Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast brought to you by Mitre Brands University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sheri Conner and I am your host.
So, good afternoon. We are here on the Clear Impact podcast and today we are talking with Brent Wright in Tacoma. Welcome to the show.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: Thank you. Looking forward to the discussion.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks for making time. And so before we dive into the C700, which is what we're going to talk about today, tell us a little bit about you. Like, tell us a little bit about your background and how long you've been with the company and then like what your role and responsibilities are.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: Sure, yeah. My current role is senior project manager, primarily focused on new product development implementation. I have been with Milgaard for a Mitre brand for eight years now.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Between product management and project management, those are the two roles that I've held.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Okay. Product management and project management.
So those are not always the same thing.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: They are not always the same thing, but we work very closely together.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I would imagine.
And so obviously you've had your hands in the C700 coming to life because I was out there and you and I actually met and you were helping with the tour headsets at the prelaunch event not too long ago.
And so I'm excited that we can hear some of the behind the scenes information today. And so what were some of the key processes and maybe some of the challenges that were involved in bringing the C700 fiberglass to market?
[00:01:50] Speaker A: I think the primary key process really was in multiple phases, but it was getting voice a customer. Right. So it was talking to our dealer base, it was talking to our internal sales teams and really internal customers. So that could be operations, supply chain, finance, it, whatever you have. Right. So we involved everybody from pretty much every step of the way. So it was key to making sure that at the end of this project, everybody had a voice in what we were delivering. That way we don't get to the end of a project and be like, well, you missed this or you missed a mark on that. So it was really key that voice a customer throughout the entire project. Now one of the trade offs is that's a lot of extra work. It's a lot of making sure that we don't miss anything. So you just have to be very mindful of what the customers are saying. And what kind of trade offs do we have to make throughout? It's just stacking hands with the executive and leadership teams and making sure that we're all moving in the same direction.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: And these were primarily Dealers that were carrying the C650, so they were already familiar with the fiberglass line and they knew how to make it better, right?
[00:03:02] Speaker A: They did, yeah. We focused on key customers throughout the western business unit that, yeah. Heavy sales in current Fiberglass. So the C650 product, and they've had the history with it, they know what's good, they know what's bad and they are willing to share it with us because in the end. Right. They're the ones that are going to be selling it and they want to have a product that they can sell confidently.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Right. That's pretty cool if you think about it like if you're a car dealer, you probably don't get to tell the manufacturer what you want. They probably are just shoving product out to you and you have to sell it. Right.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: So yeah, absolutely.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: That's a pretty cool process.
[00:03:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Our customers, I mean, they've thanked us over and over. Right. I mean when they see the product and you know, we show them samples and we show them 3D renderings, they're like, thanks for involving us. Thank you for listening to us and taking our ideas and actually putting them into the design. So it's really a win win for the customer and us internally.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Sure. So what were the challenges other than the time involved? Did you get like crazy ideas that you had to just say, no, sorry, we can't do that.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: It's always a balance. Yes. Right. So I mean we live in a world where you want bigger and better and faster and these performance ratings that it's just a trade off. So we can go bigger, but that means that you're sacrificing potentially the modern design or we can get higher water ratings. But again, you have to change the design of the product. So it's really just finding that balance rate is okay. How often do you really need some crazy PG rating? Would you take that over having a smaller profile or more glass in the window? So it's just that back and forth. And most customers again are very receptive and understand the trade offs, but they're going to throw out those ideas and see if we can achieve them. In some cases we can and some we can't.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Yeah, ask not, receive, not. That's kind of my motto. So I understand that.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Nice. And so with that, this is, you know, starting from the ground up and customer feedback and different iterations because there's a lot of automation. And I was there for the tour and saw just how cool the production space is. How did the automation and collaboration between like the design part of the process and the processing and the manufacturing process.
How did all of that work?
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Yeah, it was, I mean, definitely a major focus of the entire project, entire process. We knew going in that we wanted to make the manufacturing line much more automated. We wanted to make it world class. Right. This is first of its kind within the industry. So we put a concerted effort to make sure that our design and process team worked in collaboration throughout the entire project. I mean really, they influenced each other. Right. So if a product engineer designed something within the window, the process engineering team was really right next to them and saying, hey, can you tweak this to make it more manufacturing friendly? Can you tweak it or make this change to allow for this type of automation and vice versa too. If process came to the design engineering and said, hey, we're thinking about bringing this equipment in, what would you have to do from a design perspective to make it work? So it was literally just hand in hand that teams sat next to each other throughout every step of this process and just bounced ideas off of each other and made sure that we not only designed a great looking product and performing product, but we designed a product that it was easily manufactured through automation.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: Well, right. Because it doesn't do you any good to design something that can't be produced efficiently or profitably. So.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Absolutely. And it happens way too often. Right? Is design a product and then you're like, okay, go make this. And the process team just is like, well, we can make it, but it's gonna cost you either time or money. If you're working again together, you know what your time targets are, you know what the trade offs are and you can reduce cost and improve efficiency at the end.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: Right. And so there was a lot of testing involved, right. With this. So you guys went back and forth a few times, I'm sure. Why was that such a big focus?
[00:07:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean really, it comes down to our customers. You know, they want to have confidence in what they're installing, they want best quality product on the market, and again, ultimately just ends up with the confidence. So if our customers know that the window is going to perform well, they're going to go sell it, they're going to put their name behind it, just like we have to put our name behind it. So we make sure that we not only test to industry standards, so there's specific criteria that you always have to meet, but we go above and beyond and make sure, hey, we know what the failure modes are and how do we prevent those from happening again. Our Name's behind it. We want to make sure that it's the best product in the market. We don't want to be sending our service techs out just as much as our customers don't. So it just makes sense to make sure that the quality is there from the get go.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, because you don't want to think about it.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: You're spending money, you know, investing in your home, buying new windows, buying new doors, and you put those babies in and you want to just be done. Like you don't want to have any issues or problems. Nobody wants that.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: So, yeah, for a homeowner, I mean, it's an expensive project. Right. When you're replacing windows, and whether it's a new construction or retro, it's a large expense. So you want to make sure that what you're putting in your home is going to last for decades.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: We are sharing our expertise around all topics relating to the window and door 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.
Right. And so let's talk about the product for a little bit. Can you just kind of run through.
I mean, this is just audio, so obviously there's information on the website. Milkguard.com I think is the website. But let's just touch briefly on like the frame styles, the colors, and then also the smart touch lock is part of this. So do you want to talk about those things?
[00:09:00] Speaker A: Yeah. So the product itself designed around modern design. So it's got super clean lines, you know, 90 degree angles, a lot of glass. So, you know, we're trying to as much glass on the product as we can. One of the huge asks from our customers as we went and surveyed it, and we've known this for years, is they wanted the smart touch lock, which is, you know, a proprietary lock to Milgard Miter brands, and they want it in fiberglass. It's never been able to be introduced in a fiberglass product. So having that smart touch lock in the C700 series is huge. And it looks fantastic, it performs great and really pops on the product. In addition, we've added new colors. So we've got six colors in the product that customers can choose from. The majority of them match our vinyl colors as well. So if you have to mix and match products within the category, you can do that too.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: Oh, nice.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a nice win. And then we've added new hardware to our sliding Glass doors. So you can have a flush handle on a sliding glass door, and then handles that our customers are very familiar with in the V300 product line as well. So lots of improvements just to, again, modernize the design and make it look as sharp as possible.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: And so the frame styles allow for retro as well as new construction.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: They do, yeah. So the frame styles are, I guess, varying. So we've got frames that will work for retro and new construction. So the customer can select that right out of the gate and really no additional stuff that has to happen.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: That's awesome, because a lot of the customers are both. Right. They may not just be strictly one or the other. They might cover both. And so giving them that variety, they can really recommend this product no matter what the application is.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Intent from the beginning is. And that was goes back to voice of customer. Right. Of figuring out, hey, what frames do you need? What allows you to hit the most market possible with essentially one product?
[00:10:50] Speaker B: Smart. And so I heard. I don't remember who told me, but there was somebody that told me about some of the design development of this product. It might have been Victor, because I did talk to Mike and Victor, and so they were talking a little bit about the testing, but you probably know about this, too, was about how the corners are joined, and that there was some really unique testing that went around that. Do you know about that? Can you talk about that?
[00:11:14] Speaker A: Yeah, I can talk a little bit about it. Yeah. Victor probably gave better information than I can from a design perspective. But I mean, really, ultimately, the window, for the most part, was designed around a corner key. So for fiberglass, you have to mechanically join the corners. Right. So vinyl is welded fiberglass. You have to take a bit of a different approach. And that corner key is super important. It holds the sash and the frame together. It's also where your water is most likely to come through. Right. Is the corner. So you have to really make sure those corners are sealed. And then thirdly, really, it's aesthetics. Right. Customers want to see a nice, tight, clean corner when frames and sashes are joined together. Yeah. So our design engineers really took a lot of time. Okay, what's the best way to make sure that we get a nice, tight joint? What's the best way to make sure that that corner is always going to be sealed and prevent water from coming through there? They did all kinds of tests. They used molasses at one point in time to see how the hot melt that goes in these corners actually flows through. And does it cover the entire corner and get through all the cavities and stuff. So some pretty unique approaches to ensure that when we put that sealant in the corner, that not only does a corner key itself hold, but the hot melt that goes in there. So the liquid that is sealing it all up and holding it all together is in all the right cavities, in all the right places, in the right quantity. So lots of work going behind that.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: And that whole process is automated, right?
[00:12:43] Speaker A: That whole process is automated, yeah. So we've got equipment in the factory that, you know, we dry fit the square, if you will, or the rectangle. We put it into this equipment, and it squares it all up. So there's clamps that kind of push it together, make sure that that rectangle is fully square. And then the machine itself puts in a couple screws, and then it ejects a hot melt. So it gets the exact right amount of hot melt into every corner every single time.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: And hot melt, is that like a silicone?
[00:13:12] Speaker A: It's similar. It's not quite a silicone, but kind of same concept. So it's a liquid that we in there, and then it hardens.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: We call it hot melt because we actually put it in at a temperature. I think it's. Don't quote me on this, but it's 300 and some degrees. Okay, great. And then it becomes hard almost immediately. Within about 30 seconds, your grain strengthen so you can send the product down the line.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: Oh, nice. Okay. Yeah. I think it was Victor who said that they used, like, a 3D printed version of this, but they did it in a translucent material so they could see, like, what was going on inside, which I thought was so cool.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's where that, like, molasses happened. So. Yeah, the design engineer in charge of that, like you said, it was a translucent 3D profile that they put together. Put the corner key in there. And then molasses is very similar consistency as the hot melt. So we just took molasses and filmed it and watched it flow through there and, like I said, kind of made sure, hey, is it going through all the channels that it needs to and ending up in the right places? So very unique approach to it.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: Yeah. I love the creativity, though. I know the Ilab has a few 3D printers here, and they're always testing things out and like, let's just make one and see what happens.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: So I love that our 3D printers are constantly running.
[00:14:28] Speaker B: Yeah, the ones here, too. That's an amazing tool that people didn't have 20 years ago. Well, maybe they Did. I don't know. How long has 3D printing been around? I don't even know.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Not very long. I mean, it's probably only been a handful of years since we've really gotten into it.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: I mean, it was so slow and very expensive.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Even five years back. But it has taken leaps and bounds over the last, I'd say five years.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: We have an entire sliding glass door panel and frame that was 3D printed that we were monkeying around with here.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: Yep, we did that not too well for this project. Early on, we were printing long manuals on a certain 3D printer to kind of get that again. You know, it's not going to perform, but it's going to give you that visual esthetic view that we could take out to customers and get their feedback.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: Yeah. That's so fun.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: Very handy.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Yeah. So, Brent, we've kind of run through the list of topics that I wanted to pick your brain about. Is there anything that we should touch on that we haven't already talked about?
[00:15:23] Speaker A: I don't think so. I mean, I, you know, end it right with C700. The excitement from sales and our customers is beyond what would have ever expected. So we are so excited to have this automated manufacturing process that not only is producing quality product, but it's keeping hands off the product throughout. So improved quality, improved safety, and it's just, it's turning out, you know, product that just looks fantastic. You know, our customers and homeowners are going to love this product and we're super excited to get it into the field and get those first customer orders out.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Yeah. So you're just beginning to roll that into production, like in the next couple of weeks, right?
[00:16:05] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: That's exciting.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: Like I said. Yeah, we've got orders in the system and we're anxious to start producing them.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: It's going to be tricky to keep that plant as spotless as it was. I saw it.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: The production team has assured us that they are going to keep looks good. So far, they have done a fantastic job. The operations team deserves a ton of credit for keeping this thing rolling.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: Yeah, the PGT plant's been around for a long time and, you know, they clean, we clean. You know, things are dusted and mopped and all of that. But, I mean, you could probably eat off the floors in the C700 plant. When I was there in January, I was like, this place is spotless.
So you could really tell that they had put a lot of time and energy into really creating an environment that just has that feel of this is quality and this is excellence and this is craftsmanship. And you felt that when you walked in.
And I think people are really going to feel that when they put it in their house.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: I think so. I agree.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: Well, Brent, I appreciate your time today. Thank you so much for chatting with me and telling us a little bit more about the behind the scenes. And I'm sure you've got more stuff that you're working on, right, as a new product development person, right?
[00:17:13] Speaker A: I do, yes. More in the pipeline, of course.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: Well, you'll have to keep me posted. If there's more stuff we need to talk about, you have to let me know.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: All right, well, have an amazing afternoon. Thank you so much.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Thanks, Shirley.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: All right, take care.
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