The GSE Podcast

Episode 14 - "On Autopilot": Inside TractEasy's Autonomous Revolution with Richard Reno

• Matt Weitzel • Season 14

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Summary:
This episode of the GSE Podcast dives into the fascinating world of TractEasy, the autonomous tug that's revolutionizing airport ground support operations. Join host Matt Weitzel and special guest Richard Reno from TractEasy as they discuss the impact of autonomous vehicles on the industry, explore the technology behind these innovations, and consider the future of ground support equipment.

Featured Guest:

Richard Reno, Former CEO of TLD Americas and Current Leader at TractEasy

Key Points Discussed:

Introduction to TractEasy: Overview of its capabilities as an autonomous tow tractor and its integration with existing airport operations.

Benefits of Automation: How TractEasy enhances operational efficiency, safety, and reliability at airports.

Technical Deep Dive: An exploration of the autonomous technology used in TractEasy, including sensors, GPS, LiDAR, and how these components contribute to the vehicle's navigation and operational safety.

Real-World Applications: Discussion on the current use of TractEasy at various international locations, its adaptability to different environmental conditions, and its performance in industrial settings outside of airports.

Challenges and Solutions: Insights into the obstacles of implementing autonomous technology at airports and how TractEasy addresses these challenges.

The Future of Autonomous GSE: Predictions and plans for expanding the use of autonomous technology in different types of ground support equipment and other vehicles.

Listener Takeaways:

  •  Understand the critical role of automation in enhancing the efficiency and safety of airport operations.
  •  Gain insights into the technological advancements driving the adoption of autonomous vehicles in ground support.
  •  Consider the potential broader impacts of autonomous technology on the ground support equipment industry.

Special Offers:
Listeners are invited to access exclusive content and behind-the-scenes looks at TractEasy technology by visiting the TractEasy website.

Closing Thoughts:
The discussion wraps up with thoughts on the potential expansion of autonomous technology within the airport environment and the continuing evolution of ground support operations driven by innovation.

Tune into this insightful episode to discover how TractEasy is paving the way towards a more automated and efficient future in airport operations!

Xcēd Ground Support Equipment Leasing, your ally in GSE solutions, proudly sponsors this episode: Discover Xcēd's exceptional offerings and the latest GSE inventory at xcedgse.com. Don't miss out on this and other fascinating discussions, available wherever you enjoy your podcasts!

Looking for reliable and flexible ground support equipment leasing solutions? Look no further than Xcēd! As your trusted partner, Xcēd specializes in tailored operating leases for ground handlers and airlines, offering top-notch equipment and flexible terms to suit your needs. Whether you're seeking the latest electric GSE or traditional equipment, Xcēd has you covered with competitive rates and exceptional customer service. Keep your operations running smoothly and efficiently with Xcēd. Visit xcedgse.com today and soar to new heights with Xcēd Ground Support Equipment Leasing!

Matthew Weitzel:

Celebrating 10 years of trailblazing, in ground support Xcēd marks a decade as your leading partner in ground support equipment leasing at the forefront of both short term and long term leasing solutions 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 Brad Compton. This is Luke brown. This is Jeff Barrett. This is Tessa Fossum and you're listening to the GSE podcast. All right, well, welcome to another GSE podcast. I am here in Anaheim, California at Tigers facility. And I am with Gerry Hoadley. Correct.

Gerry Hoadley:

That's correct, Matt,

Matthew Weitzel:

how you doing today?

Gerry Hoadley:

Doing great. Well, glad to have you guys here. It's been a little bit in the works and glad you're here. Glad to get to show you the facility and showing you everything we're doing and working towards a long term relationship with you guys. Yeah, we've

Matthew Weitzel:

been talking about this podcast for a while now. And we're finally here. And I was gonna say that we're in sunny California. However, that has not been the case so far. I came in yesterday. And you know of all the news reports I was coming into flash flooding, however, it ended up being okay. And today has been a fantastic day. And the facility here is really nice and very historic. It is

Gerry Hoadley:

I mean, this is the original facility the original tailor done facility which was founded in the 40s on Mr. Taylor's chicken farm, when he decided he needed to build a vehicle to move chicken feet around, and all of his neighbors decided they need some as well. And from there, the facility just started to grow from a little barn type shop to what it is today with selling off of property and adding to the facility as they needed to grow. Yeah,

Matthew Weitzel:

if nobody has been to or for those of you who have not been to the tailor done facility in Anaheim, California from the front of this place, you would think it's very small. And so we went on a factory tour just now which I really appreciate we got to go see all the production and all the capabilities that you guys have here and we'll get into those but we were kind of walking through and seeing the production side and it's humongous your manufacturing here you have a lot of space

Gerry Hoadley:

we do and believe it or not we're we're space strapped we need more space every day. Which is why we're starting to send some of the manufacturing side outsource so we can do more assembly here but yeah, every bring everybody I bring to this place is just like oh my lord, it just keeps going. Yeah, it does from the street doesn't look like what it is once you get inside and the maze that it is and just the overall size is just pretty overwhelming at times. Yeah, the

Matthew Weitzel:

production. Yeah, we were walking through production. And then I was like, Well, I don't know where they're assembling this stuff. I mean, I didn't know there was like some separate place we're going to walk to and then all of a sudden, you know, you come to this door and it's there's huge assembly portion of your of your factory. It's It's really impressive. Thank you. Yeah, so Alright, so what is your title at Tiger?

Gerry Hoadley:

I am director of GSE sales and development. Okay.

Matthew Weitzel:

All right. And so how how'd you get into GSE

Gerry Hoadley:

a lot of people know this. A lot of people don't. I was basically born into the industry like so many of us have been when I early on in my days, my dad was a GSE mechanic at LAX for sunset Airlines for sunset aviation or I forget the exact name in the 70s. And my first introduction to ground support was going out on a to LAX visiting a little tiny shop and seeing what my dad was doing working on all the equipment all the GSE on lax back in the early 70s. And from there he moved on to other things and ended up at Victory GSE as their as a mechanic under my grandfather at the time. Oh, my grandfather moved on. And then my dad worked his way and became the lead mechanic and leader of the GSE refurbishing and remanufacturing and repowering and everything at victory. And I just that's where I cut some of my teeth. And then I would just throughout the years I moved to different things because I didn't know if that's what I wanted to do. I wear and Fab shops I learned to weld I welded I fabricated I just worked in various different industries, but I always filtered back to GSE. That is

Matthew Weitzel:

an incredible GSE story. I'm I've never been I've never met with anybody whose grandfather was even in GSE. That is quite amazing. So we have some people in the industry, you know, I'm thinking Brad Compton and his dad and Luke Brown and his dad, right. But I had no idea that you know, even your grandfather was in GSE. Yeah, that is impressive. In my blood, yeah. So now that I know how you got into the industry, tell me kind of about your history within the industry. Like, where did you start? And then how did you end up here at Tiger?

Gerry Hoadley:

Alright, so yeah, like I mentioned, my dad was victory GSE. And I worked there off and on throughout the years. And at one point, I was working for them, I was running parts for them selling parts to various different customers. And they were never really big in the type of aviation that we're in. Now. They were more dealing with F bhios. And things like that. And I was selling parts to all of these people for mostly government surplus type vehicles that we would rebuild and things like that old Clark's and Harlands and Uniteds. And that type of stuff. And one of my vendors at the time was Tiger, le and benchwork, back when, when they were running Tiger out of Lee's Summit, and I was they were one of my vendors. And one day, I pretty much had a falling out with the owner of victory son, who will go unnamed, and I decided that it was just done. So I just started calling my vendors and telling them that I'm leaving, and they won't be hearing from me. And I had never met Ellie, other than over the phone. And he said, Jerry just come to work for me. I need a salesman in Southern California. I need an outside salesman. So I thought about it for a couple of days, I called me back and said I'd love to take the job. He said fine, I'll send you a credit card tomorrow. You got a company card, let's start selling. I never really sold to LAX and those guys before so I just hit the streets and started knocking on doors and talking to everybody and selling GSE parts. And for Tiger in what year was this? That had to be horrible with years and we think about how old my daughter was, that had to be in the early 90s. Okay, so I started doing this and maybe six months to a year in, I had developed a pretty good customer base there. There was another gentleman that was hustling parts on the airport. And not that I had the plan of doing this, but it basically put him out of business. And everybody came to me and said, Well, we're tired of shipping parts in from the Midwest, we need you to have a warehouse here. So I started looking around, looked at different options, talk to some of my customers and ended up subletting a building from Evergreen on lax on the tarmac. So I had got a couple of my buddies, we got out our hammers and lumber and I took the metal building that still sits on the tarmac at what used to be evergreen today and Saab framed it out and put in a warehouse and an office and started selling parts on the tarmac at LAX for Tiger. That's that's how I started work initially for Tiger, I was selling to FedEx and they said, Jerry, the guy you put out of business was painting equipment for us. So I made a call to Elie. He said we don't want any part of it, but you can. So I got another piece of the property and started doing some repairs and painting of equipment for FedEx on lax, people came to me and they needed push back parts which Tiger didn't do. I with my history from victory, I knew exactly what to do and how to do it. So I started buying up old broken down T five hundreds and hitting them in the head and making parts units out of them and rebuilding parts selling the parts to Tiger and then in turn as Tiger selling them to our customers. So it was just hustling and getting to know the industry and learning it more and more. And I did that until Tiger decided they weren't going to downsize their outside facilities because they were about to sell the tailor done and I le came out so you're gonna shut it down and that's fine. Go off and do my own thing and figure out what's the next chapter. So at that point, I just started weighing options again, and a lot of the parts I was selling were remanufactured transmissions from a local transmission shop Anderson's transmissions who many in the industry as far as the the C sixes. Andy was known throughout the whole area and the west coast for rebuilding some of the best C sixes for ground support, amongst other things, so Andy was ready to retire and he said Jerry Why don't you buy my business why don't you I've got victory interested as well. Why don't you guys partner up and buy it and move it to one of victories locations while I had our He started my own little thing that I was calling airport spares and equipment at the time. And we did just that and we formed airport spares and equipment and victory A and V rebuilding, which started off just mainly hustling transmissions and rebuilding transmissions for lax and other GSE customers did that for a couple of years. And I knew coming from victory they only knew most of the military surplus equipment and everything Tugg never really entered into the picture. I knew how big the the MA tractor was in the industry. And I brought to the table that I want to start rebuilding these like they had done with E model Clark's and Harlands and things like that. I want to rebuild Ma's it won't interfere with your business. I'll do it at a different location. We decided sounded like a good plan. So I did the first one in my garage probably the first five or so then moved into a small shop and Cerritos hired my dad after he'd get off work, hired a couple of my buddies that knew how to wrench and we started rebuilding a few Ma's in a shop and Cerritos did that for a few years, and then victory expanded their property and ended up with a shop down the street from where they are still on the same block and gave me a bigger facility and more capacity. So we moved it there. And I continued doing this for what ended up being 20 years. biggest year ever. I well, I went from building one in a garage to my biggest year you have ever was 120 vehicles.

Matthew Weitzel:

That's a lot. For rebuilder. Yeah, sure. Yeah. So

Gerry Hoadley:

went through all of the things everyone has the recessions 911. I was in Tahiti when 911 hit, I got there on 910 and 911 hit, it was world changing, as we all know, but it was a weird place to be because the only news we were getting we were in a little hotel on the water that didn't even have TVs. So the only news we're getting as being filtered through France via the Internet and posted on a little bulletin board. And then we went over to the other side of the island, they got caught up on some of the news, but I'm thinking I'm what's this gonna look like? Yeah, when I get back, and we survived it, and we and we grew from it.

Matthew Weitzel:

Did the rebuilders have an easier time during 911? Just because people still had to have equipment, but they didn't have money to buy new?

Gerry Hoadley:

I think so I think that helped. And also but it went away from passenger and everything was cargo. So got you focused on cargo, just like some of the things we just went through recently down passenger. familiar story. Yeah, yeah. So but survived, that remembered happening to come out on the airport and see what it was like getting into the middle of the airport after 911. And it was it was, um, we've been through some things. But through that it got closer to where we are today. And I had gotten to a point where I knew a and b either need to expand tremendously, or shrink back down because we were at that area where we were too big to make money and too small to make money. So I had already had that in the back of my head, and then COVID hits. And it kind of caused us to shrink down I went from 14 people on my staff down to two other than myself. And during that time, I was starting to work on development of my own tractor doing the lithium conversion kit that we know today. That one was built and got some media coverage. Tiger heard about it. And they reached out to me to help them develop their lithium kit for their tiger tractor. And I worked with them as a contractor for six months or so got the product going along pretty well. Things weren't looking any better on the COVID front. And I didn't want to go through all the headaches of building a crew again, that had taken me 15 years to build to get to a good crew and they had went off and done their own things.

Matthew Weitzel:

It's hard to find a good mechanics. Oh, impossible.

Gerry Hoadley:

So I got to the point where I just approached Tiger and I said hey guys, just why don't you just bring me on board. And I'll bring my product designs with me. I'll bring the lithium with me I'll bring everything and we put a deal together and here I am today. So

Matthew Weitzel:

this is round two for you at Tiger. Round two at Tiger. So you were gone for what? 1520 years. 20 years? Yeah. Okay. And so can you kind of tell me a little bit about the history of Tiger because I know that you know obviously was a big player in the industry for a very long time it was in there was another period of time where they disappeared. Yeah. And now and now you're back. So what So can you kind of tell me about that history and why they kind of went away and then what the difference between you know them going away and then the new company that that is you know that Tigers home by wave and what the kind of differences that the customers can expect and and all that kind of stuff just go over that. Sure. Well,

Gerry Hoadley:

everybody, the tiger everyone knew of old founded by Le Le Duranty of benchwork. Back in the 80s, it was a very good product that the both the Tagi I'm not the tractor and the belt loader, and it was doing well. And it was quickly gaining market share over a lot of its competition. And it was ending up in all of the major package companies, inventories, the airlines inventories, it was really making a strong headway. I don't know the full story behind it. But Ellie and Ben were approached by Taylor done that was in a buying frenzy at the time, they made them an offer to acquire Taylor Tiger, which they ended up doing. Taylor Dunn acquired Tiger, United tractor and Metro crown all within the span of I think a year and they brought them into their portfolio. I really don't know the reasoning behind it. I had left by then. But I did watch the brand, as most in the industry did just disappear. And what I've gathered is when it was brought in to Taylor Dunn, Taylor Dunn didn't have really direct salespeople, and they really knew nothing about aviation. So they thought they could do this by putting it into their dealer network, okay, their dealer network was all forklift dealers and don't have those connect warehousing and they don't have the connections to the airlines. I mean, we all know this a very as large as it is, it's a very personal driven market. It's friendships and relationships and just hanging out with people and getting to know them. And these dealers really knew nothing about that. And the parts support was put into the dealer hands also, I couldn't buy parts from Tiger unless I went to a dealer, and I would call a dealer and tell them I'm looking for this park for a tiger tractor. And they would say, what's a tiger tractor? So yeah, it was the prob Yeah, so that was the demise of Tiger. And that's when it went away. Now you fast forward a few more years, Taylor Dunn was sold a couple of times with fairly recently it was purchased by Polaris, and Polaris ran it, they had decided that this Anaheim because of the industrial products that are built here at the plant, all of the tailor done electrics and they were doing some electric tractors as well, the TC 50 E, which was a fairly big, beefy electric tractor, Polaris decided they were at that point, they were getting into more industries and expanding and this was going to become their electrical, their electric Center of Excellence. So they bought Taylor Dunn, and they brought their gym car division here and put it into the Anaheim facility as well, and started running all three products out of here. Well, they still didn't have any focus on aviation, they, they sold a few units here and there to steal some of the package handlers and things like that, but nothing to speak of. Well, after I believe it was six years or so, Polaris got a new CEO, and he decided Polaris was gonna go back to its core, which was power sports. And he went to are now CEO of wave key Simon and John Conlon, our CFO and he tasked them with finding buyers for the three brands that were here in Anaheim, tiger, Taylor Dunn, and Jim will they did about a year of exhaustive research, learning more about the products and learning the market and talking with private equity and seeing what can be done. They saw the history of the three brands, and they didn't really want to see those be broken up or see them just be cut apart by private equity. So they put some plans together and presented Polaris with a management buyout, which they put themselves in three other gentlemen together. And Polaris worked with them to do a management buyout of the three brands here in Anaheim. So upon that is when they formed wave with that they bought the three brands. And during that time, they had already decided they wanted a big focus on GSE because they saw what the market could be during their research and looking to get rid of the three lines. And they one of their main focuses was ground support. And they saw what it could be saw the potential in it. They had already reached out to me to help with the electric they learn more about me and my history and we had done a Expo the GSE Expo in Vegas, they shared a booth with a envy. And they were just in awe of all the people that that I knew and what how much I knew about the industry and that's when they they said this is where we want you and now they focused on me leading The team for GSE I'm introducing them all to what GSE is. And we are GSE is the number one product of the three that they're putting momentum behind to regain the market share that they lost and gain even more, and put a quality tractor out there that's dependable and robust and long lasting, and sustainable with our new lit Tiger lithium. That's kind of where we're going. And yes, we went away for a while, but we're here to stay now.

Matthew Weitzel:

I like it. I like it. Thank you so much for giving me that explanation. You're welcome. So tell me a little bit about the product line that you do have currently with Tiger. So I know you've got a you got a bag tractor. Yeah. And that comes in lithium, lead acid and internal combustion, I think is that correct?

Gerry Hoadley:

No lead acid. Oh, okay. So

Matthew Weitzel:

it's just lithium

Gerry Hoadley:

and internal combustion Blushington. And only gas at this point? No diesel.

Matthew Weitzel:

Okay. All right. And then you also have maybe a live cart, no water cart?

Gerry Hoadley:

We do. We've recently launched our Bigfoot, which is one of our tailor done products. It's a burden carrier, a small pickup truck, basically, it's known in the industry. I mean, it's very well used in industry, and it's even used by you see it everywhere. It's yeah, yeah. But people didn't realize the capabilities of it. I mean, our big foot product can haul 3000 pounds and tow 10,000. So I pitched the idea being the GSE sales and development and that we take that product and we put a laugh body and a water body on it that are palletized that can be taken off and switched or whatever need be. And then as well, a bag cart, a scaled down bag cart that we're calling the the dot bag truck. So we offer those three products on our Big Foot bodies on our Big Foot format. We've got the tiger lithium and Tiger gas. And then you've also heard of Jim Carr, which is another one of our products. And now we're starting to work towards designing vehicles for use on the tarmac for people that want airlines and ground handlers that needs sustainability. Our gym car comes in anywhere from our el Lex D, which is a pickup truck that can be configured in in numerous footprints and body styles than we have a two passenger vehicle a four passenger and a six passenger. And we're starting to see more interest in those for supervisor vehicles for moving cleaning crews around the airport for everything like that for a sustainable option because they can be plugged into a 110 outlet and charged so we don't need the infrastructure that's needed for a lot of the other equipment. Those are our main GSE brands right now, along with one that I didn't mention but should and definitely need to. We also have a repower kit, a full load driver kit.

Matthew Weitzel:

Yeah and so what is that repower kit for them a 50

Gerry Hoadley:

Right now it's for our current tractors if someone buys a gas vehicle and then decides they want to convert it to lithium that can be easily be done. But also for for ma 50s or any ma series of tractor it's a direct pull your gas dragline out and drop it in with everything you need to make that vehicle new again with the exception of some steel and the steering system and includes new braking system complete new electrical system new drive axle, power module, everything you need brake system parking brake system, everything does this

Matthew Weitzel:

cover the M one A as well or just the image? Just the MA okay, it's just the amazing surance Yeah,

Gerry Hoadley:

we have aspirations to move it to other products as well. Other footprints the M one a possibly some Heartland different things like that, but currently it's the MA and our Tiger 40.

Matthew Weitzel:

So tell me a little bit more about is it the tiger? So what is it called the I 40 l 40? The

Gerry Hoadley:

our new track Yes, it's we have it's the tiger 40 It's a tiger 40 and a new head of 40 And yeah, Tiger 40 And it comes either L or G gasoline or lithium. Okay,

Matthew Weitzel:

so what is the towing capacity 54,000

Gerry Hoadley:

pounds, we're really not giving it a drop our rating just because in my experience drop bar is so confused in the industry. And so we're more going on a towing capacity format than a than a draw Bart 450 4000

Matthew Weitzel:

Yeah. And then what is he you're telling me on the line that a lot of these parts people can get from their local Napa place or I mean they're kind of more common use parts. There's a lot of parts commonality between this vehicle the tiger 40 and the ma 50. Yeah,

Gerry Hoadley:

with my background, I'm a graduate of lax you as I like to say, you know, I grew up on the tarmac and I wrenching and I love Keep It Simple engineering. So and the biggest demise of a product is when you can't support it. We all hear it every day of people that can't get parts. Well when I worked with the team here Design This tractor, I told him it has to we can't have parts designed just for us, we have to use what I call industry standard components. So we share our steering system, our drive axle, our brake system, everything with a tug Ma. So if people have a fleet of Ma's, and they have parts on the shelf, and they buy one of our tractors, and the steering gear fails, it's the same steering gear, brake caliper fails. It's the same brake caliper master cylinder, the same steer axle the same. So it just makes it so much easier when parts are needed to have them at your fingertips. Yeah,

Matthew Weitzel:

and the mechanics already know how to work on all those as well. Yeah,

Gerry Hoadley:

the mechanics know how to work on them, the operators know how to operate it, because it's a very similar look and feel and drive experience as what they're used to on the tarmac.

Matthew Weitzel:

Yeah, it makes sense to me. I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed looking at it. And, yeah, you've made a lot of nice improvements. And so tell me about the the battery pack. And what makes your battery pack different. And kind of explain that whole thing to me the lithium.

Gerry Hoadley:

Sure, well, everybody's knows lithium. Now. I mean, it's very, very common. And there's a lot of companies out there building lithium batteries. Ours is a little beyond the battery, we like to say our product, our tractors are fully integrated, meaning that every part of the drive system talks to one another. So we don't have a battery per se. You can't necessarily take ours out and replace it with someone else's. We have a power module, which that power module does is the battery, but also the motor controllers built into it. The BMS is built into it all the contactors are built into it. Our patented overturn protection module is built into it. Everything is built into this power module. And then it's plug and play and can communicated with all of the other components the rear in the charger. Everything is cam enabled, and they speak to one another. So it's a 48 kilowatt pack. Were available with both onboard charging and off board charging and most everything we're building has both so you can fast charge with a DC DC fast charger that scan enabled and speaking the correct protocol. We currently work with AC T minute that is programmed correctly and posi charge. And then with our onboard charger, which is a 6.6 kilowatt charger. If you don't need that super fast charging, you can plug into any 220 outlet or even your roadside type Evie chargers or your home Evie chargers. Because we have a J 1772, which is automotive standard force for Level Two charging, we can charge from that with our 6.6 kilowatt onboard. So you have a ton of options for people, infrastructures, everyone's challenge and we're trying to make it to where that's not a challenge for us.

Matthew Weitzel:

Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. All right, I think we're gonna take a commercial break and we'll come back here in one minute. All right, thank you. 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 tailored operating leases for ground handlers in airlines, offering top notch equipment and flexible terms to suit your needs partner but the industry leaders we're committed to bringing you the equipment offerings that keep your operations running smoothly and efficiently. Choose exceed for competitive rates and exceptional customer service visit xcedgse.com today has soared to new heights with exceed ground support equipment leasing. All right, we're back. So now we have been joined by Keith Simon. How're you doing? Keith? I'm doing well. All right. Hey. So what is your what's your title here? What do you what do you do here?

Keith Simon:

Thanks for having me.

Matthew Weitzel:

What would you say you do here?

Keith Simon:

I am the leader of wave. So one of the founding co founders of the business wave and my title is President CEO.

Matthew Weitzel:

Okay and you're also owner, is that correct? Like is this like explained the ownership? Correct. So

Keith Simon:

wave is a manufacturer of low speed electric vehicles wave was formed to purchase the brands of Jim Taylor Dunn and Tiger from Polaris in 2022 and we are a OEM so do we do all the design and manufacturing of the vehicles under these brands here in Anaheim, California. And that's really what we're about. We're about if you if you look at our vision, it's energizing for motion. And we are doing that every day with these brands in the low speed. Electric Vehicle space.

Matthew Weitzel:

Gotcha. Yeah, well, it's, it's a great product, we got to tour the facility, we're going to do a little bit more of the touring the facility after the podcast. But what we saw out there is, is fantastic. You have a unbelievable facility, and I can't believe how much welding you're doing out there. And just there's a lot of real war going on out there. Yeah, absolutely.

Keith Simon:

And one of the interesting things about our most legacy brand Taylor done is turned 75 years this year. So Oh, congratulations. Since 1949. This business has been here in this location manufacturing electric vehicles of some sort. Yeah,

Matthew Weitzel:

I mean, there's no way you could purchase this property now. With the way the way that things are the way things are going in Southern California. So this is yeah, it's fantastic. I can't believe it, you know, I was driving drove right by and in and out in a Starbucks. And then there's Taylor Dunn sitting in the middle of all this commerce and it's, it's crazy. You're not just in some park somewhere. It's in the middle of Anaheim.

Gerry Hoadley:

Yeah. Five miles from the magic place.

Matthew Weitzel:

That's right, and the happiest place on earth. But alright, so just wanted to talk to you about a couple things. So first of all, are you all looking at like telematics solutions, like, you know, exceed has kind of gone in and we're looking at some telematics solutions, a lot of the OEMs are looking at telematics solutions, that's something you will have on the table.

Keith Simon:

Yeah, actually, we do some telematics today for certain segments of our business and specific customers in the business. And telematics is interesting, because there's value for it for us as an OEM and I'll talk a little bit about how we think about that. But then there's tremendous value as well for our customers who are largely fleet management customers in terms of operating and managing their fleets. Several customers that we have in some of these commercial segments have their own specification for telematics. And so they specify the type of telematics and how they wanted to integrate it into the vehicle, and we do that on their behalf as an OEM, we have a desire to have a more comprehensive telematics solution for us to understand the data behind the operation of our vehicle, especially in this electric vehicle space. So it's a little different value for us than it is for a fleet operator where we're looking at, we want to understand performance, and how do you turn that into product development initiatives to improve performance on the vehicle, whether it be on the battery side or the charging side, want to be able to turn that into marketing material, as electric vehicles are still relatively new in some of these spaces, especially like Jesse, so you know, to be able to come to the table with real world data around how the vehicle performs, and an actual application versus theoretical data from the design of a vehicle. That's very valuable for us and for our customers. And then, you know, customer segments, like the ground support space are looking for next level of fleet management capabilities on on their assets as well. So we were part of the way into developing a solution now that we will launch in the not too distant future. And that'll be something that for sure, we'll start on our GSE equipment, our Tiger products, specifically, and potentially evolve to some of our other commercial products. Awesome. Yeah,

Matthew Weitzel:

we're like we're in the same position, we just, we just recently started putting some telematics on our units. And it's more for us at this point, right? Obviously, the customers really enjoy having that data and access to that data as well. And the moment you give them the data, they're like, Oh, I didn't know that I could even have all this stuff. And it's obviously really valuable to everyone. But it's just, you know, making sure that you have the right provider, and being able to make sure that everybody's happy with the service from that provider. And and yeah, so it'd be it'd be interesting to see where that goes. And we'll we'll look out for that. Like what is service look like from from Waves perspective? Yeah,

Keith Simon:

so service for us is one of the key elements of the product that we provide right to mean most every customer that we have is running some type of a business or operation using our vehicles. So downtime is critical and our ability to support a customer or one of our dealer partners. So interesting fact about wave is that a large portion of our commercial products from the gym, business and from the tailored and business are sold through an extensive dealer network. We have over 400 dealer locations around the country that they are the extension of our business for sales and service support. So our capabilities from a product engineering and product Technical Support standpoint are largely remote based here in Anaheim. And so what we do is support those customers that and our dealers that are supporting the end users remotely. In most cases, that's a very effective way for us to support from a technical service standpoint. And then our direct customers, which is more relevant here in the ground support equipment, space customers like yourself, we will provide the same level of remote technical support and our team is then as well capable of deploying for on site technical support. Should we need to in the case that there's not adequate on the ground technical support or capabilities at a at a customer? And we do that

Matthew Weitzel:

often? Yeah. Yeah. That's good. So what is the what is the warranty on this new Tiger 40? The tiger 40.

Keith Simon:

The version that is electric comes with a five year warranty.

Matthew Weitzel:

Okay, and then what about the battery? Because I know you all kind of have like a special battery in there. And what what's the warranty on that?

Gerry Hoadley:

Well, that's, that's the part of it. That's the five years, okay. And we foresee it lasting much longer than that. We just don't have enough collective data yet to really put behind that. But our power modules and our motors are built by the same company that's building power modules and drive systems for RCL for their real powers, and remanufactured electric maindeck loaders. And we've recently Brian has recently had a pack back at his place that was six years old to get a BMS update. And he tested all the cells in the pack, and they were still at more than 99% of their original life. And that's incredible. we foresee these batteries lasting, outlasting the tractor almost, but were the current warranties five years, but we see that you're not going to need to replace that for much longer than that.

Matthew Weitzel:

Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't know if it's going to allow us to tractor I saw I saw I saw the the enhancements that you have made to that tractor. And it's unbelievable. It looks like I mean, you all done a lot of engineering on that thing. You know, to make it it looks very durable. To me.

Gerry Hoadley:

That was the goal, most durable, dependable tractor on the market. It was the goal. Yeah,

Matthew Weitzel:

I mean, you're yours, you can tell your years of just, you know, being in ground support equipment and seeing the fault points in that tractor. And being able to make it just more robust, I think is incredible rebuilding

Gerry Hoadley:

tractors for 20 years, I've seen the worst of the worst. So I knew where all the weak points were, and made sure we engineered around those so that they wouldn't be weak points anymore. Yeah,

Keith Simon:

it's a common philosophy we use across our business and product developments, these cycles of feedback that we get. And we've worked very close with some large end customers in the groundskeeper support equipment space to take their feedback, a couple of the Jerry's experience and knowledge. And that's really what's gone into this product. And we do that across our product portfolio. Completely as as we get feedback, either through our tech support group around opportunities in the field, or through our warranty process, themes, warranty failures in the field that happens their vehicles, they go into harsh environments and high duty cycle applications. And with an engineering team here on site that's connected directly to those service teams that received those first signals from the customer, we're able to act really quickly and iterate product almost immediately to continuously make it better to touch a

Gerry Hoadley:

little bit on the service side. And what Keith just said, go a little deeper into that quote from one of our largest customers is we know things break, it's just how quick he quickly you react to get them up and going again, and prevent it from happening in the future. And that's what we pride ourselves on.

Matthew Weitzel:

I 100% agree with that. Everybody's got problems, right? Every manufacturer is going to have failures out in the field. It's just how quickly you react and how you react to that problem. That's what people want to see. And I think, you know, like I said, I think your your, your years in this industry have taught you that and you're bringing all that experience here. And it's really going to show I think, to the customers out there. So really impressive stuff. Okay, is there anything else that we want to cover?

Gerry Hoadley:

I think we've touched on quite a bit. We're we're working to be the best product out there and we're looking to help with every airport sustainability goals. I'm available to consult with airports on charging and how not only you can get our equipment in but others and just looking at ways to help the industry get more green than it's ever been and reach all of these sustainability goals.

Matthew Weitzel:

I do think that the repower kit is going to be really interesting because so many people have ma 50s in their fleet and you all have a for what it sounds like a great repower kit and it also comes with the 5000 hour warranty. Five year the five year sorry, the five year warranty,

Gerry Hoadley:

five year warranty on the tractors we're doing 2000 traction hours or five years. Okay, traction hour. So for those that don't quite understand that when an electric tractor it's only putting hours on the hour meter when it's in motion. There's no idle time that's eating away at a at an hour meter. It's Only tractive effort hours that are being tracked.

Matthew Weitzel:

Yeah. Well, that's great. Okay.

Keith Simon:

I think the other interesting thing that we've learned here is Jerry's joined our business. And we've brought Tiger out as a more prevalent brand. And I'm not sure how much of this you guys covered in the history of Tiger, but no tiger was purchased by Taylor Dunn and I almost went away for a period of time, decades before we got involved in the business but we very purposefully as we stood up wave brought Tiger out as a brand and have strategically been investing in this ground support equipment space, it's it's super intriguing as a business owner to sit on an airplane and see the amount of vehicles that surround every commercial jet on on the tarmac, and at that point in time that seeing one of our vehicles out there and if that doesn't motivate you as I always tell my team if that doesn't motivate you as a, as a business leader in the in the Evie space, and you probably in the wrong business, and probably most interesting to me is not just bringing Tiger back to the forefront as a player in the space but the opportunity that that's brought to us to educate people on the application of our other products in the tailored on portfolio and the gym portfolio and the versatility of those vehicles and the simplicity of those vehicles, in lowering their cost of operations and also achieving their sustainability goals are there. There's a reason tailored has been around for 75 years, right? It's it's an extremely versatile vehicle, very durable, very safe and very simple to operate. Jim very similar. And you'll continue to see more and more of our wave vehicles of the Jim Taylor Don and Tiger brands around planes as you as you travel over the coming years.

Matthew Weitzel:

Yeah, and it's you know, we've we've had obviously had some meetings with you guys exceed has. And we're obviously very excited about your product so much that you know, we invested in buying some we have five of your Tiger 40, electric bag tractors coming coming to us in Indianapolis, and they're available for rent or lease. So if anybody wants to try out the trial, your product they can come to exceed and test them out.

Gerry Hoadley:

Yeah, we look forward to working with you, Matt and your capabilities and your abilities to have stuff ready for quick ship for our customers that need stuff and an immediate turn. And we're really looking forward to it. Your your five units are on the line as we speak, we'll go take a look at him.

Matthew Weitzel:

Yeah, Jerry and I got a picture in front of, you know, the unit that is being built and coming down the line. So history being made here in Anaheim, and it's gonna be it's a great partnership. And we appreciate it. And thank you so much for having us out here. And letting us you know, view your facility and check it all out. And it's it's really great. I really appreciate it.

Gerry Hoadley:

You're part of the family. You're welcome. Anytime, Matt. No, thanks,

Matthew Weitzel:

man. I appreciate that. Thanks

Keith Simon:

for having us on your podcast. Yeah,

Matthew Weitzel:

another project. Yeah. Well, I guess that'll do it. And this is Matt and Jerry and Keith for the GSE podcast. Thanks a lot, guys.

Gerry Hoadley:

Thank you.

Matthew Weitzel:

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 and 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 bring you the latest trends, insights and stories from the industry. Thank you for listening to the GSD podcast until we meet again. stay grounded in keep pushing forward

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