Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Welcome to the Clear Impact podcast, brought to you by PGTI University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherri Connor, and I am your host.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: So, good morning. We are here on the Clare Impact podcast, and we are in a temporary setting today, actually. I'm getting a brand new studio. I'm very excited about that, but it's not quite finished, and we moved out of the old one, and then I got a call yesterday that said, hey, Mike's gonna be in town. Can you record with him? And I was like, sure. Let me figure out where we can set up. So here we are in the training room, which is not terrible. So across from me is Mike de Soto. Welcome.
[00:00:52] Speaker C: Hey. Well, thanks. And thank you, Cherry. I've been listening in on your podcast and going back through the history and hearing the cast from all the team members. They're fantastic. There's a lot to learn, and it's amazing what I've learned about my own team. I didn't necessarily even know all kinds of little tidbits, so it's really fun. And the educational pieces have been impressive. The content you're putting out is very relevant and on point and educational. So thank you.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Aw, well, thank you. That's very nice. I appreciate that. And thank you for making time this morning and accommodating the temporary quarters that we're in. But we're just doing a little intro to the Mitre team and getting to know some folks that are now working with us, and you're among those. And so we just want to know a little bit about you. So whatever you want to share in terms of history, family, career path, obviously, whatever you want to talk about.
[00:01:39] Speaker C: Yeah. So I grew up like my brother Matt, that you've had on previous podcasts, grew up in and around the business. Our father Pete, was the founder of everything, windows and doors. Not the true founder of the business, but in our era, he was the guy that put us into the window and door industry. So, in central Pennsylvania, the house was right around the corner from the factory, so couldn't help but to be involved from a young kid. And I worked there full time for the first time, the summers of 87 and 88 as a truckloader.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: Okay. That's brutal.
[00:02:06] Speaker C: Oh, loved it, though. Yeah, it was great because they one, you got our mindset at the time. We got paid to exercise. That was awesome. The pay was good, and there was a little bonus out there for truckloaders. We made perfect trucks.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: Oh, nice.
[00:02:19] Speaker C: Right? So we would load as many as we could because you got paid by the crew.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:02:24] Speaker C: And if they came back perfect with no discrepancies, there was a five dollar bonus out there. So that was a. A nice little kicker at the time, and we loved it.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: And back in 87 and 88, $5 actually bought something.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: I remember those days.
[00:02:38] Speaker C: Yeah. So after high school, I took a Navy ROTC scholarship out in Colorado at CU Boulder. Go buffs. And then after following that, it's been ten years in the service.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: And so where do you live now?
[00:02:52] Speaker C: So today I live out in Prescott, Arizona. So we came back into the business in August of zero one and trained in Pennsylvania for a year. Kind of got reintroduced to the professional side of the business and really how to make windows and doors. And then there was an opening in Arizona to lead the west. And so my wife and I moved out there and raised our family there.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: And so do we get to hear about your family?
[00:03:13] Speaker C: Sure. That'd be great. Okay. So, yeah. Wonderful wife, best friend. We've been together for now 34 years and married for 27. Just celebrated our anniversary.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:03:24] Speaker C: Yes. And we have.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: That's amazing. Congratulations.
[00:03:27] Speaker C: Yeah. Thank you. And two kids. Sophia is 23 and Helena. Ruby is 21. And they're both pursuing their next journey in life in various forms of education. Ruby's at Boulder in the architectural program and recently interned with us in architectural sales with Ty and Eric and that team.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Oh, fun.
[00:03:49] Speaker C: Yeah. And she had a great time, learned a lot then. Sophia's worked in the business a number of times and currently pursuing a career in the dog industry. So really exploring that and where that can take her, because the furry friend and the family is Lolo and we're in the dogs thanks to Sophia. She's always had a passion for pets.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: All right, so how fun for you to come to humid Florida from Prescott, Arizona.
[00:04:14] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Is that near Phoenix?
[00:04:16] Speaker C: Prescott's about 100 miles north. We're in northern Arizona. There's a fun window fact around Arizona. So you've done podcasts on energy star and thermal ratings and that kind of thing. So Arizona is the one state that has all four zones.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: Right, right, right. I remember, yes.
[00:04:30] Speaker C: And within 50 miles of Prescott, you reach all four zones.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: So we're up north and about 5200ft. And we love it there. And you get into the pine forest.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Nice. So tell us about what you do now, like, what is your current role and responsibilities in terms of, like, your day to day?
[00:04:47] Speaker C: So my day to day is now chief operating officer. And so I oversee everything in manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, and then what we consider big quality, big q.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: Okay. That's a pretty big scope.
[00:04:58] Speaker C: It is a big scope, but it's turned out to be a pretty.
Certainly a very fulfilling job. And I don't think an arduous job. Not particularly stressful. It's really around building a great team. I have the pleasure of working with a group of professionals that can do any one of the aspects much better than I could ever do it. So that's the pleasure. That's the fun.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Right. It's easier than loading trucks.
[00:05:17] Speaker C: It is easier than loading trucks. Occasionally I'll still go out there and load a truck. It's very satisfying, loading trucks. A sense of accomplishment. You can.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Yeah. It's a hard job, though. I mean, our products weigh so much. Like when you get into the impact glass and those bigger sizes, it's massive. Like, you can really hurt yourself if you don't know what you're doing.
[00:05:37] Speaker C: I won't load those.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll help. Okay.
[00:05:42] Speaker C: It's a big initiative. We're really, one of the things we talk about is how many touch points on the window and how few times can we lift them right. And really trying to engage a lot of creative minds around that and hear the team out. And there's a lot of cool ideas. We're making progress there, and it's certainly one of the things we want to work on with the new acquisition.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I know we've made some improvements here with the RFID tags going on all the products and having the umbrella or the halo scanners, rather, at the dock doors, that really cuts back on some of the errors that can happen when you're loading. But, yeah, man, those things are heavy.
They're massive.
[00:06:16] Speaker C: Yeah. So if we have to lift them once, that's one thing. Let's not lift them a second or third time.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. And so what has been the most exciting part for you in terms of the acquisition? I know Matt had shared that it was sort of a dream come true when all three brands were put together, Milgard, Mi and PGT. And so how's it going? How's the transition? How's it all coming together for you?
[00:06:39] Speaker C: There's a lot to talk about there. Certainly it is a dream come true. Three amazing brands. And I love the founders. Of course, Pete is still with us and very active in the business and an amazing mind and amazing experience he's been at it with for over 65 years now. So there's little he hasn't done or hasn't learned or relearn and shares amazing wisdom with us. So I put the Milgards right there. That was exciting. And we reengaged with Jim Milgard after that acquisition. And really it's cleaning his passion and insight as to what he was building. I think then the history can tell you a lot about the future and the culture of the business. And then Rod, we've always had tremendous respect for, and he's been a good friend and mentor to me at the FGIA association formerly.
And Rod's just one of those guys, professional, smart, caring, amazing listener. I got to see him firsthand, and ten years at the industry association now. And when Rod talks, people listen because he always has something very intelligent to say and insightful and just a neat guy. So I think that's part of it, is bringing together then some legends in the industry, so the people that are still behind those businesses, and then you can break it into the geographies they serve, the markets they serve, just some aspects that have been just maybe the superpowers of that business. Right? So Milgard was the best at branding and really built an amazing brand and all the things around that, the substance around that in the west PGT with their eye on innovation and performance. So not just the hurricane impact, but then high performance windows and consistently building those high quality, high performance windows, and then the moving glass wall systems. And then we filled an amazing niche within, I think, the middle market.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: Yeah, it's really fun to see how different the organizations are in different approaches, but also how similar we are. And the cultures really align nicely.
[00:08:27] Speaker C: I think they do. I think it's mostly at the heart of that is just a deep caring for doing it right. So there's so much activity. You'll never be perfect, you'll never get there, but you care a lot about getting there and then being better the next day. And it's very personal. It's nothing. Just a widget. It's a window. We care a lot about windows and what it means to the home and lifestyle. And I think the business itself is personal. The owners are still around, the founders. It's their art. I think a lot of pride in maintaining that and making it better the next day. I guess the acquisition as a whole and the business, I mean, first, why it made sense or why we think it's a better together scenario. First of all, it had to be a good business. So it's a well run business. It's financially stable, and finances itself, those were important kind of, I guess the nuts and bolts. Does this make sense, sir?
[00:09:13] Speaker B: Yeah. You don't want to buy a sinking ship, right.
[00:09:16] Speaker C: It has to be financially stable from a practical standpoint. Right. It has to stand on its own. It can't be a burden to the legacy business. It has to be a point of growth. The other aspect was the leader in performance and innovation. So performance products. So there's certainly, there's geographies that were served better. There's markets that are served better. And as we looked into them, the depth was there. There was no surprise that BGT is a leader in the hurricane impact category, and not the least of which is BGTI university and how it educates the consumer and dealers and helps them sell the product and install it properly, et cetera. Just a lot of depth and reason behind why the leadership, not just our leader, but why is that substantial. And of course, it was also the oversized products and the moving glass walls and things that you certainly could do as a business but were never really going to catch up and be a leader in the space. That certainly made a lot of sense. And then third was maybe most important was the people that we feel like then, beyond the public facing organization, what did the leadership look like? The next layer down. And we had the pleasure through the years and just getting to know more people within PGT and the various companies that they had acquired and just felt like there was a lot of talent and depth there. And that's proven to be very true.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: We are sharing our expertise around all topics relating to the window indoor industry. Whether you are a customer selling our products or a homeowner doing research, the Clear Impact podcast provides helpful content that makes an impact. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Thank you. Yeah, it's amazing. Like, when I first started, I asked people like, what's your favorite part of working here? And everybody said, the people. And I was like, oh, okay, that's cool. And it's really true. Yeah, like, it's really true. There's just some amazing, amazing people here. So. And now more. There's more.
[00:11:10] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: There's more. Awesome. I have one question that I ask of everyone whenever we're doing an introduction podcast, and that is, what is a great piece of advice that you've received.
[00:11:23] Speaker C: When, as I thought about that question, and, you know, the great advice, I think in the context of business. So Pete's always said, keep it simple. And it took a while to kind of digest how simple the message is and what that really means. But I think to me, it means simple is easy to follow and it's easy for the team to get involved on a simple message or mission or purpose, and it's surprisingly difficult.
[00:11:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:48] Speaker C: It's actually easier to just add complexity and do more. And at some point, that becomes very tiring for the team and overwhelming. And I think it's our job as leaders and executives to keep it simple, keep it focused. It allows the team as a whole to engage and be part of improving and part of making the business better. So a lot of those decisions to keep it simple lie with the senior leadership. And I think there's a challenge within that. The other piece, I think, in a lot of ways, relates to that, and that's kind of a truism that nothing really improves till something changes. So I personally have always been maybe a critic of the critic. I'm not particularly impressed by critics.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:12:28] Speaker C: I think opinions are cheap and easy, and the hard thing to do in life is to have the courage to make a change. And that's been a big part of our success, is kind of really fearless about making changes. And we talk about a bias for action.
And if you're in charge of a department or an area or a team or, you know, whatever it may be, we want you to be fearless. We want you to go out and make some changes and have a bias to take some action. If you find yourself complaining or criticizing something, the question is right back at you. Then what would you change? And then let's do it.
[00:13:01] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:02] Speaker C: And those are the people that move the company forward, those that are willing to change and understand that that's how we improve.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: Well, because complaining just gets you nowhere.
[00:13:11] Speaker C: Nowhere.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: And it's just a waste of energy and it's negative. And I think complaining happens when people don't have control over the areas.
[00:13:19] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: I think it can be, especially when you're not in the top ranks, when you're on my level and you see things that are frustrating, and then you're like, well, how do I change that? Because I don't have the authority or the power to change it, but I know what needs to be changed. So then you just hope that you have a voice and that you can not complain, but, like, offer solutions.
[00:13:43] Speaker C: Well, and back to what's the role of a senior leader? I think it's to create those venues and make sure that all the voices that want to be heard are heard. Right. So we philosophically, we play to the people that want to make this a career and care deeply about the business, and we want to hear them. We want them to bring their hearts and minds and shame on us if we aren't creating the venues to hear out the ideas and make improvements. A lot of venues around that. It could be things we do with the foundation and leadership opportunities within the Mitre foundation and to give back to the community. That's often a passion of the team. We do it through specific maintenance projects, autonomous maintenance projects. We do it through the kind of classic Kaizen, our continuous improvement projects. We just try to create a lot of venues to hear people and those that are wanting to bring their hearts and minds. Absolutely. Let's let them put their mark on then on the business and make those improvements.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: Well, and when you create and you have that environment and that culture where people are open to hearing new ideas and you're embracing it instead of just grinding in and be like, this is the way I said it's going to be done and nobody's changing that. I don't find that here. I don't hear a lot of that at PGT. But it's a big organization. There's a lot of voices.
[00:14:54] Speaker C: There are a lot of voices. You have to break it down and create the venues and make sure everyone feels like they have a chance to be heard and.
[00:15:00] Speaker B: Yeah, so, yeah, so change is a big thing, right? How do you celebrate that or like what goes on around change?
[00:15:06] Speaker C: What we want, of course, is then the changes to be thoughtful changes. And we've found through the years that certainly the smartest ideas come from those closest to the action and those that are actually performing the work. So one of the ways we celebrate great changes and improvements is through the weekly acknowledgement. We call it the operational highlight of the week or the how. So on the sales side, then leadership puts out a win of the week. The wow. So there's the. The WoW and the how every week that go across the entire organization and the entire email network, everybody has an email in the organization.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: That's so cool. So how is for the manufacturing side and then the wow is for the sales side, right?
[00:15:44] Speaker C: So it's a little bit of a pun so that it started with the wow, the win of the week. But we know selling it's one thing, making it's another. And are we going to be so with there's new win in the business, I mean, it's a new revenue opportunity. There are always revenue opportunities, right? Will we be able to produce it? So in some cases we're needing to build some capacity or reliability within a department. In a lot of cases it's driving efficiencies, just simply doing it better. So the operational highlight of the week acknowledges what we consider the impact players. So someone either in a leadership role or an informal influencer within a department that drove the change and stepped up to the new, either a new need of the business or found a way to do it better.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: So that's amazing. I love that.
[00:16:27] Speaker C: We love the program. It's been a lot, very rewarding.
[00:16:30] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:16:31] Speaker C: We can relate it back to our common purpose or our mission statement. So it's manufacturing the finest windows and doors and customer experiences every day, everywhere. And again, I think the elegance in that is one. It matters that they're windows and doors, and we don't want a team member to feel like they're a machine operator or a solid operator or a truckloader.
You know, we're not laying bricks. We're building at the drivels. We're making windows. We're making windows that go into homes.
Delivery matters, quality matters. So being really tied to the mission, and I think nearly any role in the business can relate to that and tie back to it. And it's been said in previous podcasts, and I believe it wholeheartedly. And then we really centrally support the outside sales activity and then the manufacturing and delivery activity. So if we're doing one of those two things, you're supporting one of those.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I remember one of the early town halls. I think it was right after the acquisition, and Matt and Joe and a couple of others were here, and one of our team members said, I have great respect for any company where the first thing is manufacturing. So Mitre, the acronym, you know, it starts with M, which is manufacturing. And I think that sometimes, if you're not in that space, if you're not working directly in the manufacturing space, it's easy to get distracted with all the other fun and shiny things and forget that that is the main heart of what we do.
[00:17:59] Speaker C: That's the core. Yeah, that's why the customers are doing business with us.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:18:02] Speaker C: Manufacture the finest windows and doors, the relentless pursuit of 100% of being perfect, and you'll never get there. It's a very humbling business. There's so many things that can go wrong. But what's your passion, then, to get it right back on track?
[00:18:14] Speaker B: Wow, this is amazing. This is a great conversation. Is there anything else we want to add?
[00:18:18] Speaker C: I guess the business as a whole, I'm certainly very excited about the future and what we can do together. And there are classic synergies. The three businesses had different paths to success and had different things that they had historically done exceptionally well and I think are pretty bred into the DNA. And I just think it's exciting to get the three, what we believe are the three greatest businesses in the industry together in time. It's exciting to think about, can you get the best of the best of the best? And I think that's exciting. I think it's a toggle back and forth between great tactics and visionary future. And on the tactics side, I think we wake up and have outstanding programs about how to be a great manufacturer. What does that mean? And been a good study of that and brought together amazing minds that have a breadth of experiences not only within our industry, but outside.
So things like autonomous maintenance and how to engage and empower the machine operator to own that machine. Material planning and the relationships with the supply community, that's enormous to us. We need outstanding suppliers. We need them to think of us first and then what we do within quality systems and continuous improvement programs. These are all core to the tactics of running a great business and then developing leaders. Leaders, their personal skills to drive change and then work with teams and engage their opinions. These are all core to what we do. So I think the tactics matter. I think that's where we bring the daily value and then the passion for every day, everywhere. So this is not a competition within ourselves. This is not a competition between factories. We're one business.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Right.
[00:19:55] Speaker C: And what we do at one factory impacts the brand at another factory. And so we really work hard to be a, you know, a cooperative, cohesive business, not an internally competitive business.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:07] Speaker C: We have plenty of competitors on the outside to work with and.
[00:20:10] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:20:10] Speaker C: So every day, everywhere matters a lot to us.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, this has been a great conversation, Mike. I really appreciate your time. It's been a pleasure getting to chat with you and get to know you a little bit. And I love hearing the heart behind everything that's happening. And I'm not in the manufacturing space, but I do coordinate tours out there, so I get to have my hand. Like, I know some of the people now that are in charge of all that. So it's really been fun. Safe travels back to you and, you know, thanks again.
[00:20:36] Speaker C: All right, thank you.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: All right, have a great day. Thanks.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: The Clear Impact podcast is brought to you by PGTI University. We are a part of Mitre Brands, a family of leading window and door brands united by our passion for quality and relentless pursuit of 100%. One of the missions of miter brands is to unite and deliver the finest customer experience possible across the nation. Our window indoor brands deliver regionalized expertise and products backed by a national company. PGTI University is here to educate you, our listener, so that you can be a more informed consumer of window indoor products.
