Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Working in the Elevator Trade since 1981 | Rick Milefchik

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Working in the Elevator Trade since 1981 | Rick Milefchik · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Don't ever burn bridges.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Not in this industry.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I don't think too many people do because you just as I made mention, you're gonna need help somewhere, somehow.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, be decent, be kind, you know, you know, do everything above table, um, and it'll all be okay.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before, to inspire the next generation of elevator careers.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Today our guest is Rick Milevic, Chief Operating Officer of Elevator Supply in San Francisco and Elevator Products in Chicago.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Rick started in the industry in 1981 with Montgomery Elevator, a 16-year-old high school student in Rick Mayor.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: He spent 32 years with Montgomery Coney and eight more with ECS Corporation before taking on his current role.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Rick met his wife for 33 plus years at Montgomery, and his three children work for him today at AES and QEP.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Rick has accomplished much in his career and all without ever leaving his hometown.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Rick, welcome to the show.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Glad to be here.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to have you.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to be able to talk to you uh about your your elevator career.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: I know you've been at it for a little while, and and I always love to start by just saying, how did you get started in the elevator industry?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I was a 16-year-old kid at Moline High School um in the summertime in between my sophomore and junior year as part of a co-op program.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the the instructor for that particular class called and said, Hey, there I need you to go down to Montgomery Elevator and fill out some paperwork.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: They've uh we've got an opening for you that you can go in the afternoons after after class and such, or start now.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then once school starts, you go in after class.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started as a in between those in my sophomore junior year, 16 years old, pushing a mail cart.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Summer job, right?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh school's out, and well, it was a summer job, and then it was part of a work program that uh basically I I ended up with you know uh a general elective credits for basically working in the afternoons during once school got back in, and so that's that it's kind of started there back in 1981.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that's awesome.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um with a mail cart, and you said um between sophomore and junior.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: So did you continue all the way through high school?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And well, frankly, and then never left.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I shouldn't say up until gosh 2013.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: So right, right.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: So all told you were that you said 81 to 2013, that's uh 30 plus years there, right?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 30 32 years at Montgomery and Coney, yeah.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's still a wonderful place, and and you know, it's funny.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: I sit back and I think, you know, there was a time, you know, when I was younger, and you think, oh, you know, pushing a mail cart now.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: What's what's so special about that?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: But so many things as I look back, I I had the opportunity to walk into the offices of every senior manager at Montgomery Elevator, sure, and three times a day and listen and observe.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you heard how they talk to people, but you saw how they talked to me and they treated me, and really it was a wonderful, wonderful opportunity and experience to see this collection of of people and leaders that really in that time frame in the 1980s, where Montgomery grew at perhaps its most accelerated pace to see the varying personalities and and and approaches to how they did business and how they treated people.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really, really uh uh, you know, kind of a a launch pad into like, yeah, this is this is neat, this is cool stuff.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'd I'd like to do this.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, it was uh uh a whole like I said, a whole lot more than just you know turned out to be a whole lot more than just a uh like you said, a summer job.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and how long before you it really started to click with you?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, mail card is very different from you know, actually working in the trade or but oh within within uh uh within that first year, uh only because I like I said, I got to interact with, you know, and this was from the chairman of the board of Montgomery to the president, senior VP of finance, um, and then field operations, accounting, and all the entire senior management team, not to mention all the employees, because it was there at the headquarters, right?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um, just a fascinating group of people that really were wonderful people.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it was like this is you know, I I didn't really grasp the industry per se, sure, uh, but just the interactions of what they did and seeing a level of urgency.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: You could tell in these people that there were days that hey, okay, this they were joking one day, and then it there were some things that got hot, you know, and and how they dealt with that was pretty fascinating, and it was it was something I hadn't had not experienced before.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: So pretty pretty intriguing.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you did that for a couple of years.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: How long before you actually graduated from the mail card?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: It was there basically it would have been two years, and then uh went over to uh Montgomery's what they call PDC, which is the parts distribution center, and went over as a parts handler working and pulling parts and that.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what's funny is uh, you know, it's my wife can send me to the store here and ask me to get three things, and I'll text her when I get there and remember ask what what what was the other two?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's me.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I can go back to 1983 now, and I can still remember the first three part numbers that I ever pulled.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, there's actual numbers, not the not just the parts, but you're talking about the numbers.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 41782 plunger, 2881 192 Spring, and a 16929 solenoid.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: They were going to Montgomery in Omaha.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, I can still see the pick ticket, and that was uh I I did that for gosh on and off for uh a few years, but in in the midst of that, I also um uh accepted a role that was at the time was called inventory verifier, where I would go out to the Montgomery Branch Network, which was really an incredibly strong, strong unit of well-trained people, right uh, and do physical inventories.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then whenever Montgomery would be involved in any type of an acquisition, I would go out and I would do the inventory of the components.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that was really my first uh those two things were the first uh uh introduction to parts and the variation of parts and and such, and the way people bought them, the way they stocked them, things to that effect.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: So um that was uh that was really really valuable because the other piece that was kind of that that was good for me in that traveling part was going to to the Montgomery branches.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: At that time, the branch was comprised of a manager who oversaw construction, he oversaw oversaw service, he sales everything, everything was under that umbrella.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and today you've got you know the vertical lines of business in most of the companies where you have service equipment, new equipment, you have modernization, you know, whatever the models are uh in various companies.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: But there it was it was one guy holding that umbrella and everything was underneath it, and you know, really got to see and experience what these people at the field level went through, you know, because oftentimes, you know, admittedly, you know, you get a phone call, and it's like, oh my god, this guy is so you know, he's he's bouncing off the wall.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: What's his problem?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and you're just thinking he's just unreasonable and impatient.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then you go out and see what they deal with.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, really trying to look at things through somebody else's eyes, just incredibly enlightening.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And gave a whole different perspective on how I needed to do my job when I got back to the office.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh on yeah, because it again, let me back up because also during that time I I then moved into the office okay uh into what they called their service department.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, their service department was essentially identifying componentry that the branches need, needed to have it.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to go go through job listings and listing tickets and engineering folders and such uh to help identify componentry.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, that's where it was like, okay, these are it gave me a different perspective on how to do that and appreciation for what was needed, because you know, when you're just looking at a part or you know, you're just taking a phone call from a guy who sounds like he's stressed, you know, you're just thinking it's like, man, come on, you know, it's everything's fine.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're looking at the spring going, dude, it's just a spring.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how how how big of a deal can this be?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: But to him, if it's holding up a job or well, and that's it.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, so it I look back, and each one of these things that I did gave me a little bit more of a strong foundational block to build off of and learn from.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I I I can't say that I understood the magnitude of it at the time.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but looking back, it was like it it all pieced together into a really, really wonderful library of knowledge and experience that uh I I I don't think I don't think we get today, or that that young people have as as strong of an opportunity today because the experience level isn't out in the field like it once was.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and and you know, the the you know, the the structure is is so fast paced today that people don't really have the time to learn like they did.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was afforded the opportunity to have people sit with me and say, you know, get over here and sit down.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I and you're you're gonna learn this because I'm tired of telling you.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's really you know, that's that's how I was taught too, you know.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And today it's just like, man, I got I gotta have it, I gotta have it, you know, and you got so many people depending upon it.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh right.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a different world today.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Who were who are some of your biggest mentors?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, sounds like certainly a steep learning curve, but you were kind of just dove in, right?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: All in and learning.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Who are some of those that helped?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think, I think, you know, again, back to the days in the mailroom, probably one of the best and genuine kindest people I've ever met was Jerry Hank, who was the chairman of the board of Montgomery.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, here I was, I was a I was a punk kid, you know, uh dropping off and picking up mail.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And here's a guy that, you know, this was his company, and at the time, largest escalator company in uh uh in the world.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, asking me to sit down on his couch and how you doing?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he's a big he's a big big supporter of Notre Dame.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And sure, you know, what do you think the Irish are gonna do?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just to sit down, you know, and I'm thinking that here this guy doesn't have to do this, but he chose to do this, and and he did it with so many people, and so seeing how you treat people was the again, uh immense appreciation for that man, yeah.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um operationally, and then also the way people were treated.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: I would say uh John Jester, who was a a boss of mine on and off over the years, from the time I entered the parts operation at Montgomery.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he his role at the time was VP of service operations, and that the parts operation fell under under his his his umbrella.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he was not a touchy-feely guy.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: He was he was pretty, you know, quite unfriendly, frankly.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but again, knowing that that time and the way things worked and the dynamics of what went on and how it had to get done, he he was the guy dealing on the service side with the field people, and you know, he was tough and had to be tough.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what was so uh I I although at that time I didn't work so much with him as much as was cognizant of him and and his role in our operation.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, over the years, though, when I did work for him, um, I I was able to see a guy who was tough as nails and always was, but went from being kind of a kind of a rigid guy to transform into perhaps one of the greatest motivators I've ever seen and experienced in my entire career.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um tell me more about that, how how he would motivate.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, he was just he he he he was very theatrical um in a way that he was a storyteller.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And and he he would tell a story in a way that okay, if you if you don't get what's on on the proxima, if you don't get what's on the report I sent you, let me tell you about this.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And and he would uh, you know, I uh one small little story that was really really it was stunning yet in hindsight it was funny but yet very impacting.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: We had issues when he first came back to Coney's fairs and was we were dealing with an a number of credit issues.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: And John now John had just left the role of uh where he started the quality program at Coney.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: So ever everywhere he went, he turned something around and it took off like a rocket.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: He was the epitome of success or a driver of success, I should say.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we had some issues with okay credits, and they were things from they could have been shipping errors, they could have been sales errors, entry error, could have been a number of things.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he wanted to know why, what happened?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, entered it wrong.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: How'd that happen?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and again, it was like okay, painful.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is like pulling teeth now, man.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's the same same question, same answer.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we had to have ever meetings every week, every single week.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: And to go over these same anything that happened, we had to explain it.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: What happened?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like, okay, this is this is just trudging, you know, so along several months after this all ended.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: He says the point was for this to be painful that you would figure out how to get out of these meetings by correcting the problem.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: In one of the meetings, one of the folks came loaded for bear, and she had all of her facts that hey, we've got this percentile rate, we've got a 98 96 fill rate, so on and so forth.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: There was the numbers were well, she she just came loaded with data.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Wow, he says, I got this all wrong.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: He says, he said, 96% accuracy rate on 500 packages, so on so forth.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: So he's got he's up there and he's motioning, like, okay, let me let me think this through.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's playing it out, and everybody's like, Yeah, way to go.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you got him, you got him.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're all getting sucked into his world here.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Let me let me just think about this.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I think we got to do this.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I guess I had this all wrong.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: We need, we need a we need, we need a marketing plan for this.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: I want I want this message put in post and postcards that we send out.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: I want to put in packages that go out the door.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I want it on our website.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I want this in front of every single customer.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: We do those signature things at the bottom of emails, right?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's put it there.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: So he's going on.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's like, okay, what's what what are we gonna do?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I want it.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: He turned, he's got his back to everybody, like he's motioning on how he's looking like he would want it on a board.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And he whipped around.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Here's what I want you to say.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: He says, he says, You said 96, right?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: And she says, Yep, 96.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Okay, he says the message is to every customer that four percent of the time we're gonna screw up your day, four percent of the time we're gonna send you incorrect parts, we're gonna send you damaged parts.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: We might not even put anything in the box.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: He said, So four percent of the time you can count on our operation to make your day miserable.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: He says, That's unacceptable.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, we were all like, okay, you know, and but then the the the hammer came down when he said, I expect perfection.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he says, Am I gonna get it?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: He says, No.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: He says, But if you deliver anything less than that effort, you cannot work for me.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it was humorous, it was theatrical, it was it was a six, seven-minute drawn out production that ended with a massive explanation or uh uh explanation point that no, this isn't good enough.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we can't just shoot for 96% and call it, you know.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and the and the beauty of it is is what he did then, though.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was if he would have stopped there, uh that would have been moving enough.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: But he went and he actually sat down or got down on his knee next to this lady, and he says, I love your guys.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Your guys do an awesome job.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: He says, and they work fantastic.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: He says, But we have to be better.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: He says, the customer expects us to be better.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so he he did all this, but then he came back with a very humanistic and you know, he was also just one of the biggest defenders of people.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he would be, I mean, uh, he would if he he used uh uh uh uh uh he had a motto of trust granted.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like what, you know, if you've never given me a reason to not trust you, he says, I will have your back.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, you you do what you need to do.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: He says I'll I'll support you.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: He says, now if there's something not right with that, you and I will have a discussion separately.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: But he says, to the outside world, he says he says, I represent you represent me, I represent you.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: He says, so we do we we're gonna soar together, we're gonna burn together.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, he he was just just really, really remarkable.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really cool.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have any experiences where where you saw trust granted, you know, that that that motto being being played out?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, yeah.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: I actually again in my early days in sales, I I did a really dumb thing.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: We had a customer uh that had not been a customer, and it was a they had no history, but they they were a broker um uh for the servicing company out in New York that needed to buy two units worth of chain um for power walks.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we needed the money up front.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, power they're long power walks and power walks that that's a that's it's expensive chain.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh it turned out it was, I think ended up being what um I think it was a little over$80,000 and um had to get all the money, you know, the money up front.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they were scheduling the two units out over a period of time, and so we delivered the first unit.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they paid, they said here we want to pay for all of it.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I again being naive at that time, we processed the billing for both units.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we got the money, we processed the billing.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when they started, they did an inventory, and we found okay, why do we have all this chain?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because we only ship one one unit, and um, you know, that kind of a discrepancy on the accounting side of that much money, it flew up the flagpole pretty quick and said, Hey, what's going on?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And and why did you guys take credit for a sale that you didn't ship right in co in in in in the Coney world, which is a very proper world, you know, hey, that's deemed unethical.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so I got called in and went to know, hey, what do we want to do here?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: So on so forth.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: And boy, he he he knew nothing about other than just the numbers, but he didn't know any of the history.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: And absolutely no way.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: This there's this guy would not do this.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: This guy would not, he's I've never seen anything like this.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: This he says, you know, basically, he went to bat for me before he heard anything about my story.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and when I explained it to him, you know, he's okay.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: He says, he says, I see where your thinking was.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: He says, you know, he says, I get it.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: He says, so this validates his his uh his support for me.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, to my point earlier, when all that was done, okay, it was fine, everything was taken care of.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: I got to have another meeting with him, though.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: And right, and that one was a little little more hard line.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Do not ever put me in that situation again.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: He says, He says, I believe you.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm not questioning.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: He says, You he says, you and your your motives or your tactics.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: He says, but he says, You better get your head on.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: straight he says and you know you gotta figure out how things are done you know and you know so but yeah just he was just uh you know and he did that in other areas where there was there were issues with with suppliers and with other employees that you know things that were were perceived as being oh well we should have done this and they said they would do but they didn't and and if anybody on our team said no that's not an accurate statement that that he that was the that was the the the train that he got on a road it was nope these are my people I'm responsible responsible for them and what they say is accurate wow wow yeah he and you know one last thing about him is we had uh we were being pushed to go to a global website and and he he was adamant he says no he says he says that that's not gonna work he says we're not gonna do that over here you know and of course that you know trying to we were going he he was one of the last ones that was from the Montgomery VP that rolled into you know the Coney world and um you know you know he was suddenly you know he was he was a player in a larger game now and he had his convictions had his beliefs and listened to his people and and basically was was willing to go toe to toe with anybody if his people said that was what was right for the business then he would fight for that so but he also was smart enough to know when not to fight I mean sure sure there were things that um you know he like I said he'd go toe to toe with anybody if if the fight was worth it and at the same time if it wasn't and and he would pick a different battle to win uh at a different day uh uh uh and or a battle to fight that he would win on a different day but he was not um you know he he didn't go looking for anything like that he was just a smart guy and um but like I said you know very motivational very went from a rigid guy you know not really talkative to just a a real rah rah guy by the time he was done and um and he left uh about 30 days after I left okay yeah and um uh that I I would I have left had he stayed don't know I mean that that would have been I mean but it made the choice of me taking on another role very much easier knowing he wasn't going to be there.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah it sounds like you had a huge huge impact on your your growth your development your career yeah absolutely tremendous tremendous so back to your career for a minute you mentioned you know uh joining the parts department the the service department where where did you go from there and I went into that's when I started into the sales group I went over to the Mac division Mulling accessories uh and the door operator division and at that time they were starting to launch the uh they were getting more into parts sales they were turning into a a parts arm uh far beyond just door equipment and I was the one that kind of brought the escalator insight to that because as I over the the previous years there on the Montgomery side I kind of started to become the escalator guy.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: If there were problems with escalators or identifying escalator parts I was the one to figure that out.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now I couldn't tell them how to work on them or trouble but I was the guy that you know when it came to the identity identification and and the types of units and such that was that that kind of clicked with me.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that was the area that at the at Mac uh uh that was my that was my primary role there while they they were still focused heavily on door operators and door equipment that was mine was mine was mainly the parts uh specifically the escalator parts so um and then from there yeah once coney became a went to the one cone name uh the the global uh uh um uh identification uh and we became coney spares uh i was the I was the one that rolled over from the Mac spares days to the Coney spares because that was a big dramatic shift in that entire organization because Kony chose to discontinue providing the Macdoor operators okay sold that product line so um cone spares started as strictly spare parts and then that was that was my world so um and at that time I was also that was shortly after they they bought O and K or the rest of O and K.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well then I got all of the pending work for the O and K escalator parts that was in in process at the time of the sales so I had a crash course on the O and K products uh so my escalator knowledge just continued to build in over the years in that regard.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: So um so I did that for geez that was in 2000 and then um I don't even remember what year it was just a few years later became sales manager at Coney Spears and and held that role until uh 2013 when I left.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: So how um and and talk to us a little bit about what you're doing now when you you say I left is that did you go straight into what you're doing now or no I went to uh ECS corporation which was a little was a big risk for me um that was in 2013 uh we were doing so well at Coney Spare's and and again I attribute that to a lot to John Jaster um but also a really great group of people wonderful group of people um really worked well together as a as a group and as a unit um and again it john announced his retirement um and shortly before that I had been approached by the new owners of ecs now ecs and and coney were were competitors because ecs actually did a very very good thing and they they re-engineered some of the Montgomery products uh that were you know big sellers for for Kony right and um ecs did a great thing with that they they they just didn't the ownership at that time just didn't manage the results of what they they they got very well um so they they sold their company came under new ownership to non-industry people more finance people and they reached out to me and said hey you know would you ever become consider coming on board and so I don't think so you know because I mean admittedly I as a guy from Coney I was like I don't really like you people you know I mean yeah you know that was the that was the way we thought and um but I I I detected a sincerity there that was they needed help right and and it was a different thing it wasn't uh it wasn't you know people doing bad things or doing they they were they just they got a company and this was the daughter of an owner there that frankly they bought something they didn't know what to do with then.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so you know we I thought I just got 32 years here I just can't see this just doesn't make sense.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: So my wife and I we talked about it a little bit well right in in in that time my mother had passed away so that put a pause on just about everything uh for a little bit and then came back and then those kind of those calls started up again and I thought you know you know we've been really doing doing really well and John's leaving and you know this if I'm ever going to do anything with a change this might be the time I had one daughter that was uh uh uh gonna be getting married uh my oldest daughter my my middle daughter was getting ready to go to the University of Iowa so out of state tuition to change um and my son uh was starting to drive so okay paying for insurance for a uh a male driver that was adding up yeah so it was like okay you know if I'm gonna do something now and now's the time to it launch out and see what the heck happens.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I I I accepted that offer and and and went there and and walked into really a heck of a hornet's nest um that we we were able to turn around relatively quickly um but we had to really reestablish a reputation and a different mindset different culture and that's where a lot of the things that I learned from Jaster came into play is suddenly I found myself sometimes talking like him and and and emulating him without realizing it I think uh but we needed to make some hard changes there and we did and I entered in there as vice president of sales and then I was uh shortly thereafter was named president of the company and uh worked there for about eight and a half years and um uh philosophically I I they they were at a point where the they needed to put some I felt there was some investment in people in the company we need to take a different approach to maybe making a few less things and outsourcing some more things um uh to meet delivery schedules and such but different different dynamics that um that that created a little bit of a philosophical shift and and I was concerned about the future and in between there you know all my kids came on board and started working for us wow and so it wasn't just me it was you know these are this is something that they all got sucked into this industry and and you know there's a family industry right yeah and they and they love it you know and and it was so now I was okay you know started thinking all right this is this is primarily an escalator provide uh provider of escalator components now when you start doing your market research and you figure that you know 85% give or take one or two percent is elevators of the vertical equipment uh that's installed and then you say okay of that balance save that 15% that's left um uh when it comes to providing the the spare parts to that uh all right the lion share is going to go to the OEMs uh because that's their equipment you know Coney Spares is very good at what they do you know uniform for Otis uh Adams for Schindler um you know so the the you know just throwing a number out with a moving target that maybe leaves five four to five percent of what's left for and it's that's a that's a that's a one legged take table to stand on and and so I I had been pushing for them to look at okay look at maybe marketing the company a little bit and and seeing you know is there interest in this uh to or expanding into other items right and and um came into contact with some people that said you know boy you know you're right Rick so on so forth you know you could come here you could come there and some of the fits just didn't seem like the right fits and and I had some people encouraging me okay go go start your own thing right and I thought well that's a different kind of risk but you know it was intriguing so I knew I had several people that had called and I knew I could do go I was gonna land somewhere but I I thought until I figured out what I was gonna do I'm I'll just I let me just be done and I'm I'll take a little time and we'll figure this out so I put in my notice and uh all my kids were still there and that was difficult for them.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that uh uh so that that that was they they they struggled with that a little bit and um but I took about a month and then took the took the opportunity to go and be the uh chief operating officer for both Access Elevator in California and Quality Elevator in Chicago.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're sister companies sure and um you know my task is to basically oversee both of those companies and build them but also try to grow them together internally uh to instead of operating as two separate companies operate as a company where we can and then represent two distinct offerings to the industry uh both just in not just the offerings but also geographically we'll change up a little bit about what we do and how we do it and be a little bit better fit to the industry I think so so uh but and then since that time all my kids are back on board with me here now too.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: So so yeah it's uh that's the and and that's the part that is really enjoyable for me because this is you know we are anything we do we're gonna go all in and and it's reflective that okay if we are in this company or these two companies now technically uh it's gotta it's gotta work it's gotta soar you know this is you're talking livelihood and it's you know we're you know I depend on them they depend on me and and we've got just a fantastic group of people uh at at both companies that that uh you know we're just kind of getting in these boats and rowing in the same manner in the same mode in the same fashion and it's it's a lot of fun so that's awesome that's awesome what what are what do you love most about the elevator industry obviously you've it's the people it's the people it's the people um you know I went to a seminar here a couple weeks ago uh um put on by echelon front and one of the questions that they ask is hey who here likes change you know well you know most people don't like change and and I although I don't go look for change I don't mind it I I do okay with it and this industry is ever changing and and I think that's allowed me to be really open and receptive to whatever the industry throws our way or whatever is thrown the industry's way uh because it it's a neat group of people it's a very large industry yet it's a very small collection of people and personalities and and and it's a group of really good people.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's the part that is you know and again I'm I'm certainly I'm biased because I mean from the time I was 16 this the only industry well there's a reason you stayed I mean you you obviously could have jumped out of the industry at any point but you know the the reason you stayed sounds like it it was the people yeah and and I think that was the reason that's also one of the reasons I'm I'm thrilled with my my two daughters and my son being involved with it that they get to experience these things.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: My kids they're they're involved in the the next gen uh portion of the industry which is I think that's a critical critical piece of the industry because we I think the industry is at a is is kind of at a there's a there's a little concern for me because there's so many wonderful experienced people that are out there in the industry that know so much and they know how to do things.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking about product wise that that's that's a that's also critically important and and and a part of that but it's like okay how to who to talk to how to how do you find your answers here wait a minute don't do that but let's call this guy you know they know how to network they know how to uh and and they don't do it with a with a with an iPhone and they don't do it you know and and granted that's part of the world today and we I you know and and and we have to use that it's a part of the way we do business now but it doesn't replace 50 years of knowledge um yeah so uh I I'm one of the things I did for a short period of time when I was at Coney was due for new sales trainees.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: I would have to give tours and talk about certain things and when we I specifically remember many years ago one of them I talked I said you know well you know the Mac operators well one of them wasn't didn't know that that was part of the Coney family at one time and because it's not made anymore but there's still tons and tons of them out there and okay if you go out in sales you're gonna encounter this and what do you do when you do encounter it and and I think there's so many people that they just they just know that and and other people are they're they're not afraid to ask questions but you got this this group of people that you know they're walking away from opportunities uh because they're they're just they're just not cognizant of what's out there or who who does what who provides what so you know I I I'm excited about this next gen piece obviously I'm a little older that that I can't participate in it but it's uh it's that's a neat group of people and it's a wonderful thing that the industry is doing and and trying to connect that group to to the industry because it is the future of the industry these are the future leaders of the industry.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: Sure i yeah I like you say I've obviously at some point you know people retire they move on they take their knowledge with them and so right you know keeping what is special about the industry alive um I would think needs to be a big priority for sure huge huge and and I think also you know I I I think and this is a good problem to have because I think it it does infuse this world of technology that we have just like what we're doing here you know is you know this wasn't done many years ago you know not not in this fashion sure um yet the so there's there's so many pluses to that but it's also okay how do you you know what pick up the phone and call somebody yeah it's an old fashioned skill my kids are still trying to learn that right they they can text but yeah and and I think you know and you find uh I I I think that's the other thing and I go back to even back my early days at at at Montgomery going to the branch network um and then my after we took on those O and K products uh when I was at Coney I I got thrust in front of New York uh city transit sure over some poor performance um on the O and K things during the transition and and you know I was actually taken to Grand Central station for and watched rush hour traffic in the afternoon with it on an escalator or an escalator that was out of service.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: And having the opportunity to see people and see situations, go to job sites and see their faces, sit down with them at a lunch or a breakfast, it really goes a long way.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it even though you don't do it all that frequently I'm telling you it it builds a rapport there that you want to help those people and you can count on those people.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know I think that's one of the things that I you know this industry I I guess that I do like about it.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know if if you look at the world today it's kind of an ugly world it's it's filled with angst people with their various political beliefs and and and so many things that are very very have been made very divisive.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the crazy thing is our industry is filled with those same people that have varying opinions and varying ideas but they seem to be able to work together in a wonderful way that the rest of society hasn't figured out yet.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and it's because it's really good people and you know there's there's an understanding he's even as competitors in some things that it's like hey you know yeah yeah I don't have that job but you know what I know who can help you.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you know you you just you don't see that I think I I don't think maybe maybe it exists other places but I I I don't know but I I've not seen it and I've touched a lot of other industries and never found anything like that.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well I love that and and and you know one of the things I like to tell our people is like hey it it's okay to lose an order.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you lose an order that's fine you know it let's figure out why we lost the order we can get better there's an opportunity to get better you know let's let's not be accused of not working hard on something you know and and if you lose an order and you lose it to a competitor you know what the crazy thing is that competitor might be a supplier and it might be a customer all in one sure sure you know that's the that's the crazy way this industry works is the you know you you are a competitor but you're a customer in the same you're calling the same guy for you know for just you're just wearing a different hat on that day.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: True and it's wonderful it's just really it's you know so it it it makes Lot of fun.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of rapport that gets built, and you can count on a lot of people.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to know everything, but as long as you got a good number of contacts and relationships in the industry, you put it all together.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: Most people somehow you're gonna get to know everything.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, sure.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna get a lot done, right?
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: Working together, and you're gonna solve problems and you're gonna you're gonna validate and enhance that appreciation for each other.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: So absolutely, yeah.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, I appreciate that.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: So we're we're running out of time, but I do want to ask you just one, I guess, final question as we as we wrap up.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: And um, biggest thing I would want to know is what is you know one lesson that you've learned throughout your career that that you'd like to share with with listeners, things that you know something that's made a huge difference for you.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Don't ever burn bridges, not in this industry.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I don't think too many people do because you just as I made mention, you're gonna need help somewhere, somehow.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, be decent, be kind, you know, you know, do everything above table, um, and it'll all be okay.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's you know, there's there's there's there's things that are, you know, there's things to really stress over and a lot of things to not, you know, and I guess the segue to that, and again, part of this is where, you know, for me at this point in my life, you know, I I put in a ton of hours.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing a lot of traveling back and forth to California, Chicago.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, and I don't it it's it's hard, but it's it's okay.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's what I do, sure.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not who I am, it's what I do.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one of the things I think that to for anybody in in or out of this industry, you know, your your job is what you do, you know.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, I on a very personal note, you know, losing both parents of you know, over the year, I've lost a brother that at an early age, and uh many, many people have had many harsh things happen in life that put things into perspective.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you you go home to the more important part of your life, you know, and and you should appreciate that.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, when you are at the office or when you are at work, you know, okay, half of your waking hours are there, you know, you shouldn't you should enjoy it, enjoy it, embrace it, you know.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do you need to be friends with everybody?
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, you don't need to be friends with everybody, but you can be friendly, sure.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I just think it's it's keeping things into perspective, you know, and yeah, do I do I take things really, really seriously?
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: You bet I do.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's that's the job, and and I expect other people to as well, but not to the point where it compromises their personal life, you know, they they need to go home and be a mom, be a dad, be a husband, wife, whatever their role is, it's more important than what they're gonna do for me.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate your time, appreciate the conversation, and uh wish you the very best as you continue to merge those two together and continue to build your business.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Rick.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the All Red Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: You can check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_01: Please subscribe, and until next time, stay safe.