Podcasts about oem

This is episode 873. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Watch the video of this podcast on YouTube here. The Sales Game Changers Podcast was recognized by YesWare as the top sales podcast. Read the announcement here. FeedSpot named the Sales Game Changers Podcast at a top 20 Sales Podcast and top 8 Sales Leadership Podcast! Subscribe to the Sales Game Changers Podcast now on Apple Podcasts! Purchase Fred Diamond's best-sellers Love, Hope, Lyme: What Family Members, Partners, and Friends Who Love a Chronic Lyme Survivor Need to Know and Insights for Sales Game Changers now! The Institute for Effective Professional Selling has launched the Partner Revenue Academy for partner account managers who are looking to become more effective active sellers. The next 6-session cohort launches on October 2nd. Learn more here. Today's show featured an interview with Carmen Sorice, EVP of Business Development and Cost Management Solutions at E78. Find Carmen on LinkedIn. CARMEN'S TIP: "Be proactive. Don't wait for the phone to ring, or the text to come in, or the email to come in. Be proactive. As an OEM partner manager, try and anticipate what your partners are seeing. Be proactive, communicate in a proactive manner, act in a proactive manner."

Thanks to our Partners, Pico Technology and AutelWatch Full Video EpisodePercentages Don't Pay BillsA prospective hire wants a meaningful increase in income. Riverside Automotive's base wage would already beat what he currently earns, and the shop's profit-sharing program could take him beyond his stated goal. Still, he struggles to trust the opportunity.Is the problem the compensation plan, the way it is being explained, or the uncertainty created by years of disappointing pay systems?In this episode of Automotive Field Theory, Matt explains how Riverside's profit-sharing system works and why the percentage assigned to each employee matters far less than the actual dollars produced. Adding another productive person may reduce everyone's individual percentage while enlarging the total profit pool enough that everyone takes home more money. Matt also explores:Why revenue, gross profit, and money left after expenses are not interchangeableWhy a business must retain profit for equipment, facilities, reserves, training, and future needsHow ethical profitability can grow through efficiency, inspections, communication, customer relationships, and reduced expensesWhy charging more does not automatically make a shop unethicalHow every employee can influence overall shop profitabilityWhy individual production incentives may discourage collaborationHow poorly implemented flat-rate systems create lasting distrustWhy a technically good compensation plan can still feel unsafe or unfairThe responsibility leaders have to understand an employee's previous experiencesWhy shared profit can compensate people for helping the entire organization succeed, not merely for their individual billed hoursThe central point is simple: percentages do not pay anyone's bills. Dollars do. A smaller percentage of a substantially larger and healthier business can be worth far more than a larger percentage of a smaller pool.Matt closes by asking listeners to share how they are currently compensated, what works, what creates problems, and what their ideal compensation system would look like.Are you chasing elusive automotive problems? Pico Technology empowers you to see what's really happening. Their PicoScope oscilloscopes transform your diagnostic capabilities. PicoAuto.comFrom drivability diagnostics and TPMS service to ADAS and advanced safety systems, Autel helps technicians follow OEM procedures and repair with confidence. Autel.comContact InformationEmail Matt: mattfanslowpodcast@gmail.comSubscribe on YouTube: @automotivefieldtheoryThe Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/Download and Listen on Our Mobile App: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/app/Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: https://remarkableresults.biz/Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: https://huntdemarest.captivate.fm/The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: https://chriscotton.captivate.fm/Speak Up! Effective Communication with Craig O'Neill: https://craigoneill.captivate.fm/

What if one of the biggest bottlenecks in your dealership isn't lead volume at all, but having the right people in the right seats? In this episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, Sean V. Bradley and LA Williams are joined by Brandon Anderson for a powerful conversation about automotive Outsource BDC, Internet Sales, recruiting, staffing, and dealership efficiency. "Respecting people and talent is crucial... Understanding their impact is a win for everyone." - Brandon Anderson Using comparisons from the world of professional sports, the conversation breaks down why dealerships should stop treating hiring like a last-minute emergency and start thinking more strategically about talent. Just like a winning team scouts, develops, and places players based on their strengths, dealerships need a smarter approach to building the people and processes responsible for handling customer opportunities. "Winners hang with winners... When I realized Sean was a winner, I wanted to be a part of that team." - Brandon Anderson The episode also explores when outsourcing makes sense, how expert BDC support can strengthen dealership performance, and why proper alignment between people, process, and expectations can have a major impact on sales and profitability. "Your time is important... Don't focus on things that aren't going to move you towards the goal line." - Sean V. Bradley If you're a Dealer Principal, GM, GSM, Internet Director, or BDC Manager trying to improve lead handling, recruiting, efficiency, and overall dealership performance, this episode gives you a fresh perspective on how to build a stronger operation without giving away the entire playbook.

Ben Seidl, Co-Founder and CEO of Autolane joined Grayson Brulte on The Road to Autonomy podcast to discuss building Plaid for the autonomy economy, an independent, OEM-agnostic orchestration platform that connects autonomous vehicles to businesses for tip-free delivery.The inspiration for Autolane was born in August 2024 when Ben turned on FSD in his Tesla for the first time and worked backwards from a simple question. When personally owned autonomous vehicles become a reality, what has to exist for a car to drive to a store, park in the right stall, pop its trunk, and complete a transaction without a human in the loop?The answer, a neutral platform that no OEM, marketplace, or retailer controls. Studying the Argo AI and Cruise OEM control of AV 1.0 convinced Ben that taking capital from a Ford or a Walmart limits the market and muddies decision making.Autolane entered the market through ride-hail orchestration, deploying first at Stanford Shopping Center with Simon Property Group in September 2025 to give landlords control over where Waymo and Tesla robotaxis arrive on private property.Over the summer, Autolane went live with So Chinese Takeout in Austin, operating a fleet of 13 Tesla Model Ys equipped with temperature-controlled smart lockers that batch two to three orders per trip as they expand the business beyond ride-hail orchestration.Episode Chapters0:00 Inspiration for Autolane4:34 Autolane's Quest to Remain Independent11:06 Deploying at Stanford Shopping Center13:02 Chapter One: Orchestration16:46 Autolane Zones26:41 Fleet Ownership28:36 Underwriting Autonomous Delivery33:53 Matching Supply and Demand37:29 French Fry Test39:38 QSR Delivery46:59 Sidewalk Dots, Drones, and Humanoids54:35 Plaid for the Autonomy Economy57:42 AUTNMY AIFollow The Road to Autonomy Indices--------About The Road to AutonomyThe Road to Autonomy is the leading applied intelligence platform covering the convergence of automation, autonomy, and the Autonomy Economy.™.Through our podcasts, newsletter, and proprietary applied intelligence, we set the narrative for institutional investors, industry executives, and policymakers navigating the convergence of automation, autonomy, and economic growth.Join institutional investors and industry leaders who read This Week in The Autonomy Economy every Sunday. Each edition delivers exclusive insight and commentary on the autonomy economy, helping you stay ahead of what's next.Sign up for This Week in The Autonomy Economy newsletterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lando Norris led from the pole but his win in Madrid fell away when a brief Virtual Safety Car intervention came a few seconds too late for him on lap 15 (of 57): by the time he had completed another lap the race was on again. Charles Leclerc, who didn't stop under the VSC, then led for Ferrari for most of the distance but ultimately it was Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli who scored the eighth win of the year, leading across the line the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the charging McLaren of Norris. Leclerc finished P4, ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, but Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton was an early retirement with a brake problem. Peter in this video looks back at an intriguing day at the new circuit - and at a Red Bull call that might have cost Max Verstappen the win.With thanks to Jetcraft, the world's largest buyer and seller of executive jets: https://jetcraft.comTo TrackNinja, a lap-timer and data app designed to help users improve their on-track car and driver performance through analysis and an innovative Data Garage. A lite version is free; the loaded edition is US$9.99 pcm or $99.99 yearly: https://trackninja.appTo OEM Exclusive, the passionate suppliers of OEM upgrades for exotic and high-performance vehiclesAnd to REC Watches, whose timepieces are infused with DNA and actual material from famous racing and road cars. Claim your additional 10 per cent discount by adding the codeword PETER:https://recwatches.com/next-projectImages: McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Pirelli and Diego MerinoMusic: Rain over Kyoto Station (The Mini Vandals); Science Montage (Jeremy Blake)Visit our new merchandise store to Make Corners Great Again! https://sl1nk.com/l0uanyxVisit https://alpinestars.com for all your racing apparelVisit: https://fxdworkwear.com for all your purpose-build, technical workwearFollow Peter @peterwindsorBook a Cameo with Peter: https://cameo.com/peterwindsorContact us at: peterwindsoryt@gmail.comWe support the Race Against Dementia:https://raceagainstdementia.comThe Alora dog rescue shelter (Malaga, Spain)https://aloradogrescue.com#standwithukraine - now, more than ever#Canada! #jimmykimmel!Stephen Gallacher Golf Foundationhttps://sgfoundation.co.ukNick: you're with us always:https://samaritans.org“Being There: Stories from the Road Where We Keep the Rubber Side Down”Award-winning motorcycle stories from a father, brought to life by his son.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showVisit: https://youtube.com/peterwindsor for F1 videos past, present and future

Welcome to a huge milestone—Episode 200 of 9WERKS Radio! To celebrate 200 episodes of Porsche passion, hosts Lee Sibley and Andy Brookes are joined by a very special guest: motoring journalist and 2026 9WERKS Awards winner for Best Porsche Content, Henry Catchpole.In this extended bumper episode, we dive deep into one of the most intriguing, debated, and fast-growing movements in the automotive world: the Porsche restomod movement.In this episode, we cover: First-Hand Driving Impressions: We share what it's actually like to drive some of the world's ultimate air-cooled and water-cooled restomods. What Defines a Restomod? Where is the line between a clean backdate, an OEM+ build, and a ground-up re-imagination? Impact on the Automotive Industry: How boutique builders like Singer Vehicle Design, Tuthill Porsche, Theon Design, and Gunther Werks have redefined car culture, manufacturing, and OEM design choices. The Future of the Restomod Movement: Where is the industry headed next as donor 911s become rarer, donor prices shift, and electric or synthetic fuel tech evolves?Whether you're a fan of classic air-cooled Porsche 911s, modern performance engineering, or automotive journalism, this 200th-anniversary deep dive is packed with expert insight and unvarnished driving opinions.Featured Guest:Henry Catchpole – Automotive Journalist, Presenter (Hagerty, Carfection, EVO), and 2026 9WERKS Awards Winner.

What if the biggest threat to your retail business isn't Amazon — it's an empty product listing? In this episode of Winners Find A Way, Coach Trent M. Clark sits down with Bryan Weisberg, founder of 1000 Oak Barrel Co. and founder/CEO of Merchwise AI, author of The Future of Main Street. Bryan built 1000 Oak Barrel Co. from a chance meeting with a father-and-son barrel maker in rural Mexico into a true omni-channel manufacturer, distributor, and OEM supplier — making close to 2 million barrels in 26 years for retailers from wine enthusiasts to Williams Sonoma. Four years ago, a family emergency (his wife's friend's gift shop closing) pulled him into brick-and-mortar retail, and he realized every part of the business, aside from the POS system, was still manual. That gap became Merchwise AI. Trent and Bryan dig into why e-commerce is still only 16% of retail sales despite decades of predictions, the ROPO effect (research online, purchase offline), and how AI can give independent retailers the same advantages as the big players — without retailers needing to run a full e-commerce operation themselves. This episode is a reminder that winners are not people who never face adversity. Winners are the ones who learn, adjust, grow, and keep finding a way. In This Episode, We Discuss: How Bryan built 1000 Oak Barrel Co. into a vertically integrated, omni-channel manufacturer Why brick-and-mortar retail still drives 84% of sales despite the e-commerce boom The ROPO effect and why "invisible losses" are the biggest hidden cost in retail Temporal commerce vs. agentic commerce — and why timing beats price How Merchwise AI automates product listings, merchandising, and social video for retailers Key Takeaways ✨ Retail's biggest cost isn't rent — it's onboarding new product Getting a product properly listed online (title, description, images, metadata) takes hours most retailers don't have. Merchwise AI does it in 20–30 seconds. ✨ You never see your losses, only your wins If a customer searches for your product online and can't find it, they buy elsewhere — and you never know that sale existed. ✨ Temporal commerce beats agentic commerce for meaningful purchases Agentic (automated) commerce works for commodities like toilet paper. But gifts, meaningful purchases, and one-off decisions need context and timing, not just automation. ✨ Change happens one component at a time Like building a winning team, retail transformation isn't instant. Bryan tells retailers to optimize one small piece of the business, then expand from there. Resources Mentioned The Future of Main Street by Bryan Weisberg — available at merchwiseai.com Merchwise AI — merchwiseai.com 1000 Oak Barrel Co. — mentioned on the show as "1000oaksbarrel.com" (confirm exact URL before publishing) Connect with Bryan Weisberg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanweisberg/ Merchwise AI: https://merchwiseai.com 1000 Oak Barrel Co.: [confirm exact URL — see Need to Confirm] Book: The Future of Main Street — https://merchwiseai.com Connect with Trent M. Clark Trent M. Clark is the CEO of Leadershipity, President of EOS Michigan, a global speaker, former Major League Baseball coach, and author of Leading Winning Teams. Website: https://www.trentmclark.com/ Leadershipity: https://www.leadershipity.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Leadershipity LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trentmclark/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrentMClark Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trentmclark/ Book: Leading Winning Teamshttps://leadingwinningteams.trent-clark.com/bookrecording79 Listen & Subscribe Listen to Winners Find A Way every week on YouTube and all major podcast platforms for conversations with leaders, athletes, entrepreneurs, and high performers who know what it means to overcome adversity and keep finding a way.  

Thanks to our Partners, Pico Technology and AutelWatch Full Video EpisodeA high school student considering a career in the skilled trades recently asked Matt for advice about entering the automotive repair profession. Should someone begin with a college or technical program, or find a shop willing to train them?In this episode, Matt explains why the answer depends partly on the experience a person already brings with them. Many newcomers have had little exposure to tools, machinery, or basic repair work. Knowledge that experienced specialists consider “common sense” is often the product of decades spent fixing bicycles, lawn equipment, cars, and anything else that broke.Technical education can help build that missing foundation, but even a strong program can only go so far. The workplace must continue the development process. Too many newcomers are placed on the lube rack, buried under oil changes and tires, and expected to somehow develop advanced skills on their own.A good shop should be able to show a new specialist a realistic development path. That might include supervised work, scheduled opportunities to shadow experienced specialists, progressive responsibility, and exposure to different vehicle systems. The goal does not have to be producing another “master technician.” The profession needs excellent maintenance specialists, chassis specialists, heavy-line specialists, diagnostic specialists, and many other forms of expertise.Matt also discusses the responsibility on both sides of that relationship. The business must recognize training as an investment and create room for learning. The developing specialist must respect that investment, remain engaged, accept responsibility for mistakes, and learn from them without allowing guilt to become shame.If the first shop cannot provide opportunities to grow, it may be worth following the path of a chef: work in different environments, learn under different people, and collect a broader range of techniques and experiences. That could mean spending time at a dealership, an independent shop, or facilities specializing in Asian, domestic, or European vehicles.The best path into this profession is not necessarily the shortest one. It is the path that gives someone the foundation, support, experience, and opportunity to discover where they can become most capable and valuable.Topics include:College and technical-school programs versus learning on the jobThe disappearance of early mechanical experienceWhy “common sense” is usually learned experienceThe limitations of leaving newcomers on the lube rackWhat a legitimate development path should look likeSpecialization without treating every role as a hierarchyThe shared responsibilities of the shop and the developing specialistMaking mistakes, accepting responsibility, and continuing to growMoving between shops to broaden skills and experienceFinding the work you enjoy, the work you perform well, and the work that can support a careerThanks to the Automotive Repair Podcast Network and to the sponsors of Automotive Field Theory, Autel and Pico Technology.Are you chasing elusive automotive problems? Pico Technology empowers you to see what's really happening. Their PicoScope oscilloscopes transform your diagnostic capabilities. PicoAuto.comFrom drivability diagnostics and TPMS service to ADAS and advanced safety systems, Autel helps technicians follow OEM procedures and repair with confidence. Autel.comContact InformationEmail Matt: mattfanslowpodcast@gmail.comSubscribe on YouTube: @automotivefieldtheoryThe Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/Download and Listen on Our Mobile App: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/app/Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: https://remarkableresults.biz/Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: https://huntdemarest.captivate.fm/The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: https://chriscotton.captivate.fm/Speak Up! Effective Communication with Craig O'Neill: https://craigoneill.captivate.fm/

911 Committee to suggest splitting OEM and 911 administrator duties; deadline approaching to register to vote in November election; Conway County Fair Parade is tonight, midway opens; Morrilton woman elected to ATU Staff Senate; voting open for Petit Jean River Valley Radio Player of the Week; we visit with Mary Clark of UACCM.

Chinese novelties firm looking for different growth path from Pop Mart中国新潮玩企业探索不同于泡泡玛特的发展路径In a shopping mall in Hopson One Mall in Yangpu district, Shanghai, hundreds of visitors line up at a popup store. They are drawn by a popular item — squishy cake toys — colorful, foam squeezables designed for stress relief and fashion statements. Unlike ultra-squishy toys, this item has a firmer foam texture, great for office desk decor, party gifts or relieving work and school pressure for both kids and adults alike.在上海杨浦区合生汇购物中心的一家快闪店外，数百名消费者排队等候。他们被一款热门商品吸引——解压蛋糕玩具。这类色彩鲜艳、柔软可捏的泡沫玩具，既能缓解压力，也成为一种时尚表达。与极度柔软、容易变形的传统解压玩具不同，这款蛋糕玩具采用更具支撑感的泡沫材质，既适合作为办公室桌面装饰，也可作为派对礼物，同时能够帮助儿童和成年人缓解学习与工作压力。The squishy cake toy comes in a variety of scrumptious shapes — strawberry, cherry, croissant and mushroom. Each of them is priced at around 25 yuan ($3.7).这些解压蛋糕玩具有多种“美味”造型，包括草莓、樱桃、羊角面包和蘑菇等，每个售价约25元人民币（约合3.7美元）。“I bought three squishy cake toys today. I like the soft touch of the toys. It is very stress-relieving,” said Zhang Le, a 30-year-old designer in Shanghai.“我今天买了三个解压蛋糕玩具。我喜欢它柔软的触感，真的很能缓解压力。”上海一名30岁的设计师张乐说。"I took my daughter to the pop-up store here. She likes squishy cake toys very much. She often shares the toys with her classmate. I bought five for her and one for myself. I can put the squishy cake toy on my office desk. It puts me in a good mood," said Cheng Yuqi, a 45-year-old mother in Shanghai.“我带女儿来到这里的快闪店，她非常喜欢这种玩具。她经常和同学分享。我给她买了五个，也给自己买了一个。我可以把它放在办公室桌上，每次看到它都会让我心情变好。”上海45岁的母亲程雨琪说。Since July, another style of squishy cake toys produced by Shanghai local brand Molynk have gone viral on TikTok. Related videos have already topped 180 million views. The product, priced at 299 yuan, sold out soon after its global debut, with 5,000 units purchased.自7月以来，上海本土品牌莫尼（Molynk）生产的另一款解压蛋糕玩具在TikTok上迅速走红。相关视频浏览量已超过1.8亿次。这款售价299元的产品在全球首发后很快售罄，共有5000件被抢购一空。The toys have become so popular that a large number of tourists from Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand are paying special visits to China, dragging their suitcases to offline stores in Shanghai for shopping trips. After these tourists return to their home countries, even if they resell their products at double or even higher prices, the products are still highly sought after by local consumers, as reported by Xinmin.cn.由于产品热度持续上升，越来越多来自泰国等东南亚国家的游客专程来到中国，拖着行李箱前往上海线下门店购买。据新民网报道，这些游客回国后，即使以两倍甚至更高价格转售，产品依然受到当地消费者追捧。At a soft rubber toy factory in Zhejiang province's Yiwu, located some 300 kilometers from Shanghai, millions of "freshly baked" bun-shaped decompression toys are about to board a truck bound for Ningbo Zhoushan Port, crossing mountains and waterways to Europe and North America.在距离上海约300公里的浙江义乌一家软胶玩具工厂内，数百万个“刚出炉”的包子造型解压玩具即将装车，运往宁波舟山港，再跨越山川河流，销往欧洲和北美市场。The latest data released by the General Administration of Customs of China showed that the total export value of Chinese toys in the first half was $15.6 billion, with some markets showing a recovery trend.中国海关总署最新数据显示，今年上半年，中国玩具出口总额达到156亿美元，部分市场呈现复苏趋势。Behind this evolving phenomenon of exports is a synergy of multiple factors, such as "China-Chic" design breakthroughs, mature supply chain support, global layout acceleration and the enduring and increasing appeal of emotional consumption.这一出口现象背后，是多重因素共同作用的结果，包括“国潮”设计突破、成熟供应链支撑、全球市场布局加速，以及情绪消费持续增长带来的吸引力。In recent years, the global emotional consumption market has continued to heat up, and stress relieving games and items have formed a billion dollar gold mine. According to the Global Stress Relief Toy Special Report issued by Verified Market Research, the global stress relief toy market is expected to reach $6.26 billion by 2026, and is projected to surpass $8.96 billion by 2030.近年来，全球情绪消费市场持续升温，解压游戏和相关产品正在形成一个价值数十亿美元的市场。根据市场研究机构Verified Market Research发布的《全球解压玩具特别报告》，预计到2026年，全球解压玩具市场规模将达到62.6亿美元，并有望在2030年超过89.6亿美元。Li Weiqing, founder and CEO of Molynk — one of the producers of squishy cake toys — said: “Since our establishment, the brand has aimed for a global layout. This may be different from Pop Mart, which was born in China and gradually achieved globalization with later development. When we were founded, we deployed branch offices in the United States, Japan and Spain, with Shanghai as our headquarters.”莫尼（Molynk）创始人兼首席执行官李伟庆表示：“品牌成立以来，就一直以全球化布局为目标。这一点可能不同于泡泡玛特——后者诞生于中国，并在后期发展过程中逐步走向全球化。而我们在创立之初，就已经在美国、日本和西班牙设立分支机构，总部设在上海。”Li Yun, general manager of Unie Toys in Minhang district, Shanghai, said: “We found the soft, colorful squishy cake toys well-received by consumers, both kids and adults. With the accelerated pace of modern life, people are increasingly placing emphasis on things that offer emotional value.”上海闵行区优尼玩具公司总经理李云表示：“我们发现，这种柔软、色彩丰富的解压蛋糕玩具受到儿童和成年消费者的共同欢迎。随着现代生活节奏不断加快，人们越来越重视能够提供情绪价值的产品。”Dong Peng, an independent senior analyst, said: "Shanghai squishy cake toys have gone from low-end OEM to cross-border hard currency, essentially completing the cognitive upgrade from 'emotional consumer goods' to 'cultural symbol carriers', no longer relying on simple price differences, but on precise translation and efficient supply of contemporary people's emotional needs."独立资深分析师董鹏表示：“上海解压蛋糕玩具已经从低端代工产品转变为具有跨境竞争力的产品，本质上完成了从‘情绪消费品'到‘文化符号载体'的认知升级。它们不再依靠简单的价格差异，而是依靠对当代消费者情绪需求的精准理解和高效供应。”squishy /ˈskwɪʃi/ adj.柔软可捏的；有弹性的novelty /ˈnɒvəlti/ n.新奇产品；新颖事物go viral /ɡəʊ ˈvaɪrəl/ v.走红；在网络上迅速传播be well-received /bi wel rɪˈsiːvd/ v.受到欢迎；获得认可emotional value /ɪˈməʊʃənl ˈvæljuː/ n.情绪价值；情感价值China-Chic /ˌtʃaɪnə ˈʃiːk/ n.国潮；中国风时尚潮流global layout /ˈɡləʊbl ˈleɪaʊt/ n.全球布局；国际化布局resell /ˌriːˈsel/ v.转售；二次销售

It's ev.news Briefly for Monday 07 September 2026, only todays headlines and nothing else, in just 4 minutes if you haven't got time for the full show.Patreon supporters fund this show, get the episodes ad free, as soon as they're ready and are part of the ev.news Community. You can be like them by clicking here: https://www.patreon.com/evnewsRIVIAN OS 2 REACHES BOTH R1 GENERATIONSRivian began rolling out update 2026.31 on Friday, extending RivianOS 2 to R1T and R1S models from both R1 generations alongside R2, adding a vertical status bar, quick controls and media player placeable on either side of the centre display, a rebuilt Settings 2 app with universal search, Real-Time Route Alerts for speed cameras and police presence in Google Maps navigation, and Rivian Unified Intelligence behind a "Hey Rivian" assistant that can control vehicle functions. Hardware still divides the platform: R2 and second-generation R1 vehicles run Unreal Engine 5 for real-time 3D visualisations while first-generation R1s stay on Unreal Engine 4 to preserve screen responsiveness, reflecting the first-gen's 17 electronic control units against the 2024 second-gen's seven-unit zonal architecture, dual Nvidia Drive AGX Orin processors and roughly ten times the processing power.REPORTED ID. POLO ORDERS TOP 30,000 BEFORE LAUNCHMore than 30,000 orders for Volkswagen's ID. Polo, priced from €24,995 (about $29,000), have reportedly been placed across Europe before the hatchback's official sales launch, with pre-sales open since late April, demand strongest in Germany and most buyers ordering without having seen or driven the car. A major VW dealer group says the range is effectively sold out with waits of at least ten months, while Volkswagen attributes the delays to strong demand and capacity planned in advance at its Martorell plant in Spain, where it is progressively increasing production.HYUNDAI OPENS STARIA ELECTRIC ORDERS IN EUROPEHyundai has opened European orders for the Staria Electric from €57,450 (about $66,800) for the German Trend nine-seater, using an 84 kWh battery, a 160 kW (218 hp) front motor, up to 430 km (267 miles) WLTP range and an 800V architecture that charges 10-80% in about 20 minutes at 350 kW, plus internal and external 16-amp V2L. At 5,253 mm it is 200 mm longer than the IONIQ 9 and larger than the Kia PV5 and VW ID. Buzz, with up to 1,303 litres of luggage space in nine-seat form, a Prime version adding electric sliding doors, powered tailgate, Highway Assistant 1.5 and a 230V socket, and a Calligraphy seven-seater from €66,950 ($77,800) with Nappa leather, BOSE audio and reclining second-row seats.ELECTRIC VEHICLES OUTSELL PETROL CARS IN AUSTRALIAFully electric vehicles outsold petrol cars in Australia for the first time last month, with 27,078 EVs registered against 25,824 petrol and 23,608 diesel vehicles, taking one in four new-car sales. Including plug-in hybrids, battery-powered vehicles reached 36% of the market while petrol and diesel together fell below 50%, a shift BYD's Paul Ellis put down to falling reluctance and an influx of cheaper Chinese models, leaving public charging capacity as the open question.UK ELECTRIC VAN SHARE HITS RECORD 16.3%UK electric van registrations rose 25.9% to 2,395 units in August, a record 16.3% share of the light commercial vehicle market, with battery-electric vans at 11.0% of new LCV registrations in the year to August. August is traditionally a low-volume month ahead of September's numberplate change, so the share gain may overstate the trend and September will be the clearer test of sustained fleet demand.US DIESEL AVERAGE REACHES $5.85 A GALLONUS diesel hit a record national average of $5.85 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA data cited by the New York Times, 55% above the level at the start of the US war against Iran in late February and above the previous peak set in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. Diesel powers heavy-duty pickups, commercial fleets and farming, so the rise feeds through to supermarket prices, landing weeks before the midterms in a political climate hostile to EVs despite the household cost relief that switching away from the pumps could deliver.BYD OFFERS UK DISCOUNTS OF UP TO £2,500BYD will cut UK prices by up to £2,500 ($3,300) across its DM-i plug-in and electric range from 10 to 21 September in what it calls its biggest-ever sales event, covering the Dolphin Surf, Dolphin, Sealion 07, Seal U DM-i and Atto 2 DM-i, as the UK's record 25.6% BEV share for the first eight months of 2026 still sits below the 33% mandate. The brand has registered more than 110,000 UK vehicles since March 2023, with registrations up 98% to over 48,000 through August and market share rising to 3.48% from 1.92%, and the Europe-specific Dolphin G DM-i arrives this month from £250 ($330) a month.SPD BACKS EU TARIFFS ON CHINESE PLUG-IN HYBRIDSGermany's Social Democratic Party has backed extending EU tariffs to Chinese plug-in hybrids, closing a gap in measures that levy up to 45% on Chinese-built electric vehicles but leave hybrids untouched, setting out the position in an economic-policy paper calling for more resolute protection against "unfair practices". The stance is a notable shift for the CDU's junior coalition partner, given Germany opposed the 2024 EV tariffs and has long resisted tough measures on China for fear of retaliation against key industries.BC2BC LAUNCHES WEST COAST TRUCK CHARGING CORRIDORThe British Columbia to Baja California ZEV Corridor, or BC2BC, has launched along the I-5, linking California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Baja California with an initial deployment of 20 EV charging stations and three hydrogen fuelling stations for the estimated 10,000 trucks using the route daily. CalSTA, CALSTART/Drive to Zero and UC Davis's Institute of Transportation Studies are coordinating planning and investment, with Volvo Group North America, Southern California Edison, Tesla, EV Realty and King Fio Trucking represented at the Port of Long Beach launch.TESLA AND BYD DRIVE KOREAN IMPORT GROWTHImported vehicle sales in Korea rose 9.2% year on year to 29,817 units in August, driven largely by Tesla and BYD, while all five domestic carmakers recorded declines. Union walkouts from July into August lasted around 60 hours and were estimated to have cost about 55,000 vehicles of production, contributing alongside fewer summer holiday production days to a 7.6% fall at Kia, and growth in a market long led by BMW and Mercedes-Benz came mainly from lower-priced EVs.STELLANTIS OFFERS REFURBISHED BATTERIES FOR MOST EV MODELSStellantis is making refurbished high-voltage batteries available for most battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models across its brands, remanufactured to OEM specification with the same performance characteristics and warranty terms as MOPAR original parts. The company says the approach extends product life and prevents waste, saving up to 80% of raw materials and up to 40% of CO2 emissions against new parts, building on its earlier supply of refurbished EV batteries for stationary storage including at Rome Airport.

Sir Lewis Hamilton finished only P6 for Ferrari but for the Tifosi at Monza there was still much about which to go crazy: Kimi Antonelli, the boy from Bologna, started his Mercedes from P19, led the race, dropped to P6 in a tyre change - and then regained the lead to win. It was an epic drive in an epic, baking-hot race and it marked the first home win for an Italian driver at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti headed a Ferrari one-two there in 1966. George Russell led for much of the race in the other Mercedes but ultimately finished P2, ahead of a brilliant Max Verstappen, who brought his difficult Red Bull-RBPT Ford home in P3, and the two McLaren-Mercedes of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Pierre Gasly, who took a surprise pole for Alpine-Mercedes, crossed the line P7. Peter in this video looks back at an historic day in Monza Park - and at the possible causes of the lap two accident that landed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the Parabolica tyre wall. With thanks to Jetcraft, the world's largest buyer and seller of executive jets: https://jetcraft.comTo TrackNinja, a lap-timer and data app designed to help users improve their on-track car and driver performance through analysis and an innovative Data Garage. A lite version is free; the loaded edition is US$9.99 pcm or $99.99 yearly: https://trackninja.appTo OEM Exclusive, the passionate suppliers of OEM upgrades for exotic and high-performance vehiclesAnd to REC Watches, whose timepieces are infused with DNA and actual material from famous racing and road cars. Claim your additional 10 per cent discount by adding the codeword PETER:https://recwatches.com/next-projectMusic: Rain over Kyoto Station (The Mini Vandals); Science Montage (Jeremy Blake)Visit our new merchandise store to Make Corners Great Again! https://sl1nk.com/l0uanyxVisit https://alpinestars.com for all your racing apparelVisit: https://fxdworkwear.com for all your purpose-build, technical workwearFollow Peter @peterwindsorBook a Cameo with Peter: https://cameo.com/peterwindsorContact us at: peterwindsoryt@gmail.comWe support the Race Against Dementia:https://raceagainstdementia.comThe Alora dog rescue shelter (Malaga, Spain)https://aloradogrescue.com#standwithukraine - now, more than ever#Canada! #jimmykimmel!Stephen Gallacher Golf Foundationhttps://sgfoundation.co.ukNick: you're with us always:https://samaritans.org“Being There: Stories from the Road Where We Keep the Rubber Side Down”Award-winning motorcycle stories from a father, brought to life by his son.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showVisit: https://youtube.com/peterwindsor for F1 videos past, present and future

Jeremy McCool is back on Inside Startup Investing, and a lot has changed since his last appearance. HEVO builds wireless charging for electric vehicles — hardware and software — and it's chasing that market from an unusual angle. Rather than selling a charging pad direct to consumers, HEVO is working to become a tier one supplier to the automakers themselves, so the receiving technology comes built into the vehicle straight off the production line. Get that right, and the automaker becomes the distribution channel. In this conversation, Chris Lustrino and Jeremy dig into what the last year actually produced: roughly $2 million raised, five to six live automaker programs, and signed agreements with fleet partners including Autolane and STEER Tech. Jeremy also lays out the fleet math that makes wireless charging compelling — roughly $40,000 in ten-year per-vehicle operating cost for wireless versus $150,000–$175,000 for plug-in — and explains why the company's licensed polyphase technology, co-developed with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, may put HEVO in the lead position if the German automakers converge on a single universal design. Chris also gets put on the spot — by his own guest — to explain why Kingscrowd Capital invested in the first place. In this episode: • What HEVO does, and why it sells to automakers instead of consumers • Chris's investment thesis: founder alignment, market timing, and the de-risking power of an OEM partnership • The last twelve months: $2M raised, strategic investor interest, and why institutional clean tech capital went quiet • Fleet economics — 3–5x savings per vehicle over ten years for last mile logistics • Autolane and STEER Tech: autonomous vehicles that dock and charge themselves • Why warranty validation is the gate that only an automaker can open • Hardware pricing: ~$250 on the vehicle side, ~$1,200 for the grid-side charger, 11–22 kW, bidirectional • The revenue ramp: a couple hundred thousand this year, high six figures next, tens of millions by the end of the decade • Stellantis, its 13 brands, its EV rollback — and why HEVO says it's still in the saddle • The Oak Ridge polyphase license and the German standards play • Jeremy's message to investors weighing a 15-year overnight success Guest: Jeremy McCool, Founder & CEO, HEVO Host: Chris Lustrino, Founder & CEO, Kingscrowd HEVO is currently raising on Wefunder. Learn more at wefunder.com/hevo. Research HEVO and other startup investment opportunities at kingscrowd.com. Inside Startup Investing is the only podcast where you can invest in every guest. If you like what you hear, subscribe so you never miss a portfolio founder interview. Disclosure: Kingscrowd Capital is an investor in HEVO. This episode is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Investing in early-stage companies is risky and you may lose your entire investment.

Sergio Avanto, now at FOX MTB, talks about the innovations in MTB that could work in moto, his path in and out of the motocross industry, working with James Stewart, Chad Reed, Ryan Villopoto, Ken Roczen and others, the politics in factory racing, his accomplishments, regrets and more. --- CHAPTERS --- 00:02 Show intro & sponsor rundown 01:18 Guest intro: Sergio Avanto 02:36 Sergio's return to mountain biking with FOX 04:28 MTB suspension customization, fork tech & OEM testing 14:52 Fork tech evolution & the e-bike suspension challenge 20:20 Specialized's Genie Shock & American vs European rider styles 24:05 Ad reads & FOX's Live Valve NEO system 31:58 USD forks, Answer Manitou & breaking into Factory Yamaha 38:20 Learning suspension from John R and Ross Maeda 44:27 James Stewart's photographic memory & Kawasaki whoop curve 52:24 Adapting bikes to riders (Barcia) & Kawasaki's data problems 59:46 James' L&M fork stiffness debate & Suzuki's frame edge 1:07:34 Ad reads & the pivot-point/AMP-link history 1:13:10 Honda's 2027 bike, leaving Yamaha & Keith McCarty 1:19:02 Kawasaki/RCH suspension politics: Barcia and Roczen 1:31:19 Roczen's low-maintenance Suzuki title & building FOX's MotoShock 1:35:22 Aftermarket suspension struggles & the L&M/Larry Brooks fallout 1:41:31 Ad reads & what made elite riders special 1:44:29 Toughest riders to reach & why data-driven setups fail 1:53:15 Kawasaki's inflexible setups & leaving for RCH 1:57:34 Toxic Suzuki team rivalry & Villopoto as best tester 2:03:43 Happiest career moments & would Sergio return to moto 2:09:58 Custom NEO tune requests & sign-off 2:12:16 Outro

Most people ask how to start a systems integrator. Rich Kuechenmeister has effectively built one five times, and the lesson is that the parent business decides what you become.Rich is owner and partner at Fishbone Technical Services. Before that he built automation groups inside a semiconductor equipment OEM, an automation components manufacturer, a products distributor, and a custom machine builder where he stood up a UL 508A panel shop from nothing. Each of those businesses sold something different, and that changed the engineering. At a machine builder the machine is the dog and the controls are the tail. At a distributor you build toolkits so somebody else can build the solution, handcuffed to the lines you carry. Rich argues that constraint is what made him good, because a single vendor solution is easy while four component areas from four vendors is where real integration lives.His definition of a control systems integrator stays traditional. SCADA and below, field instrumentation through PLC and HMI, bridging a little into MES. Fishbone works line control, process control on boilers, pumps and valves, and material handling where suppliers ship a motor and a few sensors and nothing more.The business advice is specific. He would rather have one $100,000 project than ten $10,000 projects, because that is one project management cycle instead of ten. He cautions against mixing maintenance work and capital projects without a plan, since context switching between a vision system callout and a pump control program burns budget on both. Dave adds the pattern he keeps seeing: come in at the bottom and you get saved in the phone as the maintenance guy, never the capital project guy. Rich hires on desire, attitude and aptitude, and admits he was once the bottleneck himself.Looking ahead, he expects acquisitions to keep rolling up integrators and leaving a void underneath, since a twenty person firm will not get out of bed for the projects a five person firm lived on. On AI he is practical. He turned three day estimates into eight estimates in a single day, but insists code writing is a subset of the job. He is also still doing a PLC-5 conversion and a DeviceNet upgrade.About Rich KuechenmeisterRich Kuechenmeister is owner and partner at Fishbone Technical Services, a nationwide remote technical services company he co-founded in 2021 with business partner Robert Summers. Fishbone is based in Texas and covers plant engineering and control systems integration from field instrumentation through PLC, HMI and SCADA, with some MES. Rich began his career in the United States Navy working on radars, servos and guidance systems, then spent three decades in industrial automation building engineering groups before starting Fishbone.https://fishbonetechnical.comTimestamps0:00 Introduction2:20 Inside Fishbone Technical Services5:20 From the Navy to OEMs, distributors and machine builders9:00 Becoming unafraid and starting a company15:40 What a control systems integrator actually is20:40 How the parent business shapes the work31:40 Filling the sales hopper and qualifying projects36:40 Maintenance work versus capital projects43:00 Hiring for desire, attitude and aptitude48:20 Letting go of the client relationship56:20 Distributors, acquisitions and the void they leave1:04:40 AI, estimating and reverse engineering PLC codeReferencesPrOTect IT All by Aaron Crow: https://www.amazon.com/PrOTect-All-Plain-Spoken-Cybersecurity-Protecting/dp/B0HBM3F4XSISA/IEC 62443 Series of Standards: https://www.isa.org/standards-and-publications/isa-standards/isa-iec-62443-series-of-standardsAbout Your HostsVladimir Romanov is a co-host of The Manufacturing Hub Podcast and the founder of Joltek, an independent manufacturing and industrial automation consulting firm specializing in modernization strategy, digital transformation, and workforce development. Joltek works with manufacturers and investors to de-risk modernization and build the internal capability to sustain results.Connect with Vlad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladromanov/Want to go deeper? Vlad and the team at Joltek have covered related topics here:System Integrators: https://www.joltek.com/blog/system-integratorsEngineer to Entrepreneur in Manufacturing Technology: https://www.joltek.com/blog/engineer-entrepreneur-technology-business-manufacturingDave Griffith is a co-host of The Manufacturing Hub Podcast and founder of Capelin Solutions, an industrial automation firm helping manufacturers adopt smart manufacturing technology. He brings 15 years of experience in industrial automation and digital transformation.Connect with Dave: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegriffith23/Subscribe to Manufacturing Hub: https://www.manufacturinghub.liveLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/manufacturing-hub-networkYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ManufacturingHub

Dave is Head of Distribution Development at Black Horse, part of Lloyds Banking Group. He leads the team responsible for OEM partnership development, strategic growth initiatives and distribution development, helping bring new opportunities to life across the business. Before stepping into this role, he spent time leading the Jaguar Land Rover Financial Services team. He joined Lloyds from BMW Financial Services, where he spent twelve years moving through nine different roles.In our conversation we talk about Dave's upbringing in Keighley, West Yorkshire, as the oldest of three, raised by two police officers who met on the job. We explore his school years, and how genuine interest in a subject always brought out his best work, including moving schools to pursue his choice of A levels, and how it wasn't until university that he was diagnosed with dyslexia.We trace his path to Loughborough to study maths, two summers spent working Camp America, and on to a PhD at Nottingham. We discuss his rowing career, training alongside his now-wife Emily, who went on to compete at the London 2012 Olympics, and what it took to recognise when it was time to move on to the next chapter.We then move into his twelve years at BMW Financial Services, the early lessons in autonomy and communication that shaped his leadership style, and the move to the JLR Financial Services team and then a wider role within Lloyds Bank, including building a new Centre of Excellence from scratch. We finish with his leadership philosophy: setting a clear "why," trusting people to get on with it, and staying genuinely present with the people who matter, both at work and at home.Connect with DaveLinkedIn: Dave MarshallAbout AndyWe all carry more capability than we're consistently able to bring to what we do. Most of what gets in the way lies outside us, in the gap between us and the topic, and between us and other people, the space between, where hidden friction currently lies.I created Fulfilling Performance to help people examine that space, so they can see their challenges and opportunities more clearly, and have better-quality conversations about them, from a shared perspective, in a common language.Over the past 25+ years, I've led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I've coached individuals and facilitated leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America.In 2016, I founded Aquilae, and we now enable Fulfilling Performance through peer mentoring, one-to-one coaching, and full organisation-wide Activations.Learn more about Fulfilling PerformanceHead to our website: aquilae.co.ukConnect with AndyLinkedIn: Andy FollowsEmail: cvm@aquilae.co.ukThank you to our sponsors:ASKE ConsultingEmail: hello@askeconsulting.co.ukAquilaeEmail: cvm@aquilae.co.ukFollow our episode directory on Instagram: @careerviewmirrorIf you enjoy hearing our guests' career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app.Episode recorded on 6 August, 2026. 

Thanks to our Partners, Pico Technology, and AutelWatch Full Video EpisodeA monologue from Jelly Roll prompted a simple but powerful idea: It is never too late to do the right thing.That does not mean “the right thing” is always obvious. People can look at the same situation from different perspectives, reach different conclusions, and each possess part of the truth. The challenge is remembering that the client, employee, employer, or competitor across from us is a human being before they are a problem to solve or a category to assign.In this episode, Matt considers how quickly automotive professionals can label a client as a “price shopper” when price may simply be the only part of the conversation the client understands. He also discusses clients arriving with information from Google or artificial intelligence, and how shops can use that information to create a better conversation about the time and access genuinely required for diagnostic testing.The episode then turns toward leadership, accountability, and hindsight. If we recognize that we mishandled a situation yesterday, last year, or many years ago, the passage of time does not prevent us from acknowledging it, apologizing, or trying to make it right.Finally, a physics thought experiment involving a bouncing ball and two reference frames illustrates how two observers can accurately describe the same event differently. Understanding another person's perspective does not require agreeing with it, but it may help us judge them less quickly and respond more thoughtfully.Topics include:Why clients often default to asking about priceInformation asymmetry between repair professionals and vehicle ownersResponding constructively when clients bring in AI-generated informationWhy diagnostic testing takes more time than a list of possible causes suggestsThe difference between understanding someone and agreeing with themRevisiting past decisions as a leaderApologies, accountability, and making amendsHow perspective changes what we observeRemembering the humanity of clients, coworkers, employers, and competitorsDoing the right thing for others and for yourselfAre you chasing elusive automotive problems? Pico Technology empowers you to see what's really happening. Their PicoScope oscilloscopes transform your diagnostic capabilities. PicoAuto.comFrom drivability diagnostics and TPMS service to ADAS and advanced safety systems, Autel helps technicians follow OEM procedures and repair with confidence. Autel.comContact InformationEmail Matt: mattfanslowpodcast@gmail.comSubscribe on YouTube: @automotivefieldtheoryThe Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/Download and Listen on Our Mobile App: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/app/Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: https://remarkableresults.biz/Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: https://huntdemarest.captivate.fm/The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: https://chriscotton.captivate.fm/Speak Up! Effective Communication with Craig O'Neill: https://craigoneill.captivate.fm/

A $600 variable speed pump on Amazon can make any pool pro feel like they're losing a pricing argument before they even open their mouth. But the real question is not what the pump costs. It's what happens when it fails, who pays for the diagnosis, and whether anyone shows up to make it right. We dig into how cheap pool equipment, overseas manufacturing, and online marketplaces are reshaping customer expectations and putting pressure on distributors and service companies.Harold Evans joins me to talk about consolidation and pool service roll-ups, and why the “second bite” promise often doesn't match reality. We get specific about what makes the pool industry harder to roll up than businesses like pest control: fewer stops per day, higher cost of goods sold, and thinner margins once you stack venture capital profit demands, corporate overhead, and debt service on top of labor. That mismatch creates pressure that can break culture, weaken service quality, and force companies into tough exits.We also bring it back to what actually wins long-term: investing in technicians, training, and the customer experience. If buyers can get parts anywhere, your advantage is the outcome you deliver, the risk you take off the homeowner's plate, and the trust you earn over years of consistent work. If you found this useful, subscribe, share it with a pool pro, and leave a review so more people in the pool industry can find the show.We look ten years ahead and ask what happens to pool service when consolidation grows and cheap online equipment resets customer expectations. Harold Evans explains why roll-ups struggle in the pool industry and why the winning move is investing in people and outcomes, not chasing commodity pricing.• roll-ups and consolidation challenges driven by culture and process conflicts• why “second bite” payouts often fail to materialize for sellers• pool industry economics compared with pest control economics• venture capital expectations, debt service, and margin pressure in service models• shifting from selling products to selling trust, talent, and consistent outcomes• repair vs replace thinking to reduce risk and improve long-term reliability• Amazon pricing and generic variable speed pumps changing the sales conversation• warranty support, training, and service infrastructure as hidden costs in OEM pricing• big box retailers and online marketplaces squeezing traditional distributionLearn more at Swimmypoollearning.com.If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, so you learning.com on the banner, click on the podcast icon.And if you're interested in the coaching program, you can learn more at poolguycoaching.com.Send us Fan MailSupport the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! HASA  REWARDS Apphttps://hasa.com/hasa-appThe Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:https://getskimmer.com/poolguy Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA Support the showThanks for listening, and I hope you find the Podcast helpful! For other free resources to further help you:Visit my Website: https://www.swimmingpoollearning.comWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SPLPodcast Site: https://the-pool-guy-podcast-show.onpodium.com/UPA General Liability Insurance Application: https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBAPool Guy Coaching GroupJoin an exclusive network of Pool Service Technicians to access the industry's leading commercial general liability insurance program. Protect your business.Premium is $64 per month per member (additional $40 for employees and ICs)$59 per month for Pool Guy coaching Members - join here! https://www.patreon.com/poolguycoachingLimits are $1,000,000 in occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate - Per member limits     [ $1,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate available for $75 per month ]$50,000 in HazMat Coverage - clean up on-site or over-the-roadAcid Wash Coverage - Full Limits

What if the biggest thing holding your dealership back isn't the market, the leads, or even the competition... but the habits happening inside the store every single day? "The biggest bad habit you have is that you allow your employees to run your dealership." - Sean V. Bradley In this episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, Sean V. Bradley and LA Williams take a hard look at the small, repeated behaviors that can quietly limit performance across every level of a dealership, from salespeople to leadership. "You've got to expect greatness from yourself." - LA Williams The conversation explores how complacency, inconsistent follow-up, underused technology, negative thinking, and drifting away from proven processes can slowly become part of the culture if they are not addressed. Sean and LA also challenge automotive professionals to think bigger about ownership, accountability, and personal growth, including what it really means to maximize the tools, training, opportunities, and resources already available to you. "If you don't know the tools inside and out, you're only using 10% or 20% of the potential value of it." - Sean V. Bradley If you are serious about becoming sharper, more disciplined, and more intentional in your career, this conversation will definitely make you look at your daily routine a little differently! Key Takeaways: ✅ Many sales professionals fail to fully utilize the advanced tools and systems available at their dealerships, thereby limiting their potential success. ✅ Developing a proactive mindset and treating car sales as an entrepreneurial endeavor can significantly enhance individual and dealership success. ✅ Effective training and personal development go beyond learning sales tactics, encompassing mastery of digital marketing, customer relationship management, and personal branding. ✅ Managers and dealer principals need to enforce accountability and ensure their teams adhere to proven processes, instead of allowing complacent behaviors. ✅ Reflecting on personal weaknesses and embracing continuous improvement can lead to personal and professional transformation.   About Sean V. Bradley Sean V. Bradley is a renowned entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and CEO of Dealer Synergy, a company specializing in training and consulting automotive dealerships to improve sales and operations. With over two decades of experience in the automotive industry, Sean is a celebrated author and is recognized for his innovative strategies in digital marketing and customer relationship management.   About LA Williams LA Williams, also known as the Blind Master, holds the position of Vice President at Dealer Synergy. He is the co-creator of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast and an acclaimed author. Despite being totally blind, LA has achieved significant success by leveraging his unique frameworks to inspire and educate automotive professionals to overcome adversity and maximize their potential.     Harnessing Success: Dissecting Effective Strategies from Automotive Sales Titans Key Takeaways Understanding and leveraging tools and technology is imperative for maximizing success in the automotive sales industry. The mindset of treating automotive sales as your own business can lead to unparalleled growth and innovation. Leadership rooted in authentic practice and constant self-improvement sets the groundwork for dealership excellence.   In the high-octane world of automotive sales, the difference between mediocrity and greatness isn't just about product knowledge or charismatic sales pitches. As illuminated in a vibrant exchange between industry veterans Sean V. Bradley and LA Williams, the path to monumental success encompasses mindset mastery, strategic tool utilization, and transformational leadership. With Sean's no-nonsense approach to self-empowerment and LA's captivating advocacy for greatness, automotive professionals are invited to embrace a revolutionary perspective on sales, management, and personal development.   Mastering Technology in Automotive Sales One of the most pertinent themes discussed is the underutilization of technology and resources within dealerships. Sean V. Bradley emphasizes the necessity for employees to fully engage with their available tools, stating, "You are only as strong as your weakest link." This indicates that even the most advanced technologies, akin to the latest iPhone features, yield little value if only used for basic functions. In dealerships where resources like CRM systems, AI integration, and data mining tools are abundant, the challenge is not in their availability but in their effective utilization. As Sean elaborates using the analogy of a ninja equipped with an arsenal of weapons, the expertise lies not in possessing tools but in mastering them: "Can you imagine if you only were able to use it basic or rudimentary?" The implications of this extend beyond individual success, reflecting on the dealership's profitability and competitive edge. With every employee maximizing their toolset, the collective efficacy of the dealership multiplies.   Adopting an Entrepreneurial Mindset Transitioning from technology to mindset, Sean and LA underscore an entrepreneurial approach to automotive sales, treating it as one's own business. Many salespeople fall into the trap of dependency, leading to complacency and stagnation. Instead, Sean encourages a paradigm shift, "You are building your business within the dealership's business." This self-starter attitude circumvents any limitations posed by the dealership's supply of leads or market fluctuations. By pursuing eight varied strategies for car sales—ranging from walk-ins to referrals and beyond—sales professionals can expand their influence and multiply opportunities. This entrepreneurial mindset not only fuels personal income growth but fosters an environment where innovation thrives, setting apart top performers like Cody Carter, who achieved remarkable earnings by mastering these principles. The broader impact of this theme reveals a market characterized by agile, autonomous professionals poised for optimum success.   Transformative Leadership and Accountability Effective leadership, as addressed by Sean, emerges as the backbone of all transformative practices within a dealership. Critically, he observes a pervasive issue: leaders allowing employees to dictate the pace and quality of operations. "You allow your employees to run your dealership," Sean firmly states, highlighting a common pitfall among dealers. For an organization striving for excellence, leadership rooted in authentic practice and unwavering accountability holds the key. The narrative implores leaders to embody the values and discipline they wish to instill in their teams. "Are you the personification of what you're trying to articulate to your people?" Sean challenges. By doing so, they ensure that processes are adhered to and that strategic goals are not just theoretical ideals but operational realities. This approach to leadership extends beyond immediate organizational benefits, fostering a culture that values integrity, dedication, and continuous improvement. As these qualities permeate through all organizational levels, the dealership elevates its standing and success in the competitive automotive landscape.   In examining the dynamic dialogue and intricate strategies shared by Sean V. Bradley and LA Williams, automotive professionals are invited to transcend conventional practices and embrace transformative methodologies. From mastering cutting-edge technologies to adopting an entrepreneurial spirit, and executing authentic leadership, the road to monumental success is paved with conscious decisions, self-mastery, and community empowerment. This profound discourse draws a blueprint not merely for immediate gain but for enduring excellence and innovation in the automotive sales industry.       Resources + Our Proud Sponsors:   ➼ Podium: The AI Platform Powering the Modern Dealership. From instant lead response to seamless test drive scheduling, Podium's AI Employee Jerry works 24/7 to turn every lead into a conversion, so your team can focus on closing. Trusted by thousands of dealerships nationwide and proudly featured on the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast. Learn how Podium can help you sell more cars, book more service appointments, and grow your dealership. Discover how Podium's innovative AI technology can unlock unparalleled efficiency and drive your dealership's sales to new heights. Visit www.podium.com/mcs to learn more!   ➼ The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group: Join the #1 Automotive Sales Mastermind Facebook Group with over 29,000 automotive professionals worldwide. The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group is the go-to community for car salespeople, BDC agents, sales managers, general managers, and dealer principals looking to increase performance, income, and leadership skills. Inside the group, members collaborate daily on automotive sales strategies, lead handling, phone scripts, closing techniques, CRM best practices, dealership leadership, and accountability systems. Learn directly from top automotive trainers, industry mentors, and high-performing sales leaders who are actively winning in today's market. If you're serious about growing your automotive career, increasing car sales, and building long-term success, join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today!   ➼ Dealer Synergy: Dealer Synergy is the automotive industry's #1 Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm, with over 20 years of proven dealership success nationwide. 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India now requires turbine data, control centers, and R&D to sit inside its borders. Plus a study on reverse flow loads in parked blades, Envision’s spare parts push across Southeast Asia, and Danish wind employment falling to 32,700. The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech, creators of the StrikeTape Ultra LPS retrofit. Subscribe to Uptime’s Substack newsletter. And check out Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” Youtube channel. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! The Uptime Wind Energy podcast, brought to you by StrikeTape. Protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit striketape.com. And now, your hosts Rosemary Barnes: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy podcast. I’m your host, Rosemary Barnes, and I’m filling in for Allen today here with Jolanda Pedron. All right, onto our first story. India is drawing a line around its wind data. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has ordered every turbine maker on the approved list of models and manufacturers to report where its data actually lives. Data centers inside India, servers inside India, research centers inside India, and no real-time data leaving the country. The order went out last week with status reports due by month-end. And while the government tightens the rules on data, the hardware keeps moving in. Flender has just opened another generator plant in Chennai [00:01:00] Yolanda, I think this is gonna have a large impact on the number of companies who are, you know, there’s a lot of companies around today developing, like, smarts for wind turbines. There’s a lot of scope to operate turbines better, to improve power output, reduce maintenance costs, et cetera, and y- a lot of companies are taking advantage of that. Even Patlow has some projects going on in that sort of area. What do you think about the impact this will be? Is India planning to develop their entire own ecosystem for that aspect of the industry? I  Yolanda Padron: mean, it looks like it, right? Which is really, I mean, kind of groundbreaking. I know that we talked a couple weeks ago about Europe sort of being a little bit scared of bringing in, um, different manufacturers from Asia, um, and just the, the idea of cybersecurity being something really prevalent and really important to all of these people. So just if India starts siloing everything and that works, maybe that’ll translate to Europe.  Rosemary Barnes: Do you think that it, it can work? Has India [00:02:00] got the expertise in place already to, to make this work, or is this gonna be a real, like, handbrake on their, their wind industry continuing to develop as fast as it has been? Yolanda Padron: I mean, I’m really curious to see it because I don’t know if they’ll bring in a lot more experts to be able to, to do that.  Rosemary Barnes: I know the Indian, um, operating environment is quite different to other locations. I mean, it’s, it’s similar in a way to Australia in its dissimilarity, if that makes sense. I, I think there’s a lot of really India-specific problems, so of course Indian companies are gonna be best placed to take advantage of that. But what we’ve seen so far is a lot of, uh, companies from Europe or America coming in to y- you know, like tweak the way that they attack similar problems in other markets. They’re, you know, moving in to understand India better and take advantage of that. Now, of course, like not every smart operating method or aerodynamic improvement, they don’t all need [00:03:00] real-time data, and probably most of them don’t actually. So I think it’s not gonna like s- snip off this entire kind of improvement. But it is really interesting. It’s quite, like it is quite severe, the restrictions, and I haven’t heard of any other market, um, that is doing that. I, I don’t know, do you think it’s warranted or is it maybe like overly paranoid? I know when I heard that in, um, in Europe they’re not allowing Chinese manufacturers of inverters, for example, and I just felt like, “Ugh, is that a bit over the top?” I’m not sure. Um, yeah, what’s your opinion, Yolanda?  Yolanda Padron: I think it, it might be a little bit over the top. We live in such a globalized world that the idea of one country just siloing completely is, is a little bit strange to me. But- I guess if, if that’s, they have a, a reason for concern, then I guess it might make sense. But to your earlier point, like, I don’t know if the cost of doing this [00:04:00]would also come into play  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, I think that there’s always a, a, a trade-off. It’s like when you have any kind of l- local content rule, which is similar in a way because it forces, um, yeah, it, it forces your own ecosystem to develop, and that’s, that’s great. Like, it is a missed opportunity if you just have, you know, like a huge new industry and you just import it all, then that i- is a lost opportunity for your own economy. But I mean, in the past, India has had pretty strong local content rules, and they do have a bunch of wind energy manufacturing, um, within the country. They are a country known for really great engineering, so it’s for sure not beyond them to, you know, step up. So yeah, I guess time will tell if this is a smart move from that point of view. I don’t think it’s actually the motivation behind this rule. I think it’s more of a, like, a cybersecurity, um, kind of perspective where you don’t want, you know, overseas companies having the ability to shut down your energy system, for example. Um, [00:05:00] so yeah, but it, it has the potential to have that other effect of, you know, like boosting the local industry or alternatively just slowing down the whole industry because they can’t get anything done. I guess that’s always that balance that you need to, need to look at when you’re looking at local content. So India is deciding who gets to control the data inside a turbine. Our next story is about something inside that same turbine nobody controls yet, the air moving across a blade that isn’t turning. A parked turbine might look like the safest thing on the site. Blades are locked, the rotor’s still, nothing turning, nothing generating. But a new study says that stillness is not safety. When the rotor is locked and the wind shifts, air can strike the trailing edge first and travel backwards across the blade. That is reverse flow, and in reverse flow, the models this industry uses to predict blade loads start to fall apart. Field data cited in the study suggests blades on turbines above 15 megawatts can go aerodynamically [00:06:00]unstable at winds as low as eight meters per second. That is nowhere near a storm. So this is actually already definitely a known issue, and I know that modern wind turbines don’t usually park with locked rotors, right, Yolanda?  Yolanda Padron: Yeah.  Rosemary Barnes: We, we saw that a locked rotor during installation was one of the causes of the Vineyard Wind fiasco, right? Where broken blade pieces washed up on the beach. So definitely something that’s known about.  Yolanda Padron: And it’s something that even onshore you have a, you have your system so that it tracks sort of where the wind is coming from. So even if it’s stopped, it won’t just be stopped at a specific angle, particularly in case the, the winds shift.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, and I’ve seen examples of blades failing when, um, there was a storm and there was power lost, so they weren’t able to yaw or pitch a turbine, and that also can cause… Like, any time that- Wind is going in a different direction than what the turbine desi- was designed for, you’ll get unpredictable stuff happening and often, [00:07:00] like, really bad loads. Like the harshest, um, conditions, loading conditions that a wind turbine blade has to withstand is not in operation. It’s if you’ve got just wind hitting like a bluff body, they call it, where a gust of wind just hits flat on the blade and tries to bend it. Like that is way, way stronger loading than, um, than anything it would see operationally. If you’re looking at, you know, like a really severe storm, like a one in 50 year kind of, um, wind speeds, and then if you have flow going on weird angles where it’s creating lift, then you can ratchet up those loads even more. So for sure a known issue. This study, it, it singled out turbines above 15 megawatts, which are huge. That’s a, you know, like a big offshore wind turbine. But I don’t think it’s limited to that. Like what would you think, Yolanda? Is this, is this like purely a big blades thing, or is this something that actually all wind turbines need to take into account? Yolanda Padron: Oh, this is definitely something that all wind turbines need to take into account. It’s something that we’ve seen a lot in the [00:08:00] US as well, um, onshore and s- wind f- uh, smaller wind farms and wind farms that have, you know, 200 plus, um, wind turbines on them, uh, the, the 1X or 2X turbines. Uh, this is also ver- a, a reason that it’s really important, right, to check your systems constantly, and I know that a lot of the, the owner/operators do that, um, in their regular maintenance checks. Um, but it’s, it’s, it’s an issue that, uh, if you don’t have the correct systems in place or if you just remotely reset things, uh, because you see an error that maybe you thought, “Oh, that, that must be just a glitch,” uh, then you start having issues like this that can cause catastrophic failures, not just on the blade but on the turbine itself if, if the blade ends up hitting the turbine, um, it, it ends up hitting the, the tower itself. Uh, and then [00:09:00] a similar issue, um, that can happen too is when you don’t have the correct systems in place for, for an emergency, and so the turbine can just overspin, and that also causes a lot of blade failures, uh, both onshore and, and offshore as well. But I think onshore it’s, it’s just the, the wind farms are so big that it’s It’s easy or, or easier to miss, like, one or two turbines, um, when you’re doing those checks. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. And I think another issue with keeping the rotors locked out, and one of the big reasons why they moved to pinwheeling as the, you know, um, turbine off kind of configuration, was with the, the bearings, right? Like, it’s not good for the bearings to be totally stationary. Um, so I think that it’s better to, yeah, pinwheel. It’s lower loads on the bearings.  Yolanda Padron: Something, um, similar to this as well, right, and, and I think Wind Power posted about it the [00:10:00] other day, um, about just, oh, it’s really common for, for sites to, to think of, of a financial solution to, to negative pricing being just fully stopping turbines that might not be producing at positive pricing. Um, and then, uh, that can also cause a lot of loading issues because you’re, you’re having a, a turbine at, at full capacity, and then it just stops.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, that’s true. The braking loads are, are one of the more extreme loads that turbines have to withstand also. I mean, hopefully if they’re curtailing, um, voluntarily, uh, they’re not doing an emergency brake kind of level. I hope that they’re being a bit more gentle on their turbines, but yeah, for sure, like, the easiest thing for a turbine to do is just operate normally its whole lifetime. That’s exactly what it was designed to do, and anything that deviates from that can reduce the t- life of the turbine, complicate things. So machines keep getting bigger, and the physics keep [00:11:00] getting harder. Meanwhile, the map keeps getting wider. Next, a Chinese manufacturer planting both turbines and spare parts across Southeast Asia. Stay with us Speaker: Are you overspending on lightning repairs? Most operators are because solving lightning damage is complicated. Weather Guard Lightning Tech helps operators reduce lightning damage. Our innovative StrikeTape lightning diverter protects over twenty thousand blades worldwide. Now, StrikeTape Ultra installs faster than ever. StrikeTape Ultra cures uptower in just fifteen minutes, even in cold weather. Visit weatherguardwind.com to schedule a call. Rosemary Barnes: China’s turbine makers are no longer just shipping machines. They are building the network that keeps those machines running. Envision Energy has secured its largest wind project in Vietnam, 200 megawatts with REE Energy, 25 [00:12:00] turbines, grid connection targeted for October 2027. It is also the company’s largest overseas nearshore project to date. And Batangas, Philippines, Envision has opened a distribution center holding major components and spare parts close to the projects that need them. Turbines first, then the parts network. Yelena, I’m just wondering if spare parts was a big headache for you when you worked in asset management, and do you think that this plan of, that Envision has is gonna be a successful one for Vietnam? Yolanda Padron: I think spare parts, having spare parts on site or near a site is always a good strategy. I know that sometimes it can get the, the accounting itself can get a little bit difficult because for at least, you know, in the US for tax purposes, you can’t really sell something from one project to another, so you, you have to be a little bit careful, um, as far as when you hold a part or you’re sending one part that might fit in multiple sites and where you’re technically buying that [00:13:00] from. Uh, but I think the spare parts that they’re having here I, I think it’s a, it’s a really good idea, right? Because oftentimes you might have a, a big, um, there might be a big queue for a particular component that fails years after, uh, it was produced, and then you– I mean, if you need it now and there’s a big queue now, then you need to wait until it can get to site, until it can be produced, until it’s your turn in line. Uh, and so just having those components on site or really close to the site I think is a really good idea.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, it’s really challenging. Like it’s, it, it’s easy to imagine how you could organize a spare parts network or, you know, just l- literally a bunch of warehouses holding spare parts for the kind of, you know, like one-off failures that happen routinely throughout a wind turbine’s life. But when you start to see a serial issue or if there’s just, you know, like statistically every now and then [00:14:00] you’ll get clusters of failures even if it’s not a serial issue, that’s when it starts to get really hard. So I know in Australia, and I’m sure it’s the case elsewhere, you kind of got to pair your spare parts inventory with the capability to repair and refurbish as well. Because sometimes it’s like, you know, you might do, like speaking of blades, which is my specialty, you might have a bill of, you know, maybe even a million dollars to do a really big repair on a blade, but that’s better than spending probably, honestly, the similar amount of money on a brand-new blade, but then that comes with a six-month or a 12-month, um, wait time. You know, like obviously you’re gonna save overall if you can get that turbine up faster. And we also see a lot of, um, in-country capabilities to refurbish, you know, all of the drivetrain components and, and everything like that, and I think that that is such an important complement. Like your spare parts strategy should never just be about having them physically sitting there, ’cause if you were [00:15:00] to have enough to cover any situation, then, you know, most of your components would go unused over the, the lifetime of the wind farm. And it’s not like they’re just swap in, swap out for any different wind turbine, right? Like they are usually quite turbine specific.  Yolanda Padron: I completely agree with the idea, especially with blades and how trif- tricky some of the new blades and their, their repair processes can be. It’s really important to have a plan and not necessarily just, “Okay, now I’m gonna throw this one out and bring in a new one, and always hold a new one,” because that’s really expensive. Um, and it’s also really, really important to, uh, that doesn’t matter what particular part it is, that whatever storage facility you’re using, that you’re, you make sure that the environmental factors impacting the spare parts are taken care of, right? So, um, I know I’ve seen spare parts for a battery site or spare parts for a solar site, uh, that just kind of end up degrading even more than the parts that were in [00:16:00] operations because no one was really looking at them. They were just outside in the elements, and then you just wasted millions and millions of dollars for really nothing. Um, something that you need to take to the landfill eventually or report.  Rosemary Barnes: Hopefully recycle it if it’s electronic waste.  Yolanda Padron: I completely agree that to, to be able to, to have any sort of replacement strategy, you, or any sort of spare parts strategy, you need to make sure that, that the replacement strategy is there and that the refurbishment strategy is there. If there’s anything that you can recycle in-house and use in-house, that’s a lot better than just landfilling anything or sending anything to be recycled elsewhere where it just piles and piles and piles up.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I think also it’s reassuring if you’re buying wind turbines from maybe a, a less well-known manufacturer or less well-known in your country, I think it is reassuring to have a, like just a stack of spare parts on site, because that will give you the confidence that if [00:17:00] and when things start to go wrong, you know, a few years into the wind farm’s operation, you are gonna have that capability. ‘Cause I think it is, like it’s a big leap to move away from the really, really well-known, uh, manufacturers into some of the less well-known ones and have the confidence that y- you know, you wouldn’t have any- anyone to ask what they’re like for service, uh, for example, and you might also not have confidence that they’re even gonna exist in, you know, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years’ time. So having the parts on site can give you that confidence. Although, as you say, if those parts aren’t actually functional when you go to use them, that can be worse than not having them in the first place because you thought that you were okay and then you find yourself scrambling. That’s not ideal at all. Yolanda Padron: Yeah, I completely agree. I did hear about someone who, um, had a, a blade that they They thought they, they didn’t really have the capabilities in-house to, to restore it, and so they sent it to be recycled, [00:18:00] and then later it was sold to them by their OEM, um, on site. And so I think that also speaks to the… And, and it was just because someone noticed the serial number was exactly the same and kind of noticed. It was, it was really honestly kind of a funny, funny thing in retrospect. But, uh, and it, it just speaks to the idea of you really need to understand if you’re holding spare parts and, and just in general, even if you don’t wanna hold spare parts. Um, the idea of being able to refurbish or have a plan to be able to refurbish the, the materials that you have on site is really, really, really important because it can save you so much money. I mean, the, I mean, the, for that case, just the, the transportation costs of hauling the blade off, of paying someone to recycle it, of paying for a new blade, um, and everything just to kind of be bamboozled in that way where you could’ve just repaired it on site is, is It’s almost a no-brainer, yeah. Rosemary Barnes: I gotta say, that’s like a real recycling win, right? Like, you can’t get [00:19:00] better than, than that. Uh, you know, you had a blade, you recycle it into a blade. It’s, you know, performing exactly the same function, better than shredding it and hiding it in a, you know, a footpath, a sidewalk, or something like that. Stay with China a moment longer, because the product strategy tells you as much as the project map. Mingyang Smart Energy has unveiled the Tianchi MCD 5 MW turbine at its factory in Guizhou. It’s the first machine in the company’s new medium-speed compact drive platform, a semi-direct drive that Mingyang says cuts component count by 60%. And it is built for sites nobody used to bother with: mountains, plateaus, places where the wind averages four and a half meters per second. Now, Yolanda, 5 MW is pretty big for an onshore turbine in locations. It sounds like, you know, these locations, aside from the, like, less than ideal wind resource, also sounds like places where it’s actually, you know, transport might be a bit of a constraint. I wonder what their strategy [00:20:00] is gonna be to get those large components and installation equipment in.  Yolanda Padron: Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s not gonna be the first site, I think, that we’ve seen that where they have to develop some sort of game-changing vessel or crane or something to be able to, to get things, uh, to the site. Uh, my, my first thought honestly was just kind of like, “Oh goodness, that might be a lightning nightmare depending on, on where they’re located.”  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, that’s true. Like we’ve seen in Japan, they have all their turbines on the ridges where the wind speeds are great, at least. Um, but they have been just absolutely destroyed by lightning, like really, really dealing with extreme situations. I think also, like these are low wind speed sites. Like what, what did they say? Four and a half meters per second average wind speeds? I mean, that’s like half what you would consider a good, a good site, right? And we know that the power in wind, it goes, like it increases with the cube of wind [00:21:00] speed. So, um, you know, like if you double the wind speed, you get eight times as much power. So it’s like all of the challenges associated with a high wind speed site in the mountains or, you know, somewhere tricky to get to you know, at least you’ve got eight times the power to make up for the effort of maintaining it. Uh, just it seems like, like a lot of effort to get to a low wind speed site, right? I think these turbines, the cut-in wind speed is gonna be two and a half meters per second, so you know, again, like you can reduce your, yeah, like the, the wind speed a- again by another factor of eight. It’s almost nothing at that wind speed. It really, yeah, I don’t know that you can make up for a low wind speed site by having a really low cut-in wind speed, right? Like, you’re still gonna end up with low power across the board.  Yolanda Padron: Yeah, and it’s, it’s strange too, I mean, we said it’s, it’s a mountainous region, right? And so, and the transportation [00:22:00] in itself, I mean, we talked about the idea of bringing them in is gonna be difficult. But I know that a lot of times we see a lot of blades that have issues down the line because of the transportation issues and because of the way that maybe they, they didn’t use the lifting points right, and there might be a lot more transportation issues or damages from transportation on the site if they come in and it’s a completely different terrain that they’re used to. Uh, and teams have to build in a completely different terrain to- that- than they’re used to, then that might also cause problems down the line. Not to mention the idea that I know sometimes in sites where there’s already roads, uh, it, it, because of the position of the turbines, because of the, the way that things are, are mapped out in development and construction, sometimes it’s a, a hassle for operations to, to get the correct cranes or trucks or everything in there to do any sort of maintenance. Uh, so [00:23:00] I can’t imagine in a place where it’s just really, really difficult to get to in general.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, and especially over the lifetime, you know, maintenance i- is gonna be such a challenge. So I think that it sounds like they’re aware of that because their emphasis with this new platform, dropping the component count by 60%, that’s a claim from Ming Yang that I haven’t seen the details of. It seems highly implausible but, um, yeah, I would wanna look into that a bit more to believe it. But they also say that their new bearings and gearbox features lift reliability by 10%, so yeah, I think that that is going to make their job a little bit easier, but yeah, I don’t know if it’s enough that would make me wanna invest in a wind farm with a, what was the number? Four and a half meters per second average wind speed. Seems marginal at best. So new machines for marginal sites built in China and priced to compete. Now let’s move [00:24:00] to Denmark, where the employment numbers show what that competition feels like from the other side. Back in a moment. Speaker 4: Delamination and bondline failures in blades are difficult problems to detect early. These hidden issues can cost you millions in repairs and lost energy production. CIC NDT are specialists to detect these critical flaws before they become expensive burdens. Their nondestructive test technology penetrates deep into blade materials to find voids and cracks traditional inspections completely miss. CIC NDT maps every critical defect, delivers actionable reports, and provides support to get your blades back in service. So visit cicndt.com because catching blade problems early will save you millions Rosemary Barnes: Numbers out of Denmark tell two stories at once. Green Power Denmark counted [00:25:00] just under 110,000 full-time jobs across the Danish energy sector in 2025. That is up 1,526 positions or 1.4%, slightly ahead of Danish employment overall. That is the good news. Inside the wind sector, employment fell to 32,700, a drop of roughly 500. Green Power Denmark blames international competition and unfavorable market conditions. Its chief economist calls the dip normal You know what, Yolanda? I think that if Denmark’s labor market is weak in the wind industry, there are many countries outside of Denmark that would wanna snap up that talent. I know that my own company, Pardalote, is included in those numbers of people that would really like to have Danish talent. I’m trying to s- hire someone currently that’s got wind turbine blade expertise, and I tell you what, that is not easy to do in Australia. So I would say if there are any Danes listening or watching who fancy a move to Australia, then please do get in touch [00:26:00]if you have some excellent wind turbine blade experience. Yolanda Padron: You guys would have a lovely, lovely boss. I’ve- I just gotta say that. The learnings that you have in Denmark and just the, the, the school- not just from the schooling, the, the onsite, I mean, it- it’s just historically Denmark’s been really, really great in, in wind. And there’s just so many bright minds, um, that d- I mean, if, if they can’t find a j- a job in Denmark, then I, I agree that there’s a lot of places in wind that if they’re, they’re okay with moving, they’ll, they’ll find a, a good spot that’ll receive them really happily. Rosemary Barnes: I know it is a bit of a, like, a cultural blocker. Danes more than other nationalities that I know are, are really, um, I don’t wanna say attached, it makes it sound like not quite the word I’m looking for, but they, they do really appreciate the region that they’re from and, you know, family is so important to Danes, so not the easiest thing [00:27:00] to just say, “Just move to the other side of the world.” But you know, I did it. It, it can be done and, uh, yeah, Australia is, has got very nice weather, especially at the moment. It’s, um, it’s gonna be… It’s been, like, in the high teens Celsius all this week, and this is, I’m in Canberra in still winter and, uh, yeah, like, on the weekend it’s gonna be 20 degrees. It’s, you know, normally 15 degrees is a really great one-off day in winter. It was my birthday this week and in Denmark there is a, a saying or a, you know, a belief that if you have good weather on your birthday, then that means that you must have been really good all year. And the weather was just, like, unprecedentedly good for my birthday, um, yeah, for a winter day. So obviously I was very, very good this year. Yolanda Padron: You’re a great person, and happy belated birthday.  Rosemary Barnes: Thank you. But it is something that I say every time we get another story about another Danish wind energy company that’s, you know, doing layoffs and, you know, I’m honestly surprised that it’s [00:28:00] only 500 fallen in wind energy. If you look at, like, even just the job losses at LM Wind Power alone, um, I think that it would be about that many, right? And so there are obviously some other companies um, growing to absorb some of the job losses, ’cause for sure we’ve covered more than 500 job losses just on the show. But I know I always feel really sad, um, not just for the people involved who y- you know, probably love wind energy and wanted to work in that field, but I feel sad that, you know, this was such a strength for Denmark, their, their wind industry, that they had been, you know, developing this expertise since the ’70s, honestly. Uh, really, really world leading and, uh, of course, like, globalization means that you can’t, like, stay siloed forever, and Denmark obviously also took advantage of that globalization to, you know, export. Wind industry was a huge export market for Denmark, and still is. Um, but I do, I, I just feel really bad at the companies that are losing, um, all of that, you know, institutional [00:29:00]knowledge and the really, really deep specialist knowledge. It’s, um, yeah. Uh, and they’ll go on to, you know, bring new skills to other industries, but it just makes me sad. As a wind energy lover and, um, you know, somebody who has a lot of friends that work in wind industry in Denmark, I do feel, feel sad. And there are some of my old colleagues who are amazing, like, literally the best engineer that I ever worked with, an electrical engineer, it, it was not easy for him to find a new job in wind. I’m actually not sure if he’s working in that industry now. And plenty of other, like, really, really talented engineers that have gone on to other, um, yeah, other different kinds of industries, and it just makes me a little bit sad.  Yolanda Padron: Yeah. I mean, there are a lot of people too that are com- And I agree, it’s sad. It’s really sad. But I, there are a lot of people too, some friends that, uh, just, you know, started doing consulting on their own, and it’s, it’s good to see that they’re still in wind, you know? Because they’re, they, they’re so smart and they have so much knowledge of so many years in the industry that they bring to the table, um, [00:30:00] that, I mean, it, it might even work out better for them, right? Because maybe now they’re not just wor- focusing on Denmark itself, and now they get to, to expand and do what they evidently love to do, uh, the, for clients around the world, which is really exciting.  Rosemary Barnes: Well, that wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy podcast, and my first as the primary host of the show, so let me know if you think I did a terrible job in the comments. Comments boost engagement, make me look better. So if today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us on LinkedIn, and if you found value in today’s conversation, please leave us a review. It really helps other wind energy professionals discover the show. And don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. For Yolanda, and Matthew and Allen Hall in their absence, I’m Rosemary Barnes, and we’ll see you here next week on the Uptime Wind Energy [00:31:00] podcast.

Join hosts Mike Herzing and Jeremy Birenbaum for a fast-paced episode covering an OEM's unconventional "wack it with a hammer" diagnostic for V6 engines, another's driveshaft recall and “glue it” fix, a review of the 2026 Chevy Silverado ZR2, and a conversation with former racer Meril Moen about getting back into track days. They also answer listener questions about Dakota batteries, widespread backup-camera recalls, and classic Malibu/Chevelle choices.

Lots upon which to focus after the (last) Dutch GP at Zandvoort, as can be seen from the chapter headings below.  The race resulted in a second consecutive victory for McLaren-Mercedes' Lando Norris.  Mercedes finished two-three ahead of the two Ferraris - but there was plenty of intra-team in-fighting behind those four results...particularly at Ferrari. Max Verstappen's race ended with a high-speed crash on lap one; Oscar Piastri was well-placed on hard Pirellis before his team unaccountably stopped him early; and Fernando Alonso was in the points for the first time with the Aston Martin-Honda.Chapter headings:00:00 How Kimi Antonelli drove the Dutch GP03:45 Charles Leclerc's attitude was no surprise 08:45 Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari 16:15 Fernando Alonso's Race Strategy20:00 Driver Radio and On-Track Incidents25:00 Lewis Hamilton's Zandvoort Aggression31:14 Ferrari's Struggles 40:00 Ferrari's Untimed Practice Drama42:30 Williams Driver Policy and Talent46:16 Carlos Sainz: Long Corner Driving50:00 Today vs yesterday55:00 Toto Wolff's Driver Development Approach58:45 George Russell and Antonelli1:02:30 Lewis Hamilton's Strategy 1:10:00 Williams and Charles Leclerc Assessment1:16:16 Lewis Hamilton's Race Potential1:23:43 Kimi Antonelli's short corners1:27:30 Pathways to Formula 11:33:46 Daniel Ricciardo's F1 talent1:36:15 Constructor's Championship Strategy1:40:00 Red Bull's sponsorship contibutions1:43:44 Great drivers never to have raced in F1Visit our new merchandise store to Make Corners Great Again! https://sl1nk.com/l0uanyxAlternative race stats courtesy of Aleš Norskŷ:www.GPfactsandnumbers.com With thanks to Jetcraft, the world's largest buyer and seller of executive jets: https://jetcraft.comTo TrackNinja, a lap-timer and data app designed to help users improve their on-track car and driver performance through analysis and an innovative Data Garage. A lite version is free; the loaded edition is US$9.99 pcm or $99.99 yearly: https://trackninja.appTo OEM Exclusive, the passionate suppliers of OEM upgrades for exotic and high-performance vehiclesAnd to REC Watches, whose timepieces are infused with DNA and actual material from famous racing and road cars. Claim your additional 10 per cent discount by adding the codeword PETER:https://recwatches.com/next-projectImages: McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Audi, Pirelli and Red BullMusic: Rain over Kyoto Station (The Mini Vandals); Science Montage (Jeremy Blake)Visit https://alpinestars.com for all your racing apparelVisit: https://fxdworkwear.com for all your purpose-build, technical workwearFollow Peter @peterwindsorBook a Cameo with Peter: https://cameo.com/peterwindsorContact us at: peterwindsoryt@gmail.comWe support the Race Against Dementia:https://raceagainstdementia.comThe Alora dog rescue shelter (Malaga, Spain)https://aloradogrescue.com#standwithukraine - now, more than ever#Canada! #jimmykimmel!Stephen Gallacher Golf Foundationhttps://sgfoundation.co.ukNick: you're with us always:https://samaritans.org“Being There: Stories from the Road Where We Keep the Rubber Side Down”Award-winning motorcycle stories from a father, brought to life by his son.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showVisit: https://youtube.com/peterwindsor for F1 videos past, present and future

At the 2026 iVT Off-Highway Expo in Chicago, Fluid Power Forum guest host Ben Brown interviews Tim Opperwall of Husco about the value of iVT for connecting customers, suppliers, and competitors, and what Husco is exhibiting at the show. Opperwall highlights Husco's GenSteer steer-by-wire technology, a CONEXPO Next Level Awards first-place winner, shown in a live demo with updates based on OEM and end-user feedback. GenSteer is positioned as a safer, simpler, more cost-feasible approach that uses operator energy as fail-functional backup in loss-of-power or controller scenarios, removes hydraulics from the cab, and enables compact, integrated steering architecture—"redundancy without replication." He also mentions Husco products including MX7 and M Series solenoids, and directs listeners to husco.com. Connect with our guest host, Ben Brown, at bbrown@nfpa.com. Connect with our guest, Tim Opperwall, at timothy.opperwall@husco.com. Learn more about Husco at husco.com. Find and share more interesting fluid power technologies and unique applications using #onlyfluidpowercan and follow podcast and other fluid power industry-related updates at @TheNFPA.

Don't Race Pacific Raceways Until You Watch This Track WalkIn this Ferrari 500 Episode 448 (gotta listen to find out why episode 448 is named after the 550 Barchetta Pininfarina, which is 485hp of V12 with a canvas tent in the trunk )... Chris has fuel in his air, Chrissy gives a ladder 101 lesson, Tim waits 3 days for wine while Mental breaks a 1 of 1 valve cover.Fifty cars, nine turns, one blind corner with a concrete wall at the apex — and a crowd sitting right behind it. This is the Everyone Racers Pacific Raceways track walk you want in your head before the green flag drops in Kent, Washington this weekend.Episode 448 is our full 24 Hours of Lemons Pacific Raceways preview: the weekend schedule, the weather, the entry list, and our patented E1R Virtual Track Walk, a turn-by-turn Pacific Raceways track guide from people who have judged it, raced it, and gotten it wrong in front of witnesses.If you're a first-time Pacific Raceways racer, or you're an armchair endurance racer who just likes hearing how a 2.25-mile road course bolted onto a drag strip actually drives, hit SUBSCRIBE. We do this every single week, for free, for the world of low-dollar racing and oddball car culture.WHAT'S IN THIS EPISODEWHAT CHA WORKING ON?? - A cracked, discontinued VW valve cover that nearly killed a Bonneville land speed run - A direct-injection outboard troubleshooting saga in real timeNEWS & NOTES: New York fire departments drag racing ladder trucks (yes, the crew jumps off while it's moving), Colombia's semi-truck autocross with the trailers still attached, and DoorDash now delivering OEM dealer parts same daySHOW ME YOUR JUNK: a 1989 TVR Tuscan Challenge — 400hp Rover V8, 2,000 lbs, $27,500The 50-car Lemons entry list, including a 1963 Studebaker Avanti and a '74 Datsun 620 pickupFull weekend schedule: gates, testing day, BS tech, driver's meeting, awards ceremony, Kent WA race weekend weather forecast, and yes, there's rain in it. Quiet hours, no fluid disposal, no power, and why the fuel pumps are a very long walkEveryone Racers is a weekly amateur endurance racing podcast for people who build cheap race cars and drive them hard — Lemons, ChampCar, LuckyDog, SCCA, NASA. We don't discriminate.Got a question or a show topic? Drop it in the comments — we answer them on the air. Email: everyoneracers@gmail.com Instagram / Facebook: @everyoneracersSUBSCRIBE for a new episode every week. We're chasing 1,000 subscribers — you clicking that button genuinely moves the needle.#24HoursOfLemons #PacificRaceways #EnduranceRacing

Blade specialist Morten Handberg on when an RCA pays off, what SCADA data can and cannot tell you, and why erosion gets written off as wear and tear. The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech, creators of the StrikeTape Ultra LPS retrofit. Subscribe to Uptime’s Substack newsletter. And check out Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” Youtube channel. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Welcome to Uptime Spotlight, shining light on wind energy’s brightest innovators. This is the progress powering tomorrow Allen Hall: Morten, welcome back to the program.  Morten Handberg: Thanks, Allen. It’s so– It’s, it’s so such a great, great pleasure to be back again.  Allen Hall: We have a lot to talk about today because of root cause analysis and the number of operators that are really struggling with RCAs, of when to do them or when not to go down the RCA pathway. It, it– There’s a, a ton of confusion in the industry about it, and we thought, well, this would be a great time for Morten to come back and explain when is the right time for an RCA. So Morten, when is the right time for an RCA? What should we look for? Or wh- how big of the problem sh-should it be [00:01:00]before I find somebody to help me do this RCA? Morten Handberg: So the obvious question is typically when something really bad happens, then I think everyone can agree that, you know, we should definitely do an RCA to get to the bottom of this. And that’s also just from a– It’s both from a technical perspective to sort of figure out, you know, why did this happen, and, you know, um, who… Well, what is the, what is the main cause? Is it, is it something that, you know, it was happening while we were operating the asset, be it turbine or whatever? Uh, was it something that was inert in the bla- in the, in the turbine, the blade, the gearbox that was just waiting to happen? So that’s always very important to know. Also because it tells you what is the chance of this happening again, you know, and, and can you prevent it in a meaningful way? Um, and there’s also a, a safety aspect to it because it’s– so it also tells, you know, uh, what if, you know, you don’t want blade falling left and right. You don’t want gearbox ex- [00:02:00] gearboxes exploding. You don’t want towers to collapse. We can all agree on that. Uh, and you don’t want this to happen because you don’t, you don’t want to run the risk that someone gets hurt, uh, hurt by it. So then RCA is a really important tool to investigate and find out, well, what happened here, and how can we prevent it, and what is the chances that it happens another time? So that, that is sort of the– That we can always agree and we would do it when, when something really terrible happens. Then there is the, you know, not so critical ones where, you know, you are just in time, uh, that, that, that you catch it, and then the question is, what is the– when is then the right time for that? Allen Hall: There seems to be a couple of phases in the lifespan of a turbine where the RCA, it becomes a little more critical. In that first year or two, particularly if the turbine is under warranty or you’re getting close to the end of the warranty, there– at least from a lot of operators I have spoken with, that, uh, [00:03:00] they would like to do an RCA as more of a documentation of what has happened on the site to then maybe claim serial defect maybe l- at another point. There’s just like the record-keeping part of RCAs, which I’m not sure is the right level of effort for what you’re trying to accomplish. Is, is the RCA the right approach there if you have a, a gearbox issue or a blade issue early in the life cycle of a turbine?  Morten Handberg: There is definitely before the end of warranty, there is a, there is an, there is an aspect, you know, when should you actually do an RCA? And it should, it, it should benefit you in a way where you can– where there is an economical benefit, because it might not be a massive critical issue, but something that will lead to a lot of maintenance down the t- down the line. Um, but if you want to make it successful in the warranty claim, then you really need to know what is the, what is the cost behind it. Is it wear and tear? Is it [00:04:00] a manufacturing defect? Is it, uh, environmental conditions, uh, that are, that are causing it? And these, these becomes really important. That’s also why you can, you, you can, you can do an RCA on erosion, uh, because it, it can be important if you see massive, uh, erosion degradation that you really want to understand, what are my local conditions? Um, and a good example here is Australia, because Australia doesn’t work like Europe. We– You can take all the experiences we have from Europe, but it does not work in Australia. So you might want to do your, your, uh, root cause on that specific issue localized, uh, to really understand it, and that’s when RCA becomes really strong to sort of find out what are the underlying mechanisms, uh, that enables this. But you can also pour in a lot of cost and effort into relatively minor defects, uh, or issues, um, where it does not really benefit you in the long run, and that will always be a challenge before end of warranty because you don’t really know what will, [00:05:00] what will hit you down the long run, and that’s where you, you know, then, then it becomes more of a strategic decision. You know, breaking bolts, if you’ve seen one, maybe you don’t want to do an RCA on it. That does not really seem to matter to you that much. It’s just random occurrence. But if you start to see it, uh, in, in quick succession on multiple turbines, adjacent bolts, then it’s important for several reasons. One, you might– If you’re still within warranty, you really wanna know why is this happening and, and how do you fix it long term so this not– does not become a headache for the next 25 years? Um, so you want to, you want– you really want to understand that. And two You can, you can live with a few broken bolts on the blade, but there, there will become a critical point where the blade will liberate and then, uh, it will, it will col- it will, it will, yeah, leave the turbine or, or collapse on its own, uh, depending on the turbine model. And, and that is really critical to, to, uh, to avoid and, and to, uh, to [00:06:00]understand that. Um, and maybe the outcome of the idea of the RCA is monitoring, but that is a really important knowledge to have.  Allen Hall: That’s a good point about the monitoring aspect because I think a lot of times when a operator chooses to go down the RCA path, what they’re expecting is just to get a report of this is the conditions that created the damage or created the unexpected outcome Uh, it, sometimes you may not be able to get to that final answer, and the answer can be, we need to put conditioning monitoring on to have a better understanding of what the fault is. That’s not a invalid RCA. That’s a really useful tool. But a lot of operators don’t think of an RCA as being that sort of outcome. That, that is actually where a lot of the industry problems can be solved, right, is to get the engineering up in upfront to then maybe have a little longer time or maybe instrument another [00:07:00] turbine to see how big this problem is. I- is, is that the approach that which you would, uh, aspire to apply to some of these wind sites today?  Morten Handberg: I think that monitoring, uh, understanding the monitoring requirements is a very critical point, uh, outcome of an RCA. Both– And you can use it both during your investigation to sort of find out when you have, you know, uh, to, to find out how do you detect it efficiently, uh, but also what are the right methodologies and what is it actually that you want to achieve, uh, with mitigating this issue, and then what, what kind of, what kind of monitoring do you need. So for instance, if you have, if you have, if you have cracks starting in your laminate, you know, do you need acoustics? Uh, do you need deflection monitoring? Um, is it es- is it vibration monitoring, or is it, um, or is it some kind of, uh, video monitoring, um, that or, or infrared scan that, that, that you need to, to keep, um, to, to, to ca- And again, the essential [00:08:00] part is then how do you catch it in time that it does not become a critical issue? Uh, and, and then by using the RCA to find out, well, what is the best methodology to, to detect this and detect it in a cost-effective way, uh, that, that leaves you in, in good shape to, to maintain your turbines. That is a, you know, that is a really strong value proposition for the RCA.  Allen Hall: Morten, when I talk to a lot of operators about doing an RCA, uh, they don’t have access to high-speed scada, scada data. They, they have access to low speed, depending on what their arrangement is with the OEM. Uh It’s really hard to get the high-resolution data, and they do not have the algorithms that maybe be able to tell them something about the turbine. They’ll just have sort of raw data streams. How important is it to get some of that high-speed data and the understanding of how that turbine is working as a, a fault [00:09:00] happens or s- some sort of failure happens? Morten Handberg: It kinda depends on what it is that you’re, that you’re looking for. So for a lot of… for, for, so for SCADA data, it will, it will give you, um, a more holistic view of what, how the turbine is performing. It will give you the power production, wind speeds, wind turbine, uh, the blade pitching. Um, so it kinda gives you an understanding about how it is, how, how it is operating, but it st- does not really give you any specifics about the condition of, of the blades, of the gearbox, of the bearing, of the main shaft, of the tower. So, um, so it does, so you don’t really have any, any detailed sense of that. You do have alarm logs, and they can be quite important. But in order for, uh, to sort of, uh, to tie that in with the failure that you’re seeing, you have, need to have a very, uh, a very strong sense of, you know, have, need to have an accurate sense of when did this actually happen. So establishing the timeline of when the failure occurred, that, that sorta increases [00:10:00] the value of SCADA data. Um, so you can– The, one of the things you can learn from SCADA data is you can see the performance was, were, versus what, how the power production is. And then you can start to see, you can start to see how the, you know, if there’s any deviation, um, uh, that ties up in environmental conditions that, that sort of, that would affect the, the, uh, any of the turbine components. And then SCADA data can be a very, uh, very important tool in addition to your other analysis. But you still need… But SCADA data is only a part of it, and it will only give you a s- a sense of, uh, com- with the alarm logs, it will give you, it will give you, it sorta help you build the timeline of what actually happened here. And I can give you an example. So- If we’re looking at a blade failure, and we sort of know, well, the blade broke in half at a certain point in time. It was, uh, a very rapid occurrence, so it, it was not something that happened over a very long period of time. It was, it was a quick succession. When [00:11:00] did we start to go wrong? Um, then scatter data can be really good to sort of, you know when it failed because the turbine did restart. But was that when things went wrong? Not necessarily. Uh, there could be times before that when you could have had tower oscillation, so shock effects. It can, it can be, um, it can be, uh, alarms from the pitch system that says, you know, the, that there is something with the blade. It does not really behave right or that it can’t really turn right. Um, and/or the, the turbine does not really produce as it should. That can then, that can then help you establish, okay, how far back is this actually? When, when does this really start from when it collapsed and then when does the issue started to occur? Um, so then, then, then scatter data becomes useful, but it’s not something that will tell you it was lightning, it was manufacturing, uh, or otherwise. That scatter data doesn’t really work for that, but it helps you establish the timeline of it.  Allen Hall: All right. That’s very interesting, uh, because I think that plays into some of the questions about [00:12:00] insurance and when you have a damage or some situation where you have had exceeded the deductible, right? So you’re, you’re, now you’re into a couple hundred thousand dollars of a claim of some sort. There’s two opposing opinions about RCAs that right there is, one is I’m gonna file a claim. The insurer will perform the RCA and come back to me with what actually happened, and then we can figure out the financial details. The other side is, I wanna have an RCA so when I hear back from the insurer, uh, that they, uh, my RCA aligns with their RCA, that we’re in agreement. And if we’re not in agreement, uh, how do we handle the difference? What is the right approach there? Is there a right approach there?  Morten Handberg: Often where you would start is, uh, you would actually a- if, if there is an issue and you’re, as an operator, is concerned, you would often start with going to your OEM and saying, “Hey- We see [00:13:00] this. This does not seem right, or this component failed. We need you to provide an, an RCA and if you have a good contract, then the OEM is obliged, uh, to provide that. But that will state, that will be stated in, in your contract if they are required to do so. So I would, I would use my contract for that. Then if, uh, they don’t are required to perform an RCA, they don’t want to, or you’re unsatisfied with it or, and you have filed an insurance claim, then, uh, then there might be an obligation for you to carry out an RCA. Or there might be a strong desire for you to sort of either find out, well, is the OEM right? Um, or is there something I need to challenge them on here? And then an RCA become– And that, that, that’s when you want to do your own RCA. Uh, and then whether or not you, the insurer, uh, will do an RCA, that, that sort of depends on the, on the process of the claim. Uh, if there’s any, uh, if there’s a [00:14:00] contes- some, some contention, uh, between the parties. Um, more often than not, there is, there is a, there is collaboration between all parties if all are interested in, in seeing things coming to, to the right end, and that they use– sort of let the RCA be the, be the guiding star and that everyone can agree, okay, whatever the outcome of the RCA is, we’ll stand behind that as long as it’s carried out in a professional manner. And these different boxes that we want to have checked, that they are all verified and there’s documentation for it. So it can be an, it can be a good tool to, uh, to sort of, uh, have an alignment on the, um, on, on a, on a claims process, really.  Allen Hall: I wanna touch on how the OEMs play into the RCA. So l- let’s use the example which is happening here in the United States quite a bit, and also in Europe offshore, which is leading edge erosion And the question regarding wear and tear versus something that’s a claim, and [00:15:00] if ex- there’s been accelerated leading-edge erosion, trying to put a root cause to that. Is it a manufacturing issue? Is it a location issue? Is it a maintenance issue? It could be all of them or a combination thereof. Uh, how does that work? And is the RCA the right approach there just to put some markers in the ground as to what the issue really is or the underlying causes are?  Morten Handberg: Yes, but it has to be an independent RCA. Um, because there, um, if there is invested interest in having one result over the other, then there will always be distrust between the parties. Um, you know as well as me that a lot of leading-edge degradation, I would say, is being marked out, marked out as leading-edge erosion. Uh, but from some of our previous talks then, you know, there is very much difference in leading-edge erosion defects because you can have scratches, you can have voids, you can have, uh, peeling, chipping, and you can have erosion.[00:16:00] Um, but and, and they look very distinct, but often they get thrown into the same category, and they get thrown into the same cause, being wear and tear, which is ridiculous because, um, a lot of it is, uh, uh, uh, you know, some of the key defects they’re manufacturing with, uh, driven. So peeling and voids, that is manufacturing, and they are driving a lot of the erosion. But if that gets masked as erosion, then, well, it’s just an environmental de- effect, so we can’t really tell. And I think also, you know, a lot… there’s a lot of, uh, issues regarding leading-edge protection systems peeling off, and then they don’t work as well, which is also somewhat, you know, we, we talked about this before ear- earlier in the podcast, you know, Australia having their own issues. I think one of the issues that they have is environmental conditions, that’s very obvious, but that leading-edge protection systems are notoriously difficult to install there because of the hot and at times humid conditions, and they don’t work very well with a lot of [00:17:00] leading-edge, uh, products. So that would mean it’s not an environmental effect that caused a leading-edge erosion, uh, systems to fail, to fail. It’s the application. Um, does that mean that Australia need their own product? Yes, but they need systems that are reliable and applicable in their con- in their conditions that will lead to, uh, stronger durability. And again, that’s what you need the RCA to, to, to figure out. And if you have a, an RCA carried out by someone who wants it to be wear and tear, then regard- then unless you can… they, they, they come up with something else than wear and tear, you will always have a, a slight distrust in the result. So that’s why I would always argue, if you have concern for leading-edge erosion, then absolutely go to your O&M, figure out if they have a– if they’ve seen it before, they are keen to, to engage and provide a suitable solution and, and, you know, share actual knowledge. But I would always keep in back of my head that if, if you’re not [00:18:00]100% sure about their– them telling the right– you– they’re, they’re telling you the truth, I would get it sanity checked, and I would carry out my own independent study which is what a lot of O- O&Mers are doing.  Allen Hall: That’s a really important bit of information for sure, Morten. When going out to look for an RCA provider, what tends to happen, at least in the United States, and I think, uh, Australia can be this way at times and, and Europe definitely is, is that the chosen supplier of the RCA is one of the acronym companies. We all know who we’re talking about here. Just because they’re large in scale and they have a lot of capabilities, they have a lot of engineers, and, uh, they b- some of these things are pretty routine, and it does seem like they can, can do this job. But I’m seeing more and more independent companies doing RCAs because of the level of detail. Some of the bearing issues that have popped up really require an expert in [00:19:00] bearings. Some of the tower issues require someone, especially foundation, someone who’s knowledgeable about concrete. Uh, same thing for lightning. Usually you need somebody who knows something about lightning to be involved instead of a, a, a larger organization. What are you seeing in that space today? Are you seeing more, uh, narrow focus, uh, independent groups or engineers working on RCAs, or is it still mostly the big companies that we all know?  Morten Handberg: I would say that, uh, all of the acronym companies, uh, all have very good, talented engineers employed. I don’t think we need to d- you know, we can all agree on that. But, uh, what I can sometimes be concerned is whether how much politics plays into their, um, their output. Um, so what would be important for me if I was, if I own a wind farm and my expertise is blades. So if I needed someone to look at my tower or my, my gearbox, I would find an expert within that [00:20:00] field. I would definitely find someone in my network or, uh, uh, or, uh, otherwise that I know can provide an independent and honest opinion without, uh, having any any relationship to any of the OEMs or component suppliers, um, including the, including the coding suppliers. They’re all good. They’re all, uh, very, uh, all, all very skilled, have good products. But they’re gonna want someone to look at, you know, what is the best solution for me with what is out there, um, and not be blindsided or focused on what is, you know, uh, other in, in interest in that.  Allen Hall: Right. Because it, it’s, it’s sometimes hard to tell where y- everybody’s intentions lie. It’s like hiring an attorney, I think, at some point, and that’s what I tell people is it’s like hiring an attorney. Do you want an attorney that’s on your side, y- y- or and helping you? Do you want someone who’s more like a judge that’s just an independent person [00:21:00] or, or an advocate? Like, what are you looking for exactly? And it, uh, you need to think that out, uh, before you make your selection. And a lot of times there’s just a couple of defaults, which I have Have done really well, obviously, because the larger firms have a lot of engineering experience and have seen things globally, but not necessarily– That’s, that doesn’t mean they’ve seen your particular, uh, problem, particularly on a, on a new turbine design. Those are really difficult RCAs, in my opinion. And Morten, you see this all the time on new turbines. Like, those are the troublemakers in, in– from engineering to try to solve the problems ’cause they’re, they’re new.  Morten Handberg: Yeah, and we’re, we’re, we’re playing catch up, uh, with the, with the technology, and we’ve, we’ve been, been, been like that for for quite a few years now. And, and whenever, uh, a, a new blade that is, uh, ten meters long, well, we think we know what the, what the previous versions, how they worked and, uh, and what, what could go wrong with them, and that’s both in terms of the structure, in terms of the, uh, storage, in terms of, of lightning.[00:22:00] But it seems like, you know, there’s some-always something new popping up, uh, and also in new environments that we’re installing turbines creates new problems that we haven’t really foreseen. And, and again, if something that you’re not expecting then suddenly starts to appear, that’s also when you, you really want to, to use the RCA tool to, to sort of get to, uh, get a handle on what is going on and get an– and get that deep dive understanding about what it is, because it will help you, uh, uh, understand, well, what are my risks going forward, and what can I do to mitigate? Uh, and, um, yeah, on, you know, uh, and is there, is there, is– Do I need to, to look at, uh, putting a claim together?  Allen Hall: Morten, this is super helpful. I know a lot of operators around the world, uh, really question when to do an RCA, and if they should be doing RCAs, is it worth the spend? And you’re a great resource on that just because you’ve done a number of RCAs over the years, and you’ve been involved in [00:23:00] other companies that have performed tho-that task, and you have a, a sense of reality there of, uh, probably not an RCA, but probably some engineering time. Or no, you really, really need to be on an RCA right now. How do people get ahold of you and, and to pick your brain about that an-and to get some, some knowledge, uh, to help them make their decision?  Morten Handberg: Um, yeah, you can always look me up on LinkedIn, and I am always happy to engage. Uh, if anyone has a question on, on blades or on RCAs or on maintenance, um, my door’s always open, and I’m happy to have a chat, uh, and share my knowledge. That’s how I’ve been operating for my entire career, and that’s how I intend to continue. So please feel free to reach out, and ha-looking forward to, to the, to the discussion.  Allen Hall: Morten, it’s great to have you back on the program. Looking forward to having you again in the future.  Morten Handberg: I, I’m loo-looking forward to many more, more, more, more times on your show, Allen. Thank you so [00:24:00] much.

The diminutive Zandvoort circuit, hosting its last Dutch GP, proved to be less energy-rich than expected - but did produce a spectacular race, punctuated by Max Verstappen's first-lap crash; an absorbing battle between McLaren-Mercedes' Lando Norris and Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli; the usual strategy mis-management at Ferrari; a McLaren own-goal on Oscar Piastri's side; and ultimate victory for NorrisVisit our new merchandise store to Make Corners Great Again! https://sl1nk.com/l0uanyxWith thanks to Jetcraft, the world's largest buyer and seller of executive jets: https://jetcraft.comTo TrackNinja, a lap-timer and data app designed to help users improve their on-track car and driver performance through analysis and an innovative Data Garage. A lite version is free; the loaded edition is US$9.99 pcm or $99.99 yearly: https://trackninja.appTo OEM Exclusive, the passionate suppliers of OEM upgrades for exotic and high-performance vehiclesAnd to REC Watches, whose timepieces are infused with DNA and actual material from famous racing and road cars. Claim your additional 10 per cent discount by adding the codeword PETER:https://recwatches.com/next-projectImages: McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Audi, Pirelli and Red BullMusic: Rain over Kyoto Station (The Mini Vandals); Science Montage (Jeremy Blake)Visit https://alpinestars.com for all your racing apparelVisit: https://fxdworkwear.com for all your purpose-build, technical workwearFollow Peter @peterwindsorBook a Cameo with Peter: https://cameo.com/peterwindsorContact us at: peterwindsoryt@gmail.comWe support the Race Against Dementia:https://raceagainstdementia.comThe Alora dog rescue shelter (Malaga, Spain)https://aloradogrescue.com#standwithukraine - now, more than ever#Canada! #jimmykimmel!Stephen Gallacher Golf Foundationhttps://sgfoundation.co.ukNick: you're with us always:https://samaritans.org“Being There: Stories from the Road Where We Keep the Rubber Side Down”Award-winning motorcycle stories from a father, brought to life by his son.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showVisit: https://youtube.com/peterwindsor for F1 videos past, present and future

Thanks to our Partners, Pico Technology, and AutelWatch Full Video EpisodeMatt Fanslow returns from WORLDPAC's STX 2026 with a greater appreciation for everything required to make a major training event happen, especially the hands-on classes. Vehicles, tools, simulators, soldering stations, ventilation systems, safety requirements, instructors, support personnel, and countless late nights all have to come together before an attendee ever walks into the room.He also challenges a persistent myth about oscilloscopes: that you must become an expert at interpreting tiny waveform anomalies before a scope becomes useful. Most failures are not nearly that subtle. Comparison testing, known-good examples, manufacturer support, training resources, and a little experience can make the scope useful much sooner than many specialists believe.But the greatest value of an event like STX may extend beyond the classroom. Matt reflects on time spent with Jorge Menchu, Brin Kline, and other longtime friends and colleagues, and on how conferences create professional networks that can become genuine lifelong friendships.For shop owners and managers, sending team members to training events is more than an educational expense. It is an investment in their skills, perspective, professional network, and connection to the industry. Matt encourages everyone to find a conference they can attend…and challenges shop leaders to help their people get there.Topics include:The enormous amount of work behind hands-on automotive trainingRecognizing the people working behind the curtainTeaching introductory PicoScope classes with Scott ShottonAndrew Sexton's introduction to key cutting and programmingKevin Suttorp's hands-on soldering and EEPROM trainingWhy oscilloscopes are more approachable than many specialists assumeUsing comparison waveforms and known-good examplesFinding technical support and training resourcesThe professional and personal value of industry conferencesBuilding relationships outside your own shopWhy owners and managers should help their teams attend training eventsLearning that other shops often face many of the same problemsMatt also recognizes Keith DeFazio, Isaac and Christina Rudell, Lonnie Horn, Justin Morgan, George Menchu, Bryn Klein, Richard Velko, Andrew Sexton, Kevin Sudor and his wife, and the many WORLDPAC employees, instructors, spouses, vendors, and support personnel whose work made STX 2026 possible.Thanks to our Partner, Pico TechnologyAre you chasing elusive automotive problems? Pico Technology empowers you to see what's really happening. Their PicoScope oscilloscopes transform your diagnostic capabilities. PicoAuto.comThanks to our Partner, AutelFrom drivability diagnostics and TPMS service to ADAS and advanced safety systems, Autel helps technicians follow OEM procedures and repair with confidence. Autel.comContact InformationEmail Matt: mattfanslowpodcast@gmail.comSubscribe on YouTube: @automotivefieldtheoryThe Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/Download and Listen on Our Mobile App: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/app/Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: https://remarkableresults.biz/Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: https://huntdemarest.captivate.fm/The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: https://chriscotton.captivate.fm/Speak Up! Effective Communication with Craig O'Neill: https://craigoneill.captivate.fm/

What happens when a global call center veteran steps into the automotive industry and starts questioning the way dealerships have always done things?  In this episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, Sean V. Bradley and LA Williams sit down with Lee Harris, current Internet Director at Minnesota Truck Headquarters, a BPO veteran turned automotive innovator who is bringing a completely different perspective to dealership customer engagement. "Your most valuable asset that you have in your dealership, it's not the cars on the floor, it's not the cars in the showroom, it's the people." – Lee Harris With years of experience leading high-volume customer service, operations, and technology organizations, Lee is taking lessons from outside automotive and applying them to one of the industry's biggest opportunities: how dealerships communicate with, follow up with, and ultimately serve today's customer. The conversation dives into the evolution of the traditional BDC, the growing role of AI and automation, the importance of stronger processes and training, and why technology should make dealership teams MORE effective without removing the human connection.  "AI doubles in capacity and capability every two weeks." – Lee Harris If you're a Dealer Principal, GM, BDC leader, sales manager, or automotive professional trying to prepare for where customer engagement is headed next, you're going to want to hear this conversation! Key Takeaways: ✅ Lee Harris highlights the value of integrating advanced AI tools and CRM customization to enhance client services' effectiveness within car dealerships. ✅ The automotive sector often lags in adopting modern technology, with Harris noting the industry's typical five to seven-year lag behind bleeding-edge solutions. ✅ Personalization and the human element remain crucial in customer interactions, even when leveraging high-end AI tools to streamline processes. ✅ Fostering a team environment where personnel investment in training and morale is prioritized can drive substantial success, as evidenced by record-breaking sales figures at MTH. ✅ Harris advises dealership leaders to rethink traditional managerial roles by emphasizing leadership qualities that inspire and genuinely connect with employees.   About Lee Harris Lee Harris is a seasoned professional with nearly three decades of experience in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. He began his career as an agent and ascended to senior executive roles at large organizations like Conduent, Xerox Services, and Sutherland Healthcare. Harris has been involved with operations in numerous countries, managing substantial revenues and diverse teams. Currently, he is the Director of Business Development at Minnesota Truck Headquarters (MTH) in St. Cloud, where his expertise in technology, customer experience, and process development is helping redefine automotive sales strategies.     AI Revolution in Automotive BDC: Transforming Client Services in Dealerships   Key Takeaways: Adapting New Technologies: CRM technologies are increasingly seen as outdated; AI tools are proving indispensable for operational efficiency in auto dealerships. Focus on Human Capital: Building a dedicated, well-trained team with a strong culture and synergy is vital for success. Engagement Optimization: Increasing customer engagement through technology, particularly AI, is paramount for maximizing showroom visits and sales success.   The Shift from Traditional BDC to AI Integration in Dealerships In the ever-evolving landscape of automotive sales, dealerships are faced with the need to innovate or risk being left behind. This conversation brings to light the transformational journey from traditional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven strategies. As Lee Harris from Minnesota Truck Headquarters shares, "AI doubles in capacity and capability every two weeks," underscoring the rapid advancement and adoption of technology that is necessary for modern dealerships to thrive. The podcast participants echo a pivotal revelation: the traditional CRM's limitations in dynamically adapting to ever-changing dealership needs. Sean V. Bradley emphasizes, "CRM is antiquated technology now," advocating for a shift towards tools like Podium's AI. This technology steps beyond static scripts, offering dynamic, personalized communication powered by an extensive knowledge base. This ability, Harris notes, allows dealerships to handle communications with precision, enhancing customer interaction and satisfaction. Through this integration, dealerships empower their sales teams to focus on high-impact interactions by letting AI handle routine, low-complexity tasks. Bradley states, "If we delegate all the tier one remedial activities to artificial intelligence, […] now my humans can focus on higher levels." This delegation not only optimizes human resource capabilities but also maximizes lead conversion, showcasing the multilateral benefits of AI over traditional CRM systems.   Emphasizing Human Capital and Leadership In the broader scheme of automotive business development, human capital remains the cornerstone of any successful dealership. Lee Harris passionately argues for investing in people, expressing, "Your people are the most precious thing that you have in your group, in your responsibility." This sentiment is a cornerstone for transformational leadership and modern business strategies within dealerships. The discussion probes into what sets excellent dealerships apart — their approach to nurturing and investing in a highly competent and motivated workforce. For Harris, leading a team goes beyond managing transactions; it's about cultivating a culture of excellence where team members understand their value and are equipped with the right tools and training. By stating, "Invest both professionally and personally into those individuals to be successful," Harris emphasizes the significance of a dedicated and well-supported team for achieving dealership objectives. Training and development play an integral role in this framework. Dealer Synergy's Bradley On Demand platform is applauded for its comprehensive training, ensuring that team members "don't even get to touch a phone until they are through the initial training," a practice that ingrains a regiment of quality assurance and preparedness foundational to operational success.   Revolutionizing Customer Engagement A recurring theme throughout the dialogue is the pivotal role of customer engagement strategies in dictating sales and dealership success. The integration of AI is poised to revolutionize how dealerships engage with prospective customers, significantly bridging gaps between inquiries and successful sales. Bradley notes the chronic issue of low engagement levels, stating that most dealership efforts result in "not talking to somebody." This reveals a critical area of opportunity — the need for effective engagement strategies. AI tools like Podium's Jerry 2.0 transform engagement dynamics by facilitating omnipresent communication, ensuring customer interactions are timely, relevant, and personalized. In integrating AI, dealerships can remarkably enhance appointment show rates, which Harris notes as being "73% appointment show ratio" — a staggering figure above industry averages. This indicates AI's profound impact on bridging communication gaps, ensuring prospects are guided efficiently through the sales funnel. The potential of AI in this capacity is magnified by its ability to analyze and learn from interactions, delivering nuanced conversations that are tailored to client needs and potentially increasing showroom traffic and sales. Harris concludes, adopting "convenience and a friction-free process" is essential for translating client inquiries into satisfied customers, highlighting AI's role in crafting seamless customer journeys. In the evolving landscape of automotive sales and services, the dealership's adaptability to AI-driven methodologies is not just a competitive advantage; it is becoming a standard of future-forward operations. The rich discussions from industry leaders cast a spotlight on the profound changes AI brings, demonstrating a roadmap for others to follow, where smart technology and human empathy work in tandem toward exceptional dealership success.     Resources + Our Proud Sponsors: ➼ Podium: The AI Platform Powering the Modern Dealership. From instant lead response to seamless test drive scheduling, Podium's AI Employee Jerry works 24/7 to turn every lead into a conversion, so your team can focus on closing. Trusted by thousands of dealerships nationwide and proudly featured on the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast. Learn how Podium can help you sell more cars, book more service appointments, and grow your dealership. Discover how Podium's innovative AI technology can unlock unparalleled efficiency and drive your dealership's sales to new heights. Visit www.podium.com/mcs to learn more!   ➼ The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group: Join the #1 Automotive Sales Mastermind Facebook Group with over 29,000 automotive professionals worldwide. The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group is the go-to community for car salespeople, BDC agents, sales managers, general managers, and dealer principals looking to increase performance, income, and leadership skills. Inside the group, members collaborate daily on automotive sales strategies, lead handling, phone scripts, closing techniques, CRM best practices, dealership leadership, and accountability systems. Learn directly from top automotive trainers, industry mentors, and high-performing sales leaders who are actively winning in today's market. If you're serious about growing your automotive career, increasing car sales, and building long-term success, join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today!   ➼ Dealer Synergy: Dealer Synergy is the automotive industry's #1 Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm, with over 20 years of proven dealership success nationwide. We specialize in helping car dealerships increase sales, improve processes, and build high-performing Sales, Internet, and BDC departments from the ground up. Our expertise includes automotive phone scripts, rebuttals, CRM action plans, lead handling strategies, BDC workflows, Internet sales processes, management training, and accountability systems. Dealer Synergy partners directly with dealership leadership to align people, process, and technology, ensuring consistent results and scalable growth. From independent dealers to large dealer groups and OEM partnerships, Dealer Synergy delivers measurable performance improvements, stronger teams, and sustainable profitability.   ➼ Bradley On Demand: Bradley On Demand is the automotive industry's most advanced interactive training, tracking, testing, and certification platform for car dealerships — built to develop top-performing teams across Sales, Internet Sales, BDC, CRM, Phone Skills, Leadership, and Management. In addition to LIVE virtual automotive training classes and a library of 9,000+ on-demand dealership training modules, Bradley On Demand now includes AI Phone Roleplaying and Coaching to help salespeople and BDC agents practice real dealership conversations before they ever get on the phone with customers. This AI-powered roleplay technology strengthens phone scripts, objection handling, appointment setting, lead follow-up, and closing skills, while providing measurable coaching feedback for continuous improvement. Bradley On Demand empowers dealerships to train faster, coach smarter, improve call performance, increase closing ratios, and sell more cars more profitably — all through structured, trackable, modern automotive training.

Au programme :Focus sur une synthèse de l'actualité tech et IA de l'été, avec un épisode de rentrée au format inhabituel, centré sur les sujets les plus marquants et les retards de juillet et août.Apple et OpenAI sont au cœur d'un affrontement juridique autour d'accusations d'accès à des ressources internes et de recrutement d'anciens employés d'Apple. L'épisode revient aussi sur le plugin ChatGPT sur macOS, capable d'accéder aux messages SMS, RCS et iMessage avec l'accord de l'utilisateur.Le débat se concentre ensuite sur l'étiquetage des contenus générés par IA, dans le cadre de l'AI Act européen. Sont évoqués les chatbots, avatars, deepfakes, textes générés sans contrôle humain, ainsi que les marquages invisibles chez Google et Anthropic, et les limites pratiques de cette régulation.Un autre axe important concerne l'IA comme changement de structure industrielle : évolution des grands modèles, montée en puissance de Google et d'OpenAI, réorganisation de Demis Hassabis, et nouveaux modèles orientés vers le code, les maths et les agents. Il est aussi question d'Astra, de risques cyber, de coûts de calcul et de recherche mathématique assistée par IA.L'épisode traite également des impacts économiques et techniques : consommation d'énergie des centres de données, hausse des coûts, plafonds de dépenses IA chez Microsoft et d'autres entreprises, montée des tensions autour des data centers, et apparition d'outils comme Kitesurf de Cloudflare pour les agents.Enfin, plusieurs sujets français et grand public sont passés en revue : cyberattaques touchant des services publics et privés, interdiction des réseaux sociaux aux moins de 15 ans retoquée, progression de Linux, difficultés de Windows 11, hausses de prix des licences OEM, ainsi que les prochains produits Apple, dont un iPhone pliant, de nouveaux accessoires et des évolutions possibles pour la maison connectée.Infos :Animé par Guillaume Vendé (Tech Café, Bluesky)Co-animé par Baptiste Freydt (Niptech, Niptech Inspire)Produit par Patrick Beja (LinkedIn) et Fanny Cohen Moreau (LinkedIn).Musique libre de droit par Daniel BejaLe Rendez-vous Tech épisode 678 – Astra, marquages IA et toujours plus de Linux : le récap de l'été !---Liens :Soutien :

Two days of operator meetings in Melbourne shape the WOMA 2027 agenda, from performance upgrades and cable faults to foundations and bolts. The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech, creators of the StrikeTape Ultra LPS retrofit. Subscribe to Uptime’s Substack newsletter. And check out Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” Youtube channel. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy podcast. I’m your host, Allen Hall. I’m here with Matthew Stead and Rosemary Barnes. And Rosemary, where are we?  Rosemary Barnes: We’re in Melbourne, and we have been visiting future attendees and sponsors and people interested in, in the event to see what topics that we should be talking about. What are the hot topics of the moment?  Allen Hall: Which is a very interesting two days, Matthew, in that, uh, we h- did meet with a number of operators based in Australia, but, uh, they’re also very worldly. They have talked to companies all over about operations and, and maintenance, and there are some really eye-opening topics- Mm that will be- Mm … at WOMA 2027 this year.  Matthew Stead: Yeah. The thing that was interesting for me was [00:01:00]that actually the topics have changed each year. So, um, they’re evolving and the industry’s continuing to, to do better, and so that, that was really interesting. Performance upgrades was probably one of the big areas of, of new interest, I think. I think we heard with the pressure on pricing, uh, the market and so forth, you know, that, that 1% or 2% now is becoming more important. Um, so I think, uh, upgrades will definitely feature quite a lot. Um, balance of plant was also a big topic. Um, you just can’t ig- ignore the, um, transmission, you can’t ignore the transformers, you can’t ignore, uh, condensers and all these sorts of things, so yeah. Rosemary Barnes: Cables.  Matthew Stead: Cables.  Rosemary Barnes: Terminations. Terminations of cables. Specifically raised several times.  Allen Hall: Yep. Yeah. It’s all about being more efficient, uh, getting more production, and then with the PPA prices, uh, that are changing-  Matthew Stead: Mm …  Allen Hall: rapidly, uh, everybody is paying more attention to the bottom line.  Matthew Stead: Mm, mm.  Allen Hall: Absolutely. There, there’s less cash running around, uh, chasing new development. It’s [00:02:00] more of a focus on making sure your, at least your existing assets are performing as, as well as they can be- Mm … which then opens up the, uh, Pandora’s box of opportunity. Mm. Because there are 1%’s all around a wind turbine. More specifically, uh, all the drive train issues, the blade issues, the generator issues, and even going into the substation. Mm. I, I was really shocked on BOP e- the, the one topic that came up, uh, yesterday and today was buried cables. Mm. Like-  Matthew Stead: Faults …  Allen Hall: faults.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Junctions. Finding- Yeah … finding faults and what to do about them. Yeah. Yeah. But I think in addition to just wanting more revenue, I think people have, are getting more sophisticated about what actually matters and then the finances. You know, everyone’s focused so much on availability, and now people- Mm … are like, okay, yeah, like once you’re at a certain level of availability, gets harder and harder to get more. And actually, you know, not all availability is equal. Is good. It, it [00:03:00] depends. Yeah. Yeah, like you wanna, um, you wanna focus on how much you’re generating at the times when electricity prices are high specifically, which usually means during lower wind speed periods. Yeah. Which is actually good because that matches really well with what is actually possible. It’s, it’s hard to get more power out of the turbine if it’s at, you know, its rated power, then you’re not g- More efficiency is not gonna get you any more, um, power output, whereas lower in the power curve- Mm … um, when wind speeds are lower, there’s less electricity in the grid and so prices are higher. And so- Mm … yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s why people are really asking to know more about what efficiency upgrades are possible, better ways to operate, scheduled maintenance, um, all those sorts of things. Mm. So that will be really interesting.  Matthew Stead: Raising the bar on sophistication. Um, but also life extension  Allen Hall: Yes, a lot of discussion about life extension  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, end of life and life extension End of life Yeah, um-  Matthew Stead: Foundations, structures Which is  Allen Hall: tied to PPA. Mm. A lot of that [00:04:00] discussion I, at least I looked at it as, uh, if I had a PPA and I can continue with that PPA with an existing turbine, I want to do that. Mm,  Matthew Stead: mm,  Allen Hall: mm. But how do I do that and how do I know that that existing turbine can last another five years? It seemed to go in five-year blocks, like can we get to another five years and then another and then, then another. Wow.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Once you get to 20, 20, 25 years, I think people like, uh, they, you know- It’s getting a little- Their original agreement might have been for 20, then they kind of just assume that there will be another five, and then after that they’re- Yeah … kind of reassessing cyclically and yeah, I know that people make plans for, you know, what components are replaceable, what would they have to get in, and I think that sometimes, uh, people doing those plans aren’t as familiar with the, you know, actual technical issues that are being faced. Like, is a blade a replaceable component? It may be early on in the life it sort of is, not easily, but you know, like a 25-year-old wind turbine, you know, good luck trying to order 10 new blades because you’ve got a, you know, an issue that’s-  Allen Hall: Oh, well you, you need to read the news. Did you [00:05:00] see the news today about, uh, the, the wooden wind turbine blades as a replacement for aged blades? That, that’s happening- … in real time, Rosa.  Rosemary Barnes: Okay. I know they- Yeah. Yep, yep. Okay. Okay. So that, that’s, that’s good. Making carbon new blade. E- even so, I don’t think that they’re- Okay. … gonna be, like, super-duper cheap, so you’re still gonna wanna be, um, doing a trade-off between y- you know, like, what kind of repairs. You might be able to change the way you’re operating to reduce loads. Um, you might be able to monitor to make sure that your blades are safe. You know, if you know that there’s an issue, um, you just wanna get some advanced warning before blades start falling off your, your tower. Mm. You know, and then you can push it further. Yeah. Whereas if you’ve got no information, then you have to be conservative and shut it down. Yeah. So yeah, I think there’s a whole lot that can be g- can be done there in that area.  Matthew Stead: There was a point that came up today, which I think was close to your heart, on, you know, if you’re going to be going for 1% or 2% or 0.5% AEP improvement, how do you actually measure that and how do you set up a proper experiment? So-  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah …  Matthew Stead: I, I, I love that topic. [00:06:00] Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. No, it’s one that I, um, yeah, I deal with m- my clients I, I’m often… It’s one of the things that Pablo really loves to do, is to organize trials of that nature of new technologies and see if they work. But, um, yeah, asset managers are usually very, uh, focused on fast results. You know, they’ve got a, a big problem and they want a solution now, so they wanna just roll out the new technology over an entire wind farm. But if you do that, then it’s almost impossible. Unless you get, like, a huge benefit, like, uh, 10% gains or, you know, like reduce your failures by 50% or more, it’s really hard to actually- Mm pick that out if you just replace everything. Mm. Whereas if you do a really, really good, um, trial plan- Systematic. Yeah … and you match pairs very well so that you have, you know, a control for each turbine and there’s- so many variables in a wind farm. It’s not, it’s not as easy as just, like, randomly choosing 50% to do and not do. Mm. Mm. Mm. Like, you have to, you know, put some work into the trial design, and then, you know, like, do your statistical calculations ahead of time to know how long it’s gonna take you to get s- statistical [00:07:00]significance. So then you don’t just have a gut feeling about- Yep … how something went. You’ve actually got numbers, and then you can take those numbers to, you know, other wind farms that you’ve got- Yeah and, and know what’s going on much better.  Matthew Stead: Worst study is an inconclusive study.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Yeah, that’s true. Definitely.  Allen Hall: Well, that comes back to the data analysis- Mm … which a lot of operators mentioned, and how much data there is and what to do with it, and it did seem like a couple of operators have chosen some AI tools, varying degrees, all the way down from Microsoft Copilot to something much more complicated. Uh, but I think there’s, uh, getting that d- to the last 1, 2, 3%, you’re going to need those tools- Absolutely … because what do you choose? Do you choose a blade? Do you choose a gearbox? Do you choose a generator? Do you go to the substation to get that percentage point or two Without having some really powerful tools- Mm. you may be wasting your time [00:08:00] and money.  Matthew Stead: Mm.  Allen Hall: Which is a, a, a very interesting, uh, aspect to wind energy because it’s such an industrial business that, uh, we haven’t used heavy computational tools, uh, un- until really now.  Matthew Stead: Mm.  Allen Hall: And maybe Australia’s at the forefront because of the PPA and negative pricing is that that will, uh, actually lead an industry. Because I haven’t seen a lot of that being used globally. Mm. So this is the first time an operator- Mm … that I’ve talked to has said, “We’re using it.”  Matthew Stead: Yeah. It’s quite a different discussion, um, I think, you know, this year compared to previous years in that I think in the past it was getting to know what’s possible, but now it’s like real case studies are coming through. And a few of the people had some really good examples that we can talk about at the conference as to how they’ve actually been helped and how they did this and what the outcome was. I think, yeah, that would be really great content on that.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I think it’s gonna be a good mix of people who have used third party tools and have experience with it, people that are doing it in-house and can share- Mm some of the kinds of results- Mm … that, that you can get just from analyzing your own- Mm … [00:09:00] SCADA data. Um, people talking about how they get the data that they want. Mm. ‘Cause it’s not always so easy. You would think that, you know, you own a wind turbine, you have a right to have all of the data that comes through it, but it’s not. Um, even if you do technically have a right, it’s, uh, it, it’s harder to actually get it than you might think. Mm. So yeah, sharing all, all those kinds of things. But I think also, like just as important as talking about the successes is talking about the, the gaps that– people still feel lots of gaps. Like, okay, we’ve got all the data, we’re collecting it. We know that there’s so much potential here- Mm … but we don’t really- Mm … know what we can do, or it’s hard for us to, you know- Mm … make headway in this particular pain point. And that is really useful for companies that are developing tools to know what are the, the problems. Mm. Because then they can e- you know, they’re well placed to fix them. Allen Hall: Mm. Which leads to the discussion we had with the operators and, uh, some of the suppliers for WOMA 2027. There’s a lot of interest. And as we’re sitting in the conference rooms, I’m thinking, we may not have enough room to [00:10:00] seat everybody. Uh, the WOMA 2027 website is up and running, and you can register now. So just go to woma2027.com and get started there. At the same point, we’ve had a lot of contact with, uh, pretty much everybody that wants to sponsor the event, and there’s only a limited number of ways to sponsor. So if you’re interested in doing that, you, you need to go to woma2027.com and look at those, uh, part- particular packages and see what- Mm fits your, your business. Uh- Going back to some of the, the comments we were just discussing downstairs about what we heard at 2026, like, which is only a couple of months ago, right? It’s back in February this year. Uh, there’s, they’re still discussing what happened at WOMA 2026- Mm. Which was very fascinating- Mm because I think Rosemary, you and I have been to conferences that I have not thought an iota … about what happened at those conferences. Just nothing interesting does occur. There’s no new, new information, there’s [00:11:00] no new science, there’s no new operator approaches.  Rosemary Barnes: Mm.  Allen Hall: But we’re gonna see a number of those- Yeah. Mm … come next March.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Well, I think it’s partly because I don’t know what other conference organizers do, but, you know, we’ve had a exhausting few days here. You’ve come all the way from America, obviously, and, and Claire as well, also come over, our producer. Um, so, y- you know, like, we’re working really hard to make sure that the topics… Like, it’s not an accident that the topics are ones that people are talking about later, because we come here to make sure that we get the right topics. And it’s not just these meetings as well. People get in touch, and- Mm … anybody watching, listening, who has, you know, something that they wanna talk about, then definitely, you know, send us a message, and yeah, we’re working on the agenda. We’ll, we’ll have a draft agenda in the next couple of weeks based on what we’ve learned here, but then we’ve got the hard job of it’s not just that you have a really interesting topic, you need to have a really great speaker- Yeah … or several really great speakers, usually covering several different aspects of the problem. You know, maybe it’s, uh, yeah, an asset [00:12:00] owner, an OEM, and some, some technology provider, you know, all together giving different, um, yeah, perspectives. That’s, I think, what makes a really great session. Mm. So yeah, we need the ideas for the sessions, and we also need the ideas for great speakers.  Matthew Stead: Yeah.  Rosemary Barnes: Right. Matthew Stead: Yeah. I think we’ve, we’ve already matched a few of those dots, so- Yeah … I, we’ve heard people asking for certain topics they wanna hear about, and then we’ve heard other operators saying, “Well, this is what we could talk about.” So I think we’ve already-  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, yeah … got some great  Matthew Stead: progress.  Rosemary Barnes: It was, it was interesting ’cause we, we built up a list of, you know-  Matthew Stead: Yeah Rosemary Barnes: frequently raised topics, and then you’d say it to the next person that you went to- Mm … and they’re like, “Oh, that’s not a problem for us because we’ve done X, Y, Z.” And you’re like, “Okay. Well, excellent. You can, you can present the solutions that we know that other people- Yeah. Yes … are, are looking for.” Yeah. So it has been… Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s definitely worthwhile coming, as, as tiring as it is. Yeah. Um, definitely worthwhile, and we’ll get a much better agenda for the- Yeah … for the effort.  Matthew Stead: And I think, I mean, it has been tiring. Um, but what, what made it for me was one of the operators said that [00:13:00] this is the only conference they will go to So I think, I think we’re doing the right thing. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Yeah. I, I think so. I understand too, like, you know, all of us, we kind of are forced to go to events because that’s where our, our clients and customers are, and so you need to see them. And yeah, like I’ve even gone to the extent of some events where I don’t particularly like the event, but I know everyone’s going. Mm. I just go and sit near the event for a couple of days and meet people at a cafe. So yeah, like we can’t get away from it. But if you’re an asset manager or, um, yeah, somebody in that kind of type of work, like you’ve got better things to do than listen to sales pitches aggressively thrown at you that aren’t relevant- Yeah to what you’re doing. So, um, yeah. Like I, I definitely love to hear that kind of feedback- Yeah … and wanna make sure that we get it every, every year. Like that’s- It’s, it’s  Matthew Stead: encouraging.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah … yeah, that’s, that’s the point of the conference, so.  Matthew Stead: Yeah.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah.  Matthew Stead: The other big topic was we would really love more OEM involvement. Um-  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Everybody wants more- … a lot of the operators- … OEM involvement- Yeah … all of the asset owners.  Matthew Stead: Yeah.  Rosemary Barnes: Like we want to [00:14:00] hear from OEMs more, have them there. Um, so yeah, we’re, we’ll be trying to To get those sorted  Allen Hall: Well, WOMA is a global conference, although it’s Australia-based and there’s a, a number of Australian operators. There are Danish, Americans, uh, plenty of Europeans. Uh, we’re gonna see some from Southeast Asia, I think, this year. Mm-hmm. And, and Japan hopefully will come. Uh, because it’s a, it’s a global conference, there’s global knowledge- Mm … and wind is such a big industry. You may not have the solution in the United States, it may be sitting in Australia, and we need to exchange those ideas. Mm. And that, that’s the point. So w- we are continuing to look for those world experts as we have received all the inputs of these are all the topics we wanna go hear about. Great. Now it’s on us three to go find some of those world experts and, and try to get them to Melbourne. Yeah. And I, I think that’s a great opportunity. So if we do call you and ask you to participate in WOMA [00:15:00] 2027, please take it seriously because- Mm … you will be bombarded with great questions- Mm … and contacts and information. Uh, it’s an event you won’t wanna miss. Yeah. And- But I would- … there’s opportunity there.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I’d say we’re, we’re prioritizing OEMs, um, to, to get more participation, ideally to speak, but at least to be there. And we have heard from multiple asset owners in Australia that they want, they, they want to know what are some of the upgrades that they can do- Yeah … that you’re offering. They wanna know what’s coming next in terms of technology. They wanna know what are some of the non-Western options. So, you know, like it would be great to get some Chinese wind turbine, um, manufacturers as well. Like, they want all this information. They don’t want a slick sales brochure pitch that doesn’t give them any technical information. So we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to get, you know, some technical people to speak on, yeah, what are the upgrades you offer and how does it work- Mm-hmm … and show us a case study that demonstrates the improvements. Um, ’cause that [00:16:00] sometimes is really hard to get out of- Mm … out of OEMs. You know, that, “We’ve got this thing, it’s so amazing, you should get it.” Okay, well, what’s the business case for it? “Oh, well, we don’t have any numbers. Just trust us.”  Matthew Stead: Yeah.  Rosemary Barnes: Um, it’s so common to get a pitch like that. So yeah, any, any OEM that has any- anything like that, either for the next generation of wind turbines or for upgrading the current fleet, yeah, if you’re willing to bring the data, then people, they are desperate to hear this information. Allen Hall: Mm.  Matthew Stead: Yeah. That came up so many times.  Rosemary Barnes: Mm.  Allen Hall: So what were the other, uh, topics that we’re… I’m just not thinking off the top of my head. I know foundations came up quite a bit- Foundations, yeah … which was an odd one, I think, because we haven’t seen that a lot in Australia. Yeah. But this year, foundations, foundations, foundations. Basically, the health of foundations. Yeah.  Matthew Stead: Yeah. I think really there was a lifting of the maturity. Um, I think the topics were sort of showing that, you know, Maslow’s hierarchy and moving into the more of optimization rather than making do, and I think life extension around the foundations was a, a really good example of that. Allen Hall: And bolts.  Matthew Stead: Bolts? Yeah, bolts.  Allen Hall: [00:17:00] Everybody said bolts. Bolts.  Matthew Stead: Bolts.  Allen Hall: You think the world’s simplest device, we’ve been making bolts for nearly 1,000 years or at least a couple hundred. But it does- And, you know- … come up quite often … cable, cable  Matthew Stead: terminations, again, some really  Rosemary Barnes: basic- Yeah, that, really specific ones that were raised multiple times. Yeah. Um, yeah, which, which is great- Yeah … ’cause it gives us a good direction to go. But I do love how it changes so much every year- Yeah … ’cause it makes me feel like, okay, yeah, like we’re actually, you know, it’s worthwhile, um, putting on another event. Mm. Um, not just recording one event and then just, you know, like replaying that every year or something. Re-educating.  Allen Hall: Yeah. Well, I, I think there’s a learning exercise that has happened over the past two years where people now are knowledgeable about those things we talked about- Mm … two years ago. Uh, was it, was it even two years ago? It was a year and a half ago when we first started this, so we’re, we’re not that deep into it. Although our third conference will be next March, uh, you just see more energy, more industry knowledge in some of the references that I heard, uh, in terms of other companies and the approaches they’re taking clearly came from WOMA.  Matthew Stead: Yeah.  Rosemary Barnes: Mm.  Matthew Stead: Yeah,  Allen Hall: yeah. Which is, which is [00:18:00] fascinating. Yeah. That’s  Rosemary Barnes: good. I mean, we want- It, it is  Allen Hall: sticking Rosemary Barnes: we want tech conferences to get better, right? That was the- No … the reason why we, uh, we started this conference was ’cause we didn’t think that it was sufficient, what we had available. So, you know, it’s not a bad thing if other conferences, um, get better. Yeah. Yeah. We should also mention that blades were, were raised a fair bit. We talked so much about blades in the previous years, and we will be talking about blades a lot again, including we’ve got a master class on the Friday. Uh, it’s… Yeah, we’ll go back to some of the basics about how the composite materials work and how a blade is designed and certified and manufactured, and, um- Lightning. Y- yeah, yeah, a little, a little bit about lightning. Um, I don’t wanna cover it too much because we did the master class on lightning- Right … last year. Mm. Um, yeah. And yeah, some of the common damage methods anyway. And of course- Mm … yeah, lightning is probably the most- … common, or I guess leading edge erosion is the most, and then lightning would be the most expensive. Um, yeah, so we’ll be, we’ll be covering all that and just try and raise the knowledge level a little bit, um, for [00:19:00] everybody to… It’s a very complicated kind of, uh, yeah, component.  Matthew Stead: Yeah.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah.  Matthew Stead: And workshops. So each year we’ve run sort of workshops or roundtables or whatever, so we’re still thinking about the format for them, but, um, thinking about how we’ll reintroduce them again this year. You know, specific topics, specific questions, specific answers.  Rosemary Barnes: Mm.  Allen Hall: And the three of us will be in Hamburg in a couple of weeks at Wind Energy Hamburg, so if you see us and you’re interested in coming to Australia, that’s the place to grab us and- Yep … and shake us and say, “I wanna go to Australia. How do I do it?” Rosemary Barnes: Mm.  Allen Hall: Uh, yeah. Yeah.  Rosemary Barnes: Especially if you’ve got a, a t- technology that addresses some of those specific issues that we’ve mentioned- Mm … then, um, yeah, just know ahead of time that Australia needs, needs more information and more, um, solutions available to them. So, yeah. And  Matthew Stead: that reminds me, we had a really discussion a- around safety and, you know, reasonable and [00:20:00] practicable, and discussion around all the lessons learned about how… or what is best practice on a site, what is best practice about how to manage risks and-  Rosemary Barnes: Mm.  Matthew Stead: Yeah. Yeah. I know you, you, you enjoyed that one.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And we’re not talking about, like, safety the- Ear muffs or hats. The, um, rou- Yeah, the routine safety that if you- The goggles, yeah … yeah, trip over and graze your knee, then you need to let the site supervisor know. You, you know, it’s not that stuff, ’cause sites have that under control. That’s a given, yeah. Or at least the ability to get that under control. We’re talking about the bigger- Yeah … bigger things, you know. Like, uh, is there a issue that is causing blades to fall off turbines every now and then? Is there an issue that, uh, can lead to, you know, a fire? I, I think everyone, like- Yeah … a big fear of everybody’s. There’s never been, um, in Australia at least, there’s never been a wind turbine fire that has caused a bush fire, but it is a possibility, and it would be so bad for the industry. So, you know, it’s those things- Mm … that could be just terrible, preventing those before they happen. Mm. So that’s the kind of safety that we’re gonna mainly focus on. Mm. Although, you know, we’re not gonna [00:21:00] turn down questions on, um, some of the smaller stuff as well.  Matthew Stead: Yeah.  Rosemary Barnes: Mm.  Matthew Stead: And we even thought about getting some lawyers-  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah …  Matthew Stead: you missed out on this discussion, Rosie. Okay.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah.  Matthew Stead: So  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. Lawyers, this is news to me. Well, I mean, are we talking contracts or, um-  Matthew Stead: No, no … no … it’s really operations. I mean- Right … the environmental, um, issues- Oh yeah … the operational issues. Mm. You know, there’s, there’s a few things in there that the lawyers can add.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I mean- … I’ve, I constantly find myself having to interpret, you know, legal, um, legal text and also anticipate, you know, it’s one thing about what’s the right engineering, but then there is also the legal interpretation of it- Yeah uh, as well, you know, in terms of contract law, but then also in, in terms of safety. Yeah. Um, yeah. Was this certification done correctly? You know- Yeah … that’s got some legal aspect to it. So yeah, that- Yeah … makes sense to me. Insurance is another one where I would say- Yeah, actually that came up … you know, like some, some people might think that that doesn’t sound interesting, but yeah, in- insurance is the other-  Matthew Stead: Mm Rosemary Barnes: aspect that you [00:22:00] just can’t, um, you can’t get away from it. Like, you can’t just think that you’re, you’re doing your engineering without bothering about Mm … yeah, like finance and law and, um, and insurance. Those are things that- Mm … you spend a lot of time thinking about.  Matthew Stead: Yeah. Mm. And I guess we would also love to hear, you know, about potential speakers, but we’d also love to hear any other topics that people are attending and want to know about as well. Rosemary Barnes: Mm-hmm.  Allen Hall: Absolutely. And if you haven’t registered for WOMA 2027, which will be March 3rd through 5th at the Pullman in East Melbourne, right? East Melbourne, yeah. They just redefined it. It’s Pullman in East Melbourne. Uh, go ahead and go to woma2027.com and register now. Uh, Matthew and Rosemary, it’s great to see you in person again, and we’ll see you in a couple of weeks, uh, hopefully in, in Germany. Rosemary Barnes: Mm.  Allen Hall: Very [00:23:00] exciting.

Promoting your top salesperson or master tech into management without proper leadership training is one of the fastest ways to burn through dealership talent . In this episode of VADA Live, NADA Academy Instructor Georgia Munson draws from decades of experience across Ford Motor Company, Faulkner Ciocca Automotive Group, and Berkshire Hathaway's XTRA Lease. Outlining how top-performing dealerships build intentional cultures, reduce costly turnover, and develop managers who deliver results through others, this is an episode you don't want to miss!   In this episode: Intentional Culture — Why outperforming dealerships focus on clear accountability, sustainable processes, and employee experiences rather than just monthly gross numbers . The Management Shift — Moving from doing the work yourself to achieving results through a team, and why top individual producers don't always make the best leaders . Combating Turnover — Employees rarely quit over a single bad day; they leave when they feel disconnected from the company's vision or lack career growth opportunities . The Communication Trap — Why assuming your team understands a priority just because you mentioned it once is a major leadership mistake . Tech vs. Trust — How to use AI and technology to remove friction for staff without eroding human trust . Crucial Conversations — Practical advice on delivering direct, candid feedback while leaving an employee's ego intact . Resources & Links: Stream more episodes and access dealer resources: https://vada.com/live Learn more about NADA Academy: https://www.nada.org/nada-academy About Georgia Munson: Georgia Munson is an Instructor at NADA Academy . With decades of retail and OEM experience—including leadership roles at Ford Motor Company, Faulkner Ciocca Automotive Group, and Berkshire Hathaway's XTRA Lease—Georgia educates dealership managers on financial management, fixed/variable operations, and strategic leadership . Enjoying VADA Live? Please leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

This podcast features two motor racing legends with very different talents telling their very different stories of how they came to be a part of Colin Chapman's winning team at Indianapolis in 1965.  That was the year Jim Clark stunned the motor racing world not only by becoming the first driver to win at Indy with a rear-engined car (The Lotus 38-Ford V8) - but also by clinching the F1 World Championship two months later.  Allan Moffat - at that stage a young Canadian with dreams of becoming a race driver - worked as a go-fer initially for the Ford Lotus Cortina team in North America and then for the Indy-winning team; Jim Smith, a tough Aussie marine engineer who sailed to England to seek his fortune, found himself building said Lotus Cortinas in Cheshunt, England, after replying to a newspaper ad. From there it was but a small step to the Team Lotus race shop...I spoke to Jim Smith outside my Sydney hotel; the chat with Allan is a little scratchy due to him being on an early-model cell phone in Australia while I was talking from the UK. I've re-mastered the call as best I can but apologies for any remaining imperfections. Visit our new merchandise store to Make Corners Great Again - and for our first Jim Clark tee: https://sl1nk.com/l0uanyxWith thanks to Jetcraft, the world's largest buyer and seller of executive jets: https://jetcraft.comTo TrackNinja, a lap-timer and data app designed to help users improve their on-track car and driver performance through analysis and an innovative Data Garage. A lite version is free; the loaded edition is US$9.99 pcm or $99.99 yearly: https://trackninja.appTo OEM Exclusive, the passionate suppliers of OEM upgrades for exotic and high-performance vehiclesAnd to REC Watches, whose timepieces are infused with DNA and actual material from famous racing and road cars. Claim your additional 10 per cent discount by adding the codeword PETER: https://recwatches.com/next-projectImages: Wikimedia commonsMusic: Rain over Kyoto Station (The Mini Vandals)Visit https://alpinestars.com for all your racing apparelVisit: https://fxdworkwear.com for all your purpose-build, technical workwearFollow Peter @peterwindsorBook a Cameo with Peter: https://cameo.com/peterwindsorContact us at: peterwindsoryt@gmail.comWe support the Race Against Dementia:https://raceagainstdementia.comThe Alora dog rescue shelter (Malaga, Spain)https://aloradogrescue.com#standwithukraine - now, more than ever#Canada! #jimmykimmel!Stephen Gallacher Golf Foundationhttps://sgfoundation.co.ukNick: you're with us always:https://samaritans.org00:00:00 - Introduction01:27:21 - Jim Smith's story23:36:12 - Allan Moffat's story“Being There: Stories from the Road Where We Keep the Rubber Side Down”Award-winning motorcycle stories from a father, brought to life by his son.Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showVisit: https://youtube.com/peterwindsor for F1 videos past, present and future

Bridney Jordan returns to The Muscle Car Place to take us behind the scenes of the tire industry and answer some questions most of us have probably wondered while shopping for tires. Why can a factory tire rated for 60,000 miles be worn out at 30,000? Are expensive name-brand tires really better? Why can two seemingly similar tires have dramatically different prices? And does it still matter where a tire is manufactured? Bridney manages the Lexani, Lionheart and Rolling Big Power tire brands for Turbo Tires, and she explains how OEM tires can be engineered around competing priorities like fuel economy, tread life, durability and safety. We also discuss how manufacturing location, labor, shipping, distribution and brand recognition can affect what you ultimately pay for a tire—and why a manufacturer's warranty can be one of the simplest ways to judge how strongly a company stands behind its product. We also catch up on Dallas's racing season and the support he's received from Lexani, Lionheart, Rolling Big Power and SimpleTire. As part of the growing partnership between the tire brands, SimpleTire and The Muscle Car Place, TMCP listeners also have a special offer: purchase four qualifying Lexani, Lionheart or Rolling Big Power tires through SimpleTire and use promo code TURBO15 to save 15% through December 1, 2026. It's an inside look at something every car enthusiast depends on but very few of us really understand: the four patches of rubber connecting everything we've built to the road. The post TMCP #657: Why Factory Tires Wear Out So Fast – Bridney Jordan Reveals the Truth About Tires first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

In this Best Of episode of FreightWaves Today, we are replaying top industry interviews that focus on earnings before diving into an exclusive freight market breakdown. David Parker, founder and CEO of Covenant Logistics, weighs in on the urgent necessity of federal tort reform in the face of skyrocketing insurance costs and severe "nuclear verdicts". He also breaks down Covenant's strategic shift away from one-way over-the-road freight and shares his perspective on where we stand in the current market cycle. Julie Van de Kemp breaks down the latest market trends using FreightWaves SONAR, featuring key insights on: Spot vs. Contract Rates: Tender rejections and volumes are stabilizing. Meanwhile, contract rates continue to rise, significantly narrowing the rate gap with spot market pricing. Intermodal Savings Index: Why intermodal rates have remained relatively steady compared to volatile truckload spot and contract rates, offering massive cost savings. Top Cost-Saving Lanes: Analysis of high-savings outbound routes, including key East Coast and Midwest corridors out of Atlanta and Pennsylvania. Rail Merger Impact: How current railroad merger discussions could keep intermodal contract rate increases quiet to avoid regulatory pushback from shippers. FreightWaves Finance Editor Todd Maiden shares his expert financial perspective on the public transport sector. He breaks down recent earnings reports, key Wall Street movements, and what carrier financial disclosures reveal about underlying demand and market health. Chris Versace brings a high-level macroeconomic and OEM market perspective to the show. He analyzes transportation stocks, equipment manufacturing trends, and what broader economic indicators signify for freight volumes moving forward. ArcBest President & CEO Seth Runser dives into the company's strong performance, early signals of demand recovery, and their strategic consolidation efforts. He also highlights ArcBest's latest platform technology and how LTL carriers are adapting to changing market conditions. Aaron Graft, CEO of Triumph Financial, discusses the real-world operational pressures hitting independent truckers and small fleets. He outlines how surging input costs—from insurance to equipment and fuel—are squeezing carrier margins and how tech-driven financial tools are helping operators stay afloat. ⁠Follow the FreightWaves NOW Podcast⁠ ⁠Other FreightWaves Shows⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's episode: A recap of a wild inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham won by Marcus Ericsson. Plus, A preview of the Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C., Yuki Tsunoda possibly to IndyCar and other silly season updates, more on a rumor for a potential third OEM and the latest buzz on an international race. 

ADAS, or Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, calibrations have become a routine part of collision repair, but misconceptions about when they're required can lead to missed procedures, unnecessary work and added risk. In this episode, Isaac Aronson, Product Manager at OEC and a former automotive technician with nearly two decades of hands-on experience, shares why repairers shouldn't rely on a clean scan or past experience alone. He explains how current OEM repair procedures can help shops identify calibration requirements, improve repair planning and documentation and avoid costly surprises.

Bret Tollgaard, president at Sunrez, joins to discuss faster UV blade repairs, new leading edge materials, and growing OEM approvals. Reach out to sales@sunrez.com to learn more! The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast is brought to you by Weather Guard Lightning Tech, creators of the StrikeTape Ultra LPS retrofit. Subscribe to Uptime’s Substack newsletter. And check out Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” Youtube channel. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Welcome to Uptime Spotlight, shining light on wind energy’s brightest innovators. This is the progress powering tomorrow. Allen Hall: Brent, welcome back to the program.  Bret Tollgaard: Appreciate you having me back on.  Allen Hall: There’s been so much happening in the world of UV prepregs and UV adhesives over the past year. Particularly on LinkedIn, I’ve seen numerous repairs which have used your material, SunRes material, to fix some pretty decent, uh, blade problems. Are you seeing, just seeing a, a much wider adoption now that everybody has basically agreed that UV is the way to go?  Bret Tollgaard: I, I really do think that it’s starting to become one of the go-to standards for a variety of repairs in the wind market. And yeah, it’s great to see both our prepregs and lights being used all over LinkedIn, showing the [00:01:00] capabilities of the materials and how happy customers are to use and adopt the materials. Allen Hall: Yeah. The UV materials are, are getting adopted by OEMs. A lot of ISPs, a, a lot of operators now have it as a standard practice to use UV cured materials just because of the speed and the time that is saved. Uh, it’s, it’s remarkable how much time you’re saving, because the, the real kicker right now if you’re trying to do a repair, even in the summer months, let’s just say it’s warm outside and the temperatures are right and it’s calm winds, you’re saving multiple hours per repair. What generally… How much time are you generally saving on a kind of a, quote unquote, “standard blade repair”?  Bret Tollgaard: More and more time, actually, with each session. So we might be saving 50 upwards of 80% of the labor of a traditional epoxy repair. Um, what we’ve been training companies to do more and more frequently is to actually pre-consolidate the entire repair patch downtower, whether it’s in the trailer or inside the tower itself. Um, and so you can pre-consolidate, get [00:02:00] all the air out in between your layers, have the primer pre-applied to the backside. That way, when you’re actually uptower, it’s simply peel, stick, roll, and then cure it out with our UV light. Sub 10 minutes, uh, will get you a fully cured part.  Allen Hall: Wow. That’s remarkable. Yeah, when I see those LinkedIn posts from all kinds of operators all around the world using your material I also noticed that the weather conditions may not be pristine like you would have to do with epoxy. So there, there’s like a band of temperatures that epoxy systems generally work in. But with the UV material, I’m noticing, I’ve s- I s- especially over the wintertime, I saw some cold weather repairs going on. Is there any limitation really to the UV cured patches and materials in temperatures?  Bret Tollgaard: There, there really aren’t for the temperature ranges that people will actually be out and installing these. Some of my favorite photos are when it’s negative five Celsius outside and everyone’s got the big gloves, the big [00:03:00] scarves, the big warmers and everything, and they’re applying our prepreg materials, uh, in below freezing conditions and still curing with the same 10-minute cycle time. Uh, another big advantage of our UV prepregs is everything’s already pre-wet out, so you’re not uptower with your fiberglass and your resin kicking off an epoxy or even some other, uh, you know, materials out there where it’s really hard to impregnate and get that saturation and kick off with UV. And so our prepreg repair patches really lend themselves to efficiency in the field, uh, over a really broad variety of, uh, ambient temperatures. So some of the negative five, negative 10 C installs all the way up to the hot ones in Texas and India and Australia, where you’ve got these people and it’s 100 Fahrenheit or, you know, 35 plus C, and you still cure with the same consistency, the same cure rate, the k- same cure speeds, um, really, really makes it a very versatile system. Allen Hall: It just gets rid of the variation and, and [00:04:00] that’s one of the items when we look at repairs. So we’re on the lightning side of this business where lightning damage happens, so we see a lot of repairs happen. We also see a lot of repairs that don’t look great. They’re, I mean, the vast majority do look great, but you get these occasional ones where they’ve tried to use epoxy in the wintertime and use a heat blanket. It, it’s difficult to do. It, it just is because of the material, it’s very difficult to do. I’m recommending more and more that they use a UV cure material if they’re gonna go off and do it, particularly as they, uh, do what I would consider to be a temporary patch until they get where they can do more in-depth work when it’s warmer outside. But it, it does really change the game because the ability to buy the material quickly is amazing. Uh, b- there’s no hazardous me- chemi- chemicals in, uh, the Sunrise material at all, so it can be shipped anywhere, anytime, overnight, on a airplane, on a truck, doesn’t matter. Does that really open up the marketplaces for the [00:05:00] Sunrise UV cure materials? Bret Tollgaard: 100%. And because of the long shelf life as well, um, we stock and store all of the common, um, materials used for wind. The prepreg, the putties, the surface primers. Fiberglass also does a great job of stocking and storing things. And yeah, because these can ship as unregulated materials, we get calls for next-day air shipping all the time, all over the world. And so whether it’s out here domestically, it’s going up to Canada, Europe, uh, Asia, Australia, um, it’s really, really simplifies the whole process from start to finish.  Allen Hall: Are there any special tools you need to use when applying a, a UV cured prepreg patch to a blade, or is it just standard existing tools? Is there anything unique there? Bret Tollgaard: No. It’s kind of as simple as it gets. There’s no vacuum bag required. There’s no heat blanket required. To truly install the materials, you’re gonna take off the back, uh, layer of, of the film on the backside of the [00:06:00] prepreg, re-stack and consolidate your materials. Uh, you’re gonna consolidate that with a basic three-inch or six-inch bubble buster hand roller. Every technician’s gonna know exactly what that is. Uh, it’s a simple piece of little rolling metal that, uh, simply rolls out any air between the, the repair patches. And then after that, you’re gonna grab a paintbrush, and you’re gonna spread some of our surface primer over the backside of the prepreg. So you got a hand roller, and you got a paintbrush That’s all you’re gonna need to get the material up onto the wind blade. And then of course, to cure the material, you need a UV light to do so. The sunshine, although it will cure the material, you never have consistent sun, light intensity, you’re on the shady side of the blade, et cetera. And so we’ve developed a variety of UV curing devices to help facilitate that. So our standard in the industry right now is what we call our Gen 2 LED lamp. It’s about the size of an eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper. Um, but it’ll, it’ll cure several square feet at a time when you’re 14 to 20 inches or so away from that [00:07:00] surface. Uh, but in addition to that, we’re also working on a patent pending LED array system that is gonna be a broader… Right now, it’s about a half meter by one square meter surface area, and it’s gonna, um, emit a very, very uniform, uh, amount of light intensity across that entire surface all at once to make it even easier for the installers so they can just strap it to the blade, cure it for five minutes, and then move it over if they have a longer, uh, you know, one to two square meter repair. Allen Hall: Wow, that’s remarkable. I, I have one of your lights, and I’m always shocked at how much light intensity there is because I’ve used other lights and seen other lights, and then they’re not nearly as bright or consistent across a, a piece of fabric, for example, where you just see uniformity.  Bret Tollgaard: That is certainly one of the challenges that we’ve actually encountered when people say, “Oh, well, I have a UV light. I bought it on Amazon. I bought it from eBay. I bought it from somewhere where that 200 watt listed on that is not truly 200 watts, or the light intensity, [00:08:00] uh, that they, you know, claim to have. UV cure materials need the correct wavelength. They also need the correct light intensity on that surface to guarantee your depth of cure and to make sure that you’re truly bonding to the base substrate behind you. The thicker you go, the more light intensity you’re going to need. So a lot of the knockoff materials really just don’t do it justice, um, and which is why we’ve, you know, intentionally built the LED curing systems that we have to cure with our prepregs, uh, and putties and adhesives. So they are all true one, uh, one single system. Allen Hall: We’ve looked at different light systems here at Weather Guard, and I know we’re engineer- we’re an engineering group, right? So we’re gonna go look to see what these different lights are, and are they really truly putting out the frequency of light which is written down on the ad. It’s amazing, like, uh, the variation you get light to light. It really depends on what the source is, but, uh, to test a light, just to test a light to make sure it’s putting out the right intensity at [00:09:00] the right frequency is super expensive. So you can buy a several thousand dollar sensor to check your hundred dollar light, or you could actually buy the right thing from SudRes and have the proper light because it does change the cure rate and what the result is. So- Y- y- is it easy to tell, Brett, when I, if I have a light in the truck, do I know it’s the right frequency? How do I even tell that, uh, to know that I’m using the right stuff?  Bret Tollgaard: Well, if it says SunRes on the backside of that lamp, you have a guaranteed method of knowing exactly what that is. Um, we have the most broad industrial use UV lamp on the market, like, first and foremost. There are several that cost four to five times what we do, but a lot of times they’re also a really small aperture, so they’re only curing a small footprint, which is why we’ve become the kind of gold standard for all UV cure repair solutions out there using a SunRes lamp. Um, we just make the best product, not to toot our own horn [00:10:00] too much. Um, but it, it really serves the need of what these industrial customers in wind and other industries are looking for. Um, and I’m sure there are other systems out there. I’ve personally tried and tested dozens of different lamps out there to always see what’s on the market, and what we provide is just above and beyond performance-wise for the cost. Allen Hall: And one of the, the questions that comes up with the light when we talk to operators, like, “Where do I get the light?” Well, you, you call Brett at SunRes and you buy yourself a light. The second question that happens is, has the OEM blessed this material? Have they validated the material? Has it been through material testing? Has the OEM done structural loading on the material? Did I know that as a repair material, it’s actually gonna adhere to my polyester blade or my epoxy blade or whatever this thing is? Do I know that this is gonna work? Sunrise has been through a number of, uh, OEMs at this point. What’s the status of your OEM [00:11:00] relationships there? Bret Tollgaard: Very, very solid, and constantly getting approved by more and more OEMs. Um, we’ve sold over 35,000 square meters of prepreg into the wind market alone. And with that has come a variety of, uh, you know, engineering approved jobs versus fully validated materials. We now have 20-year lifespans on a variety of different OEM, uh, wind parts. And so our epoxy and polyester, we adhere phenomenal to both. And yeah, our prepregs are getting, uh, used more and more in every single application.  Allen Hall: I, I assume you can provide references if, if someone were to ask, like an ISP, “Can I talk to the OEM about this?”  Bret Tollgaard: Absolutely. Uh, and it, it’s, you know, no secret. General Electric’s been one of the big pushers of UV cure materials now for a while, um, for both their epoxy and the LM polyester blades. Um, but there are several European OEMs that are actively, you know, certifying the materials as well.  Allen Hall: Oh, that’s a smart move on their part. [00:12:00] Uh, one of the considerations for using a UV material is training. Uh, do I need to do special training for my technicians? Is it really different than epoxy? Do I have to do any training at all? What’s the level of skill that would be in- involved in using a, a UV prepreg?  Bret Tollgaard: The reality is, if you have any bit of experience of knowing what a resin and a fiberglass and wetting things out, UV just makes that job even simpler. So all the repair technicians that have gone through repair academies, been trained on the, on site or on the job, that have gotten their hands dirty, as we like to call it, with making some, uh, composite repairs, UV is just gonna simplify the process even more. Um, in 2026 and 2027, we’re actually starting to work, uh, uh, more closely now with a variety of the blade repair groups or academies and training facilities to also get UV cure in people’s hands so they don’t experience, uh, for the first time when they’re out, you know, getting a job with one of these other [00:13:00] OEMs that are recommending use our material now instead of, uh, epoxy systems. Allen Hall: Mm. And all the experience that’s happened at, at Sunrise, I, I don’t know if a lot of people realize that you’re a roughly 40-year-old company. You’ve been around a long time, although you’re nowhere near 40. But the company has been around a long time. What was the origin of SunRes? Uh, because it wasn’t necessarily in wind, right? Wind is sort of an afterm- after-market kind of application where it kind of transferred over. But what, what was the core start of the business?  Bret Tollgaard: Yeah, no, we were founded in September of 1986. So in just a couple of weeks, we’ll actually hit our 40-year anniversary.  Allen Hall: Wow.  Bret Tollgaard: SunRes was originally founded, uh, in, uh, once again, the, the mid-’80s for just UV cure formulations in general. Spent the first several decades, uh, of its life being primarily an R&D, uh, kind of based group, um, formulating specialty UV cure solutions for mostly thick wall fiber reinforced applications. So anything from [00:14:00] boat hulls to, uh, drones to, uh, you know, bathtub repair and saddle trees. Um, we’ve sold really the, a whole kind of gambit of very broad basic systems to incredibly advanced high precision, uh, you know, applications. And so as we grew and evolved the, the formulas and the recipes to cert- uh, to solve certain needs, now we’re kind of elevating that to a more, uh, manufacturing based business and offering true repair solutions as opposed to just R&D and working on developing solutions to repair something.  Allen Hall: And that’s growing outside of just the pre-preg processing materials, packaging it up and shipping it. And y- you’re now getting more into specific solutions in wind, which is really exciting. The leading edge erosion issue is plaguing a lot of turbine blades in the United States and, and globally. Australia has a big problem with it, and there’s a, some other places that I’ve seen some pretty [00:15:00] rough looking blades, India being another one. Uh, the solution to go fix those blades has generally involved, uh, putting someone up on a rope, a- applying material, fiberglass back down, trying to repair holes in particular, and trying to cap that off. But now there’s some new materials that can speed up the process to at least get you back to a, a surface, a usable surface that you could then apply an LEP or whatever you decided to do there. What do those new materials look like and, and how are they being used today?  Bret Tollgaard: Yeah, no, great question. So ultimately there are broad– uh, you know, a really, really broad, uh, array of challenges that wind in particular really kind of faces. And so developing UV cure solutions to fit more of those than just a small little repair patch or a crack has been something that we’ve been working on for a while with a variety of different groups. Um, but leading edge in particular, not just protection, but also the rehabilitation of those leading [00:16:00] edges. So we’ve done that in a couple of different ways. Some have been some pre-consolidated repair patches that we’ve built, where a specific blade requires, um, you know, a, a design package to reinforce certain areas, whether it was, uh, too many ply drops in a certain zone or an area of high wear. Uh, but the other ones kind of more recently are starting to build, I’ll call like a fiber reinforced type putty, where you’re actually filling gaps, filling holes, filling imperfections with a more structural repair solution before then coming over the top with an LEP for the protection of that blade long term. And so being able to provide solutions for both, uh, hand, but then also robotics is something that we’ve been focusing on. So repair technicians can do it, but then also make sure that the, uh, robotics industry has the materials that they need to be able to do that in a fast and timely manner.  Allen Hall: So these new materials can be applied with a robot, I just heard. How does that work? Is it a cartridge system or a liquid system? How– Is it sprayed on? [00:17:00] W- how does this thing work?  Bret Tollgaard: Ultimately, it’s whatever that robotics company says that they would like and need. And so we build, uh, certain things to meet different demands on both of those aspects. But some are spray, some are coated, some are troweled, uh, all of which though, uh, include applying a UV cure material, uh, and then curing it to then make sure that they get the correct, uh, you know, mechanical and thermal properties for that leading edge or that leading edge re- rehabilitation. Allen Hall: That must be a huge time saver.  Bret Tollgaard: Phenomenally so. Uh, the robotics companies are, are pretty happy with the way that things are starting to unfold, and then same with the, uh, owner-operators. Like when you can go and you can have a robot Fix, sand, or sand, clean, fill that leading edge without a technician having to be up there. Tremendous amount of time savings, and then also just liability and repeatability, um, which is always an important thing, is having extremely high quality throughout that entire process, uh, and then recording it and everything like [00:18:00] that too.  Allen Hall: Well, that’s the key to any leading edge repair that I’ve seen, is the repeatability and controlling the, uh, sometimes the uncontrollables, trying to add a little bit of restriction about what you’re doing, how you’re doing it to get the consistency in the product. Because there’s a lot of products on the market right now, uh, that supposedly will do this thing But there’s– we have seen a variety of outcomes even for the same material. C- moving to something that’s a little more standard and, and particularly UV-based, where it’s stable, shelf-stable, right? I mean, th-there’s no expiration date necessarily. You, you probably put a time limit on it, but it’s shelf-stable, so I have a, a barrel of it in the, in the pickup truck. I can probably still use it. But, uh, what am I thinking about when I start to make those decisions? Because this is all new to most of the industry. They haven’t seen this. What– some of the things should they be considering when they’re thinking about, “I got a leading edge repair.[00:19:00] It’s kinda ugly. It’s probably cat three, maybe cat four. Where am I going here? Who am I talking to, and why am I thinking about UV?”  Bret Tollgaard: Yeah, I mean, ultimately it comes down to, you know, a variety of value that we provide the customers. Um, as you said, being shelf-stable is incredibly important. The reality is a lot of these repair materials aren’t being stored in a temperature-controlled warehouse. It’s being stored in someone’s trailer, and they’re gonna use half of a cartridge, or they’re gonna use four prepregs, and they’re gonna have six more sitting on the shelf for two more months until they move to another job that they’re gonna go and do something else. And so the materials themselves need to have an incredibly long shelf life, but also be able to handle those varying temperatures. Like if you’re out in the middle of Texas here in the United States, it can be 130, 140 degree Fahrenheit inside that trailer during the day, but at the same time at night, you can have temperatures below freezing in certain areas, and it needs to be able to withstand both of those extreme temperature environments. Um, that being said, [00:20:00] you buy from a group like us or you buy it from Fibre Glast where it is stored properly, and it can be shipped next day to, to you on site. Uh, it simply, it, yeah, it simply helps, uh, everyone long term, uh, make sure that they have the materials that they need.  Allen Hall: I would be remiss not to talk about our Strike Tape Ultra product, which is a partnership between Weather Guard, Lightning Tech, and SunRez. Uh, it’s a project that we’ve been working on for probably two years now, maybe a little bit longer. It, it’s been a tremendous amount of effort, engineering time and materials-wise, and learning about different, uh, performance of a, uh, particular resin system and trying to figure out what works. But, uh, there is now a solution, and SunRez is producing a lot of Strike Tape Ultra parts at the minute Really durable, based on Sunrise material, but you’re using not just our, our, our obviously our, our recent, uh, experiments and all the data, [00:21:00]but this goes back almost 40 years. You’re, you’re bringing 40 years of knowledge to the table to come up with a solution for a really difficult environment.  Bret Tollgaard: Yeah, and we’ve had to certainly rely on the past experiences that we have learned along the way. Um, you know, part of the challenges of working for the last year or two years together on this was to truly make as robust and durable of a system as we can. And so having this new 7303 vinyl ester-based system, uh, which we’re not only using for you but also using as the primary component for our LEP system, uh, it definitely has the durability and the longevity for, uh, your strike tapes, uh, in particular to be, uh, to withstand all the elements and all the abrasion and all the erosion that’s gonna come its way for years. Allen Hall: Now, I, I’ve watched you at trade shows take a hammer to some of your prepreg materials and demonstrate you can cure it within a couple of minutes, and you’re hitting it with a hammer and it’s super tough. We’ve done that at Weather Guard with the Strike Tape Ultra. It’s [00:22:00] crazy durable, and I don’t understand the chemistry of what you guys do. You’re experts in UV and all the chemicals and how to make this thing work, but it is truly remarkable how tough that material is and UV stable it is and how quick it is to cure and to get onto a blade in a couple of minutes. It’s quite remarkable, and the, the rain erosion performance of it has been crazy good. Uh, it’s a real game changer.  Bret Tollgaard: We’re extremely proud of the way that, uh, this has all kind of unfolded, and it has been a long time to kinda work through and iterate through the different formulas. Um, but the combination of the extremely hard and durable system that we have as the overcoating combined with our UV cure adhesive, AKA surface primer, uh, to act as that really, um, gooey, high elongation, great stress distribution kinda medium, uh, to then get that into the blade, it’s the perfect one-two combo, [00:23:00] and being able to cure in just a couple of minutes is only, uh, icing on the cake. Allen Hall: Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s quite good. Uh, I know, uh, when people hear this podcast, you’re gonna get a lot of reach-out because we’re kinda getting near the end of the typical Northern Hemisphere season. It’s gonna get chilly here in about six to eight weeks since when we’re recording. How do people get ahold of you and start talking about repair patches and materials for this year, and also for next season? Bret Tollgaard: The easiest way is gonna be reach out to us, uh, via email, info@sunrez.com, sales@sunrez.com. We’ll put you in touch with, uh, all the right people within Sunrez to make that happen for you. Um, and similarly too, groups like com- uh, Fibre Glast have been stocking and storing the material for years. They’re really, really great at tailoring the exact amount of material that you need for a given job site. They’re willing to break it down to individual patches, single things of primer, putty. Uh, you come to us, you’re gonna have larger MOQs to be able to buy [00:24:00] boxes and rolls, uh, directly off the shelf. But at the same time too, we’re happy to get customers whatever products they need as quickly as they need, and put them in touch with the right people to do so. Allen Hall: So you just Google Sunrez, S-U-N-R-E-Z, or just go to sunrez.com, and you’ll get to the Sunrez site, and you can learn a whole bunch about the materials of what is offered. But you need to, to call Brett and call the team at Sunrez, uh, to, to get the solution for you. And it is, uh, really great working with Sunrez. It, it’s been a pleasure, honestly.  Bret Tollgaard: My, uh, my business development manager, Gerhard, will certainly have me say, “Let’s direct all that to Gerhard instead of Brett.” So he’ll be happy to get you all the info that you need. Um, but yeah, so ultimately, we’re an extremely customer-driven company, and we bend over backwards as often as necessary to get customers what they need in the time that they need it. It’s something that we really pride ourselves on. Uh, it’s also how we developed all these new, uh, technologies and materials to, to make customers’ [00:25:00]lives easier in the field. And so even as all of our wind portfolios, you know, grow and expands for product line offerings, um, we’re certainly interested in learning about what your challenge in particular is, and how we can best help you solve that challenge. Allen Hall: Yeah, so if you have a blade challenge right now, and most operators do, you better be checking out sunrez.com. Brett, it’s so great to have you back on the podcast. Love having you on, and we’ll speak again soon.  Bret Tollgaard: Looking forward to it. Thank you, Allen.

Is the future of MedTech innovation shifting away from devices—and toward manufacturing? In this episode of Med Tech Gurus, we sit down with Mark Freitas, Managing Director and Life Sciences Leader at Alvarez & Marsal, to explore a major shift happening in MedTech: capital is moving away from traditional device acquisitions and toward advanced manufacturing platforms and CDMOs. As device complexity increases and technologies converge across hardware, software, and biologics, the ability to manufacture at scale is becoming a strategic differentiator—not just an operational function. Mark breaks down why 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for MedTech M&A, with a surge in deal activity driven by private equity exits, OEM carve-outs, and platform roll-ups. He explains why scarcity of specialized capabilities—not revenue—is now driving valuation, and how regulatory infrastructure has emerged as a hidden but powerful competitive moat. We also explore how founders and operators should think about CDMO partnerships, when to own manufacturing versus outsource it, and why many companies get the timing wrong. For MedTech leaders, investors, and innovators, this episode delivers a clear message: the winners in the next wave of MedTech won't just build great products—they'll build (or partner for) the capabilities to make them.

Finding the right part has long been one of the biggest friction points in the repair process. Multiple searches, outdated systems, phone calls and inconsistent data can slow down repairs and create uncertainty. United Recyclers Group CEO Kristi Werner joins Ratchet+Wrench Radio to discuss the launch of Auto Part Search — a new platform designed to make finding and purchasing recycled OEM parts faster, easier and more reliable for independent repair shops.

Thanks to our Partners, Pico Technology, and AutelWatch Full Video EpisodeFor episode 250, Matt is joined by his wife, Danielle Fanslow, MSW, LGSW, LADCS, for a conversation about diagnostics...just not entirely the automotive kind.Danielle works in behavioral health, mental health, and substance use treatment. Matt diagnoses cars. On the surface, those worlds seem pretty far apart, but both require professionals to gather incomplete information, recognize patterns, separate symptoms from causes, make recommendations, and earn enough trust for someone to act on those recommendations.The conversation explores what happens when the process isn't as simple as following a flowchart. A trouble code doesn't automatically identify a failed component, just as a behavior or symptom doesn't necessarily reveal the underlying problem. In both fields, experience matters...but experience can also create shortcuts, assumptions, and confirmation bias.Matt and Danielle compare diagnostic processes, the role of published procedures and best practices, and what happens when professionals deviate from them. They also discuss how a diagnosis can evolve as new information becomes available, why the label itself may matter less than addressing the actual problem, and how trust affects whether a client or customer accepts a professional recommendation.The discussion also moves into some of the system-level pressures surrounding both industries. Insurance reimbursement, workload, time constraints, business survival, and administrative requirements can all influence professional decisions...sometimes creating situations where doing what is financially rewarded and doing what is actually best for the client are not perfectly aligned.In this episode:The similarities between automotive diagnostics and behavioral health assessmentWhy symptoms are not necessarily causesGathering information before reaching a conclusionDiagnostic procedures versus understanding how the system actually worksWhy professional experience can improve a process...and sometimes bias itConfirmation bias and the danger of deciding what the problem is too earlyCommunicating not only what you found, but why you believe itBuilding trust when the customer or client cannot independently evaluate your diagnosisGoogle, YouTube, AI, and the newly "educated" customerWhy transparency becomes especially important when trust is already lowThe difference between a diagnosis and the problem someone actually wants solvedHow behavioral-health diagnoses can evolve as a clinician learns moreStandardized procedures versus individualized careEthical pressure created by insurance reimbursement and business economicsWhen financial incentives begin influencing what services get recommendedSimilar pressures between insurance-driven behavioral health and collision repairWhy good professionals sometimes deviate from prescribed diagnostic proceduresThe responsibility that comes with making your own diagnostic strategyAccepting that even a well-supported diagnosis can occasionally be wrongWhy being able to explain your reasoning matters when that happensAnd, appropriately for episode 250...a fair amount of Matt and Danielle giving each other a hard timeAbout Danielle FanslowDanielle Fanslow holds a Master of Social Work and is a Licensed Graduate Social Worker and Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor Supervisor in Minnesota. Her experience includes substance use treatment, mental health, assessment, treatment planning, and behavioral-health systems.Thanks to our Partner, Pico TechnologyAre you chasing elusive automotive problems? Pico Technology empowers you to see what's really happening. Their PicoScope oscilloscopes transform your diagnostic capabilities. Visit PicoAuto.comThanks to our Partner, AutelFrom drivability diagnostics and TPMS service to ADAS and advanced safety systems, Autel helps technicians follow OEM procedures and repair with confidence. Learn more at Autel.comContact InformationEmail Matt: mattfanslowpodcast@gmail.comSubscribe on YouTube: @automotivefieldtheoryThe Automotive Repair Podcast Network: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/Download and Listen on Our Mobile App: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/app/Remarkable Results Radio Podcast with Carm Capriotto: Advancing the Aftermarket by Facilitating Wisdom Through StoryTelling and Open Discussion. https://remarkableresults.biz/Business by the Numbers with Hunt Demarest: Understand the Numbers of Your Business with CPA Hunt Demarest. https://huntdemarest.captivate.fm/The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast with Kim and Brian Walker: Marketing Experts Brian & Kim Walker Work with Shop Owners to Take it to the Next Level. https://autorepairmarketing.captivate.fm/The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton: Weekly Inspiration with Business Coach Chris Cotton from AutoFix - Auto Shop Coaching. https://chriscotton.captivate.fm/Speak Up! Effective Communication with Craig O'Neill: Develop Interpersonal and Professional Communication Skills when Speaking to Audiences of Any Size. https://craigoneill.captivate.fm/

In this episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, Sean V. Bradley and LA Williams unpack what it really means to become part of your local community, and why simply sponsoring an event or putting your logo on a banner isn't enough. "People need to see people that look like them succeed." - LA Williams They explore how automotive professionals can build genuine relationships, create stronger local visibility, and become recognizable, trusted figures in the markets they serve. From finding the right organizations and causes to support, to using social media, networking, and modern tools to uncover new opportunities, this conversation is all about turning community presence into meaningful connection. "Use the resources to help us get what it is that we want." - LA Williams If you want to strengthen your personal brand, expand your local network, and create opportunities that go far beyond traditional prospecting, this episode will give you a fresh way to think about community building without giving away the entire playbook. Key Takeaways: ✅ Genuine community involvement goes beyond sponsorship; it requires personal engagement and relationship building. ✅ Becoming a local celebrity involves immersing oneself in community events and initiatives, acting as both a business leader and community advocate. ✅ Empowering employees to support causes that are significant to them can lead to increased passion and effectiveness in community outreach. ✅ Utilizing AI tools can streamline identifying potential partners and opportunities for community network development. ✅ Success in automotive sales can be amplified by focusing on the needs and interests of the community, thus building reciprocal relationships.   About Sean V. Bradley Sean V. Bradley is a renowned automotive sales training expert and the President of Dealer Synergy. With decades of experience, he has transformed car dealerships across the nation through innovative sales and marketing strategies. Bradley is the co-creator of the Millionaire Car Salesman podcast and a highly sought-after speaker and consultant in the automotive industry. About LA Williams LA Williams is the "Blind Master" Vice President with Dealer Synergy and co-creator of the Millionaire Car Salesman podcast. Despite being blind, he has made a significant mark in the automotive sales industry with his expertise in phone sales and business development. LA Williams is known for his motivational speaking and his remarkable ability to overcome life's challenges.     Becoming the Local Celebrity: Building Community Ties for Automotive Success   Key Takeaways Community engagement isn't just about sponsorships but involves personal, impactful involvement that resonates deeply with local residents. Transforming employees into advocates for their preferred charities enhances dealership reputation and motivates staff. AI tools can streamline and optimize community outreach, fostering meaningful connections that drive business success.   Embracing Community Involvement for Dealership Growth In the fast-paced world of automotive sales, dealerships often prioritize transactions over relationships. However, as Sean V. Bradley and LA Williams of the Millionaire Car Salesman podcast highlight, the true key to sustainable success lies in becoming a "local celebrity" — someone deeply involved in and connected to the community. Sean emphasizes, "If you want the community to support you, you have to support the community." This concept roots itself in genuine interactions, where dealerships are not merely transactional entities but community pillars. Local businesses, sports teams, and groups represent untapped potential. Engaging with them goes beyond placing logos in visible places; it demands real, face-to-face interaction. By attending games, sponsoring workshops, and directly contributing to community needs, dealerships can cultivate authentic relationships. LA Williams states, "Community is where the people are…we're in the people business, but we don't act like it." This sentiment underscores the notion that genuine community involvement creates an emotional bank account, fostering loyalty and repeated business. Building a Referral Network Through Community Ties Fostering relationships within the community extends beyond social obligations. It is a strategic move that can propel a dealership to new heights. As automotive professionals spend their days hunting for leads and closing deals, they might overlook the importance of nurturing lasting community relationships. Sean Bradley proposes a methodical approach: "I want to see what options there are, whether at the home field or at the home basketball court." Through consistent community presence, a dealership positions itself as a trusted entity — the first choice when a community member considers purchasing a vehicle. Engaging deeply within the local social fabric turns everyday interactions into potential referrals. For example, attending local sports events not only offers a platform to showcase the dealership but also opens dialogues that could lead to future sales. Sub-host LA Williams offers a practical method to ignite these conversations: "I have people…they'll come up to you…and you say, 'I'm glad you asked, I work with ABC Motors.'" Through these interactions, dealerships cultivate a network of recurring referrals, expanding their client base organically. Leveraging AI for Strategic Community Engagement While personal connections are invaluable, technology offers remarkable efficiency in managing and expanding these networks. ChatGPT and other AI tools, as demonstrated in the podcast, provide substantial support in creating a systematic engagement plan. Sean Bradley illustrates this during the show: "I had AI create for me all the different people in the Warminster area that I should reach out to." AI can automate outreach efforts, enabling dealerships to maintain consistent communication with potential collaborators and clients. This technology identifies which businesses to engage, offers scripts for interaction, and suggests optimal communication timelines. With these tools, dealers can manage wide-reaching community relationships efficiently, ensuring that no opportunity slips through the cracks. AI complements the personal touch, expanding the dealership's reach without sacrificing the depth of human connection. Utilizing AI, as Sean articulates, dealers can optimize their efforts, "Join all the local groups…Look at joining Facebook and LinkedIn groups." These platforms offer invaluable insights and connections, enabling the dealership to become a fully integrated part of the community's social and professional ecosystem. By Empowering Employees, Build a Passionate and Dedicated Team To achieve true community integration, dealership management must recognize and channel the passions of their employees. Inviting staff to voice the causes and charities they support allows dealerships to align their community outreach strategies with genuine employee interests. Sean Bradley proposes a democratic approach: "These aren't going to be the top eight coming from me… I want to get behind what's important to you." This inclusivity not only inspires and motivates employees, who often feel undervalued, but also personalizes and deepens the dealership's community engagement. When employees are actively engaged in causes they care about, they're more likely to put in the effort to ensure the success of these initiatives. Furthermore, this involvement enhances the dealership's reputation as an organization that genuinely cares, resonating well with the community and fostering trust and goodwill. Successful automotive sales go beyond the conventional metrics of transaction volume and revenue. By becoming local influencers, dealerships can tap into an authentic power that transforms community relationships into long-term business growth. As Sean V. Bradley and LA Williams emphasize, it's not just about being in the community but building the community that matters most. By melding strategic AI utility with genuine human interaction and employee empowerment, dealerships can cultivate an environment where success is inevitable, interconnected, and shared.     Resources + Our Proud Sponsors:   ➼ Podium: The AI Platform Powering the Modern Dealership. From instant lead response to seamless test drive scheduling, Podium's AI Employee Jerry works 24/7 to turn every lead into a conversion, so your team can focus on closing. Trusted by thousands of dealerships nationwide and proudly featured on the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast. Learn how Podium can help you sell more cars, book more service appointments, and grow your dealership. Discover how Podium's innovative AI technology can unlock unparalleled efficiency and drive your dealership's sales to new heights. Visit www.podium.com/mcs to learn more!   ➼ The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group: Join the #1 Automotive Sales Mastermind Facebook Group with over 29,000 automotive professionals worldwide. The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group is the go-to community for car salespeople, BDC agents, sales managers, general managers, and dealer principals looking to increase performance, income, and leadership skills. Inside the group, members collaborate daily on automotive sales strategies, lead handling, phone scripts, closing techniques, CRM best practices, dealership leadership, and accountability systems. Learn directly from top automotive trainers, industry mentors, and high-performing sales leaders who are actively winning in today's market. If you're serious about growing your automotive career, increasing car sales, and building long-term success, join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today! ➼ Dealer Synergy: Dealer Synergy is the automotive industry's #1 Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm, with over 20 years of proven dealership success nationwide. We specialize in helping car dealerships increase sales, improve processes, and build high-performing Sales, Internet, and BDC departments from the ground up. Our expertise includes automotive phone scripts, rebuttals, CRM action plans, lead handling strategies, BDC workflows, Internet sales processes, management training, and accountability systems. Dealer Synergy partners directly with dealership leadership to align people, process, and technology, ensuring consistent results and scalable growth. From independent dealers to large dealer groups and OEM partnerships, Dealer Synergy delivers measurable performance improvements, stronger teams, and sustainable profitability. ➼ Bradley On Demand: Bradley On Demand is the automotive industry's most advanced interactive training, tracking, testing, and certification platform for car dealerships — built to develop top-performing teams across Sales, Internet Sales, BDC, CRM, Phone Skills, Leadership, and Management. In addition to LIVE virtual automotive training classes and a library of 9,000+ on-demand dealership training modules, Bradley On Demand now includes AI Phone Roleplaying and Coaching to help salespeople and BDC agents practice real dealership conversations before they ever get on the phone with customers. This AI-powered roleplay technology strengthens phone scripts, objection handling, appointment setting, lead follow-up, and closing skills, while providing measurable coaching feedback for continuous improvement. Bradley On Demand empowers dealerships to train faster, coach smarter, improve call performance, increase closing ratios, and sell more cars more profitably — all through structured, trackable, modern automotive training.

Welcome back to The Collision Vision, driven by Autobody News. I'm your host, Cole Strandberg. Collision repair is becoming more technical every year. New materials, more sophisticated joining methods, advanced measuring systems, OEM procedures, and increasingly complex vehicles have raised the bar for what it means to perform a proper repair. But ultimately, all of that technology still comes down to the person holding the tools. Today's guest is Juan Carlos Gasga Perez, owner of Premier Auto Body and the technician and educator behind Auto Body Strong. Juan has built a massive following by doing something relatively simple: showing the industry what great collision repair looks like in the real world. We'll talk about his journey from technician to shop owner, how Auto Body Strong became an educational platform for technicians around the world, and what he's learned by putting his work in front of such a large audience. We'll also get into the technical side — from structural repair and measuring to welding, equipment, efficiency, and what it really takes to perform today's increasingly complex repairs the right way. And finally, we'll look ahead at the technician of the future, and how better training, better tools, and maybe even social media can help us build the next generation of collision repair professionals. Because as sophisticated as the vehicles and technology become, great repairs still depend on great technicians. Let's get into it.   Follow Juan: Instagram Youtube

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Selling the equipment is the easy part. The real revenue shows up after the sale.Sam Neva, Vice President of Sales for Service Lifecycle Management at PTC, joined the show to talk servitization - what it means, and why it's becoming the difference between OEMs who scrape by on hardware margins and ones who build real recurring revenue. Chris caught up with him live at PTC's headquarters.Manufacturing folks, we didn't forget about you! This episode is geared squarely toward people building equipment. If you want to tighten up your sales process and make your customer relationships stickier, this one is for you.Sam and Chris get into what's holding most OEMs back from servitization, how AI is starting to change what proactive service looks like, and the math behind why the money shows up years after the original sale.In this episode, find out:Why the smartest OEMs are lowering the price of the original sale, and what they're betting on insteadThe three levels standing between a traditional OEM and a full servitization modelWhy ‘tribal knowledge' is the hidden gap between engineering and service teamsHow AI is helping teams triage service issues before they need a technicianThe Harvard Business Review stat that shows just how much revenue gets left on the table post-saleWhat Schneider Electric did to grow revenue, win rates, and improve customer satisfaction at the same timeThe first question every OEM should ask before attempting servitizationEnjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It's feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!Tweetable Quotes:“You're reacting to a problem, instead of doing your best to extend and plan that time horizon to prepare for that problem." - Sam Neva, Vice President of Sales for Service Lifecycle Management at PTC“Step 1 is what do customers expect from us, why do they expect that, and how can we give them that?" - Sam Neva, Vice President of Sales for Service Lifecycle Management at PTC“The goal is how do I make money as the OEM, not just by selling you that box, but selling you the outcome of what that box provides.” - Sam Neva, Vice President of Sales for Service Lifecycle Management at PTCLinks & mentions:Benchmark your servitization strategy, a complimentary assessment where ServiceMax experts will evaluate your current service organization and identify opportunities to improve performance, profitability, and customer outcomes.ServiceMax, a PTC Technology, is on a mission to help customers keep the world running with asset-centric field service management software. As a recognized leader in this space, our cloud-based software and mobile apps provide a complete view of assets to field service teams.Make sure to visit https://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

Send us Fan MailTony Kelbert is a mechanical engineer, manufacturing strategist, and Chief Burrito Officer at AeroGrowth, an organization focused on helping precision manufacturers pursue and win the right aerospace and defense work. Drawing on experience from both the OEM and supplier sides of the industry, Tony helps manufacturers better understand positioning, quoting, customer relationships, and the realities of selling into complex aerospace supply chains. Tony began his engineering career at a defense vehicle manufacturer, where he designed lightweight, durable components for severe-duty military vehicles, managed mass properties for a weight-sensitive program, and led a team of designers. He later spent several years at a major aerospace company, designing medical oxygen systems for transport aircraft and lightweight structural components for VIP aircraft interiors while serving as a liaison between engineering and manufacturing. His career eventually expanded beyond traditional product design. Tony moved into manufacturing business development, worked as a senior mechanical engineer at a product development firm, and became a venture advisor focused on manufacturing. These experiences gave him a broader view of how technical capabilities, customer selection, pricing, sales, and company culture affect the long-term health of a manufacturing business. Tony is also the managing partner of goodthink labs, where he uses engineering analysis, experiments, storytelling, and occasional unnecessary inventions to make technical subjects more engaging. He earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota and now brings together engineering experience, business strategy, curiosity, and humor to help manufacturers build businesses worth owning. LINKS: Tony Kelbert LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonykelbert Tony Kelbert website: https://aerogrowthllc.com/ Aaron Moncur, host PDX 2026 is October 20-21 in Phoenix, AZ.  Learn more and register at https://pdexpo.engineer/  Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.usWatch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Robotaxis are accelerating along the road to commercial viability. Auto and Shared Mobility Analysts Andrew Percoco and Tim Hsiao discuss what this rapid development means for global investors.Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Andrew Percoco: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Andrew Percoco, Head of North America Auto and Shared Mobility Research. Tim Hsiao: And I'm Tim Hsiao, Greater China Auto and Shared Mobility Analyst.Andrew Percoco: Today, why robotaxis may be approaching a commercial inflection point. It's Thursday, August 13th at 8am in New York.Tim Hsiao: And 8 pm in Hong Kong.Andrew Percoco: So Tim, for years, robotaxis were really confined to limited pilot rollouts across the globe. You've done a lot of work over the last few weeks. We put out a big collaborative report on the robotaxi market and how it could be a $1 trillion TAM by 2040.What makes this moment different than some of the other robotaxi hype cycles that we've seen in the past? Tim Hsiao: We observe four things have been converging. Firstly, end-to-end AI is improving much faster. Secondly, hardware and the training costs are falling. And thirdly, more well-capitalized players can fund deployment. And last but not least, regulation is becoming clearer.The leading operators are no longer just demonstrating the technology. They are running fully driverless services around the clock and generating commercial rides. So in our view, the questions has been shifting from can it work to who can expand operating areas, raise utilization and lower costs at a much faster pace.So that's a very different setup versus the 2018 and 2021 hype cycles. Andrew, U.S. autonomous miles could rise from 116 million in [20]25 to 16 billion by 2032. But still make up only about 0.5 percent of all miles driven. How can robotaxis become a meaningful business while remaining such a small part of the market?Andrew Percoco: I would say, you know, obviously the U.S. mobility and transportation market is a massive market. So even with the rapid growth that we expect in robotaxis, it's going to take a long time to make a material impact in the overall market share of mobility. But if you think about the profit pools in this business, 16 billion miles at $2 a mile can, you know, pretty quickly become a very significant TAM and market opportunity.And I think, you know, fundamentally, if you think about a robotaxi business, I would argue you're better utilizing an asset... Or if you think about the, you know, car park, the amount of vehicles that are, you know, in the fleet today or in the U.S. today, they're sitting idle 90 percent of the time, right?So you're talking about taking a smaller amount of volume and driving a higher utilization on that fleet and driving much improved economics. So yes, it's going to take time to displace the, you know, hundreds of millions of cars that you have on the road in the U.S. and displace the penetration of miles driven. But ultimately, you know, we think that the profit pool and the opportunity in robotaxis are much more attractive for the entire value chain, as it relates to robotaxis. And I'd say there's a few things that we're watching along the way to make sure that, to your point, you know, this is not another hype cycle. And that there's real commercial backbone to this business.I'd say the first is seeing the rollouts continue to improve, and the density of the rollouts improve across the select cities that we've seen in the U.S. right now. Robotaxis are only available in a handful of cities in the U.S., so we want to see that continue to expand into more cities. But also the density of the fleet increase in the cities where they're currently present.And at the same time the safety side is still something that gets a lot of questions in making sure that it is truly safer than a human driver, across technology platforms, right? There's various players in this market with different approaches to technology. So, I think seeing that the safety curve is starting to or continues to improve is going to be very important for the viability of this market going forward.Obviously U.S. is very different from China. What have you seen in China? China has shown some impressive growth and utilization in some of the operators that are on the road in China. So just curious as to your perspective in terms of what you're seeing on the ground there. Tim Hsiao: I think China shows that there's much in operations and skill challenges as technology challenges. The fleet in China is above 5,000 vehicles across I think more than 7500 square kilometers in key cities. And some operators average more than 20 orders per vehicle per day.So, total cost of ownership has fallen roughly 30 to 40 percent, while remote assistance ratios are moving from like one operator for like 20 to 40, even like 50 to 60 vehicles. And we think it will achieve like one for a 100. So that has produced real break-even happens, especially in some major cities like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan – the tier one, tier two cities.So in our view, I think in China, wider operating domains, fleet density and utilization rate, as you just mentioned, reinforce one another. So make it some more like the real commercial case. Instead of just, like trials as we saw a couple years ago. If more value shifts towards the software, fleet operation, and the data, as well as the customer relations, how does that change the profit pool, across the auto industry, especially in the U.S.?Andrew Percoco: First off, I think the auto industry in general is becoming, you know, more software focused and aware. You know, it's being led by the robotaxi market where the autonomous driving software and technology is obviously the most important part about getting this technology to market.That is ultimately trickling down to personally owned cars where you're seeing more autonomous technology being deployed. Auto OEMs are able to charge subscription revenue for this software. So it expands, I'd say, the value proposition of buying a vehicle expands the profit pool for the OEMs.It changes in some ways the cyclicality, or can change the cyclicality of the industry if you've got more kind of recurring revenues, subscription like business model versus just a hardware focused OEM model, which has been kind of the predominant focus for the OEMs historically. I'd say the other angle, interesting angle here is, you know, as this business scales, there's gonna be a lot of vehicles on the road. There's gonna be a lot of fleets of vehicles on the road. Those need to be managed by somebody or some company, right? So if you think about, you know, the rental car industry, right? These companies have been in the business of managing fleets and renting out fleets for a very long time. They know how to do that very, very well.I think there's an interesting opportunity for that part of the value chain, to participate in aiding these robotaxi fleet operators, in scaling and bringing their business to market. Charging, maintenance, reconditioning, all the things that take a lot of time and a pretty large amount of physical infrastructure.That's an opportunity for the rental car industry to come in and leverage their existing know-how to help. And, you know, I think Tim, an important part of this commercialization process is driving down the cost structure of robotaxis. They are very sensor; heavy sensor heavy. They're very compute heavy. I think China is the clear leader on cost and supply chain. I think in China you're seeing robotaxis, you know, around $35,000 to $40,000, which is considerably lower than what we see in the U.S. today.So, how do you think that that will accelerate adoption in China, but I'd say more importantly overseas as some of these robotaxis businesses look to expand outside of China. Tim Hsiao: In our view, it could be a major accelerant because as we noticed that the depreciation is still one of the largest fixed costs for robotaxi. So, as we just mentioned, I think, $35000 to $45000 US dollars, the purpose-built robotaxi can lower the breakeven utilization threshold. And make it easier to finance fleets and open cities that could not support the $150,000 US dollar vehicle.And not only in China, because globally, I think the Chinese cost deflation can be paired with the local ride-hailing platforms in the overseas market that provide demand and regulatory access. But as we highlighted in our previous, the global reports once again, we don't think the cheap vehicle is sufficiently by their self.So in our views, on top of the competitive cost structure, registration, data localization, insurance, and local operating costs can still delay the margin curve, particularly in Europe, which we think there are still quite a lot of uncertainties. So Andrew, as we just, as we just discussed, the lower vehicle costs help, but the operating model still has to work, right? So with operating costs expected to fall and the margin potentially moving above 30 percent or even higher at scale, what are the key assumptions investors should focus on?Andrew Percoco: There's a handful of key assumptions you need to sensitize to get to that 30 percent or more margin structure in this business. I'd say the first is going to be utilization, right? You need to be running these assets at a high utilization to essentially amortize those fixed costs over a larger number of miles driven.Number two, insurance today is probably one of the largest buckets of cost when we think about this business. Insurance is, from our perspective, a big unlock for this industry as the safety, as we mentioned before, the safety data continues to improve. We think that will be a reason to, to expect that the insurance costs associated with autonomous driving technology and robotaxis will continue to decline.It's about 30 cents per mile on our estimate, so it's very significant in terms of the overall cost structure of robotaxis. Drivers or where there's the most sensitivity around the model. Obviously, there's charging costs, there's maintenance costs. Those are, I think, fairly known at this point. But the utilization and insurance, I think, are the two biggest drivers of really getting that margin profile to improve over time. Tim, I guess when you think about the next, call it 10 to 15 years, I think we will put out a trillion dollar market by 2040 from a TAM perspective.What do you think the biggest markets are that investors should be watching, in terms of getting us to that trillion dollar TAM? Obviously, U.S. and China are kinda leading now, but what are the next markets people should be watching?Tim Hsiao: In addition to the major market, as you just mentioned, the U.S. and China, in our views, I think we also need to focus on markets like Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. I think their scale is underappreciated, as we highlighted in our previous report. Because if you think about that, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia in aggregate have roughly four million taxis together ride-hailing vehicles.So even with 25 percent conversion, they imply that about one million is the L4s vehicles. The Middle East offers supportive regulators, you can tell, simpler operating environments and higher fares. And if you think about the Southeast Asia, the ASEAN, I think the market has dense demand and strong local platforms.And of course, Euro markets definitely can't be ignored because Euro will move more slowly, because we think the regulations and the data rules would initially add cost. But the truth is, if you think about the European market, I think the taxis or ride-hailing fares are among the highest globally, even compared to the U.S. and rest of the world.So in our view, the material margin could be more attractive. And this market, on top of the U.S. and China, in our view, can support several regional winners. So, not only limited to a very, you know, the single one or two markets.Andrew Percoco: Yeah, it's great Tim. It sounds like, you know, the robotaxi race, if you want to put it that way, will be won by those who can really bring together technology, and a compelling cost structure while also following the proper regulations and making sure the safety is improving at a rate that's acceptable to regulators.So, Tim, thanks for taking the time to talk today. And thanks for listening. If you enjoy Thoughts on the Market, please leave us a review wherever you listen, and share the podcast with a friend or colleague today.

With a PetaPixel Membership, not only can you support original PetaPixel reporting and in-depth reviews, but you can also remove ads from the website and gain access to some seriously great perks, too. Members get 20% off Capture One, $15 off the Moment Store, 5% off certified pre-owned gear from KEH, 10% off lighting gear from FJ Westcott, 10% off Viltrox products, can download full-resolution RAW files and JPEGs from the latest cameras and lenses, and MORE! It costs just $3 per month or $30 per year. Join today!Now saving when you shop for your favorite gear at B&H Photo is even easier with the B&H Payboo Credit Card which lets you Save the Tax — you pay the tax, and B&H pays you back instantly! (Save the Tax on eligible purchases shipped to eligible states.) OR you can pay over time with our 6 & 12 month financing (on minimum purchases of $199 for 6 months, and $599 for 12 months). Terms apply, learn more at http://bhphoto.com/payboo. Credit card offers are subject to credit approval.Payboo Credit Card Accounts are issued by Comenity Capital BankThis week on the PetaPixel Podcast, Nikon's future plans may have been leaked by the most unlikely of sources: Apple. Plus, Fujifilm shares that the camera industry is finally feeling the pinch from the memory crisis, and it will likely result in both significant price increases as well as manufacturing delays. Then, the team sits down with Isaac Reynolds from the Google Pixel team and asks the hard questions about what exactly photographers can expect from the Pixel 11 series phones. Make sure to Read David Imel's coverage of Google's HDR technology at The Verge.We use Riverside to record The PetaPixel Podcast in our online recording studio.In This Episode:00:00 - Intro11:38 - Did Apple spoil an upcoming Nikon announcement? 16:01 - Fujifilm raised its cost estimations because of the memory shortage17:56 - China's weakening economy really hurt camera sales20:52 - Tamron's OEM lens sales took a nose dive26:45 - LLL announced a new high-performance series of lenses29:47 - Blackmagic delivers PDAF to its 3-year-old Cinema Camera 6K33:26 - Insta360 has a new 360-degree camera36:13 - Asking tough questions of Google Pixel's Isaac Reynolds1:14:13 - What have you been up to?1:18:54 - Tech support1:36:56 - Feel good story of the week1:39:57 - Lens draft results

Pipe Dreams Podcast returns with a special episode featuring one of the most naturally talented and versatile young riders in American motorcycle racing, Rocco Landers. From growing up around racing in Southern California to dominating MotoAmerica as a teenager, racing in Europe with the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, and eventually earning his first factory opportunity with Indian Motorcycle, Rocco's career has taken a path few could have predicted.In this episode, Rocco reflects on growing up with his father Stoney Landers as his coach, mechanic, crew chief and biggest supporter, spending his formative years racing in Italy and Spain, and returning to America to become one of the most dominant young riders in MotoAmerica history. He discusses winning two Junior Cup championships and a Twins Cup title, making the jump to Supersport and 1000cc machinery, and experiencing the pressure that came with being labeled a potential future American MotoGP star.Rocco also opens up about the twists and turns of his career, from the Red Bull Rookies Cup and the European development system to opportunities in Twins Cup, Supersport, Stock 1000 and King of the Baggers. He shares what it was like adapting to a 600-pound motorcycle, winning his first Bagger race at COTA, and ultimately landing a factory ride with Indian Motorcycle and Vance & Hines alongside Troy Herfoss and Hayden Gillim. From the MotoGP dream that never followed a straight path to finally getting a true OEM opportunity, this conversation offers a closer look at the talent, adaptability and mentality behind one of America's most intriguing young racers. This is Rocco Landers.Follow ⁠@pipedreams_pod⁠ on social media!____________________________________________________________________________________Please support our partners: Yuasa Battery: Setting the standard for powersports batteries since 1979. Each and every day, it starts with us.- Find Your Battery: https://www.yuasabatteries.com/#batterysearch- Find Your Local Yuasa Dealer: https://www.yuasabatteries.com/how-to-buy/find-a-dealer/- Purchase Online: https://www.yuasabatteries.com/how-to-buy/where-to-buy/For more info visit https://www.yuasabatteries.com____________________________________________________________________________________Gulf Point Advisors: A Forward Thinking Wealth Advisory FirmHave financial questions or want to learn more about the benefits of professional money management? Call our good friend Tris at 603-731-3230, email tris@gulfpointadvisors.com or visit gulfpointadvisors.com

How does a used car saleswoman go from brand-new to the business to earning more than $225,000 in ONE year? "It's not about selling. It's about solving a problem." – Sady Ahmed In this episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, Sean V. Bradley sits down with top-performing salesperson Sady Ahmed of Koons Automotive to uncover the mindset, strategies, and customer-first approach behind her rise in automotive sales. "Every customer is different. You gotta be able to mirror them." – Sady Ahmed Sady has built a powerhouse business by dominating one of the toughest opportunities in the dealership: Special Finance and credit-challenged customers. But her success goes far beyond simply selling cars. She's built a system around trust, credit education, personal branding, referrals, repeat business, and turning customers who hear "NO" elsewhere into long-term relationships. "If you don't believe that you're the best, how are you going to get other people to believe that you're the best?" – Sady Ahmed Sean and Sady also explore how today's automotive sales professionals can leverage AI, ChatGPT, community involvement, social media, and smarter follow-up strategies to create more opportunities and separate themselves from the competition. "You want the community to support you, you've got to support the community." – Sean V. Bradley How did Sady build a $225K+ income without chasing a management title? What helped her reach a record-breaking 34 cars in a single month? And what can other salespeople learn from her approach to some of the most challenging customers in automotive? Find out how this used car saleswoman earns over $225K in ONE year and the strategies helping her build a career, customer base, and personal brand that continues to grow. If you're serious about selling more cars, generating more referrals, building your brand, and increasing your income in automotive sales, you need to hear this conversation! Key Takeaways: ✅ Credit Mastery: Understanding and mastering credit intricacies play a crucial role in closing deals with subprime clients. ✅ AI Utilization: Using AI tools like ChatGPT can streamline credit analysis and improve customer experiences by drafting dispute letters or enhancing credit advisories. ✅ Personal Branding: Building a personal brand through social media and community engagement is essential for long-term success in automotive sales. ✅ Partnership Opportunities: Collaborations with credit repair firms can be a strategic method to assist clients with challenging credit profiles. ✅ Client Education: Educating clients about credit improvement methods can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.   About Sady Ahmed Sady Ahmed is a top-performing automotive sales consultant specializing in Special Finance at Koons Automotive of Fredericksburg. Since entering the car business in 2019 with no prior automotive experience, she has grown into a consistent 20-car-per-month producer, recently achieving a personal best of 34 vehicles sold in a single month. Known for her honest, relationship-first approach, Sady helps customers navigate challenging credit situations, build stronger financial plans, and find the right path to vehicle ownership. Her success comes from keeping it real, solving problems, and putting long-term customer relationships ahead of simply making a sale.     Unlocking the Potential of Special Finance in the Automotive Industry   Key Takeaways Understanding customer credit intricacies is integral for automotive sales success. Leveraging AI in credit analysis offers enhanced insights for customers with subprime profiles. Personal branding and community engagement are crucial for establishing a successful automotive sales career.   Navigating the Special Finance Ecosystem in Car Sales In the world of automotive sales, special finance remains a challenging but rewarding niche. As the conversation led by Sean V. Bradley with Sadie Ahmed highlights, excelling in this sector involves not just selling cars but mastering the intricacies of credit. Sadie's approach to her work exemplifies the seamless integration of credit counseling within automotive sales, recognizing the importance of being "on their side" for customers with subprime credit scores. Sadie's dedication to special finance stems from her genuine desire to assist people, particularly those deemed 'at risk' or subprime. "I just like helping people. So I feel like when I have a customer that comes to me and they are in that weird spot of like a 550 to a 650, that can change overnight," she asserts. For Sadie, automotive sales are less about pitching a sale and more about "solving a problem," a notion that echoes throughout the interview. This empathetic approach transforms what could be a high-pressure sales interaction into a supportive experience for her clients, setting a standard for the industry. Harnessing AI for Enhanced Credit Analysis in Automotive Sales Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing how dealerships manage special finance operations. Sean Bradley emphasizes the potential of AI tools like ChatGPT in scrutinizing credit reports to advise clients effectively. "You can use, whether it's Claude or it's Google, Gemini or Chat GPT, or if your dealership has its own internal knowledge base, you could actually help Yourself and the prospect by using AI to analyze the credit bureau," Bradley affirms. The integration of AI doesn't stop at just analyzing credit. Sadie elaborates: "I've been doing this for about seven years. So I've learned what banks are looking for…and I've learned the nuances of how to get banks to overlook certain red flags if I can provide just the right context." With AI, sales professionals like Sadie can automate parts of the credit advice process, enhancing their ability to serve clients efficiently and improving the overall customer experience. In a competitive industry where the minutiae of financial history can make or break a sale, leveraging AI for credit analysis is a game-changer. It empowers car sales professionals to not only meet but exceed client expectations by providing insightful and actionable credit advice. Building a Personal Brand for Long-term Success in Automotive Sales Personal branding emerges as a powerful driver for success. Sadie Ahmed's journey evidences the power of building a personal brand rooted in reliability and expertise. Her mantra, "You incorporated," underlines the importance of self-belief and self-promotion. By leveraging social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, Sadie creates a persistent presence, ensuring she remains top-of-mind for potential car buyers. Beyond digital interactions, Sadie highlights the value of community involvement. "I do sponsor a bunch of local events. I've sponsored some golf tournaments, base local baseball teams…," she shares, demonstrating her commitment to establishing relationships and goodwill within her community. This extends her brand's reach and cements her reputation as a trusted advisor, not just a salesperson. The world of automotive sales demands adaptability and innovative thinking. As Sadie Ahmed showcases, blending effective customer credit management with a robust personal brand paves the way for sustainable success. This approach, underscored by strategic engagement with global tech advancements such as AI, keeps industry professionals ahead of the curve. 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