00:00
and welcome to Power of the Network. I'm your host, Tim Locker, Vice President of Broadband here at CBM. Coming to you from a different location today, we're here at the M.A.T.S, Mid-American Telecom Seminar and Showcase. It's a great trade show here in the Midwest, right in Kansas City, and we are recording today from our booth at the show. So, little different, but hopefully you guys enjoy this. You know, these trade shows are a great opportunity for us to see.
00:28
You know, so many of our manufacturers in one place visit with many of our customers. So it's a great opportunity for us to network and, you know, see the important folks to us. So today we have Mr. Brendan O'Boyle, National Sales Manager from Preform Line Products, PLP. We're going to have a talk about all things broadband today. So join along. Thanks.
00:55
Brendan, thank you so much for joining us today. Here on location at the Mats, for those of you that don't know what that stands for, it's Mid-American Telecom Seminar and Showcase. It's a big telecom show here in Kansas City. So we're shooting from our booth at the event today. So a little different, but thank you for joining us again. Yeah, thanks for having me, Tim. So.
01:20
We've had this conversation before, but I just want to hit on it. PLP and CBM, we've had a relationship for over 60 years. You and I have known each other a long time. And I just really, first I want to say thank you. And we really appreciate that partnership that we've had over the years. And we really appreciate how PLP, what they allow us as reps to do in terms of really being able to take care of customers, really.
01:49
You know being able to make decisions and actually be in an extension of the factory So, you know, we appreciate that but talk a little bit What do you think sets PLP apart in those in those terms because not every manufacturer, you know Really handles their reps in the same same way. First of all, I love you, too Thank you. Yeah. No, we were and this is the thing. We really enjoy each other's companies
02:15
companies, right? Yes. I think both companies are very similar in the way that they're family owned or they are employee owned. They're people owned, right? They're not corporate owned, right? They're not these faceless entities that are traded on the stock market and no one knows who's running it. There's no personality to it. Both of our companies, I think, have very unique personalities and I think that we allow our people to have that kind of identity. Yeah.
02:44
And so when we deal with each other, we don't feel like we're talking to each other over a spreadsheet. It's not, yeah, we do a lot of emailing, we do a lot of number stuff, I mean, that's part of the gig, but at the end of the day, there's a heart and soul to what we do. Our relationships matter, our interactions with our customers matter. Yeah. And I think there's a certain dignity that comes with having partnerships. When you don't really have to have them, I think we both have a stake in this that we want it to work.
03:14
even though you're a different company than I am. Yeah. But we truly do feel like an extension of the company. Oh, absolutely. You are. I mean, we try to make that the case, too. We kind of look at how other companies handle manufacturers rep firms. And from our point of view, we want you guys to be an extension of us. There's certain information at a certain point that we can't share, just because we are a publicly traded company, and it gets odd. But as you know, we'll be in a lot
03:44
If it's a sales symposium or something like that, our executive leadership will say, hey, you can't trade on stock today because we're going to tell you something. So we'll talk about the nitty gritty when we need to as well, but we want you guys to be informed, we want you to be successful because you're ultimately the entity that's helping the end customer. If you're not doing what we need you to do, then the end customer is not going to be successful. Period.
04:12
And PLP is full of good people and lots of longevity in the company. You know, I think we have similar, you know, we've got great people been here a long time as well in our company. But, you know, one thing that seems to set it apart for me is the customer service of all the manufacturers that we can rely on. We know that PLP is going to do the right thing. Yeah. You know, if there's an issue, if we miss something, even if it's a, you know, I've seen
04:42
a number of times where we take accountability, or whatever it is that PLP just goes over and above and we will work with customers
05:06
it's probably the second owner of the network. and it's malfunctioning or whatever, is it a quality issue? which in a lot of ways...
05:35
And so when someone's going to reach out and they're going to tell you something, whether, you know, if it's bad news or if it's, if it's a constructive criticism, we'll call it really what they're saying is, can you help me fix this problem? Are you, am I still worthy of your support? And PLP has always supported as far as I can remember, anybody that has ever had an issue, PLP has followed up. We've gone from American to Samoa, to Alaska, to Venezuela. I mean, and, and obviously everywhere in the
06:04
in the US, but we'll go anywhere in the world to support our products because the product, the quality, that's our brand. And that's more important than, you know, being right about whether some issue was our fault or their fault. Ultimately, we want to fix it. We want to fix it together. Yeah. Always do the right thing. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, we're here at the trade show. Anything pop out to you yet? I know it's early in the show. I haven't had a bunch of time to, but what sticks out to you?
06:32
Well, just the timing we're at in the market, which is good, that's good for the end user, who created product sets or who's bringing I think that there's certainly a big segment that wants to try and come to the U.S. and stake their claim.
07:01
like good luck to you. of federal funding that's here. we're going to build these networks, together and kind of re-identify itself that we're bringing to them from a value proposition standpoint.
07:30
Do you think quality still matters in today's market? More than ever. I would say that, you know, it really depends on the type of operator you're dealing with. It seems to be that if a company has a model where it's maybe private equity owned and the intention is to buy a network or create a network, and then the plan from day one is to flip it within three to five years, quality seems to be less of a concern.
07:59
then first cost, speed to deployment, get the network there, get people to service, because the service is the essential part, right? It's bringing in the revenue. Right. And so I think if you're looking at, you know, the traditional tier three ILEC, incumbent local exchange carrier model of this is our service area. We want to support it. We're proud of it. We're proud of it. This is our community. I got to see these guys at the bank.
08:24
I got to see these guys at the restaurant. They're going to tell me if my network stinks. Yeah. You know, I think you've got a different calculus there altogether. And I think that those networks have been built with quality from day one. Some would argue overbuilt in some regards. However, you know, I think when fiber networks were starting to get put together, I think the thought process was maybe we'll get 20, 30 years out of them. But the FBA, for instance, just published a white paper that there's no.
08:52
known expiration date on fiber. Yeah, we don't really know. We don't know. So if you're making some of the early stuff has seen the expiration date because it can't handle the wavelengths, you know, that we're dealing with today. But right. Yeah, the new stuff, we don't even know what's possible. No, you don't. And I mean, you're going to have material issues. People are going to enhance their products over time. We've certainly, we've been doing this, you know, in the fiber optic closure game for 30 years.
09:19
So I mean, we've learned lessons, there's no doubt about it. to make it last longer or be better. than they were back then as well. So the good news is I think that these fiber networks it's a crapshoot.
09:45
you know, depending on who you're dealing with and what their motives are. I've always been, you know, quality first. Yeah. You know, you get what you pay for. Sure. But I know, you know, there's financial strains on the market and, you know, people have to do what they have to do, but... If I owned a network and I had to flip it and I had to make a profit, I may make similar decisions because that's mine. I probably would make the wrong decisions. I would overspend everything. Well, there you go. Well, you know the value of that. You know the value of the quality, right? And when you've seen it and when you've had to troubleshoot...
10:15
as much as you have and CBM has and PLP has. When you see the nightmares and you pick up closures and they're leaking because someone didn't plug a hole or when you're testing a fiber and it's wrapped around something too tight and you're wondering why would you make this decision? You know, it's simple stuff like that, but you've seen the nightmare, so yeah. And you mentioned, you know, the tier three companies, the independents and the service, and it made me think, my father-in-law,
10:43
He lives in, well, they have a couple of places, but so he goes back and forth from the farm to the townhouse or whatever. But I got a call from him just last week. So anything revolving fiber optics is my fault. So his drop was cut last week. And- What did you do? And it was like, you know, typical, they took a shortcut. It was barely under the sod, right? So it got cut.
11:12
And he's like, you know, I thought your fiber was supposed to last forever. Like, I mean, it didn't even make it a year. What? Like I thought you sold better stuff than that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, no expiration date. My eye. Yeah. I'm sorry. You want me to come put another drop in? I'm not the guy for that. Yeah, but I mean, it's it's all my fault. Yeah. Well, you know, it's funny about that is you don't as a consumer of the service. I've learned things as well. So like we obviously.
11:40
produce and engineer and sell solutions and things like that. But as a consumer and the residential side of it, I've learned some hard lessons where I'm at. I realized after the fact that, you know, the gas and water weren't located when it was installed. Okay? And you're like, and I'm in the business and it did not dawn on me until probably way too late that that was the case. But yeah, there's gonna be these little issues. I have cable that's up on the dirt, my back easement.
12:09
Feeding a pedestal. I mean, and it's like, so as a consumer you're like, what is this stuff? Yeah, but this is why it is important to build quality networks because if you don't build it, they'll put your drops deep enough Yeah, you don't locate those utilities or whatever you're gonna have issues. You're gonna be causing long-term problems. Yeah Look, let's change gears a little bit. Let's talk about you know, the bead funding that seems to be the buzz in the industry You know, I think we're still
12:37
kind of trying to see what every state's gonna do and when the money's gonna actually hit the streets and who's gonna get the money and so on. Yeah. What are your overall thoughts on that? And then kind of in the weeds a little bit. People are worried about product shortages, those kinds of things. Right. I know Preform has invested heavily in the factories, so talk a little bit about what you've done to make.
13:05
Make sure this next round we're in a better position. Yeah, sure. So on the bead stuff I mean best guidance that I think I've been given and I continue to give to to people that are you know in our circles is that Louisiana is gonna be the litmus test. So everyone's getting their a hackles up Yeah over wanting to get going and us too, you know, we're so excited to get out there support Train all that stuff
13:34
but we're not going to do one thing until we see Louisiana start to allocate funds. So like up until then, it's a whole bunch of posturing, it's a whole bunch of rechecking in. I think as of the taping of this, every entity that could go for money, or every state rather that could be approved for volume one, volume two, challenge process and all that, I think everyone's gotten through almost all those gates, right? So that-
14:03
So as far as the paperwork, the known kind of barriers for starting, I think those are basically done. I think people are going to have to, for those that haven't gotten through challenge processes, they'll have to do that. And then there's going to be the subgranteed options. Explain the challenge process a little bit. Yeah, so I mean, ultimately, there are... There's broadband maps, right? And what the challenge process is designed to do is allow people to say...
14:32
I either think there's service there that's good enough that meets the minimum threshold or there's service that's not good enough. Cause there might be someone that's saying, I have service here, it's good enough. I don't want you to federally fund this us building here. Gotcha. Right? But it's challenging the maps. Challenging the maps. Go out and say, here's what we think's out there. And the companies come back and say, no, this is good. No, this is worse than you think, et cetera. And then when they get through that window and they leave.
15:01
periods for comments, you know, that's great. They get through it and then we know what different areas we can start to bid out. You know, what areas can be granted for construction. So on the applying for the funds, where does that fit in the process? Did that have to be done before all this started or did companies still have time to apply? Yeah, I mean, it goes all the way back to putting in a letter of intent to bid.
15:30
And now we're, I don't know the exact date because since COVID, I think we're all in a tailspin. But I want to say that it's, we're over a year into this process where, states ultimately are the ones that are the recipients of the money. That's what's odd about this whole deal is the states are the ones that get the money and then there are sub-recipients that get money from the states. Now we all are familiar with how the state part of it's going to work.
15:57
you know, all 50 states and I think an additional six territories said, we want the money. Um, now we're at a point where, you know, money hasn't been allocated, but Louisiana has gone through their sub, sub recipient process where we don't know the, how it's being awarded yet. And that's why I'm saying we're all waiting to see how that goes. Cause so anybody that wanted to apply has applied. Well, yeah, they've just not been awarded. The interesting thing is that in, I think we're all figuring this out together, but in Louisiana, they had a pre, um,
16:26
kind of a pre-qualification process, where if you wanted to go for funds in the state of Louisiana, they encouraged you to pre-qualify, okay? And I think Montana is the second state that encourages people to pre-qualify for bidding status, right? And so they published that pre-qualification list of entities that would be going for that. The hard thing for us, kind of transitioning to how are we supporting this thing, the tough thing for a manufacturer is,
16:56
we know that the demand is going to be there. Yeah. Right? From a, for all intents and purposes, if the money gets let, which everyone believes that it will, regardless of a change of administration, we believe that the money will be let. We believe that most of the money will be spent, although there's some disagreement over that because people are saying that, you know, there's too much money that certain states got and they're going to have this leftover fund that they may do stuff with. We'll see how that goes, but there's certainly going to be states that
17:25
probably don't have enough money, so they're going to have But for us, we're looking at it saying, we could make sure that we had the people in place, If operators were given the ability to forecast at all, we're at right now.
17:52
would be ramping up preparing for that. But until that happens, until we see money hit the table, no one here is going to start to build really what's going to be required over the next year, two years to five years. Well, and it's interesting, I've heard some rumblings too. It's kind of getting a little political. Obviously we're getting close to an election, but I mean, even Joe Rogan was talking about it on his podcast, one of his guests talking about how, here's this huge infrastructure bill, all this money, it's been two years.
18:21
none of it's got spent, you know? And it's interesting hearing that perspective from somebody that doesn't know anything about the industry. You know, and I'm yelling at the radio, but it's like, you know, okay, you have a point. You have turned into your father, by the way. So it's just interesting that it's, I'm seeing it from that level now, not just within the industry and people are talking about it. So. Yeah. I have a bit of a unique.
18:46
ability to see things from a national perspective. where there's state broadband office people talking there, who is giving their feedback on it. It's a pile of cash and we're all paying for it.
19:13
We want this to go because it will be good for our industry and good for our careers, and it will be good for people that are coming into our industry, and empowering people and being able to promote people. And it's a great industry, there's great jobs here. But when you look at it, in aggregate, it's a lot of money that's being spent, and no one ever trusts that the money's going to be implemented correctly. I'll say that, yeah, there's been hurdles and challenges and issues, and there's stuff that we don't even have to deal with, right?
19:42
can only imagine from the operator's perspective. which is my angle in this industry, to try and communicate, to try and qualify stuff, that's been deployed in the past 30 years I think they're doing a good job.
20:10
I mean, the task at hand is overwhelming. It's insane. Yeah. Every home in America has high speed broadband. That's, it's a great goal, but it's insane amounts of work. It's insane. And the fact is the thing is they put a time constraint on it and there's been analysis done from companies that specialize in this that are saying like, just imagine the permit overloading. Oh yeah. It's going to take place. So people are saying,
20:38
Okay, 25 money's going to come, 26 money will probably be most available. However, once people start to get money, that's when they're going to permit. No one's going to start that permit process prior to that. Because there's costs involved. There's costs involved. And so any ecological permit of any sort is going to take about a year to get. So you do the math, right? Numbers are hard.
21:04
Numbers are hard. So those folks that maybe can wait or have ways to expedite that process, like Tribal's got an expedite capability from the federal government. And I think that the NTIA has gone on record saying like they're trying to work with other governmental institutions to resolve this problem because they see it being there.
21:30
With that being the case, we're not going to deploy this thing in four years. There's absolutely no way. I don't think anyone thinks that that's going to happen, but it's going to be crazy watching it roll out. That's for sure. Well, if it takes 10, then that gets us closer to when it's time for our legacy. Well, you'll be retiring any day now with your podcast money. So, well, you know, I kind of am kind of a big deal. I've heard, but I don't know. Yeah, you got business cards now. So you're the man.
21:57
I don't know if you knew this, but I'm from a small town in Iowa and we don't really have, it's interesting like clothing manufacturers don't seem to be able to keep up until like our children are 12. Yeah. So they just run around naked until they're like 12. That's remarkable, Tim. I mean, I knew they were barefoot, but I didn't know they would be fully unclothed. Yeah. It's the darnedest thing. Yeah. That's incredible. So I don't know if you're aware of that, but big shout out to Tillen.
22:24
This week, things I learned last night, if you haven't looked that podcast up, our producers, great show. You can hear some incredible cackles. If you like to hear a guy cackle, like tune in, it'll knock your socks off. It doesn't make you insecure at all while you're doing it, which is cool. No, it's just like, I mean, you get addicted to it. That's true.
22:46
most annoying thing ever, but like somehow you can't get enough. As a kid who's been laughed at from birth, are you used to it by now? Oh, I think I was really put on this earth to, you know, take meetings, be made fun of, really kind of the center of all jokes and attention. But I feel like I'm helping others. Yeah. So by being their punching bag. Yeah. I mean, get it out. It's okay.
23:09
You've really come into your own. I didn't know if you were gonna understand your place in the world. It's taken me so many years. Here you are, here you go. It's taken me so long. Okay. So, I really wish Marla was here to hear some of this. I know.
23:25
What makes CBM different? First and foremost, I believe it's our ESOP. Employee owners make different decisions. They value our customers, they value our manufacturers, and we're going to do what's right for each of them. So they behave in a different manner. We represent different lines in commercial industrial market, utility market.
23:47
and also the communication market. These markets are overlapping more and more every day and the ESOP and the way we're structured actually allows us to be more flexible and cover those markets and put our expertise where they need to be. So if you're looking for a manufacturer's rep, high quality sales staff, good relationships, look no further than CBM. You can find us right here at cbmrep.com.
24:16
You know, we recently had a couple of catastrophic storms, two hurricanes come through and hit the Southeast. You know, the recovery efforts are crazy what's going on. You know, we've got power and utility companies that swarm down there to help out. And I think it's incredible what they do, but talk a little bit about what PLP does in terms of storm recovery. Yeah, so what a lot of people, especially at the...
24:44
M-A-T-S-S, Mid-America Telecom Showcase and Seminar, because we always bring our fiber optic stuff, was a hardware manufacturer in the power utility industry. So whenever there are these catastrophic storms,
25:11
You know, Helene, I think by all accounts was much worse, had a much larger devastating effect, but obviously people were negatively impacted in both. PLP really commits to the industry, one, to be an American manufacturer. Yep. Okay. It's not to say that everything that we sell is made in the United States, but we really do try to position ourselves to manufacture and to hold inventory domestically to support events like this, right?
25:40
The power grid is critical infrastructure. but it's not yet critical infrastructure We all need power, right? and our investor-owned utilities and contractors and all that to...
26:08
make sure that they know that we have material standing by for them. Obviously it's not an unlimited well of material, but I'm really happy to say that through this last storm event, through Helene, you know, and it could be the timing of all that stuff, but our storm inventories were sustained pretty well. So we, meaning we didn't run out of inventory, you know, by the third day, you know, we were really able to get a lot of material out for people and help them get the lights back on. And we did have,
26:37
broadband providers reaching out saying, hey, I want to get my fiber network back up. You know, these people need this connectivity. They don't have an alternative here that's worthwhile. Like we can give them temporary wireless service. Healthcare and emergency services and all those other things. Oh yeah, absolutely. Broadband is obviously becoming a bigger deal. I have a guy that lives, he's got a house in North Carolina and he's got a house in Florida. Actually, Charleston, South Carolina, in Florida. And you know,
27:07
This guy, he left the Carolinas to go to Florida only in time for Milton to come through and knock his power out there. So this guy's trying to get on a team's call. Troy, shout out, trying to get on team's calls. He can't even chill his food there, but we're trying to communicate with him. And to his credit, he's like, hey, I want to get on this meeting and I need to connect with these people. And we're like.
27:32
Troy, worry about your family, you know? Which obviously everyone was squared away, you know? He hunkered down with his mom through Milton, but yeah, it's just wild to see, from a very personal standpoint. We saw some really beautiful things unfold in that. You never want a catastrophe like that, but what I love about this industry and what I love about just utility industries is we do really do come together. I mean, I don't think there's anybody that doesn't want to help in some form or fashion.
28:02
I talked to people that were out there giving out water, donating time, donating, you know, whatever they could to try and help get that restoration effort going, expediting material, you know, doing whatever we got to do. So we really do come together. But sometimes it does take a catastrophic event to really bring people together. Oh, absolutely. You're right. There's a lot of good that comes out of it. Was the North Carolina plant affected at all? No, fortunately it was not.
28:27
Not in any real serious regard. but we definitely dodged the bullet on this one. into the plants, added on, et cetera. and what it's going to bring to our customers
28:55
high volume, you know, what we're looking at. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, I can't promise that we started with our investments with, you know, COVID in mind per se, but it happened to play nicely on a story arc. And then we did make investments throughout that process. But so for instance, I think it was 2022, we announced an investment in a company in the Czech Republic called Holplast. And Holplast is an injection molding company.
29:24
that is actually located right next to our subsidiary in the Czech Republic, the company referred to as Mikos that we bought, now it's PLP Czech Republic. So we invested in that company and the idea was we were going to diversify our supply chain by investing globally, right? And bringing this Czech firm in to support our Rogers, Arkansas injection molding operation. And then we have Albemarle, North Carolina that does primarily hardware. But obviously,
29:53
the market demand was so high that our company decided that we had to push a button And so we ended up investing in a company We brought Pilot on board, I think also in 22, within our systems in 23, but we made that investment.
30:23
From a product standpoint, and as you know, But we kind of came to market with the new design We hesitate to say plastic It's stern stuff.
30:49
And so, but the reason why we re-engineered was because we can make a lot more of them. how many fasteners are there, with these new organizers. but the thing is is that the more people
31:16
the new organizer that has the plastic organizer, So we invested in that product design. to produce multiple parts out of one shot. So I think all told, we reported to the NTIA the other day to kind of prep for this.
31:41
I think the number's probably closer to 60. If you want to look at all investments that we've made, now you could start to nitpick and say, well, if something's made in the Czech Republic, it's not BABA compliant, which isn't entirely, it wouldn't be US made. You could still maybe utilize that product and not claim it. But ultimately there's people that are going for bead money. There's people that are not. So when you would look at the market holistically on what we need to support, we've probably invested close to $60 million. That's awesome.
32:11
you know, the BABA compliance. Obviously there's a few things that may or may not be compliant, but the largest bulk of everything is, right? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, so we've, I will say this that, and I haven't checked in probably in the last couple weeks, but we modeled that by the end of the year, we would easily be over 90% compliant for the products that we're going to sell here for bead projects.
32:39
Some of the issues are hardware related. So like we use US Steel, we form US Steel for our dead ends. So we have a BABA compliant form wire dead end. And that's pretty rarefied air, quite frankly. But when you start to look at some of the other products within the line, if there's a casting that's made, it's so hard to get, you know, casted parts done here.
33:02
smelting operations in the United States and all that stuff. are Baba compliant, they're all US made.
33:20
We got some heckers. Yeah, we got this. Well, you'll have that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fans. We wanted to do this here. Yeah. I don't know why. Shame on us. We wanted to do this here. But yeah, so as far as our connectivity line, that's 100% compliant from my point of view. Yeah. And we're actually moving accessories here now as well to assist with that. So we bought more equipment to mold silicone grommets and little accessories and little
33:46
I mean, we've, we have really lined out this line to be fully US made. Yeah, that's awesome. So a couple of the challenges, um, you know, facing us as we keep going into this venture, um, labor, training. Sure. How do we get ahead of that? Yeah. Well, I mean, it's going to take people that are willing to either start a program or support a program.
34:14
So it's interesting. So my boss, Dan Lavac, works a lot with the PCCA, Several members of that have taken on the task of developing a school really more for the construction side of the business.
34:42
kind of spread across many job categories, because that's in high demand. I hear all the time, funding schools, putting their own money into it, And they're supporting the educational institutions
35:09
I've had the honor of working with the Fiber Broadband Association. They started the Optic Path program a couple years ago now. I helped kind of build curriculum for my knowledge set, which is one piece of a much greater puzzle. But the folks at the FBA have really put together a great program, great content. It's like about 120 hours, I think, all told of content. Some people have used the content for shorter.
35:37
you know, programs and things like that, but generally, they're offering enough material that you could really educate someone on starting a career in broadband. It's not, you know, I think a lot of people have gone through certain programs that are only a few days long. And a few day long program, you can learn a little bit. You get an idea. You get your feet wet a little bit, and then you get thrown out there. But there's not one employer, I don't think, that would take someone that went through a program like that and say, because you did that, I have to have you.
36:07
and put them on a directional drill. Come on, right. Or even a fusion splicer, right? Would you let a guy that went through a three day class open up a fiber cable? Are you out of your mind? Yeah, there's so much of it that's just on the job training too. So. And that's always going to be important, but I think the FBA has really tried to develop a good baseline where, and our specific part of it was to help with the hands-on closure skills. So the open fiber skills, if you will, is really what this.
36:35
That's where the skill is. Oh yeah. Getting a machine to splice them together is one thing, but putting the closure together, prepping it properly, making it not a tangled mess, make it look good. Open cables without cutting your thumbs off, right? And all that. But also, you know, there's...
36:52
still things that we need to improve and do, add more bonding and grounding information. There's just never enough of that, I feel like in the market. You sound like Larry White, right? Well, you know, it all came around, right? So Larry was the first guy that I worked with at PLP. And yeah, he definitely hammered that into me over that first three months, but boy, he was right. Bonding and grounding is such an important part of what we do in the network. But there are people today that do not bond aerial network.
37:21
because they don't know why they have to. And they're literally going to cause people to die. That's how important it is. You don't want to make it too dramatic, but that's really what's at stake here. It can happen, definitely. So, but going back to the training part of it, ultimately developing that program, getting multiple schools to adopt it as the curriculum has been just like a great joy to me to see that succeed. So many people are putting so much hard work into that to make it succeed.
37:50
And it's just great to see that getting used. It's the curriculum that stands behind the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, you know, a kind of electric cooperative association. You know, it's being used by a company called LAC, which these guys are taking veterans out of the military, training them for over a month in this, with this fiber curriculum. And then they're actually.
38:16
finding jobs for them. They are homing them with employers. Oh, that's awesome. Isn't it amazing? So there's already been, I don't know the exact number, but there's been hundreds of veterans that have been employed going through LAC through the Optic Path program. So I'm just honored. It's an amazing thing. Good for you. Thanks to PLP for that support, but also to you. That's what it's going to take. Oh man, yeah. And there's so many people beyond PLP, but I...
38:45
Thank you for that. We love it, we'll support it. It's a great endeavor. What's maybe one assumption that people make about your job that you disagree with? I think they think in sales.
39:00
we do more messing around. It's a party every day. It's a party every day, man. Oh, you get to travel. Oh, it's so fun. You get to stay in hotels. Oh, big dinners. Oh my God. Oh, it's so hard. You have to eat out in restaurants every night. Yeah. It's, I will say, it's really unclear to certain people what we do in a lot of ways and how we support this.
39:25
It's not a matter of, it's really about being prepared for people when they need the support is probably the best way I would put what we actually do. And we do that in so many ways. But by the time we're interfacing and kind of trying to break bread with people and trying to understand their needs and all that, we've already done a ton of backend work. And then gathering that information and kind of.
39:50
repackaging it in a way that our manufacturing facilities know what they have to make, when they have to make it, what they have to be prepared for. Our engineering teams know what to design, why they need to do it. I mean, we are really the conduit for that. And so I just- And I know you're a detailed guy. Yeah. You know, this is a relationship industry. Right. Still is. Right. You know, talk about how important it is to just ask the right-
40:19
questions to get the right information. How often, how often do you have to send an email back or call somebody back and like, what about this? You're going to have to call this podcast trigger warning because this right here is a gigantic issue. What it's all about. I would just ask anybody that watches this, how many worthless emails have you seen go back and forth that could have been entirely eliminated by being clear on the front end?
40:48
and being clear with the response. And I think- To be unclear is to be unkind. Oh, especially if you're on CC. Yes. If you're a third party and you're getting inundated with these things and you're looking at them like, if they just said this or they just did this. So, I mean, that's really a microcosm of a greater issue. Our job is to really kind of understand the customer's needs before they do. Yeah.
41:15
Because you want this. Guide them and coach them to what... What other value would we have? Yeah. Because with AI coming, realistically, our computer's going to take our jobs. In some regards, computer interfaces will be important, but realistically, they're always going to need a person, I think, to get out there and show them how to work with something, show them how to do something. So yeah, I think as far as communication being detail-oriented.
41:42
It's so important because the little details matter and that's really what causes issues in the network. Well, and frankly too, when you're asking a customer those specific things, paying attention to those details, they feel like it matters. That's what helps build that relationship. 100%. If you're not paying attention, you're in, you're out, and then, oh, hey, by the way, I forgot this. They're not feeling a value from you. So it...
42:09
it plays in both. It gets you what you need and also builds that relationship, which is critical. Yeah, the term order taker gets thrown around a lot in our industry about people that are, you're there to get the order, you don't really care about the needs, and it's good to have people that take orders and keep that supply moving. Those people are important too, but when it really comes down to it, for broadband operators, they really need partners.
42:34
They need people to understand what they need before they need it. They need us to bail them out of the fire if they hit it. If they need material, where can I get it? How can I get it? They're having a field area issue. How do I fix it? Can you help me? And if people are trading information and they're leaving out critical details, like, hey, maybe that splice tray is too big for that closure, or maybe that closure is too big for that hand hole, or maybe that, whatever it is, those issues start to compound.
43:03
Let's talk about leadership for a second. You know, you mentioned Dan LeVac earlier. Big shout out to Dan. Dan was our very first guest on the podcast. Sure was, yeah, yeah. He's going to be very upset with my lack of merchandising in this podcast, I will say. Well- We're in a little different circumstance here, but- We're in a different set of circumstances. And frankly, who could do it better than Dan, right? There's nobody in this industry, bar none. So you've been put into his old role. What have you done?
43:33
differently to kind of put your own twist on it? What have you done differently than Dan? And talk just a little bit about your leadership style. Yeah, I mean, I think, so Dan laid a terrific foundation for me to come in and support PLP, you know, and kind of help PLP succeed. From my point of view, he had a different path than I did because he started in the field.
43:57
He started with Belkin and KnuckleDraggr. he's going to solve it like that. And he also has really strong social skills, So it's like when you get that combination, So it's kind of like, well,
44:23
what does he do versus what do I do? I think my story arc started in sales. And I think because I did not start in the field with products that way to learn what I needed to know, Because I didn't get to do to make mistakes.
44:50
Eventually I got an opportunity to do and make mistakes as I've been here and I've kind of developed my career over almost 20 years. So I mean, I've been able to learn though from great people like Dan, yourself, a lot of people. And that's the great thing about this industry is that it will help educate you as you're along for the ride. So what I bring to the table now is I had to learn. And so I find that my value is to help other people understand things better. Yeah.
45:18
I try to explain things and yeah, maybe I am too detail-oriented. I can be accused for going on and on. No doubt about it. I've never said that. No, right? I've never said that. It's all right. I'm also a mind reader. But the thing is, is that it is the details that are left out. It's the information that's left out, I think, is the shortfall between what we're doing and what we could be doing to succeed. I really believe that. How hard is it for you to stand back and let...
45:48
your people fail and not jump in, bail them out. Do it for them. You know, that is, that is a, I think that's something we all. Yeah, you know what? A lot of it is like, if I'm doing something and then I need to open up my schedule or I need to give someone an opportunity to succeed. Cause that's part of it as well. Like don't hog the airspace, right? So giving someone breathing room to succeed is very hard.
46:17
because we all get very accustomed to what we've done. We want to think, like, oh, it's working great. We're always like, what could go wrong? some can take to it right away depending on what the task is, But I will say it's really rewarding when you do it.
46:44
know that someone didn't necessarily have a skill set or know that someone didn't have an insight, but then they come back and they explain it to you and you're like, oh wow, why didn't I do this like two years ago? And really it's like give people the ability to learn, to make mistakes. Working here is really interesting because I work around a lot of great technical people. I mean, most of the people I work with are mechanical engineers or I've worked at big operators and have done it and seen it and all that.
47:14
I can barely attempt to put something together let me just finish that. or my perspective. But because of that, I have a full understanding
47:41
different things that have come along, digital tools or video tools or email or whatever it is, that we can actually paint a better picture through PowerPoint and through all these glorious things. So I try to bring that type of stuff to the table. That's awesome. Well, here's some chatter. I think we're about to get some customers pumping into the trade show here. So I think we'll get this wrapped up. But thank you again for joining us as always.
48:12
It's just been a great relationship for so many years and we truly do value that. So thank you. Feelings mutual, Timmy. Thank you. Yep, take care.
48:24
I just want to say thanks again to Brennan for joining us. It's great having him on the show. Hopefully you enjoyed our conversation. Remember, if you need a representation for a product or service from a high quality sales group, look no further than CBM at cbmrep.com. And until next time, thanks for joining us on Power of the Network.
