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.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: We also wanted to have a new kind of like, multi point lock solution for our customers because they were kind of, you know, a lot of customers want this multi point lock system. So 90 degree doors a little bit more stable when you have something like that.
[00:00:33] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: And anything on the market, we just hated, like, we've been looking at Multi Point harbor for years and I think we just knew that this time we gotta do it, but it's gotta be home baked.
[00:00:44] Speaker C: Wow. How exciting.
All right, so good morning. We are here on the Clear Impact Podcast and in studio today we have Richard Mazur with Western Architectural Openings. Welcome to the studio.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:00] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it worked out perfectly. Perfectly. I threw out the requests about a week and a half ago, and lo and behold, you guys are in town and already planned to be here. So that worked out nicely for us. Tell us a little bit about you. Tell us a little bit about your background, your tenure, and your current role and responsibilities.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: Sure. So I went to Arizona State University, got my bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering there.
While I was there, I also took like a lot of extra electives that were kind of manufacturing focused. So took all the CNC courses, machining courses, welding. And then while I was there, I was the chief engineer of what's called the Formula SAE team. So if you're not familiar, most large universities have this team of engineers and usually other degree students as well.
And there's this international competition where you build a formula race car from scratch, essentially.
[00:01:52] Speaker C: Oh, cool.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: And then you go out to these annual competitions that are kind of all over the world. There's one here in Michigan and in the US and yeah, you compete against all these schools with your design and then also actually racing the vehicle.
[00:02:03] Speaker C: Oh, fun.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Yeah, so that was kind of the highlight for me in college and taught me a lot that I know, actually.
[00:02:10] Speaker C: Right, nice.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: Yeah. So then after school, I worked for a biotech startup, so focused on developing equipment for growing algae for both research and production. So we kind of did stuff with agriculture, pharmaceuticals and cosmetic industry.
It was kind of a weird job. I was there for only about a year and a half before I actually got a job with Western. So, yeah, my boss at the time over there left and came to Western, and then he kind of brought me along with him.
[00:02:38] Speaker C: Nice. And so how long have you been with Western?
[00:02:41] Speaker A: So I joined Western in the summer of 2014.
[00:02:44] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's been 12 years now.
[00:02:47] Speaker C: Nice. And so what is your primary function? What do you do?
[00:02:49] Speaker A: So I was hired as a mechanical engineer. So I originally was hired to help with new product rollout and then also help operations in terms of like, designing and manufacturing jigs and fixtures, modifying equipment. So that was a lot of what I did in the first couple years.
And then I think it was 2016, we started what's called the ESIC project. So this was when we developed our performance series line at Western architectural openings. And that was kind of a big endeavor, so. Sure. Yeah. So we designed 12 new products and essentially a year.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: So it's kind of crazy. We were definitely. Yeah. Just thrown into it, if you will. So it was my first time really getting exposed to new product development. But, yeah, it was. It was definitely stressful, but it was a fun journey as well.
[00:03:36] Speaker C: Nice. And so that's still your forte is the new product development.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: Correct. So about a year after that E CIC project started, I became a manager, and then I have since taken on a director of product engineering role more recently.
[00:03:50] Speaker C: Okay, and so my guess is then you've been largely in charge and overseeing the new vantage line that's come out recently. And then. Okay, so that's what we want to talk about, specifically the line and then the sliding door. Brian and I chatted recently as well, and he was oohing and ahhing about some of the features on that, but he didn't want to steal anybody's thunder. So when I kind of talk about the high points on this product line and. Or the door, like, whichever is, you know, more, I guess, revolutionary from the engineering perspective.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: Yeah. So I think from an engineering perspective, you know, we like designing new, different things. So we got that opportunity with this product line. So the focus was reducing our sight lines and also implementing a new thermal break that we believed was a necessity to get the energy values we wanted to get. So energy requirements across the country are getting more strict, especially places like California and Colorado.
So we needed something that would eventually supersede our classic product line.
[00:04:57] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: Which is, you know, an older product line has a thermal break, but they're not nearly as efficient, and some of them are going to be essentially phased out of the market at some point. So I think it was pretty exciting, kind of getting to play with this new thermal brake technology, learning how to design around it. That's always a challenge with any of these thermal brakes. We had the same kind of similar challenges. If you Will, with our performance line, when we used insol bars or the thermal strut components, there was a lot, you know, big learning curves there. And then we also got the opportunity to do some kind of in house hardware design which we haven't done as much in the past. So we kind of got more into that with these products.
[00:05:36] Speaker C: Okay, so what can you tell me about that? Because that's super interesting. Like you can't find the part or the widget or the roller or the block or whatever that you're after.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: I guess in this case, a lot of it comes down to aesthetics.
[00:05:49] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:05:50] Speaker A: So we're wanting to do something new and different and fresh for the customers. And then you kind of look out, you know, what's available from some of our vendors. And none of what we were finding really fit the bill, if you will. So then we kind of take it upon ourselves. So, hey, we're going to do something a little bit different.
So for the hinged door, we came up with like a custom profile and also a custom, I would say, geometry that we wanted. And that was necessary for us to get the sight lines that we were aiming to get. So we couldn't even find something on the market even if it was, let's say, uglier hinge. But it doesn't matter. It just didn't exist.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: So we had to. Yeah. Work with one of our vendors and get a new one manufactured for us.
[00:06:29] Speaker C: That's really cool. I love that. Yeah, I know. The C700 line worked with the folks that purchased the Joseph machines to really dial in the specifics that they wanted to be able to produce because they didn't make a machine that did what we wanted to do. And so we've kind of like brought them into the innovation side of the business and said help us create what we want to create. And they were on board with that. So kind of sounds like a similar plan with the hardware. I love that. Yeah. If we can't find it, then you just make your own.
[00:07:05] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:07:07] Speaker C: I like that. How many other areas could we do that with? Like, if you really think about it.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, so with the new multi slide, we decided that we're going to also develop a new handle and lock system.
[00:07:18] Speaker C: All right.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Yeah. So we wanted to do something different there as well. So we have a pretty unique design that we might be working on getting a patent for. So that's kind of still in the works. We'll see if we do that.
But yeah, it's like all stainless construction.
It's Kind of like a flush handle that the flush, what do you call it, Pocket also acts as your lock actuator and the lock itself is kind of like a lock bar multipoint component. And we did that because we also wanted to have a new kind of like multi point lock solution for our customers because they were kind of, you know, a lot of customers want this multi point lock system. So for 90 degree doors, a little bit more stable when you have something like that.
[00:07:59] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: And anything on the market. We just hated like we've been looking at Multipoint harbor for years and I think we just knew that this time we got to do it, but it's got to be home baked.
[00:08:10] Speaker C: Wow, how exciting. That's really cool. Like you're not going to find it anywhere else.
[00:08:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:15] Speaker C: And then do we have exclusivity with that manufacturer so that they don't make it for other people?
[00:08:19] Speaker A: It's our design and yeah, we have a really good partner that is also. Yeah, very helpful on helping get all the details right with the manufacturability of these hardware items. And yeah, being not afraid of, let's say smaller quantities because we're not like maybe mi or we're gonna be selling thousands upon thousands of this piece of hardware. So sometimes some of the bigger players just don't wanna work with us on some of those things because the volumes are too low.
[00:08:46] 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 homeown research. The Clear Impact podcast provides helpful content that makes an impact. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts.
[00:09:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I know that makes sense. I mean there is a cost of getting it designed and getting it manufactured. If you don't have that scale, that can be not as profitable for them. So that makes sense that some might be hesitant to play in that space.
[00:09:16] Speaker A: It's possible that their supply chains are just not as flexible.
[00:09:19] Speaker C: Yeah. Wow, that's so cool. I'm excited to see this door. I haven't seen it yet.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: Yeah, we have it at western already.
[00:09:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:26] Speaker A: 90° up in our showroom. So next time you come by.
[00:09:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I might be out for the golf tournament in November. I haven't decided that quite yet, but that's a possibility for me. So I know from the engineering perspective, like you're in the weeds and in the nitty gritty with the product, but from a broader. So like if you zoom out a little bit, how do you feel like this is really serving the market?
[00:09:47] Speaker A: Well, I guess I Don't know if you've heard of title 24.
[00:09:50] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, I'm familiar.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: Right. I think Kevin is going to talk more about that at some point.
[00:09:54] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: But you know, in California, they're kind of increasing the requirements on what a product can do from a thermal perspective.
So for like let's say our 600 series multi slide. So that's kind of been our bread and butter. You know, it's a product that customers really love. It's easy to install, you know, it looks good, functions really well, really good rolling performance, and you could build pretty large sizes, 12 foot tall panels and whatnot. So when we developed, let's say our new Multi Slide, we still wanted to hit all those attributes, but then also get the U value to kind of like a market leading spec. So, you know, we get a 0.30 U value which is kind of like a benchmark for us.
[00:10:33] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: You know, to get that with kind of a standard glass makeup. And that's kind of been what we've tried to achieve with every product. So the vantage windows and the hinged over also get that 3 ou value, kind of like baseline figure.
[00:10:46] Speaker C: Wow. And that's hard to do when you have a narrow sight line and a lot of glass.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: Yeah. So for the aluminum products, the more glass you can have, the better. So besides, you know, narrow sightlines are nice for aesthetics. That actually also helps you hit those U values. The challenge is just how do you configure the geometry to still fit your hardware and still be operable? Easy to install.
[00:11:06] Speaker C: Right. That's amazing. That's the trend here too.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:09] Speaker C: But we're dealing with the performance requirements, obviously. Florida and coastal regions, which is what PGT tends to serve a little bit more. It's got to be able to stay. Yes.
It's got to withstand impact testing and you know. And you have water requirements too.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely.
[00:11:27] Speaker C: So there's a performance piece of that for you guys as well.
[00:11:30] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's one thing we focused on the new multislide, the 8600, which was to provide kind of like a hidden cell solution that is also able to weep water.
[00:11:39] Speaker C: Oh.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: So that's going to be something new that we have for. For a door like this.
[00:11:43] Speaker C: Oh, that's amazing. All right, Well, I love hearing about all that. I can't wait to see it. Let's talk about the new name and the new logo for a minute. What are your thoughts about all of that?
[00:11:53] Speaker A: So some folks at Western will know that I was a little vocal about the New logo. So at first I kind of just hated it.
[00:11:59] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: You know, I've been with Western a long time, so, you know, to me, like that quintessential W on top of the Arizona State logo. I love that logo. So I always thought it was kind of fun and, you know, represents us. But to be honest, it has grown on me, so I've accepted it. And yeah, I think it's cool after being exposed to it for a bit longer.
[00:12:18] Speaker C: Yeah, change is hard. We get used to a certain feel and a certain look and it can be difficult. But, you know, I don't look at it every day. So when I saw it, I was like, oh, that looks amazing. But I'm not there and looking at it all the time either. So I think it's very sophisticated and I think it represents the focus that Western is really putting on the. The market that you're serving in a more targeted way.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Yeah. And I was also a little skeptical on, I think, the messaging initially that we were provided on, you know, let's say the rebrand and, you know, what we're going to be focusing on, which is, right, to be more of a luxury brand, provide better services, kind of a little bit of that white glove experience, you know. So I was thinking, okay, is this just words, you know, are we actually going to put something to action? But now I've been impressed. Like, you know, we've had some pretty significant meetings to brainstorm, you know, what changes need to happen at Western to actually make, you know what we're saying, a reality.
[00:13:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: So, yeah, we've already started multiple projects to try to accomplish some of the things that we set out to do. I know we're hiring new people, you know, to kind of help on the customer experience side. So, yeah, things are changing.
[00:13:25] Speaker C: Yeah. And we've always seen Western as a luxury brand. And so I don't know that it's really shifted all that much from what you were currently already doing. I mean, one of the things that I recall, and it's been a few years since I've been out there, but one of the things that I recall is that there was like this wall of fame, and maybe it was in the cafeteria or someplace where employees gathered, but it was literally multimillion dollar homes of celebrities, whether it was a basketball player or a musician or an actor or whomever, a president even you do. Okay. I don't remember that.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:00] Speaker C: But there's like people who can afford literally anything are choosing the products that Western builds to put in their own homes. And these are not budget decisions. Right. This isn't like I have to have something under X dollars. I want the best.
And so when you already have that kind of recognition and reputation in the market, I think it's pretty safe to say that you're a luxury brand.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: Well, yeah, there have been times when we've have targeted a little bit more like the low cost, kind of like production home build type spec. But with this rebrand, you know, we're kind of going for that. So like no more vinyl for instance. We are going to be just aluminum focused product. So.
[00:14:42] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, no, I love that. That's awesome. I was just surprised because again, one of the first times I went out I was still fairly new to the organization and didn't realize the scope and the magnitude of what Western did in their space.
All right, so is there anything else that we should talk about regarding Western or the Vantage line?
[00:15:03] Speaker A: I guess one thing I can mention about the Vantage project also is I think I was really proud of the overall team and how well we came together. Kind of like with that kind of mission focus on, you know, getting this product to market quickly.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: And I think we did that. Like I don't know if I would call it record time, but in some sense it is. So I think it was 11 months for the windows, about 12 months for the door.
So we really kind of knocked these projects out pretty quick.
[00:15:27] Speaker C: Nice. And is it finished?
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean we launched the Windows, I think that was still back in 24.
So the multi slide just launched recently as well. So that's out in the world.
[00:15:38] Speaker C: Okay. I didn't know if there were any more products that you're going to add to the line.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: Oh yeah, we have a long list of projects still ahead of us.
[00:15:46] Speaker C: Right. But maybe under a different.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: No, we'll still be adding to the Vantage. You know, we have plans on a pivot door, a bifold.
[00:15:53] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:15:53] Speaker A: So those would be next.
[00:15:54] Speaker C: And then there's always something in the works, right?
[00:15:57] Speaker A: Oh, for sure.
[00:15:57] Speaker C: That's your job, is to dream about what's next and the consumers are after it.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:16:02] Speaker C: Like what's the latest, greatest. But yeah, it is easy to have that what's next mentality, but it's important to celebrate the wins. Right. Like the line's doing well, people are ordering it, they're happy.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Vantage has been very successful thus far.
[00:16:16] Speaker C: Awesome. Okay. And Brian talked too a little bit about how it's not just a warm weather space now because of all the therma abilities that this product line has it opens up new markets and people that would never have considered an aluminum product prior can now take advantage of that, which I think is really amazing because they are beautiful products and gorgeous heights and massive sizes. All right, so our final question. And you don't have to pick just one. You can have more than one. But curious, what is your favorite Mitre DNA statement?
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Yeah, so I thought about this one a little bit, and I think we are comfortable with being uncomfortable.
So, you know, we're opposed to challenges all the time and sometimes kind of like pretty serious challenges, I would say. So those always put us in uncomfortable positions. And I think time and time again, you know, the Western team just comes together and faces them head on. And, you know, we're not looking for like, oh, who's at fault for this? And this? You know, we're just like, no, you know, what's the solution?
[00:17:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: And I think that leads into the worst decision is making no decision at all. Right. So when issues are, you know, I think we always have some kind of action plan in place. Instead of saying, oh, you know, maybe this will be a problem for another day.
[00:17:30] Speaker C: Well, and the being comfortable, being uncomfortable, I mean, you're like, okay, we're going to design our own locking system. Like, have you done that before? Probably not, right? No, like, there is a little bit of that trepidation when you're tackling a brand new space and you have to learn the ins and outs and what's not going to work. So I can see that where you'd have to have.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: Yeah, especially when we already had kind of like a project timeline in place before we actually came to the decision that we needed a new handle and lock system.
[00:17:59] Speaker C: Oh, yikes.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: And then we're saying, okay, we got to try to fit this within that same time frame, by the way.
[00:18:04] Speaker C: Yeah, no pressure there, but that's amazing. No, I love that. Richard, this has been a great conversation. Thank you so much for hanging out today and chatting with me about what you're up to and the new vantage line. And I love learning about what the rest of the company is doing even when I'm not there. And I appreciate your time. Thanks for being here.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:18:24] Speaker C: All right, have a great day.
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