Tool Innovation on the Jobsite

What

do you take away from the conversations you're going to have today with all the contractors that are on the floor not only seeing your product but the just the sheer number of products that Milwaukee has on the floor what what's going to be your takeaway in those conversations

to me I'd say it's multifaceted one it's the excitement and energy because it's nothing better when someone says I've been asking you for this product for years they see it on the floor and say thank you you guys are listening to me that is one of the most gratifying experiences I think the other uh you know, side of it would be what products are everybody here saying that we do not have here that we need to come out with? What ideas do other people have and how does that make them better at their jobs? Just because we are not showing something today does not mean we are not going to have it a year from now, two, three, four years from now.

So I think the other piece to me is how do we constantly get that feedback loop to make sure that we are not just looking at where we are right now, but how do we raise the bar across the board? It just brings me

thought.

You just talked about, you know, two, three, four years up the road.

What's that R&D timeline look like for some of these products?

Yeah, we have some products that are on our roadmap that we know we're going to work on and they might take a year or two.

We have some products where we have a front-end innovation team.

Okay.

And that team is filled of PhDs in textiles, chemistry.

We have people in electronics that have their PhDs.

And a lot of them are looking for new breakthrough technology that we can control our own destiny and have intellectual property.

Some of it is how do we redefine workflows to make people more efficient with their time and then create solutions out there.

So I'd say across the board, we're not just looking a year or two out.

We're looking five years plus with some different products and some... products are going to be on the job site sooner than later and really change the game from a innovation perspective.

And as part of that innovation perspective, how much does new technology change maybe that roadmap or does it?

Yeah, it 100% does.

And I think the best way you can look at it is if you look at what AI is doing right now in terms of more efficiencies, what we're hearing from our semiconductor and chip manufacturers in terms of new technology that's offered, we have to be able to stay agile, similar to when COVID happened.

Yeah.

We had to make sure that we were reevaluating what our product roadmap strategy was going to be to help users that needed it during that time.

And we're even seeing it with data centers right now.

That's changing the way work is being done and how products are needed, especially in remote areas.

So across the board, I think for us, we have to have a level of flexibility with technology, but also see where can it be applied for real life applications.

Just to say a buzzword AI doesn't always make sense.

What

do you take away from the conversations you're going to have today with all the contractors that are on the floor not only seeing your product but the just the sheer number of products that Milwaukee has on the floor what what's going to be your takeaway in those conversations

to me I'd say it's multifaceted one it's the excitement and energy because it's nothing better when someone says I've been asking you for this product for years they see it on the floor and say thank you you guys are listening to me that is one of the most gratifying experiences I think the other uh you know, side of it would be what products are everybody here saying that we do not have here that we need to come out with? What ideas do other people have and how does that make them better at their jobs? Just because we are not showing something today does not mean we are not going to have it a year from now, two, three, four years from now.

So I think the other piece to me is how do we constantly get that feedback loop to make sure that we are not just looking at where we are right now, but how do we raise the bar across the board? It just brings me

thought.

You just talked about, you know, two, three, four years up the road.

What's that R&D timeline look like for some of these products?

Yeah, we have some products that are on our roadmap that we know we're going to work on and they might take a year or two.

We have some products where we have a front-end innovation team.

Okay.

And that team is filled of PhDs in textiles, chemistry.

We have people in electronics that have their PhDs.

And a lot of them are looking for new breakthrough technology that we can control our own destiny and have intellectual property.

Some of it is how do we redefine workflows to make people more efficient with their time and then create solutions out there.

So I'd say across the board, we're not just looking a year or two out.

We're looking five years plus with some different products and some... products are going to be on the job site sooner than later and really change the game from a innovation perspective.

And as part of that innovation perspective, how much does new technology change maybe that roadmap or does it?

Yeah, it 100% does.

And I think the best way you can look at it is if you look at what AI is doing right now in terms of more efficiencies, what we're hearing from our semiconductor and chip manufacturers in terms of new technology that's offered, we have to be able to stay agile, similar to when COVID happened.

Yeah.

We had to make sure that we were reevaluating what our product roadmap strategy was going to be to help users that needed it during that time.

And we're even seeing it with data centers right now.

That's changing the way work is being done and how products are needed, especially in remote areas.

So across the board, I think for us, we have to have a level of flexibility with technology, but also see where can it be applied for real life applications.

Just to say a buzzword AI doesn't always make sense.