TinMan Systems
Summary
Ben, the podcast host, is joined by Spencer Hirsch, senior business development manager at TinMan Systems. TinMan Systems provides businesses with conveyor health diagnostics using new technology to predict maintenance of conveyor systems. Spencer shares his career background, and how he became involved in the technology industry and ultimately landed at TinMan Systems. He discusses the parallel between TinMan Systems' technology and the widely used Cubiscan, and how both were initially seen as "nice to have" tools, but have now --> Chris is a co-founder and CEO of a company called TinMan Systems. They help companies improve their operations and maintenance processes by using data and technology. They work with industries such as food and beverage, retail, e-commerce, postal, logistics, and airports. Their goal is to help companies be more proactive and save money by predicting when machines and equipment will fail. Chris believes that having visibility, technology, and awareness can help prevent failures and save money. He talks about the philosophy of running Sorter is a company that provides a suite of tools for monitoring and maintaining conveyor belts and equipment in warehouses and distribution centers. These tools help workers do their jobs more efficiently and can save companies thousands of dollars in costs and lost production. By using these tools, companies can prevent issues like misaligned belts and failed motor bearings, and quickly address any problems that do arise. Some real-world examples include a large DC that reduced their installation and commissioning process from 6-8 hours to just In this episode of The Warehouse Podcast, host Kevin Lawton speaks with Spencer Hirsch of TinMan Systems about conveyor inspection systems for warehouses. Spencer explains how their system helps to prevent equipment breakdowns, reduce maintenance costs, and increase productivity by providing real-time data and analytics. He also discusses the implementation phase of their system, explaining how it can be easily integrated into existing equipment and the importance of leadership buy-in. To learn more about TinMan Systems and their innovative solutions, visit their website or The speaker introduces himself as a comedian and mentions his new podcast. He shares that the podcast will be about funny and relatable topics that listeners will enjoy. The first episode is about something he
Transcription
Ben Hopkins
[00.00.06]
Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in to another episode at the Warehouse Underground podcast, Real Talk or Warehouse DC and FC professionals of all levels around the globe. I'm Ben, the host of the show, and joining me on the show today is Spencer Hirsch. He's senior business development manager at TinMan Systems. Now, in the world of fulfillment centers and distribution centers, there is a lot of equipment, specifically
Spencer Hirsch
[00.00.35]
conveyors and sorters. So if you work in a big time FC or DC, you know that it is absolutely paramount to what you're trying to do. But if you're like me and you're an ops leader in those facilities, you want them to work, but you don't necessarily know all the ins and outs of the maintenance, preventative maintenance, how all the technology works and all that. And that is exactly where TinMan system comes in. So they're in conveyor health diagnostics world, using technology and new systems to have better predictive maintenance of these types of machines. So I'm going to read this straight from their website. This is very interesting. Tin Man Systems gives industrial equipment real time inside the equipment visibility into things like vibration, thermal behavior, acoustics, alignment, and where to get to the mechanical truth that determines reliability. So that is a lot there. So I'm excited to talk with Spencer today, because this is one of those episodes where I'm really going to learn myself a lot of cool things about this part of the industry. So with that, I will bring him on the stage right now. Spencer, my friend, thank you very much for joining the Warehouse Underground podcast. How are you today,
Ben Hopkins
[00.01.44]
sir? Thank you. Very excited to be here. I'm doing well. How about yourself, Ben? Yeah,
Spencer Hirsch
[00.01.49]
I'm doing fantastic, man. So, uh, like we talked about before the show, there is no talk in the podcast about the Seattle Seahawks, right? So I, I know you're Seahawks fan and you're out there on the West Coast. I am an Atlanta Falcons fan, unfortunately. And so it's very difficult for me to talk about pro football. I'm sure you can appreciate that
Ben Hopkins
[00.02.09]
time. But the time will come I'm sure we'll see. Takes time. Yeah.
Spencer Hirsch
[00.02.14]
Yeah. Cool. So this is this is going to be a great episode for people because most people have used these types of systems where you are in and we'll get a bill, we'll get into this into the show. But before we do all that, though, you need to tell the audience a little bit about, you know, your background, how you came to be at TinMan systems today and kind of what is it
Ben Hopkins
[00.02.34]
all about? Yeah. No, thanks for the question. And, uh, really happy to be here. And I think, uh, just like anyone's real career story, I mean, mine's still being, uh, written, I guess, uh, but it surely has not been predictable. Uh, but it's been very exciting and cool to look back on, even in my short and early career of about 12 years. Um, so I ten Minute Systems was actually the first professional internship I got when I was, um, in University of Oregon, going after my undergrad in business and operations and business analytics. Um, and so I got a little flavor for it, but it was a different company than really focused on, uh, software, uh, and real time data collection and analysis and control of embedded systems. And so that could be like drones for examples. And, um, so it was, uh, kind of a taste towards that, but it also fed into my interest into being a part of, um, exciting and new technology. Um, I've always been excited to learn about the newest technology, whether it's something as standard as consumer electronics and iPhone, um, or the latest features or anything to do with video games. Um, really just being interested and curious because technology has always moved at a pace that seems to be faster than any other, uh, industry. And I like that fast pace. Um, it can be stressful at times. Um, it can force you to make hard decisions quickly with little information. Um, but it also can be very exciting when it works out. And so after that point. Um, I stayed in technology. I knew that's generally where I wanted to be. Um, I graduated, I then got a job at, uh, a company called Bright Edge, which is a, uh, software company doing an SEO optimization for big global brands. Um, and that was exciting, but it wasn't necessarily something I saw as. A long term career path or interest for me, but being a part of a SaaS company was interesting too. So now at this point, it was mostly SaaS company experience. And but I always wanted to work in Amazon. Um, Amazon being in my quote unquote backyard growing up, uh, in Sammamish, Washington, just outside Seattle most of my life. Um, I had always been super interested in Amazon. I thought they're a great company is very exciting. They're always doing stuff with the customer in front of mind. It was very evident always that, you know, they just so I, I admired them in a lot of ways. And I also liked the idea of them reaching out into different technologies. And uh, but ultimately it's very competitive to get a job at Amazon. And so after I got enough experience, I kept applying, uh, and went into a job as a vendor manager there, which was great because I got to touch on nearly every business function on Amazon from operations, marketing, retail sales, um, across, you know, the biggest, uh, retail piece of the business, which is focused in the US, right, in North America. So it was a really great, um, experience, very fast paced, um, and moved into a few different roles during my time there. Great leaders, great colleagues. Um, but again, I just felt like it wasn't my end destination. Um, and so I wanted to get out of Amazon. Uh, have. Impact at a smaller company because I felt like Amazon was a great almost boot camp, if you will, for, you know, me being younger in my career, getting a sense of how big companies work. Um, the good, the bad, the ugly. Right? Um, but ultimately, Tin Man systems, uh, became somewhere that I was familiar with. It's a small company. Um, it also sits exactly where high tech and supply chain meet, in my opinion, which I have discovered are my two biggest professional passions. Um, so it became, uh, somewhat of something I didn't necessarily plan or predict for, but that started to line up in my interests. And, um, yeah, I haven't looked back since it's been almost five years of the company and uh, uh, couldn't be more excited to be to be with them now. Yeah,
Spencer Hirsch
[00.07.11]
yeah. Very cool man. Now, I, um, I follow you on LinkedIn like I do
Ben Hopkins
[00.07.16]
almost all the guests that appear on the podcast. And one of the things that I've seen you post about as it relates to Tin Man systems is, uh, sort of a parallel between a piece of technology that most ops leaders are probably familiar with, and that's Cuba scan and the sort of the history and development of Cuba scan, with the thought being that it's not necessarily that you have to have it
Spencer Hirsch
[00.07.40]
right. You could measure things with a tape measure, you could put them on a scale, but the logical progression of technology in the facility is to use machines to do this right. To use to use the software to do this. And so do you feel like that there is that same sort of progression that happens with
Ben Hopkins
[00.07.59]
the, the,
Spencer Hirsch
[00.08.00]
the area that you're in now with, uh, mechanical diagnostics. I mean, do you see a parallel? I mean, what? Talk to me about that parallel and how and how you see that between what you do and a traditionally obsolete or uses like
Ben Hopkins
[00.08.13]
cube scan. Yeah. I think from my perspective to is qubit scan is, you know, uh, a tool that I admire because whenever amongst other tools that become a standardized piece of day to day operations or routines that companies is it's relied upon. It's not a nice to have. It becomes a must have. But it started as a quote unquote nice to have. So I think in general, yes. Your point, it's not something necessarily you need until you think you need it, you know, to do your business more effectively, to manage at scale. And I think, um, the story of Cuba Scan was inspiring to where we'd like to get with diagnostic tools is because ultimately, um, just like other areas of our life and other industries, there will be a day where things can be done better and more efficiently and safely. Um, and I think. Cuba scan addresses that going from you know, manual and periodic to automate it. Right. And and it's objective data. It's not. Did you really measure it the right way. You know. Did you write down exactly. You know, and so having a standardized process and the tool becomes just a piece of that standardization. Um, so really with the mechanical diagnostics piece, what we see is ultimately a better way of capturing the health of automated systems. And the piece that, um, is interesting from my perspective, is the variety of equipment and automated equipment that's out there, right from OEMs to end of life systems. You know, there's there's Logan sorters still out in the fields for some companies. And Logan is no longer a company that's around. And so and you have other companies, you know from dramatic integrated Boomer Vindolanda die fuku. And so there's so much different equipment. And some of these OEMs, which are partners to report some of their own health of their own equipment. But in terms of empowering the warehouse worker with a third party agnostic tool that can take universal diagnostics, that is a that was a major gap that we saw in the industry. And so I think, you know, just educating that we can do better than having Joe with 20 years of experience that's worked at one facility his entire life, being relied upon every day and being asked so many questions about, like, hey, I heard this sound, what do you think? You know? And becoming more so we can free up Joe to be more of a leader rather than someone that's answering questions all day? Yeah. So. Absolutely. Yeah. No.
Spencer Hirsch
[00.11.15]
So let me. Sorry to interrupt you there. No, don't
Ben Hopkins
[00.11.18]
worry about it. Yeah. No, but
Spencer Hirsch
[00.11.19]
one of the things that that I often see inside facilities, and I was kind of guilty of this too, when when I was working in there is, like you said, you when it comes to ops, you have a little bit of a gut feel, right? And you want to push and push and push and push as hard as you can go. And so sometimes there's this philosophy when it comes to equipment, that I'm just going to push that thing as far as it can go all the way until failure. And then it sort of breaks and then it's just huge catastrophe. So but if people have the visibility, if they have the technology, if they have the awareness to say, no, you're you're running it to the red line, here's how you should be treating it right. It seems like you can head off a lot of that at the past and then really save a lot of money. True. So I mean, what do you think about that, that philosophy of run til failure and then how much cheaper is it, you know, how much of an impact is it if people are able to sort of not do that, avoid that, save that pretty preemptively.
Ben Hopkins
[00.12.25]
Yeah. It's a, uh, the main problem with maintenance of really any asset beyond conveyors, sorters. I mean, it's it's, uh, firefighting everywhere from anything from, like HVAC to refrigeration to conveyor disorders, robotic arms, everything has a fair point. And, um, having more visibility into what that failure point is, is helpful. And I think too, is it's hard to is obviously we all know when it comes to these industries, the elephant in the room, which is the disconnect between leadership and folks on the floor. And I see this across the multiple industries we support. You know, we support food and beverage, we support retail, e-commerce, we support postal, logistics, airports. And the common theme is still this gap. Some gaps are closed more than others, but there is gaps. And so the one thing that can't be argued and uh, and a disconnect can be brought closer together is. Data, objective data. And so the more data we're feeding into that, the better. And so it does not surprise me that there is a culture of running until failure. Because if it's not, you know, there's a famous saying that can be applied in so many ways. If it's not broke, don't fix it. Um, but if we can get ahead of that, you know, there's also the downstream impact too. So if you think from the perspective of the parts, spare parts managers at these warehouses or regional or national or however they cover it, you know, it's helpful to have projections. So you can then forecast and put it into your budget. And so if we think of it beyond just, hey, we need, you know, we want to run it together because we don't need to replace or stop it. Okay. Well, it may not be just, um, that simple, right? It's like, okay, well, it's going to cost more because one, you have to pay a service. Um, you know, either your in-house services team or outside services team potentially over time to respond. And so you're paying more for that, and then you're urgently requiring spare parts that could have been forecasted because you see it getting towards the end of the lifespan. So then you're paying for the expedited delivery, you know, and any other of those additional charges. And so it's easy, easier to justify when something breaks because you need to get it replaced or fixed. And so it's easier to get those expenses because things need it. But we can do better than responding to it like firefighters. Right. And so really, you know, it's it's it's trying to get ahead of it. And also being able to communicate the downstream benefits to that. You know, the rush to repair pulling people off projects that they could be more proactive on.
Spencer Hirsch
[00.15.16]
Yeah. Um, plus, you, uh, you know, you you disrupt the service to the customer, too. Yeah. I mean,
Ben Hopkins
[00.15.22]
and and that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's that's a big one. Yeah.
Spencer Hirsch
[00.15.27]
Packages aren't going out. You got backup plans on the floor, and all these things are happening. It's funny that you, you know, kind of the way you described it, it makes me think back, and I go, I can't remember ever once looking at
Ben Hopkins
[00.15.39]
any, any
Spencer Hirsch
[00.15.41]
dashboard or metric or anything that showed me the health of the conveyor system in the facility. I mean, this is like $1 million piece of equipment, but yet
Ben Hopkins
[00.15.50]
right now,
Spencer Hirsch
[00.15.52]
when I'm driving my own car, I have that right. I have like just my my, my my dash panel. I know the temperature, I know the fuel, I know the battery, I know all that. Yet somehow,
Ben Hopkins
[00.16.02]
obviously, you know, I
Spencer Hirsch
[00.16.04]
just didn't put two and two together, right? So it's like, why would you drive your car and monitor all this stuff and know when to take it into the shop and, and and not treat your equipment in the fulfillment center the same way, or at least not have some visibility on it, you know? Yeah,
Ben Hopkins
[00.16.20]
yeah. And I think to, you know, the point about the customer piece being damaged there is then that downstream impact to harming the customer. And this can be at airports to think about issues on baggage handling systems when and even more so I think the stakes. I mean, you look at large retailers, e-commerce, post and parcel, you know, these are smaller packages. And most, at least I believe in my experience I've seen are less than 5 and you're doing a huge volume. You know, more or less. And depending on the, the, the, um, uh, industry. And so maybe you have a few of these packages not being the destination on time, but they eventually get there. And maybe some of these items aren't so urgent. Right. Like paper towels or something. Maybe it is urgent, maybe ran out of paper towels, but you kind of get. My point is, you can go to the grocery store if it doesn't get there on time and you need it for, like, a family gathering. Uh, with things like bags that are checked at airports, mist emplacements are an absolute disaster because it's not only customer trust. And I think in my mind, if an airline screws up transferring my luggage or doesn't get it on the plane time, it only takes one time for me to maybe never want to book that flight again. Yeah, depending on the consequence. And so whereas if a retailer or e-commerce provider is shipping paper towels a couple of days late, I'd probably still order from them. And so I think the tolerance for things going wrong in these different industries could be much worse. And so there's the missing payments part, the customer trust or the downstream impact of them not wanting to buy a ticket on your airline for the next 20 years of their frequent traveler. Right. So, um, trying to understand the downstream impact more so than what's being reported, because missing payments falls into maybe another bucket not tied to something breaking down or a diverge not going correct. Yeah. Yeah. Now, let me ask this question to you because and we've talked a little bit about this earlier in the show. But data I mean, it sounds like, like
Spencer Hirsch
[00.18.37]
data for an ops leader on the ops floor in terms of, you know, labor and where they are in their package
Ben Hopkins
[00.18.42]
delivery. Yeah.
Spencer Hirsch
[00.18.44]
Modern day fulfillment centers are running off data. I mean, they're managing to that. It's everywhere. They can't run if they don't have that or they can't run. Well. But I mean, what do you think about how do you balance the sort of gut feel that we talked about with have been doing this a long time? I'm very familiar with the equipment or I'm very familiar with the floor. How do you balance that gut feel with it? Sounds like where TinMan Systems is and that is trying to move the ball forward, like using data and technology and systems to kind of provide that balance that because I would feel like at least with a lot of techs out there, they probably rely on their gut feel a lot because they they kind of came up the ranks and that's what they had. So how do you kind of how do you square that and balance those
Ben Hopkins
[00.19.31]
two? Yeah, it's a great question. And one that I continue to try to convey is I think generally when folks think of predictive or preventative maintenance, they're thinking that it's going to do everything they used to do and more. And so I think there's too much of a heavy reliance on some of the technologies that are out there. And I try to set expectations with some of our tools early on, is we want you to use this tool frequently enough and marry that with your own understanding of the system, to then tell the system, you know, and setting certain thresholds, because ultimately we can't just, you know, there there's no silver bullet, right? That's it. And that's kind of what I'm trying to say is I think we rely on we think it's the end all be all. Maybe we get there at some point, but we have to get there in the right way. And so with, you know, our tools or just generally with tools that are used throughout the industry and this profession is we need to be skeptical early on to the data and question the data and make sure the data is reliable. And at one and whatever point it may be, when we're going to say this data is reliable for the XYZ reasons, it's going to be because there was skeptics involved early to make sure that the data is reporting what matters to them in the right way. Right. Like, do we only care about assets running over 100 degrees or 120 degrees? Does vibration threshold make sense at two GHz versus 4G? So being skeptical early on to then say the standardization that's unique for your equipment, your facility, um, is absolutely critical. Um, we can't just assume the equipment is just going to know exactly all the context. And it's just like it's similar to AI now and every industry is, you know, folks that have issues with it or, um, maybe are going to aggressively into it. And then they spend too much money and they realize maybe certain expenditures were a mistake. It's because it was relied upon too much, too fast. We need human judgment, right?
Spencer Hirsch
[00.21.38]
Yeah, I think it's always going to be a blend at some point. It's just getting that getting that mixture right, you know, the 7030 or whatever and that. And uh, you know, I don't I don't think it just there's just too many variables, I think, to completely remove people and their brain and their gut feeling, their experience out of the equation altogether, at least in my experience. But you have to figure out where that where that healthy balance is, I think I think on that song.
Ben Hopkins
[00.22.07]
Yeah. Side. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and another thing, you know, I always tell these, uh, engineers maintenance tax, maintenance leaders is we know you know, how to do your job. We're not telling you how to do your job a different job. What we're saying is look through this new lens of tools that can help you do your job more efficiently with. And I think there generally is a fear, too, in these different industries, anything that seems in any way automated, regardless of whether it's predictive maintenance or baggage loading or dock loading, folks can get defensive and understandably so, that it might take their job. But I think being clear from the get go is like, hey, if it is, I mean not are not necessarily articulate to take their job. It's just do it more efficiently and quickly. Right. And, um, there may be some other technologies automated that replace workers. Right. But I think we need to be very clear from the get go what is being replaced versus what is being augmented. Yeah. And but with that though, and I've always said this as a counterargument to that, the automation piece, it just it normalizes over time, like in a way. Um, a forklift itself is a piece of automation that maybe
Spencer Hirsch
[00.23.26]
workers less needed. Right. Because but now, now no one thinks of it that way. But originally it was it made things faster. It made it more efficient inside the warehouse. So now people just like, oh, you know, it's just a forklift, whatever. So I think, you know, given enough time, I think people just sort of adapt to this, this new world, this new reality of this is the way it should be. So let me ask this question. I mean, let's talk about the real world examples. You know, like, yeah, I know you've been doing this a while. How do things typically unfold? Um, in, in the facilities that, that you're in, like how do things go bad for them, how much headache could they avoid and what could the quantifiable numbers be. Right. Whether that's in revenue or savings. Like what are the the numbers, the kind of the impact of, you know, what happens if you do this right versus if you do it wrong inside your facility with no visibility and no sort of strategy on it, on any of your equipment like this. At least not adequate strategy, I should say.
Ben Hopkins
[00.24.30]
Yeah. So I'll, I'll dive into it in a couple of different ways. But I guess I'll start with a main data point that we see that we share with, uh, first time, you know, prospective customers or partners is I'll share like a general data point and then I'll share a couple of examples. So generally speaking, when it comes to conveyors and sorters, um, some of the most common issues and maybe someone might correct or add to this list, but in terms of what we've been made aware of over the time, over time is, um, issues like misaligned belts, failed roller bearings, um, overheating assets can on average can cause about 20 to $100,000 in costs and lost production costs. Right. And so per hour. And so um, and that may change depending on the volume. Right. If it's, you know, a volume could be anything. Right? It could be, um, getting parts at a parts distribution center to make cars right at different parts, to make cars. It could also be, uh, bags at an airport, or it could be, you know, letters in the mail. So depending on the average value of these items and the number of these items on average per hour basis units per hour, that about can change. That's why the gap is fairly large on average 20 to 100,000. But the point being is, you know, if we communicated that way, like, hey, you know, in keeping track of the cost too, um, that's really key. And so generally speaking, those types of failures can cost about that much. And in terms of different examples, you know, one example is because we have partners on the integrator and OEM side, and a lot of their priorities have to do with installation, commissioning work at new facilities or brownfield facilities, uh, putting in new equipment. And so they have a big responsibility to make sure everything's working at go live. And that takes time. Right. And a lot of them. Yeah. Up until the point that they may adopt some tools and technology may be ours is they have a clipboard in a very long checklist, and the responsibility falls on whomever is responsible for signing off on that checklist. And a lot of it is not backed by data. Right. It's the clipboard and someone walking. Hey, how do all the ballots look? Are all the motors running reliably? How long have we continuously ran this without failure before handing off to the customer? And then everyone you know I'm saying is Lucy signs off, right? Maybe literally too. And but, you know, that's a lot of trust. You're putting in one person's assessment or maybe a handful of people's assessment. And, um, it also takes a lot more time. So I'll share an example on this side. And then I'll share an end customer example. So uh, one publicly and one I I'll keep anonymous. So what the integrator OEM side. Um, they were doing work at a very large DC for a very large customer to install and commission new conveyor equipment and their typical routine before using one of our tools, the MCs, was to walk through with a chalkboard. And they had some tools. They had a thermal gun. They also had a sound measurement device. But there are different tools capturing one data point. And then you're also still doing the manual inspection with your two eyes, right? Doing the checks on the belts and everything else for anything else that seems off. And so through the collection of different data points, someone's visual assessment, this typical installation would have taken them anywhere between 6 to 8 hours to verify and validate. Everything is running smoothly, and that's without one consistent stream of data. So you're getting less quality data in a longer period of time. And they said once they implemented the MCs in terms of their installation and commissioning process. They could still use some of the elements of their checklist, right? All these things made sense to check, but doing it through the lens of one single tool and device being that package or the quote unquote payload, and it took them then 15 minutes because they had used the system once and just run it through and you get all the data and you can take that data and analyze it and go through it. Um, you know, outside of the facility should be on the facility. So you're saving time, obviously a ton of time. And, um, but you're also looking at that data skeptically through the human perspective. So that's important to is a big piece. And then you can share that across all stakeholders. Right. So you have the customer. You have your organization maybe a controls company electrical company. And everyone can look at the same data, not just one person's clip. Um, so that was a huge savings, uh, for them. And uh, another example, one that I can publicly share is actually DHL. One of our customers actually wrote about it in an article. And so in one example, so the DHL Express Germany and DHL Customer Solutions innovation team worked together. They purchase and use whatever EMRs and um, at their their gateway, they used a system to capture critical vibration on a brand new cross belt sorter, um, which was caught before going. So even from an end customer perspective, here's an example of the customer feeling empowered to use a tool that they own on the equipment they just spent likely millions of dollars on. And it was fixed before production and the insights were shared with that OEM, right? Hey, we found a problem and look at it through the lens of this tool because, you know, it's third party, it's reliable. It's not just Joe waving a finger in the air, so to speak. Um, there was also, uh, on this same example, there's a two millimeter height offset between the shorter and the shoots, invisible to the eye. But ultimately, you know, that's where data can matter, right? Two millimeters. It's not. Hey, if someone goes out and does their own measurement or assessment, that doesn't look like two millimeters, right? Um, so that can end up with downstream damages to the packages. Um, things not getting to customers on time, right? It's fairly obvious to think about downstream impact, but quantifying these tiny problems that can then cascade into big problems, that's the part that this helps them with. Um, and so I think, you know, what we're seeing is this empowerment for the maintenance technician or engineer, regardless of where they are, whether they're working for OEM integrator or end customer. There is an added component of empowerment and also excitement to do their job right. If you're not, I think generally speaking, if you're in a job where you're constantly firefighting, you know, maybe that's exciting to you. But overall, I think that could weigh on your stress and anxieties and take a toll, you know, potentially in your personal life, too, because you're just always so drained and stressed and. Yeah, because, um, the people that are the people that are removed from that firefighting expect you to complete their initiatives, their strategy, where there are things you don't really get
Spencer Hirsch
[00.32.12]
reward points for firefighting. You still have to do your extra
Ben Hopkins
[00.32.16]
stuff. So just exactly it doesn't show up. Yeah, it doesn't show up in a congratulatory note to the earnings reports or anything like that, because a lot of these companies are very large, they have a lot of goals, and they have a lot of people to answer to. And ultimately, however it gets done, you know, whether that worker is very stressed and looking to change jobs or excited about work, you know, it still has to get done. And they don't, you know, some might not necessarily care as much. Yeah. Yeah. And I agree with you on that. And I think, I think that this is so, so important and so needed, especially in 2026, but really and beyond. I mean this is the future of the distribution. Even if you have small warehouses everyone's looking to upgrade into tech automation conveyance sort. And so this is the wave of the future. So now you guys have a lot of of amazing products. Um, and and how you present it. Right. With the dashboards and everything. And so can you talk to me about sort of vision, you know, because sort of vision is the flag vision explained to everybody what sort of vision is and how it works. And then also, what is it
Spencer Hirsch
[00.33.25]
like if someone integrates with you? Like what can they experience? Do they need to prepare? What's the implementation phase? Like how does all that roll
Ben Hopkins
[00.33.35]
out? Yeah, it's a great question. And sort of vision is really exciting because you know really you know, what you're looking at here on the screen is our mobile conveyor inspection system. And um, what we did is we took the mobile conveyor inspection system really with customer feedback with them saying, hey, this is great that it rides my conveyor. But, uh, for sorters, it would be great to have a perspective of from the, the carrier. Right. And also visuals underneath the plane of the character. And so we took this same approach but didn't stray away from the customer simplicity piece. So uh, in terms of the user experience, the mix, the sorter vision and other tools are not designed, uh, intentionally simple to use because ultimately you can't introduce a tool in these environments that makes things complicated. These folks won't use it. And so. Um, with that principle in place. You know, we still took the same premise from user experience of, you know, the onboard SD card. You don't need to install any software. The only applications you need to access the data and the analysis of the dashboard is an internet browser, Excel and notepad. I think everyone can say they all have those running on their computers. I hope so. Or yeah. And I would hope so, right? Um, so with that being said, um, there's no necessarily preparation. These tools can be handed off. So with shorter vision specifically. Um, yeah. So you can imagine it's it's a crossbow sorter moving towards us. And this is one example of a spin off, really, of the MCs that we're talking about just earlier, and something that came as a result of customer feedback and taking the best of the mix and making some tweaks and changes. And so what we've done to date in terms of doing this for customers is, you know, they would simply, um, you know, ship their carrier to our production facility. We do all the measurements and specs in-house. And obviously, you know, regardless of whether it's a cross belt or a tilt tray and the different OEMs, that's why it's key to have one of the carriers in-house. And what we ask is, you know, hey, you know, with a number of questions. We get into form factor fit to become the quote unquote carrier. So in this graphic example, you can imagine there would be a top plane, right, that you see with the belts, but with the remove and then the system attached. But it doesn't connect to anything on the sorter. It's just experiencing the ride of the sorter while also having, um, the HD video cameras looking underneath at different assets, um, underneath as it writes. So think of it as a diagnostic carrier and it's agnostic. So whether you are working with, you know, a bomber sorter or a integrated sorter, um, this can be a third party reporting mechanism to the diagnostics of the health. So really this is more of a system that has been shaped and geared towards our end customers, um, across different industries. And, um, you know, still collecting the critical diagnostic data that is important for conveyors to, you know, in terms of the thermal, uh, vibration, um, and especially the sorter vibration is significantly lower. And that's a good thing, right? If there's versus a conveyor and going through transitions or diverts. You're going to see much more. So it's very interesting to see the parallels, but also the differences between what's most important. Like the sorters, I think because it's mostly flour and hopefully the vibration vibration becomes a little less important, but it still reports it, along with all the other diagnostic data that is important to capture, especially pitch and roll. You know, you wouldn't want that, um, being off on a sorter that could then result in an issue down the road. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, even we found, like, tools and spare parts in the sorter, like belly, the underbelly of the crossbar. And it's and it can be something unfortunately, that is, you know, maybe someone just had a long day and they forgot something, but that forgetting that tool and placing it, you know, uh, in a spot like that, so, so critical, that could then damage wiring or brush brackets and then it's like, okay, what what would the quote unquote autopsy reveal, right. Oh, kind of the screwdriver that cost us, you know, X dollars. That's a lot. And so I think, you know, this this graphic here, you know, is an example of what can happen when a foreign object enters very high speed conveyor and sorter environments is it can then result in a lot of crazy things happening, potentially something as extreme as a fire that damages electrical wiring and can then cost, you know, a lot of downstream impact that then results in this $8 billion number. Um, but ultimately it's really just about accountability to, you know, having the data in the right place at the right, you know, at the right times that can be relied upon and looked at later as a very important reference. Awesome.
Spencer Hirsch
[00.39.08]
Very unique. Right? Like very unique. Very needed and and and spiteful. And that this is, uh, I agree with your Cuba skin analogy. Like, I think this is the logical progression that people should be taken as it pertains
Ben Hopkins
[00.39.21]
to automation, automation, the PM. There's there's there's systems of visibility on that, the tracking of that. And there's so much rides on that. And people just you to
Spencer Hirsch
[00.39.32]
just pretend like that's, you know, it's fine. You know, it's just to whatever. And certainly as an ops leader, I mean most facilities have, you know, maintenance there on site. But I think as an ops leader, I think they need to bring some of this stuff into their cross-check, too, because this is your equipment. I mean, this is your operation. You're there to manage just more than the people. Like you've got to manage the entire operation in the facility. And this is a huge part of it. This is a huge asset. So
Ben Hopkins
[00.39.57]
yeah, and I would add to that too, with the ops of maintenance, I, I see it's often silo and sometimes oftentimes in ops they see maintenance or any tools or sensors, whether it needs to be installed or, you know, some of the tools being used, the facility as disruptions to the throughput goals that they have. Right. And so it becomes almost like this nuisance. But when something breaks down, it's the biggest headache on earth, right. And they have to deal with it and they're getting a maintenance. Hey, did you inspect your things? It's like, well, you wouldn't let us adopt this tool and bring it into your environment. So yeah, I think it's also a lot to do with leadership, oversight and making sure that they hold these teams accountable. It's like operations. You're going to work with maintenance because this makes sense, because anything that affects maintenance affects you and vice versa. So you can't be a blocker to introducing tools that will keep your equipment running to achieve your goal. So leaders are a big, big piece of this because otherwise the politics will play out with the local warehouse leaders and colleagues like they typically do without someone intervening, saying it needs to be done this way.
Spencer Hirsch
[00.41.07]
Yeah. Cool, man. Well, where can people find out more about you? I know you're, you know, you've got website. I've been to your website. It's very cool. By the way people.
Ben Hopkins
[00.41.16]
Yeah I agree. Yeah.
Spencer Hirsch
[00.41.18]
I know you're on LinkedIn, but you know what are you going to the shows. Trade shows. Like how can people contact you or find out more about TinMan
Ben Hopkins
[00.41.24]
systems? Yeah, sure. Well, I'm available and very active on LinkedIn. So folks can just go to my profile and connect with me. Their message. Um, I also just really enjoy just learning about, uh, different industries and different folks professions. So whether it's just networking, a coffee chat, or learning more about our solutions, I'm always interested in a conversation. Um, aside from that, of course, our website, Tin Man systems.com. We also have a YouTube channel. Um, you can find us Tin Man systems, but, um, yeah. And also follow our company page on LinkedIn as well. Um, so then a lot of activity and exciting announcements recently, including a partnership announcement with Carolina and Blank. So, um, anyways, very, very, very exciting and, uh, yeah, thank you. And I really appreciate the time. This has been great. And, um, if anyone can extract a little value and learn a little bit for the conversations and I think our goal is achieved. Yeah,
Spencer Hirsch
[00.42.19]
yeah. Awesome, man. Well, thank you very much for appearing on the podcast. Very open and insightful. I think you're doing something that's really cool. You know, I learned a lot on the show today and, uh, you know, good luck. Good luck to you guys in the future. And, um, so I was happy to be a part of it, happy to be a part of the growth math. I like what you're doing at ten minute system. Very cool, very neat.
Ben Hopkins
[00.42.38]
I appreciate it, man, and thanks for having me on the show. It's great. You
Spencer Hirsch
[00.42.42]
got it, my friend. Take care. Go, Seahawks. Yeah. Thanks. Go, Seahawks. See you back. See you around. All right. Thanks again. Spencer Hirsch from TinMan Systems coming to talk about some very cool and unique stuff on the show about how to handle your own systems, your conveyance systems with new technology. Right. Better visibility. Better. Better tech. Like get get on board with that because that is the future of that I think so Spencer. Appreciate it. Thanks again. As the Warehouse underground goes, please sign up for the community. If you have not done so. We have over 300 people that have signed up for the community. It's free at the warehouse underground comm. We have message boards in their live shows. We just had a live show with the recruiter in there. Networking resources, all sorts of things that you will like if you are in this industry. So sign up to be a member at the Warehouse Underground Comm. And also please check out the other show that I do. It's called the Tiger Team Show. I do it with my co-host. Jordan's like the show, but not it's all about life in warehouses D season FX from the employee perspective, but with a lot of wit and humor and sarcasm draped all over it. So if you work out there in the facilities and you want some lighthearted humor from people that understand that very well, check that show out. I think you guys will really enjoy it. It's it's really funny and you'll get right away exactly what we were talking about. As this podcast goes, I will see you guys next week for another episode. Thanks for listening. Bye.
