Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Leadership, AI, and Modernization in the Elevator Industry | Ricky Williams

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Leadership, AI, and Modernization in the Elevator Industry | Ricky Williams · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious what what was it you had to maybe think differently about as you made that shift from engineering into sales?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, is there is there something to that to really connect with the customer?
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: What I noticed early on in the transition was that there were some customers who had specific questions.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: And the sales guy wouldn't necessarily have the answer.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it delays the process.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I I thought if I could answer these questions right now in this media, maybe this guy will make a decision today.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: I've always believed that information to the customer, to the end user, is going to be key in a successful sales sales career.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I've had tremendous success doing it.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: And over the years I've seen it happen in different companies.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: And at one point they were calling them sales engineers because now they were selling it sending engineers out to go south.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're educated.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: They're giving the customer the information that he's asking for right there off the spot and their quotes and fields.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's the one thing that I think will make a difference.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast brought to you by the All Red Group.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Matt Allred.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: When talent is mission critical, call the All Red Group.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: With industry expertise, top talent, and exceptional customer service, you need the All Red Group on your side.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Your priority is our priority.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Call now.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: 404-890-0445.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: In this episode, I sat down with Ricky Williams, a standard elevator industry leader whose career span, engineering, sales, business development, and executive leadership.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Ricky is currently serving as Vice President of Business Development and Sales at ESI.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Over the years, he's built a reputation for combining technical knowledge with a practical, people-centered leadership style.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Ricky's perspective is shaped by decades of hands-on industry experience and a strong belief that understanding both people and field operations is key to long-term success.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Ricky, welcome to the show.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Matt.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: You bet.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you being here.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Always enjoyed the conversation.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me what you're doing right now.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: So my current role is uh business development VP, uh business development and sales.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Lately I've been dabbling uh in some of uh the projects that we're working on here um uh at ESI.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um getting involved with uh some of the engineering, not to the level that I used to back in the days, but more of uh advisory type role while we design products and and you know look at what the market needs and which direction we should go.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: So as a team, we have these these meetings and kind of you know put the whole thing together and the engineering team then take it from there and uh do their thing.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, you got your hands full, right?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I know you're traveling a good bit, you're yes, you're in uh executive leadership, but uh you're also responsible for sales, business development, and so it's a it's a lot.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Correct, correct, correct.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: And and these are all things that I've enjoyed, you know, all my career, you know, from from the engineering part of it to the sales part of it, building business development, you know, it it today it's all one thing.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that's cool.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um so let's let's talk a little bit, you know, early career.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I know you started on the engineering side, you've obviously worked up into executive leadership.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: What did you learn early on in the field that that most executives in this industry miss?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: The first thing was people.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, people have personalities, and in order to manage people successfully, you know, you got to know the personality.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I I see this is where there's a lot of miss, not just in our industry, but uh everywhere.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Management um don't take the time to understand the people working for them.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, it it it's things aren't as efficient as there could be.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, so I learned this um later on, and it it changed the way I managed, and uh you could see the success is coming from that that knowledge.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, as you can connect with the people, you really get more more from them, right?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: They're more bought in and and correct you care and yeah, that's awesome.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously you've done engineering field work, sales, yeah, business development.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you see the the biggest disconnect between those groups today?
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, one thing that I've I've always noticed, the the guys in the field, um they really determine the products that are used.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um a lot of um sales or business development folks, when they go out, they try to go see the wrong people.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, you'll have a conversation with someone in the office and it's a great conversation, and look like you're you're you're you're heading in the right direction.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: But if the technical guys touching, installing, servicing the product aren't in sync with with what your your role your product is offering them, then of course, you know, it it's not gonna work because the guy in the field is giving feedback to his office, you know, um time-wise, I'm installing this in half the time.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: This group is easier to deal with, I get better support from this group, you know, those those type of feedback determine what product is used.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I I think that that's where there continues to be a disconnect.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh not as big as uh you know back in the day, but it it's still there.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think once people close the loop on that, you know, they'll see different results.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's a good point.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um obviously you've been around through the the evolution of computerized controls and now advanced monitoring.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say has has changed the most and what's still surprisingly stuck in the past?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: What surprised me is that we haven't done more with technology uh in terms of um giving more information to end users, service companies, and so I and it it is happening, it's not that it's not happening, but it it hasn't happened at the pace that I thought it could have happened.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because we we have we have data from these systems, and for a long time we did nothing with it.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just in recent years uh with IoT and so on, that people are saying, by the way, hey, can we get this from your system?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Can we see this?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh companies are now saying, oh yeah, we could do that, and they're sending that type of detail.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really coming from the customer?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what is that what you're saying?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: The customer's kind of demanding it?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: It it is, it is, and and not just customers, uh consultants are a big part of it.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, we you know we're working with consultants that say, hey, I'd like to see this from your technology.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, can you do this?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: And we can, and we have.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in fact, we just said, hey, provide me a list of what you'd like to see, and we'll incorporate it in our product.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one of the things we've been doing.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Just to make their lives easier, it's gonna be easier for them to say, I want that product because it's doing what I need.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm getting the information from it as I need it, you know.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we are we are doing that, and it will continue to evolve as you move forward.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: For sure, for sure.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I had a conversation, I don't know, six, eight months ago, and uh the gentleman was telling me that uh that as far as that that data goes and and the kind of the you know that the customers are demanding it, that that we're probably as an industry, you know, about 10 years behind other industries, you know, whether it's power generation or maybe even HVAC.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: What what do you think is behind that?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, there's a couple of things going on.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, back in in the 90s, we had this information.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: No one was asking for a build-in management system to receive this data.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Elevator systems were seen as something separate.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Today, people are looking at their their their facility, their build-in as one complete thing, including elevators, and I'd like to see all the information in it.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: And as we educate end users on the capabilities of products, they're asking for these things, and they should.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think people make better decisions when they know what they're working with.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they know your product, uh what the capabilities are, they'll make better decisions.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what we try to do.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you'll see little things in our our sales brochure, our sales material.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're trying to do that.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: We offer, you know, um not just classes to mechanics, but you know, uh meetings with end users to educate them on the capabilities of the products that they're they're using every day and how it could simplify their lives.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, people used to, when something breaks, yeah, say an airport facility or or or in a cap college campus, elevator breaks.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: The remote monitoring was someone telling someone else and they get it get it back to the facilities, and it would take days.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, today, as it happened real time, someone is getting it on their cell phone or on their PC, they're getting notified.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: And uh technology supports this, so why aren't we doing more of this?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah, yeah.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that's a great question.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, obviously you're working on and with and interacting and integrating with with state-of-the-art monitoring systems.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: How close would you say are we to really true predictive maintenance?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, we're we're we're we're there.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's just I I think the the various uh companies, um uh the interests of those companies and incorporating it, but uh that's what we're doing.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the more information I could push out to you, or I could make available to you, the better it's gonna be.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel like it's able to really predict, you know, hey, your your machine's gonna go down, or your I mean, I don't know what all is is monitored, but I'm just curious how you know is it is it truly predictive where where we can say, hey, this uh this motor's about to blow because of the temperature.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, in the old days you would you would you know give a percentage of end of life.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, if it's a million cycles, you know, and you just count the cycles and and go from there.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: And before it ends, you say, hey, I think you should replace this thing.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's getting to end of life.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Today you could measure different pieces, different parts of the equipment and know when it's about to fail.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so the as I said, the technology is there, we could do these things.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: It costs money, so you know that's something that's gonna delay it, you know, um, budgets and and so on, but the technology's there.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: I I think what I'm hearing you say is not everybody's gonna have it, right?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because they haven't invested or or maybe it's too big of an investment for them.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: So yep.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Makes sense.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I mean, if you could uh sit down with every building owner or property manager, what's one thing about elevators or escalators you wish they understood?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: So one big thing that's always come up, and I've been to a lot of meetings and expectation of end of life, when should I modernize this thing?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody has their their own opinion, whether it's uh 10 years, 15 years.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but one thing I've learned, you know, if I was a business uh building owner, um, I'd like my equipment to last as long as I need to keep it running.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: And um this is where you know uh things differ between companies.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because here where where I am, you know, we have product running for years, you know, trouble free.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, when it finally has an issue, it's something that's obsolete because it's so old.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And uh the decision is easy that point.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I want another one of those, you know, current model, of course, but um I'd like you know, building owners to understand that you can put a product in your building that will run, that will uh keep your traffic flowing as they're designed and get the job done.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Too many products out there um not seem to be built in the same manner.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they don't see it the same.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: They look at it as, okay, yeah, this will last 10 years, I'll do the next one in 10 years and just keep things going.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: But uh I think if people are happy with your product, they'll want it in there built in.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it yeah.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I am curious, I mean you know, and and I'm a little bit of a, I don't know, I feel I consider myself a little ignorant, you know, as far as because I've not ridden on cartops and haven't, you know, been in that space as much.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: But um what what is it that that usually says, hey, it's time to modernize, right?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because you got a controller and you've got the you know, all the parts in the in the shaftway and the you know the cars and motors and everything.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I hear people say, well, we don't call it a mod until we replace the controller, even though you know technically you could replace the the whatever the car and a bunch of other things and say, well, no, it's not a mod.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just curious, what is it?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: What what part, what component, is it, you know, is it electronic, is it mechanical that that finally says, all right, it's it's time.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Let's it's it could be either or or all the above.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um it all depends the the the problem it's creating for that building.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: If a car is shutting down every day, it's a controller problem or a door problem, it's gonna be uh a nuisance enough where someone is gonna say, wait a minute, we need to take a look at what's happening here.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do we need to do something?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then you you have mini mods where you just replace the failed components.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Someone may look and say, You're you're well, you know what, your machine is fine.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: You could get another 20 years out of that, no problem.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously that's gonna stay in place, and we'll probably replace a controller and the door equipment, you know, um and and and other pieces, of course, ropes and so on, if you have a different type of problem.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it all depends, and this is why you have these guys go out and survey to determine um the health of the system and what needs to be replaced.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: For most people, you're gonna do something.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, let's look at the controller.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see if we could get some more technology in here.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: And um, they go that direction.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: So typically when they do a mod, controllers coming at.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: They determine what else comes with it based on the health of the other equipment.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um obviously you've uh your career is a little unique because you know you started in engineering and you understand how engineers think, and then you know, you're in sales and business development.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm curious what what was it you had to maybe think differently about as you made that shift from engineering into sales?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, is there is there something to that to to really connect with the customer?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: No, well what I noticed early on in the transition was that there were some customers who had specific questions and the sales guy wouldn't necessarily have the answer.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it delays the process.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I I thought, you know what, if if I could answer these questions right now in this meeting, maybe this guy will make a decision today, or maybe he'll it'll it he'll he'll understand enough where you said, I want this thing.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I've always believed that information to the customer, to the end user, is going to be key in a successful sales, sales career.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I've I I've done that, I've had tremendous success doing it.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: And over the years I've seen it happen in different companies.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And at one point they were calling them sales engineers because now they were selling and sending engineers out to go sell because they're educating.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they're they're they're giving the customer the information that he's asking for right there on the spot, and they're closing deals.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the one thing that I think will make the difference.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it sounds like what for you it wasn't so much I need to think differently.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's I just need to bring what knowledge I have and be able to address whatever concern the the customer because they they're gonna have a lot of questions, but if I can bring that knowledge and and they're now at ease, well then they're ready to sign on the dotted line and absolutely.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Ricky, you've worked with major companies, you worked with smaller, more agile environments.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say are the real pros and cons of consolidation in the industry?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: And when you say consolidation, you're talking about acquisitions and acquisitions and so on.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, acquisitions uh are good.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it it allows us the finance, put it that way, to do the things that we need to do to produce a better product.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, in a in a small company environment, sometimes budget isn't the same, and things we'd like to do.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now you have two different uh lists of items, items we will do, items we would like to do, you know, and we go through the list.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: In a large company, it it the decision is made uh a little different.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um but um, you know, the acquisitions on a whole, I it's kind of like a uh a recycling of of these companies, you know, because every they absorb them, um, but every now and again somebody pops out and starts something again.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: So it never really goes away.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: The cycle just keeps going.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I've been through a few of them, and um, you know, I I I've enjoyed them.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it seems to be kind of the circle of life in this industry, right?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody said to me once, you know, every time one company is uh acquired, two more pop up.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because there's always a guy that says, hey, I want to be my own boss, and he shirts out and he does it.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or I've got a new idea and an idea that that they're not gonna let me do, and so let me bring bring some more innovation in.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very much.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, exactly.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um and having led organizations as as president and VP, what would you say is one leadership mistake that you made that changed how you manage today?
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: There is one in particular.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so as leaders, we we we want to think that we know best, you know, we know what we should be doing and so on.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: And earlier on, I never relied on my team, my my support team to share their their view, their vision.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, but of course I over time uh that has been corrected.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: But that was one thing, you know, I would always say, all right, this is what we should be doing, but never allowed my team to mold it or or uh make it into the thing that's gonna drive us forward.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, and always look back at those days, what should I have done different?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, was there ever a light bulb moment where it's like, oh, you know, where we're just kind of came into focus for you or or was it over time?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and not that long uh after, um, because one of the things I I did back you know during the initial days um was dialogue, you know, uh talk to the people just to make sure we're all on the same page.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: And uh over time you realize, well, you that idea could really enhance what I'm thinking here.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Let's uh let's explore it.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: And um that's when the the light bulb kind of went off.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, cool.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: I've noticed that even in my own business, right?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: That if sometimes I'll stress out my employees and I'm like, okay, I I did something, I said something, maybe I'm pushing too hard, you know, maybe I'm expecting something that's not reasonable, and and it's it's taken a few iterations of pausing, listening, uh Okay, what did I what did I do this time?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes you don't get it right away.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you walk away and it's in your air.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: You say, let me go back to this.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it happens.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: All good.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's how we learn, right?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it's good.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um so when you think of the future of vertical transportation, the technology, labor, customer expectations, what actually concerns you the most?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, you know, the technology uh, of course, is gonna move forward as as technology um evolve.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um our industry doesn't use the technology uh in its current current state.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: We are we're we're cycles behind for the industry.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um But what I what I see happening is you know AI is gonna it's gonna catch up.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, and I'd be surprised if um like OEMs aren't already working on these things.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, we are exploring it.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: But at some point, there's gonna be an effect on on labor.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm talking field labor, because with AI, the the power that AI brings is now you could have a virtual person, a virtual entity monitor your system, your your elevator equipment, and tell you what's broken.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: Probably the only thing it won't be able to do is turn a screw and say, hey, this need, yeah, but it's gonna tell you, it's gonna pinpoint issues.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I see that.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: So then the effect of that, I believe, will be you'll have less mechanics in places that we have them today, because there is a system in place that's keeping the equipment safe, keeping people safe by monitoring it.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: It detects a problem, it's gonna shut it down until a human arrives and uh uh conduct repairs.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that you know, that's kind of what I see coming um with the technology we're we're we're entering right now.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: And with AI just fast forwarding um you know, blasting across all planes, you know, it's next.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, our industry is next.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you feel like uh the AI is a is a big change.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a big uh It's probably gonna be the biggest change we uh we'll we'll see, I think, in our our industry.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, once it's uh fully implemented.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: I hear you.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: So this uh this question may be kind of uh the inverse of that same question, but I'm just you know if we were to have this conversation in five to ten years, what do you think will have changed?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: How will things look different in how things are built, maintained?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you kind of spoke to that a little bit, but what uh what would you expect to see?
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: What I don't want to see is uh elevators becoming a commodity, you know, if someone is um, you know, it it there's no thought in it.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: But um and and it can it can advance to to that level where you just um you know order it online and you get it, and uh you know they're designed that way uh if we put enough engineering in it, and and that's something we look at as well.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: But um, you know, I I I still see that change coming.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna affect the manufacturing part of the business as much as the service side of the business.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think the impact will will affect them a bit more.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: For us, we just determine, you know, uh we're different ways of achieving the same thing.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: We come up with a product that's gonna uh achieve this these results.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, number one, it's gonna be safe, um, which I think a lot of people just gloss over, but uh that's where I see it heading um with AI, you know, playing a big role uh at this point.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: So as we uh as we wrap up, you know, if you were to look back at uh at Ricky, you know, years ago when you were just starting out, what advice would you give yourself, your younger self?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um it it's funny because when I started uh Jean-Pierre who hired me, I remember him saying that you know two types of engineers, the ones that come in and they they stay with it, and the ones that come in realize what elevators are and say, I don't want to be a part of it, and they leave.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see in a few years which one you are, and I'm still here.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: But um I think um I probably would have said, hey, you did what you you loved and you enjoyed it, you know, I wouldn't change it.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, awesome.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's uh I I think it says a lot about what you've accomplished and uh that you found a place that you you love to be, and it sounds like you're gonna be here as long as you're able to, right?
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's the that's the plan.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, awesome.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh Ricky, thank you again.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you being with me today, and yeah, thanks for the opportunity to interview you.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for offering uh this experience.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: You bet.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Please visit our YouTube channel at Elevator Careers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Please like and subscribe.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, stay safe.