics and kind of run them through how a power stove is put together, what we call the different things, and how it operates, and then they get my phone number. Then we go up on the ramp and then we spent the rest of the week training on the ramp. We physically go in and load and stack. I show the people how to stack, how to operate the system inside the plane, while one of the sales guys are on the ground killing all kinds of rumors that have started about PowerStore doing this or that.

Matt Weitzel: 34:55

That's hilarious.

Justin Brennan: 34:56

That's one of the best parts about this job is when we're out there training a new station that hasn't had a roller track.

Justin Brennan: 35:03

There's really two sides of that. So Arlie's usually up in the belly of the plane with somebody who's stacking and he's the one that gets the reaction from that person of the light bulb goes off once they see that unit and how it works and how it's going to help them in the plane and how those bags come around the corner and the loading head that lifts up. And now I don't have to reach up and stack them. And then, you know, mike or I will be down at the bottom and we'll be talking to like five or six ramp agents who are looking at that and the only thing they're thinking is well, whose job is that going to take? And that'll break immediately as soon as we get. You know you guys leave here and usually it only takes an hour or so and you put somebody that's skeptical up in the plane with it and they become believers very, very quickly and when that light bulb goes off, that's a pretty neat thing to see happen.

Arly Würtzen: 35:51

I was checking in Tuesday afternoon down here in Atlanta, flying out to DCA, and now they got these little machines where you have to check in and print your bag tag. And there was this nice lady from Delta and she was helping people and she came over to me and she looks at me and said oh, you from PowerStore, yeah, yeah, oh, I love your machine. And it saved me. And so she almost gave me a hug and then I gave her a PowerStow hat.

Justin Brennan: 36:22

It's amazing how often that happens, though, where you'll be in the terminal and somebody has moved themselves from the ramp like up into like kind of the customer service and you'll wear your PowerStow shirt or you know, you'll have a blue bag with you or something like that, and they're like, wait a second, I know PowerStow, and then they'll talk to you about that.

Matt Weitzel: 36:38

Yeah, you saved my shoulder and my back. Yeah, for sure, it's been fantastic. Yeah, that's unbelievable, or?

Justin Brennan: 36:44

they'll say something of you know. Well, they need more at this station because you know they're always stealing mine from my gate, or you know oh?

Matt Weitzel: 36:51

I bet that is a big problem, right Is these power stoves are being taken from gate to gate because they're so used to it and they don't want to have to go to a plane that just has a normal belt loader at it right, there has been physical altercations on the ramp about power stoves.

Arly Würtzen: 37:08

like whose power stove it is? Yeah, that's mine.

Ken Brown: 37:11

Yeah, there were early on. In particular, there are stories I can attest to some of them myself firsthand that you know ramp employees could be very, very creative and they would disable the power stove. You know sort of found their own way to try to hit a kill switch or something, so nobody would take it or park it. And I've seen employees literally take their lunch on their power stove because they don't want to walk away for fear somebody might borrow it.

Matt Weitzel: 37:39

Yeah, somebody's going to take my chair.

Ken Brown: 37:41

It's very interesting to watch that play out at times. So yeah, it absolutely happens and they get a little protective of their power stove. In fact, I think the mechanics would tell you that sometimes they have a hard time getting their preventative maintenance done because the ramp doesn't want to give it up. Or maybe, as Harley describes, maybe we'll have a roller that burns out. It doesn't mean the unit's not usable, it is usable, but the ramp doesn't want to report it because they're afraid they're going to lose the unit for a day. We think that's solvable because they probably just need at least one more roller track.

Matt Weitzel: 38:13

Yeah, and they only need 15 minutes or less.

Ken Brown: 38:16

We'll sell them another one. But no, it's, as Justin says, watching those light bulbs go off. I tell people when we go and train, especially if it's a new place. I look to folks and I and tell them embrace your skepticism. I know what you're thinking. Right now, it's okay, say it out loud. It looks complicated. You don thinking, right now, it's okay, say it out loud. This is, it looks complicated. You're you don't think it's going to work, or you think it's going to break a lot. And cause I was one of those folks and so I think it. I think for us to embrace that and tell them it's okay to think those things, but let's go give it a try, let me go show it to you and, um, but occasionally you'll get that sort of more senior, I don't want to try anything new. Yeah, you know, leave me alone. And this is how I get my workout.

Ken Brown: 38:55

And there was a. There was actually a fairly recent story. I won't share the location or the airline, but we had a very, very senior employee. We were there doing training and he was pretty adamant like you don't need to show me that thing, I'm never going to use it. And about 15 minutes later they were planning the next arrival and they said hey Joe, you've got the rear of the airplane and, by the way, there's your human remains on the airplane. And he kind of walked over to us and looked at us and said, will that thing move human remains? We said, absolutely, let us show you. And this was that moment that Justin was just driving went into the rear of that aircraft and he turned that airplane and he came out of there.

Matt Weitzel: 39:57

Now, that was his roller track he went from I will never use this machine. To don't touch my machine. You know, when they realize how it makes their life and their job easier and can elongate their career, it sells itself at least from the user's perspective.

Ken Brown: 40:09

Yeah, and I was watching the video on is it the hold on the tail loader? And that looked like the same thing, this huge time saver, back saver, shoulder I mean and the value of that and keeping your employees safe and able to come to work every day. Our products more and more make sense is when we train people, especially if you're a longtime ramp employee, is convincing them to let the tool do its job, because they've spent years and years of lifting these bags and pulling them and so even with our product, sometimes their natural tendency is to grab the bag or try to pick it up instead of letting the machine do it for them, and so the training becomes really important to help change those behaviors and teach them to really let the machine do it for you. So, again, that's one of those moments where you know somebody, the light clicks and they realize I don't have to snatch that bag, it's going to. This thing will help me move it without picking it up.

Matt Weitzel: 41:11

Yeah, and that tail loader does 160 degrees, so I heard that's the rumor anyway.

Arly Würtzen: 41:16

That's what Justin says. Anyways, yeah, exactly.

Matt Weitzel: 41:19

And so you can turn and move that thing all around. You don't have to do that with the bags, right? You don't have to do that turn with the bag, you can just do the turn that's, I'm guessing, powered by the PowerShow tail loader.

Ken Brown: 41:31

Yeah, that tail loader is not only adjustable side to side 160 degrees, but it'll go up well above the height of an average person and it'll go down all the way to the ground, and so you got a lot of flexibility at what would be the bottom part of the belt loader.

Ken Brown: 41:48

Now, in addition to again, as a person who's been around operations forever clearly this equipment was designed for its ergonomic benefit.

Ken Brown: 41:57

But if you're an operator and you look at the ability to extend the back of the tail loader and to swing it left or right, there are some other opportunities there that maybe weren't intended in the design but are still very valuable. One as an example sometimes you're offloading that front of that 737 aircraft. That belt loader gets very close to that engine on the right side of the aircraft and this tail loader allows you to get some distance, especially if you're staging more than one cart at the bottom of the belt. Maybe you're staging carts because you have a lot of transfer bag activity. This gives you a little more real estate to stage those carts or to swing that work away from the engine. And on the other side of that, again at the front of 737, there's sometimes a lot of conflict between a catering truck and a belt loader and it's hard sometimes to load and offload the aircraft while that catering truck is there. But the extra extension that the tail loader gives you helps mitigate that as well.

Matt Weitzel: 42:51

Yeah, what is that extension? How much does that give you off the end In feet, not weight? Yeah, none is that extension.

Arly Würtzen: 42:55

How much does that give you off the end In feet, not feet? Yeah, none of that metric stuff, yeah we don't need any metric stuff today. Let me do the math here. I don't know the exact number.

Matt Weitzel: 43:03

Yeah. But I would say- this is your best guess.

Arly Würtzen: 43:06

Yeah, yeah yeah, I'm working on it Like almost six feet.

Ken Brown: 43:11

Yeah, oh, wow, yeah, I'd say five to six feet would have been my guess.

Justin Brennan: 43:14

That's a lot Like six feet. That is a lot of space to get away from that engine as you're pulling up with a train of carts.

Ken Brown: 43:23

Yeah, and that's not to say that it has to be fully extended. It literally can be utilized without being extended at all. I don't know why you would do that. Yes, but it is adjustable. It doesn't have to be fully extended. And so, depending on the gap that you're trying to bridge, based on how you've parked your equipment or whether you're extending it into a cart or a container as an example, if you're offloading a narrowbody aircraft and you're loading into a container, maybe you're transferring to a widebody aircraft oftentimes you'll see a person at the bottom of the belt loader and another person inside that container, not that different from the pit of the aircraft. But now you're in a container and the tail loader actually allows you to extend into that container and create a much more ergonomic you know beneficial environment for the employee.

Matt Weitzel: 44:10

So I think I saw a demo unit of the tail loader out there. Are there demos out there currently, or is this kind of the first one?

Justin Brennan: 44:17

Yeah, there's. We have a few demos that are out in the field and starting to do some production of it. We do a lot of our testing close to home, in Denmark, so we have a tail loader that's been in use there for quite a while, but we're starting to deploy them in North America and, like Arlie said, we're going to grab feedback and you know if improvements need to be made. I'm very confident that those will get done very quickly. But it's just. It's such a great tool to remove one more lifting point from the operation for the operator.

Ken Brown: 44:53

Yeah, yeah, I'd say in, and probably in the next month or so, we will have demos and or ownership with uh five of our america's customers, so we'll be poised to get some really good feedback. Um, and take this to the next level yeah, I can't wait to see it.

Matt Weitzel: 45:10

So you all did so. It was a gse exp Europe. Did you have it there? I think you did right, we did, we did.

Ken Brown: 45:16

Yeah, we had both the docking system assisted docking as well as the tail loader, on display there.

Justin Brennan: 45:22

Yeah so you could see assisted docking, the roller track, the tail loader and also our transfer belt, both at Lisbon last year and then when we go to Vegas this year. You'll be able to see all of those in action.

Matt Weitzel: 45:36

Yeah, are you going to be outside at the Expo?

Justin Brennan: 45:39

I mean, it only makes sense, it's Las Vegas, right yeah the place to be is outside.

Matt Weitzel: 45:43

You got to be outside. Well, that's not well, I don't know. So what I've seen is a lot of people are going inside this year.

Justin Brennan: 45:52

So, but you all will be outside. Okay, maybe we'll follow that trend in the future.

Matt Weitzel: 45:55

Yeah, exactly.

Ken Brown: 45:56

We'll be outside. We're making some changes to our exhibit, oh nice, so it'll be a little more. We'll have more cooling options for our customers who want to visit with us and spend some time outside with us.

Matt Weitzel: 46:08

That's awesome. Well, I can't wait to come see it. So, Justin, you worked with Brad Compton for a minute.

Justin Brennan: 46:14

I've heard of him.

Matt Weitzel: 46:15

Yeah, and so everybody that has worked for Brad Compton has to have some kind of GSC story.

Ken Brown: 46:24

And we are now at that point of the podcast.

Matt Weitzel: 46:25

It doesn't have to be about Brad, or even with Brad, but I do know the people that hang out with him tend to have some pretty good stories. So do you want to kick us off on our GSE story?

Justin Brennan: 46:33

Yeah, I mean you've got two guys here that have a plethora of experience in the GSE space. A lot of Brad's stories, you know maybe aren't told on the GSE podcast.

Matt Weitzel: 46:47

Yeah, I know why. I mean, I don't know why actually. Yeah.

Justin Brennan: 46:52

I mean, I've seen him shoeless before. I was there for that. Shirtless, shirtless, sure, sure.

Matt Weitzel: 47:00

Yeah, that's a big one.

Justin Brennan: 47:01

There's plenty of those, but I think that's the inherent nature of GSE, that those stories exist, and I think that's why you kind of have to stay in the industry, because everybody has those stories, and so if you were to leave, somebody might tell one of those stories on you and then you're just stuck right back.

Matt Weitzel: 47:18

Oh, so that's the reason people aren't leaving.

Justin Brennan: 47:20

I think it's out of fear.

Matt Weitzel: 47:21

Ah fear, there you go. See, we finally figured it out. It only took us like the 29th episode. We're just now figuring this thing out.

Justin Brennan: 47:28

Uh-huh.

Matt Weitzel: 47:28

That's awesome.

Ken Brown: 47:40

So, kb, do you have a good GSE story for us? Well, I don't know if I qualify as good, but I probably have too many to pick one, but I can tell you that we recently were fortunate enough to participate in a GSE event that was put on by some other folks. That included some snowmobiling.

Matt Weitzel: 47:51

Oh, I heard about this.

Ken Brown: 47:53

Some people could choose to ski, some could snowmobile and a few other things, and of course, most of our group chose to snowmobile. It was the first time I'd ever been on a snowmobile, I thought you used to live in Denver. That's true. What the heck KP? What can I tell you?

Matt Weitzel: 48:08

You're letting us all down.

Ken Brown: 48:09

I spent a lot of time hunting and fishing, oh, and fishing. And so you know, these 14ers, these 14, these, all these mountains in Colorado that the folks that understand that language will know is 14,000 feet up and I think there's like 25 mountains and people climb that for sport. I call that an unsuccessful hunt. So I'm walking mountains. You know I have purpose, but I've done it with without harvesting an animal as well, but yeah, I mean I will share. But I've done it without harvesting an animal as well, but yeah, I mean I will share with you that.

Ken Brown: 48:39

I think it was fantastic. There were a lot of folks that had experience. I know Justin was one of them and there was a lot of us who had done it for the first time. But it's always the camaraderie is always great at these events and sort of some of the after hours, you know antics, sort of networking, but also just to sort of see people experience that snowmobiling for the first time, I will throw myself on the sword that I just, you know I'm a person who's adventurous and it's like I'm going to be on this thing, especially if it's rented. I'm going to find out what it could do, and so I may or may not have rolled it over, but it was a good time, it was well protected, soft snow and rolled it right back up and got back on it, but I don't think I was the only one that did that. But I guess if I'm going to tell a story, I should be self-deprecating versus pointing at somebody else.

Ken Brown: 49:35

Like many of these events, networking is an important part of this business. Some people use the term boondoggle and I'm sure maybe there's a flavor of that, but there's so much important business that takes place in these events. You get to sit down and have some deep conversation and you've created a relaxed atmosphere. You get to learn about people's families and what's happening in their life outside of work. I think that just makes the industry stronger and I think that also contributes to what you were describing is people don't really leave the industry. You know, and I think that's a contributor as well because you actually the relationships that you build are real and you get to know people. You get to know about their family and you get to know about their business and you become invested and I think that's unique and it's something that I've really appreciated being part of.

Matt Weitzel: 50:18

Yeah, I think that's another common thing that comes up on our on our podcast is the GSE community and and we really do have a fantastic community and, yeah, I just love it, which is the reason I started this podcast. I wanted to talk to people and and people really enjoy listening because they like to hear their buddies talk right, Because everybody knows everybody and everybody's friends. Do we have any good stories over on the side of the table here?

Arly Würtzen: 50:42

Well, I was sitting here thinking and then KB threw me for a loop.

Matt Weitzel: 50:46

Oh he did. Yeah, oh, you mean him falling off the snowmobile?

Arly Würtzen: 50:49

No, it's like people have a life outside work.

Matt Weitzel: 50:53

What's that all about?

Ken Brown: 50:54

Yeah, wait what I've been telling you about this, this thing.

Arly Würtzen: 51:02

I didn't know. Yeah, well, I can tell you, we go to many, many different airports. When we go out and train operators, and when we go to an airport, we're not badged. We don't have a CIDR badge, so we need an escort and I think 95% of the times we've been to an airport, we have been left by our escort and been sitting alone unescorted, trying to hide from-.

Ken Brown: 51:29

It's amazing how often that happens, he doesn't mean in a secured area, just in case. Oh no, no, no no, that's never happened.

Matt Weitzel: 51:36

No, I get it.

Arly Würtzen: 51:37

I was in an airport with Mike and it was cold, raining, windy, and we was put in a van by our escort. So we were sitting in a van and then we look around and he's gone. And then we sit there and wait. That's the only thing you can do, you can't go anywhere. And then, I think 30 minutes in, we see these two security guards come walking up to the van and we're like this is it?

Justin Brennan: 52:04

We're getting 40. We've got to find a new job now.

Arly Würtzen: 52:08

And then they walk up to the van and they look at us and say hey, get out, we need the van. And then they drove off.

Matt Weitzel: 52:17

That's a pretty good one.

Justin Brennan: 52:17

So now you don't have a van to hide in?

Arly Würtzen: 52:19

Yeah no, but luckily it's caught your eye eventually.

Matt Weitzel: 52:24

Eventually. Well, so you guys, are you going to be at the GHI Americas in Orlando, florida?

Justin Brennan: 52:31

Yeah, you'll see KB and myself and Mike and Julie will make an appearance at the.

Matt Weitzel: 52:38

GHR Americas. You got to bring Julie.

Justin Brennan: 52:41

I mean, a lot of people talk to her on the phone and this is the chance to meet her.

Matt Weitzel: 52:46

This is the kind of content that we needed today, I know.

Justin Brennan: 52:48

You know what I mean so yeah, come to Orlando.

Matt Weitzel: 52:51

see, Julie, you've been waiting.

Ken Brown: 52:53

If you really want to know who runs Power Store Americas, come meet Julie.

Matt Weitzel: 52:56

Yep.

Ken Brown: 52:57

The power behind the throne.

Justin Brennan: 52:59

Get a selfie and, you know, be ready to go.

Matt Weitzel: 53:02

I love it. And then you're going to be obviously at the GSE Expo in Vegas, where you will have a very cool outside booth Absolutely To show off all your new products.

Ken Brown: 53:14

We'll have what some refer to as a fully pimped out roller track. Wow, that'll have the assisted docking and the tail loader on it as well, man.

Matt Weitzel: 53:24

And then you think Mr Ocon will come to Vegas.

Ken Brown: 53:29

I have to check that with his parole officer.

Matt Weitzel: 53:31

Okay, Because, I mean, if we're talking about GSE industry legends, you got to throw Ocon in the mix.

Matt Weitzel: 53:38

There are a few of them running around this factory there really is yeah, it's a little reunion here that I've been having today, having worked at Tug for 10 years and then walking in this door and realizing that people that I spend a better part of my life with are all here, and so that was a very cool surprise that I just did not know was going to happen today. I knew Nikki was here and everybody loves Nikki and she's like Julie right, everybody kind of knows her name and they don't really get to see her that often, but I think she was in Vegas, maybe two years ago she was, so I got to see her then too. But anyways, this has been just a fantastic experience. So what haven't I covered? What haven't we got out there in the industry that you need people to know about? Did we do enough on the assisted docking, do you think?

Justin Brennan: 54:28

You know, I think we did. Really, we're kind of four core products here at PowerStow. We're very adamant about making those products right and making a great experience for number one, the operator on the ramp and number two, the guy responsible for keeping that GSE up and running. Those are very, very important people to everybody here at PowerStow and it's really kind of what drives everything that we do.

Ken Brown: 55:08

Yeah, and it seems like I mean it's a family atmosphere here. Probably be remiss if I didn't add to your comment about Bill. I had a little fun at his expense there, but I could tell you that he impresses me every day, that he sees things that others can't see, and just his wealth of experience, but also his ability to see something and solution it, and really I have an idea. Here's what we could do, here's how we can make that better, and it shows itself all throughout our facility here and how we function. Geez, we could really use something that would help us test this and Bill can make that.

Ken Brown: 55:43

He doesn't need a drawing. He can see it in his mind's eye and he will build it, and it's just incredible to have a talent like that amongst many talented people. So I kind of wanted to share that. You've heard the name Mike a couple of times here. He's one of our colleagues, not represented. We talked a little bit about Ben Reeves already, and Mike is part of the sales team here and been with PowerStove seven or eight years, but has been in the industry a very long time, formerly with Flightline, and probably somebody that most of the listeners would also know. But I just want to give him a little shout out too. He's a valued member of the team, does really good work with us.

Ken Brown: 56:18

But to answer your question about you know what else we could cover? I think I would. You know, I'd encourage people to, especially if you're less familiar with our products or maybe you're really familiar with our flagship product, but you're curious about some of these other products. You know. Check out our website. We're improving that all the time. We're including some video links.

Ken Brown: 56:37

I know probably a lot of your listeners are like me.

Ken Brown: 56:39

They're very visual and it's one thing to talk about a product, but when you can see it in action, it can really help answer a lot of questions.

Ken Brown: 56:46

So we encourage people to check out our product online and if they have questions or they want a demo, whether they want to take a trip out here, and we'll host them in our facility and do a tour, something like we did for you, or we'll meet them on the road somewhere.

Ken Brown: 57:01

And we've got a lot of great customers and great customer relationships and they've always been, you know, really willing to allow us to bring other folks to come, you know, show our product and educate people on what we can do, what we can't do. And then, lastly, I would just add that, you know, similar to the earlier part of our conversation, we're very interested in being the solution. So if there's pain points out there, if there's opportunities where people think PowerStro might be able to solve that for them, we'd love to engage in that conversation, put our eyes on it, and we have a very talented research and development team that's always looking for the next thing and maybe some things we're not going to be the perfect match for, but we would love to put ourselves in a position to help people solve their pain points.

Matt Weitzel: 57:43

Well, this has been an absolute pleasure. I've had such a good time here today seeing everybody and getting to spend time with you all and seeing the facility and seeing the product. And I agree with you that I went on today while I was on the flight and watched all the videos on your YouTube channel. It really helps out to kind of visualize how it's all working. It's even different than seeing it at a trade show, you know, at a mock thing. I mean. When you can see it in real life application, it's very, very cool. So I'm with you. I think everybody should go to YouTube, check out those videos that you all have, go to your website and learn more about the product. But yeah, I mean that's all I have for today. I really appreciate you all joining me on the podcast and thank you so much.

Ken Brown: 58:24

And that's been an honor to be invited. Appreciate you taking time. Come spend some time with us. Let us talk about our company.

Matt Weitzel: 58:29

Awesome. All right, this has been Matt, justin, ken and Arlie for the GSE Podcast. Thanks a lot, guys. 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.